Guest Post — Janet Ferguson, Author of The Art of Rivers

Janet W. Ferguson and I first connected in a FB group. She is a Mississippi girl and I married a Mississippi boy, so we clicked at once. Then I had the great pleasure of meeting her in person at the Christian Fiction Readers Retreat in April. Over lunch, we talked books, life, teased her daughter 😉 , and generally had a wonderful time. I got to see my friend again in Nashville two weeks ago — one of her books, Falling for Grace, was a Christy nominee!

Janet’s fiction can be described as Southern women’s fiction — it captures the essence of its settings, while speaking to a woman’s heart. And Janet is not afraid of incorporating tough issues that we all struggle with. I highly recommend you read this author! Her post describes some of what it took to write her latest offering, The Art of Rivers.

Thanks, Janet, for joining in my 10 Year Blogiversary celebration!

Guest Post — Janet Ferguson

Happy Blog Birthday!

Beckie, thank you so much for how you support authors of Christian fiction! You are appreciated! Writing a novel takes a ton of research and time, and often we writers feel like our novels are only a drop in the vast ocean of readers’ choices. Having a blog spotlight or review our book brings us such joy!

For my novel, The Art of Rivers, I spent two years learning about addiction. I spent hours reading news accounts of heartbreaking overdoses. I attended the state of Mississippi’s Opioid Symposium, where they discussed the dangerous epidemic driving so many into heroin addiction. I privately interviewed mothers of grown children who’d wrestled for years in prayer for those lost souls held captive by drugs or alcohol. I interviewed people, no different from you and me, who’d through a series of tragic events and choices become addicted to prescription drugs or alcohol or illegal drugs. I learned how addiction had torn up their life and the lives of those around them. I learned about twelve-step programs and how these support groups help.

Then I dove in and wrote one of the most difficult books I’d even attempted. It’s hard pouring your heart onto the page and then putting your words out there for all to read — waiting and hoping that someone’s life is touched or hopefully changed for the better. That’s why I write, and I suspect many other authors are the same. Having support from readers and reviewers warms our insecure souls.

Thank you and bless you! Keep doing what you’re doing so well!

Blessings,

Janet 

Janet W. Ferguson grew up in Mississippi and received a degree in Banking and Finance from the University of Mississippi. She has served as a children’s minister and a church youth volunteer. An avid reader, she worked as a librarian at a large public high school. She writes humorous inspirational fiction for people with real lives and real problems. Janet and her husband have two grown children, one really smart dog, and a cat that allows them to share the space.

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Rivers Sullivan bears both visible and invisible scars — those on her shoulder from a bullet wound and those on her heart from the loss of her fiancé during the same brutal attack. Not even her background as an art therapist can help her regain her faith in humanity. Still, she scrapes together the courage to travel to St. Simons Island to see the beach cottage and art gallery she’s inherited from her fiancé. When she stumbles upon recovering addicts running her gallery, she’s forced to reckon with her own healing.

After the tragic drowning of his cousin, James Cooper Knight spends his days trying to make up for his past mistakes. He not only dedicates his life to addiction counseling, but guilt drives him to the water, searching for others who’ve been caught unaware of the quickly rising tides of St. Simons. When he rescues a peculiar blond woman and her sketch pad from a sandbar, then delivers this same woman to his deceased grandmother’s properties, he knows things are about to get even more complicated.

Tragic circumstances draw Cooper and Rivers closer, but they fight their growing feelings. Though Cooper’s been sober for years, Rivers can’t imagine trusting her heart to someone in recovery, and he knows a relationship with her will only rip his family further apart. Distrust and guilt are only the first roadblocks they must overcome if they take a chance on love.

Tags: contemporary romance fiction, Janet W. Ferguson, Southern fiction, women's fiction