Sherry Shindelar – Journey to Publication – Part 1 of 1

Shannon here: Squeal!!!! Sherry Shindelar has been my guest three times. The first time, I asked if she wanted to do a book giveaway. She said she didn’t have one because she wasn’t published. Last year, she got a contract and I got to meet her at the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference. Finally her book released and this time she has a book to give away!!! Comment or answer the question to enter the drawing for an ebook copy of Sherry’s debut Historical Romance, Texas Forsaken. Deadline: June 22nd, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Sherry:

I have been in love with stories since I was a child. I’d swing for hours on my swing set, pumping my legs back and forth, dreaming up stories in my head. Even then I had a flair for romance: creating new love interests and episodes for Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, before moving on to plotting original romantic dramas and adventures in distant lands.

My favorite possession at age nine was a set of author playing cards (a matching game with photos of famous women authors). I wanted to be an author when I grew up and bring stories to life on the written page, stories that would impact my readers.

My mother believed in my dream. She knew that one day I could do it.

My husband, John, likes to tease that when he married me, he had no clue that he’d married a historic romance writer. I didn’t either. I’d written poetry for years, but the stories in my head had been put aside during high school and college.

A visit to a historic home in the Shenandoah Valley, when John and I were newly married, spurred my love for history and planted the seed for the story of my heart. A few years later, I wrote the novel. My love story of Jenny Callahan and Daniel McCloud filled close to thirty notebooks before I typed it up, but when publication didn’t happen right away, I stuffed the notebooks in a box and shoved it under a dresser. I returned to college, finished my degree in creative writing, and earned my masters in English and a PhD in literature, wondering if I’d ever reconnect with the stories in my head, the ones buried deep in my heart.   

Then, in the summer of 2019, I fell in love with fiction writing again. It had been thirteen years since I’d worked on my story. I pulled the box out and unburied the past. I began to read it. And I fell in love with Daniel and Jenny and the Shenandoah Valley all over again. How could I forsake them? I jumped into their heads, and the story began to unfold, again. Except better, deeper, richer than I’d ever imagined.

God had done so much in my life in those years in between, both joys and pains. He’d been chipping, molding, and shaping me. It was with a heart that is wizened, scarred, and strengthened that I returned to writing, with eyes that see what the nine or thirty-year-old me could have never seen.  

To me, the wondrous miracle of falling in love had to be the heart of any story I wrote, alongside the thread of God’s amazing, awe-inspiring love for us. Mix that with my deep interest in history, and the only genre for me was Christian historical romance.

I rewrote Daniel and Jenny’s story from scratch, and then I started on a Western romance story set in Texas in 1860.

John became my biggest fan! He wanted to see my dream of being a published novelist come true. And I thank the Lord that John understood that dreams take time, dedication, and sacrifice. He willingly endured the dust and less than tidy house, paper plates instead of porcelain, no time for movies, writing weekends, a computer at my fingertips almost every evening, and much more, without complaint. Because he knew how much the dream mattered to me, and he, like me, believed it was God’s call on my life.

I’d like to say that the road to publication was easy after that, but it wasn’t. After four years of renewed writing and contacting editors and agents, I felt my writing career was moving along at tortoise speed instead of light speed. When several agents and editors told me that my Texas story was too risky, that I should set it aside and write a different story, I was tempted to listen. However, several of my past and present critique partners encouraged me to not give up. They suggested that I send out at least a couple proposals.

I did. A month later, I signed a three-book contract! A dream come true. And I’m so thankful for the unwavering support of my mother and my husband and for my writing friends who listened to the Lord and gave me that final nudge to hit “submit” and send the story of my heart into the world.

When the time was right, the Lord opened the door and cleared the way!

Question for Readers: Do you have a dream or goal you’ve been striving toward? How many years have you worked toward it? If achieved, how many years did it take?

About Sherry: Originally from Tennessee, Sherry loves to take her readers into the past. A romantic at heart, she is an avid student of the Civil War and the Old West. When she is not busy writing, she is an English professor working to pass on her love of writing to her students. Sherry is an award-winning writer: 2023 Genesis finalist, Maggie finalist, and Crown finalist. She currently resides in Minnesota with her husband of thirty-nine years. Texas Forsaken, the first book in her Lone Star Redemption series, released in May 2024. Learn more & connect:

Sherry’s Website            Sherry’s Facebook          Sherry’s Instagram

Sherry’s Goodreads           Sherry’s Bookbub

About the book – Texas Forsaken:

The man who destroyed her life may be the only one who can save it.

Seven years ago, Maggie Logan (Eyes-Like-Sky) lost everything she knew when a raid on a wagon train tore her from her family. As the memories of her past faded to nothing more than vague shadows, Maggie adapted—marrying a Comanche warrior, having a baby, and rebuilding her life. But in one terrible battle, the U.S. Cavalry destroys that life, and she is taken captive again, this time by those who call themselves her people. Forced into a world she wants nothing to do with, Eyes-Like-Sky’s only hope of protecting her child may be an engagement to the man who killed her husband.

Enrolled in West Point to escape his overbearing father, Captain Garret Ramsey has graduated and finds himself assigned to the Texas frontier, witnessing the brutal Indian War in which both sides commit atrocities. Plagued by guilt for his own role, Garret seeks redemption by taking responsibility for the woman he widowed and her baby. Though he is determined to do whatever it takes to protect them, is he willing to risk everything for a woman whose heart is buried in a grave? Or is there hope she might heal to love once more?         

Can’t wait for the drawing? Worried you won’t win?

Get your copy/copies now!      Texas Forsaken

Come back June 14th for Tanya Eavenson!