Shannon here: Susan Pope Sloan shares how she met her husband, plus a chance to win her Civil War Historical Romance, Loving Lydia. Comment or answer the question in any post dated April 18th – 30th to enter the drawing for a copy plus 3 other titles. Deadline: May 9th, 11:59 pm central time. Deadline: May 16th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Susan:
How We Met—God’s Timing is Right
Sometimes I get a little “flack” from my advance readers for having the characters in my novel get engaged or marry too soon. My answer to that is an abbreviated version of my own story—four months of dating, 45 years married. Here are a few details of how that happened.
After nearly a decade of working full-time and taking college classes in the evening, I took a leap of faith to attend a church-related college for my final two years. I quit my job and used my savings to move to that college town, two hundred miles from home. As planned, I finished my degree requirements but had no prospects for the future. A week after graduation, I secured a secretarial job at the international headquarters for my denomination, located in the same town as the college.
Part of my duties soon included handling registration for a three-day seminar the department was hosting. The first day of the seminar, I was on-site to help with registering walk-ins and handing out seminar materials. A handsome young man arrived with his pastor, and I noticed his address was only an hour away from my current residence. Sometime in the middle of the training, he stopped at my desk and chatted for a while. (Later, he told me he knew then he was going to marry me.)
After the seminar, I called to invite him to be my date for a department dinner, but had trouble reaching him. I left my number, though, and he called me a few days later. Despite the hour’s drive between us, we dated every week and even tossed around the subject of marriage. He made it official on my birthday, and we married eleven weeks later. Because we were both older—he was 26, and I had just turned 30—we saw no reason to wait any longer.
That was 45 years ago. We’ve had our share of ups and downs as we watched our three children grow up, marry, and start their own families. But through it all, as the old song says, we’ve held on to God and to each other. So, I have no qualms about writing “quick courtships” in my novels. My characters will remain committed, just as we have.
Reader Question: What are your thoughts on short courtships? How would you have advised me
if you’d known me back then? If you have a similar story, I’d love to read about it in the comments.
April Book Bundle #2
My Journey into Fiction Writing by R.F. Whong, Nonfiction, Newsletter signup download
Loving Lydia by Susan Sloan, Civil War Historical Romance, digital
Kage: The 6th Commandment by Charlene Amsden, Romantic Suspense, digital
Counting on the Cowboy by Shannon Taylor Vannatter, Contemporary Romance, print
AUTHOR BIO:
With a family heritage of singers, songwriters, and storytellers, Susan Pope Sloan’s destiny as a writer was settled early on. She published nonfiction articles sporadically in denominational magazines and local newspapers over many years. Upon retirement, she began writing historical fiction, the best way to combine her two avid interests of history and writing. Her first three books in the Rescued Hearts of the Civil War series were published in 2023, and two more books (in 2024 and 2025) move the series into the Reconstruction period.
In the nonfiction genre, she drew on her experiences with Victorian caroling groups to write and self-publish three books about organizing similar groups. As a member of ACFW and Word Weavers International, she continues to hone her writing skills and share tips with new writers. She also volunteers at the National Civil War Naval Museum in her hometown of Columbus, Georgia. Susan and husband Ricky have three adult children and five fabulous grandsons. Learn more & connect:
Susan’s Facebook Susan’s Instagram
About the book – Loving Lydia (Book 2 Rescued Hearts of the Civil War series):
Two Southerners thrown together by the Union army. He’s on a quest for vengeance. She’s determined to preserve her family.
Lydia Gibson’s life is overturned when the Union Army invades her hometown and burns down the cotton mill where she and her stepdaughter worked. Even worse, she and the other workers are arrested and sent to Marietta, where they wait for the army to send them north.
Confederate Sergeant Seth Morgan finally reaches Marietta to check on his family, but the last thing he expects is to meet a woman who sparks attraction he thought he’d never feel again. Unfortunately, she’s a Yankee prisoner and being sent north to Louisville, Kentucky.
Seth is forced to return to his unit in Virginia, and he never anticipated their next meeting would be when he’s taken to Louisville as a prisoner. While Seth searches the Confederate ranks for the man who murdered his wife, Lydia implores him to ask after her missing nephew. Neither one expects just how far the search will take them, or what they’ll discover along the way.
Worried you won’t win the drawing? Interested in Susan’s other titles? Need extra books for gifts?
Get your copy/copies now!
Loving Lydia – Amazon.com Loving Lydia – Barnes & Noble
Come back April 25th for Shannon’s Book Bargains Roundup!
Leave a Reply