No doubt about it, writing novels is a dream job. But it's not all fun and games. When it's time for a break or change of scenery, many novelists retreat to a special garden spot in the backyard, front porch, courtyard or garden shed. We welcome you into the outdoor spaces that offer us respite and inspiration. Grab a mug of coffee or a cup of tea and come sit with us a spell. . .
welcome!
carolyne aarsen
Since selling her first book in 1997, Carolyne Aarsen has had numerous novels published. Her stories reflect a love of God, family, and rural life. When not writing she helps her husband with his logging business, and with the cows, horses and chickens on their farm in Neerlandia, Canada, where long winters make them appreciate their flowers all the more. (The lovely arbor bench below is the view from Carolyne's office window!) Carolyne and her husband have raised four children and numerous foster children, and are now enjoying the addition of grandchildren to their family. Read more about Carolyne at www.carolyneaarsen.com
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tamera alexander
Tamera Alexander is the author of the bestselling Fountain Creek Chronicles series. Her books have won numerous awards including the RITA® and the Christy. Having moved from Colorado to Tennessee, Tamera and her husband, Joe, enjoyed the challenge ("enjoyed" being a relative term) of completing the landscaping and gardens at their home in Nashville. Vistas of the surrounding countryside, a swing Joe built, and a cozy covered deck where Tamera writes, offer plenty of inspiration. More at www.tameraalexander.com.
Tamera doing research at Claude Monet's gardens in Giverny, France.nikki arana
Nikki Arana is an award-winning author of women's fiction, essays, poetry, and magazine articles. Her work has been published in the United States and Canada. Her first three novels make up the Regalo Grande series, set alternately in Guadalajara, Mexico and California wine country. Nikki's newest title is As I Have Loved You, inspired by a true story. She and her husband of thirty-three years, Antonio, live in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Visit Nikki's website at www.nikkiarana.com.
karen ball
Karen Ball has been writing stories since she was a little girl. The first novel in her Family Honor series, Shattered Justice, was given the 2006 Inspirational Reader's Choice Award. The much anticipated final book in that series, What Lies Within, will release in November '07. Karen's love of all things nature came from her mother and father, who raised pansies and roses, respectively. As a result, Karen's garden today has an abundance of both flowers, and she loves creating bouquets from her garden to fill the house with the sweet fragrances. The color and aroma are a definite inspiration to her as she writes. Visit Karen's website at www.karenballbooks.com.
terri blackstock
Terri Blackstock is the author of over thirty Christian fiction titles, many of which have been number one best-sellers. Her new Restoration novels include Last Light, Night Light, True Light, and the newest book in the series, Dawn's Light, which will hit bookstores across the country this spring. Terri's garden spot is in her beautiful native Mississippi where she shares a home with husband, Ken. Visit Terri's website at www.terriblackstock.com.
stephen and janet bly
With a very short growing season where Stephen and Janet Bly live, petunias are one of the few hardy flowers they can count on lasting through summer until the first snows hit. The rest of the year they enjoy about 60 ponderosa pines that surround their home. A Christy Award winner for westerns, Stephen has authored and co-authored (with wife Janet Chester Bly) 101 fiction and nonfiction books, including historical and contemporary westerns. Steve is a retired mayor and present pastor of Winchester (ID) Community Church. They live in northern Idaho at 4,000 ft. elev., on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. A third generation westerner, Stephen spent 30 years working his father's farm and his uncle's ranch in central California. He collects and restores antique Winchesters, studies history of the Old West, and has constructed Broken Arrow Crossing, a false front western village next to his home. He also plays a par game of golf. Janet's hobbies include decorating her home in “country clutter,” shopping for a touch of bling and dressy denim, making wreaths for friends and family, and reading and reviewing all genres of fiction. You can find Steve and Janet on the Web at www.blybooks.com.
sandra byrd
Sandra Byrd is a prolific writer of fiction, including the popular Friends for a Season series for teens, and the French Twist series for adults. Before she began writing full time, Sandra worked in marketing, sales, and acquisitions for an educational publisher. She and her husband have two children, and keep house and garden in Seattle, where they recently moved - trading in a well developed English garden for a pretty, Provence inspired front garden and a beautiful view of a lake (but no yard work!) in the back. Find out more about Sandra at www.sandrabyrd.com.
mindy starns clark
Mindy Starns Clark is the author of stand-alone mysteries, the Smart Chick Mystery series, as well as the nonfiction book The House That Cleans Itself. Mindy lives near Valley Forge, PA, with her husband John, two daughters, and two shih tzus. As the daughter of an avid organic gardener, Mindy would rather look at beautiful flowers than do all the work that makes them that way, as the weeds in this photo of her "leftover tulip garden" will attest. She explains: "Every Christmas, I like to send a gift to everyone at my publishing house. The year my novel, The Trouble with Tulip, came out, I sent out a bunch of individually-wrapped tulip bulbs. I didn't know what to do with the leftover bulbs, but a strangely warm winter day came along, so I stuck them in the ground around our front lamp post. I forgot all about them, but that spring they popped up, blooming beautifully - and they have continued to bless us year after year ever since!" Visit Mindy's website at www.mindystarnsclark.com.
brandilyn collins
Brandilyn Collins is a best-selling novelist known for her trademark Seatbelt Suspense®. These harrowing crime thrillers have earned her the tagline "Don't forget to b r e a t h e . . ."® Brandilyn and her family divide their time between homes in the California Bay Area and northern Idaho. These beautiful gardens with water features, lush wisteria arbors that seem to go on for miles (and a hot tub that will be familiar to readers of her novels!) are at her west coast home. Find out more at www.brandilyncollins.com.
mary demuth
Mary DeMuth lives with her husband, Patrick, and their three children in Texas. They recently returned from Southern France where they planted a church and tended the garden shown below. Mary’s novels are Watching the Tree Limbs, and Wishing on Dandelions, which was a finalist for the Retailer's Choice Award and the ACFW Book of the Year Award. Mary also writes non-fiction, including: Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God; Building the Christian Family You Never Had, and Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture. Mary's home on the web is www.marydemuth.com.
megan dimaria
Megan DiMaria shares the same garden and patio as Linda Revere, the character in her novels Searching for Spice and Out of Her Hands. As far as Megan is concerned, a perfect summer weekend includes some hang time in her garden hammock. When she’s not tapping out another story on her computer, she loves to spend time with her husband and three adult children in the gorgeous Rocky Mountain state of Colorado. Visit Megan at megandimaria.blogspot.com.
sharon dunn
Sharon Dunn is the author of five novels, all of them humorous whodunits for the Christian market. Her second book in the Ruby Taylor mystery series, Sassy Cinderella and the Valiant Vigilante, was voted Book of the Year by American Christian Fiction Writers. When she isn’t writing or being the mom taxi for her kids, Sharon works part time at a university. She lives with her hubby of twenty years, three kids and three cats. She loves the first sip of coffee in the morning, the timelessness of C.S. Lewis’ writing and feeling sunshine on her face. You can read more about Sharon at www.sharondunnbooks.com
robin lee hatcher
Robin Lee Hatcher is the best-selling author of over sixty books, including her most recent release, A Vote of Confidence. Her well-drawn characters and heartwarming stories have earned her critical acclaim and the devotion of readers. Robin's numerous awards include the 2000 Christy Award, the 1999 and 2001 RITA Awards for Best Inspirational Romance, Romantic Times Career Achievement Awards for Americana Romance and for Inspirational Fiction, and the 2001 RWA Lifetime Achievement Award. Library Journal named Catching Katie one of the Best Books of 2004. Visit Robin's web site at www.robinleehatcher.com.
roxanne henke
Roxanne Henke is the author of the beloved Coming Home to Brewster series that began with After Anne. Roxy gardens in a small town in North Dakota where the "national holiday" is Sauerkraut Day and summers are short, but sweet. Roxy is married to Lorren and is Mom to two married daughters. Her newest novel is On a Someday, a novel about the joys and challenges of the empty nest, and follows The Secret of Us and Learning to Fly. Visit Roxy's website at www.roxannehenke.com.
patti hill
Gardens are Patti Hill's bread and butter, literally. Her husband, Dennis, owns a garden center in Colorado. Just like the main character of her books, Patti's garden is in a constant state of flux. "There's always room for one more flower," is her gardening motto, and she breaks for all botanical gardens. Her first novel Like a Watered Garden, part of the Garden Gates series, was a 2006 Christy Award finalist. Patti's newest is Seeing Things. Find her home on the Web at www.pattihillauthor.com.
sharon hinck
Sharon Hinck, author of The Becky Miller Series has been a church youth worker, a choreographer and ballet teacher, a church organist, a home-school mom, and a bookstore clerk. One day she’ll figure out what to be when she grows up! In the meantime she is pouring her imagination into writing. She released her first novel in 2006. Her newest book is The Restorer. Sharon and her family make their home in Minnesota. When she's not writing, she loves to spend time in her raised bed, organic vegetable garden. "Tomatoes and peppers are a great distraction from plot arcs and edits," she says. Sharon's website is www.sharonhinck.com.
angela hunt
Angela Elwell Hunt is the best-selling author of The Tale of Three Trees, The Note, and She's in a Better Place, with over three million copies of her books sold worldwide. Eight of her novels have won Angel Awards from Excellence in Media. Hunt has also won four silver medals and a gold medal from ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Award as well as a Christy Award. Romantic Times Book Club presented her with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. Three of her novels have been optioned for film. She and her husband make their home in Florida.
Angie says, "When Angel's Trumpet (Brugmansia, top photo above) is in flower, it's beautiful. When it's not, it's a knobby, scrawny, baldish looking thing. Kind of epitomizes the writer's life: feast or famine." Angela's garden also includes one flower that exemplifies her professional brand, Expect the Unexpected. "A night-blooming cereus blooms only once," Angie says, "and that in the middle of the night. I have two plants, but I missed the first plant’s bloom (the flowers always fade by sunrise) so the second night I sat outside on my back porch to snap this picture... The bud began to open around midnight, and was in full flower by three am. After that, I went to bed! My neighbors probably thought I was nuts, sitting outside, surrounded by flickering candles, with my notepad and my camera. But it was worth it!" Update: Angela's night-blooming cereus performed again in October 2008 (bottom photo) this time thoughtfully opening long before midnight. For more about Angela Hunt, visit www.angelaelwellhunt.com.
dave & neta jackson
Dave & Neta Jackson—husband-and-wife, best friends, and writing team—may be familiar from their series of 40 Trailblazer Books, historical novels for young readers about Christian heroes, or from Neta's Yada Yada Prayer Group series of women's fiction. Recently they've tried something new: “parallel novels,” two stories taking place in the same time frame, same neighborhood, involving some of the same characters living through their own dramas, but interacting with and affecting one another...just the way it happens in real life.
Neta's Where Do I Go? is the first book in the Yada Yada House of Hope series, and Dave's Harry Bentley's Second Chance is a Yada Yada Brothers Novel. Dave—who grew up in the country—especially enjoys his Chicago vegetable garden, working on it with his grandson, and having space for neighbors to gather under the trees in their side yard. Find out more about Dave and Neta at www.daveneta.com
jerry jenkins
Dr. Jerry B. Jenkins, former vice president for publishing and now chairman of the board of trustees for the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, is the author of more than 175 books, including the 70,000,000-selling Left Behind series. Jerry Jenkins has been awarded four honorary doctorates and Riven, his standalone novel, released in July 2008 to stellar reviews. 
He and his wife Dianna have three grown sons and four grandchildren and live in Colorado where Jerry writes in his private (nobody gets in to see the wizard) mountain retreat at a custom designed horseshoe desk.
When Jerry and Dianna moved to Colorado ten years ago, they planted trees and shrubs to echo their mountain surroundings. Now they are rewarded in all seasons with these spectacular views. Visit Jerry's home on the web at www.jerryjenkins.com.
nancy jo jenkins
Nancy Jo Jenkins' garden is a "hothouse" and featured below are the leaves of an ivy plant she "ditched" in the greenhouse several years ago. "The greenhouse is like a rain forest where our plants thrive, both wintertime and summer," Nancy says. Nancy Jo is a retired teacher who loves to write Christian novels. She lives with her husband in Austin, Texas, near their children and grandchildren. She loves attending writers conferences and fellowshipping with other writers. Coldwater Revival is her debut novel. You can visit her website at www.nancyjojenkins.com.
wendy lawton
Literary agent, artisan and novelist Wendy Lawton is the author of the Daughters of the Faith series. She and her family recently moved from their ranch in California with its 100-year-old garden (pictured) and Wendy's unique writing studio. But her son has planted 35 bareroot roses in her new garden, along with camellias and spring annuals. Check back for scenes from the new garden as it progresses. Visit Wendy's website at www.wendylawton.com
creston mapes
When Creston Mapes isn't writing contemporary suspense novels, like his most recent, Nobody, he works as a freelance writer for clients such as Coca-Cola, The Weather Channel, Focus on the Family, ABC-TV, and many others. Creston and his family have resided in the Atlanta metropolitan area for 22 years, the past six in a suburb northeast of the city. He married his hometown sweetheart and they have four children. Besides enjoying time with his family on the screened-in porch with a view of their beautiful backyard retreat (also the view from Creston's office), he loves reading, painting, morning runs with his old yellow Lab Jared, watching hockey, going on dates with his wife, and spending time in God's Word. Find out more about Creston and his novels at www.crestonmapes.com.
gail gaymer martin
Gail Gaymer Martin is an award-winning novelist with over one million books in print and forty novels and novellas, including her newest title, Family in His Heart. Her non-fiction book, Writing The Christian Romance, is a new release from Writers Digest Books. Gail gardens with her husband, Bob, in a suburb of Detroit. You can visit her website at www.gailmartin.com.
susan meissner
Susan Meissner is a former newspaper editor and the author of numerous novels, including A Seahorse in the Thames, In All Deep Places, A Window to the World (named one of the Top Ten Christian Novels of 2005 by Booklist magazine), as well as the Rachael Flynn Mystery series, and her newest novel, Blue Heart Blessed. Susan and her pastor husband, Bob, have four children. Susan bought the plants for her mini-cactus garden at a farmer's market where a man played a violin next to a stall of fresh tulips while Susan shopped for cacti. Her cactus garden thrives in the hot sun on the south side of her home in southern California. Visit Susan on the Web at www.susanmeissner.com.
ruth axtell morren
Ruth Axtell Morren gained her first recognition as a writer when she made the finals in the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Contest while living in the Netherlands with her husband. In Holland Ruth crafted her first serious story in between having her three children and tending the small "brickyard" garden of their townhouse in the Netherlands. "Now the scenery is quite different on the downeast coast of Maine. After three years away, there has been a lot of weeding and tilling to do. But a garden with good bones comes through. Our yard is surrounded by forest on three sides, mainly balsam fir and spruce. The yard has several gnarled old apple trees, but still bear the best apples for pie and applesauce. I've planted several lilac bushes over the years, as well as daffodils, rhododendron and other flowers. Mainly, it's trial and error to see what survives our long winters. Ruth's newest title is A Bride of Honor. Below Ruth stops at a sidewalk café while in Paris on a research trip. Visit Ruth online at www.ruthaxtellmorren.com.
A view of Ruth's garden in Holland.
elizabeth musser
Elizabeth Musser, a native of Atlanta, creates her novels in a charming "writing chalet," a revamped tool shed in her yard in Lyon, France. With their two sons, Elizabeth and her husband, Paul, have lived in France for over twenty years while involved in mission work there. Her newest novel is Words Unspoken, and she is currently at work on her seventh novel. Visit Elizabeth's website at www.elizabethmusser.com.
donita k. paul
Donita K. Paul is a mother of two (and grandmother of two) who retired early from teaching school, but soon got bored! The result: a determination to start a new career. Now she is an award-winning novelist writing Christian Romance and Fantasy. Her newest title is The Vanishing Sculptor. "My garden is right outside my office window," Donita says. "I found the ducks at a thrift shop and they just make the little spot more playful and inviting. My grandsons are allowed to play in the water but not with the ducks. I'd like to put dragons out there, but haven't found any I like well enough." Visit Donita's website at www.donitakpaul.com.
cara putman
Cara Putman is a woman living a dream. Her Nebraska series, of which Sandhill Dreams is the second installment, tells the stories of three couples finding love on the homefront during World War II. Cara also writes romantic suspense novels. When not writing into the wee hours of the night, she is a wife, mom to three active children, ministry leader at her church, and sometimes attorney. She loves to spend time tending her garden (even weeding - a perfect task for perfectionists) and watching God breath life into it. You can catch up with Cara at carasmusings.blogspot.com.
deborah raney
Deborah Raney enjoys writing in the garden tended by her artist husband, Ken, at their little house on the prairie in Kansas. They have four children, and two little grandsons. A Vow to Cherish, Deb's first novel, was the inspiration for the World Wide Pictures award-winning film of the same title. Her next release, Yesterday's Embers, is the third in the Clayburn Novels series. Visit her website at www.deborahraney.com.
gayle roper
Award-winning novelist Gayle Roper has been writing stories for more than thirty-five years. "The nice thing about writing," she says, "is that as long as the mind functions and the hands can still type, you can turn your imagination lose." Fatal Deduction, in which crossword puzzles contain the threats, is her latest release. Gayle's lovely gardens below are at the home she shares with her husband in Pennsylvania. Visit Gayle online at www.gayleroper.com.
kim vogel sawyer
The favorite garden spot of Kansas author Kim Vogel Sawyer is "borrowed." Kim considers it a blessing to live near her parents' home with its secluded, shady backyard full of treasures for her and husband Don's five young grandsons (and a soon-to-be granddaughter!) to explore. Kim, mother of three daughters, is the author of both historical and contemporary novels, many of them set in Kansas. Her best-selling books include The Sommerfeld Trilogy and her newest title, My Heart Remembers, an anthology releasing in February. Visit Kim's website at www.kimvogelsawyer.com.
sharon k. souza
Sharon K. Souza is the author of Every Good & Perfect Gift and Lying on Sunday, both contemporary women's novels. She and her husband, Rick, became engaged 15 days after meeting (!) and have been married 37 years. They have three grown children (one who now resides in heaven), and seven grandchildren. Sharon's garden spot is in northern California, but she has traveled with Rick to Mexico, Japan, South Africa and Jamaica, where he is involved in physically and strategically building the kingdom of God. Rick has experienced Siberia in December, been robbed in Colombia, and been called in for questioning by the authorities in Cuba. While Rick lives the adventure, Sharon is satisfied to create her own through her fiction.
For more about Sharon, go to www.sharonksouza.com.
carrie turansky
Carrie Turansky and her husband, Scott, live with their family in beautiful central New Jersey, which is known as the Garden State. Carrie (pictured below, flanked by her twin daughters) writes women's fiction and inspirational romance. Her books have been finalists for the ACFW Genesis contest and ACFW Book of the Year contest. Her newest title is a novella in A Blue & Gray Christmas. Spending time digging in the dirt is one of her favorite ways to relax. Visit Carrie's website at www.carrieturansky.com.
amy wallace
Author of the Defenders of Hope series, Amy Wallace loves tending the garden of kiddos God has given her. That's where she spends most of her time planting seeds for the future and watching God grow them up. But she can, at times, be found growing sunflowers and trying to keep the weeds at bay at her Atlanta, Georgia home. Besides writing and blogging, Amy homeschools three active little girls, leads Bible studies, and works semi-hard at overcoming her chocoholic tendencies. Amy's website is www.amywallace.com.
dan walsh
Dan Walsh's debut novel The Unfinished Gift is set on the homefront during World War II, a week before Christmas. It will hit the shelves this September, and the sequel, The Homecoming, is due out in June 2010. Dan lives in the Daytona Beach area, with his wife of 32 years, Cindi. Dan prefers to do most of his writing outside in his backyard. He has three favorite spots (wherever the shade is best). 
Dan and Cindi have lived in the same home since 1985, adding on here and there. They enjoy the pool and garden courtyard, especially when the night-blooming jasmine is in full bloom. Dan says his role in their gardening efforts is mainly providing sweat and backaches. He credits Cindi for everything worthwhile. But he loves what she's done and says it has made for a wonderful place to write and pray. Check out Dan's website at www.danwalshbooks.com
elizabeth white
Elizabeth White is the author of numerous novellas and novels, including Fair Game, Fireworks, and The Texas Gatekeepers series. Her newest title is Tour de Force. Beth's most valued roles are wife and mom, but she also teaches second graders in Sunday school, is a flutist in her church orchestra and is an artist. Beth and husband, Scott, a pastor, live with their children in Alabama, where the azaleas in their back yard bloom even before the calendar officially says spring. Visit Beth at www.elizabethwhite.net
stephanie grace whitson
Stephanie Grace Whitson, bestselling author and two-time Christy Award finalist, pursues a full-time writing and speaking career from her home studio in Lincoln, Nebraska. Stephanie has written contemporary fiction as well as historical novels like her newest, A Claim of Her Own. Her husband and blended family, her church, quilting, and Kitty - her motorcycle - all rank high on her list of "favorite things." Steph and husband Dan's garden, with its sculptures, lanterns, and secluded waterfall, is particularly soothing at night. Steph's website is www.stephaniewhitson.com
cindy woodsmall
Cindy Woodsmall is a New York Times best-selling author. To date, she’s written the Sisters of the Quilt series, The Hope of Refuge, and a Christmas novella called The Sound of Sleigh Bells. Her ability to authentically capture the heart of her characters comes from her real-life connections with Amish Mennonite and Old Order Amish families. Cindy and her husband reside in Georgia , and she is the mother of three sons and two daughters-in-law. Cindy's home on the Web is www.cindywoodsmall.com.
lenora worth
Lenora Worth writes romance and romantic suspense, including her newest releases, Deadly Texas Rose and Lone Star Secret. Originally from Georgia, Lenora has lived for over twenty years in Louisiana, where her Confederate jasmine, angel wing begonia and hibiscus thrive. Married for twenty-seven years to her high school sweetheart, Lenora has two children. Visit her website at www.lenoraworth.com.
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