Life is full of adventure and surprises – if you will step out to enjoy them!
I have a new Mountain Home Book coming out March 16th titled SHOP ON THE CORNER. I enjoy writing all my books, set around the mountains and at the coast … but this book was especially fun for me to write. I got really attached to all the characters in the story and had so much fun creating their adventures. I also loved revisiting, on several trips, the Waynesville, North Carolina, area to work on this book, walking the downtown streets, stopping in all the charming stores, eating in the cute local restaurants. Each visit reminded me again how much I like this picturesque and engaging North Carolina town.
I first visited Waynesville to attend a book signing at a small bookstore downtown called Osondu Books. It had charming green awnings and was very appealing inside and out. It belonged to Margaret Osondu. We became friends at my visit and I returned every time I had a new book to do signings with Margaret. …Later, when Osondu closed I began to sign at a new store in Waynesville called Blue Ridge Books. I soon came to know the owners of that store well, too, Jo Gilley and Allison Lee… and now Blue Ridge is the store I go to for my Waynesville book signings. I will be there March 22nd to sign again from 2:00-4:00 pm … and the next day at the Cotton Tail Market at the Smoky Mountain Event Center for a lighthearted Easter show with a great cast of vendors from around the area. … It’s always a pleasure any time to go to Waynesville.
You’ll get to visit Waynesville, North Carolina, in this story, too. The book begins, at first, in another small town, Amory, Mississippi. One of my close cousins lived there when I was a girl and I made many summer visits to Amory, walking and biking the downtown streets with her. It was fun to revisit Amory in my mind, and the town was a perfect beginning point for my main character, Laura O’Dell, who owns and runs her father’s upholstery store called Shop On the Corner. Unfortunately, a highway is being widened beside Laura’s shop and her store and others are scheduled to be taken by imminent domain. Additionally, to bring more problems Laura’s way, her sister Georgina and boyfriend Chase came to visit at Christmas and have stayed on and on freeloading on her hospitality, contributing nothing to expenses, and continually borrowing money they never pay back. Nothing seems to be going right and Laura soon gets a little push to consider a move and a big life change.
As you may guess, that change takes her to Waynesville, North Carolina, to an empty shop for sale right on a corner near Waynesville’s main street. It’s a big move for Laura, who has never been to Waynesville before, but she soon finds the change to be a good one. This is due in part to meeting Mitchell Quinlan who owns Quinlan Staffing Services across the street from Laura’s shop. There is definitely a little sizzle of attraction when they first meet. However, both have a host of life problems and responsibilities going on … and they soon get drawn into other problems and issues around the town of Waynesville … as you will, too!
A special pleasure in working on this book was creating two very unique businesses, Laura’s upholstery shop and Mitchell’s family staffing business. I did a lot of research for both businesses to make them as accurate as possible. Years ago, I actually did a short-term temp job in a staffing services office here in Knoxville, TN, and in a past sales job, I often visited with a favorite sales client, Bob Cable, at his upholstery store, Ledford’s Upholstery, in downtown Elizabethton, TN. I so enjoy creating businesses like these. One of the pleasures of being an author to me is “trying” out a host of occupations and careers through my book characters!
You’ll see the pictures here of how I imagined that my four main story characters might look…. Laura O’Dell and her sister Georgina, Mitchell Quinlan and his mother Evelyn, an area artist and art instructor. Each of these individuals had distinct personalities and you’ll come to know each well in the book, along with a wide host of enjoyable side characters I truly loved spending time with in my mind. These include friends and work associates, Mitchell’s niece and nephew, Mackenzie and Charlie, and Mitchell’s other relatives—especially his grandmothers, Nannie V and Mimi—and all the wonderful Barlow family. You’re in for a treat with this rich southern story, along with the extra addition of a running local mystery to follow.
Those of you who read my books know that I set all my stories in “real” places and try to use as many real streets, shops, restaurants, and tourist sites around the area as I can so readers will feel like they have actually visited in the settings of my books. Besides getting to know Waynesville … you’ll also enjoy sitting on Main Street with my main characters to watch the annual Folkmoot International Festival Parade wind its colorful way down the street. I’ve been in Waynesville to enjoy this parade in July … and it is stunning to see.
A short distance from Waynesville, too, is the beautiful Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center, a lovely place set around a picturesque lake with a walking trail all around it. You’ll get to take a nice walk on that trail with Mitchell, Laura, the kids, and the family dog Zoey at one point. I’ve stayed at Junaluska in past and also signed books at the retreat center’s bookstore. Junaluska is especially beautiful when the 200 roses bloom on the lakeside Rose Walk.
Waynesville is also near many well-known tourist attractions. One is the Biltmore House, Gardens, and Estate. Biltmore is the historic home and property built by George Vanderbilt, still owned by his descendants and covering over 8,000 acres. It is a major tourist attraction and draws over a million visitors a year to tour the historic home and the beautifully landscaped grounds and gardens. At one point in the book, you’ll get to visit Biltmore with Mitchell and Laura … and learn more about it.
Additionally, you’ll get to take a hike in the Cataloochee area of the Smoky Mountains with Mitchell and Laura. … A fan once told me that one of her favorite things about my books was that I always put a hike in every book. I went back to check and it’s basically true. I like to show readers what a pleasure a “walk” or hike in the mountains can be. In this book you’ll get to hike and learn more about the Little Cataloochee Trail and the Cataloochee Valley, once the home of many settlers. Cataloochee is as beautiful as Cades Cove—but less crowded.
Through books, readers get the joy of living many lives and visiting a multitude of new places. I hope you’ll enjoy meeting the rich array of characters I’ve created for SHOP ON THE CORNER and that you’ll love visiting this colorful small town. As the back of the book reads: “Sometimes life’s unexpected hardships force you to consider drastic changes you’d never have dreamed of but lead in time to some sweet and unexpected joys.”
To read about my other new book LIGHT IN THE DARK, also publishing in March, read on below to find my February blog about it …And click “FOLLOW” to always get a little email reminder when a new blog goes up each month. … See my March newsletter, too, with our Book Tour Agenda for the coming months at: https://linstepp.com/media-2/.
Happy Spring. I hope your year will be a blessed one.
Note: All photos my own, from royalty free sites, or used only as a part of my author repurposed storyboards shown only for educational and illustrative purposes, acc to the Fair Use Copyright law, Section 107 of the Copyright Act.
On March 16th I have a new book coming out in the Lighthouse Sisters series. This third title in the series is called LIGHT IN THE DARK. It follows Celeste’s story, who grew up at her family’s inn by the Deveaux Lighthouse on the South Carolina coast. As the back of the book reads in brief: “In this third novel in the beloved Lighthouse Sisters series, Celeste Deveaux struggles to find her way back to joy, love, and meaning after a painful relationship almost shatters her life.” I hope you’ll enjoy Celeste’s journey in this new novel with a little romance, a touch of suspense, and rich scenes on the coast at Edisto and in downtown Charleston.
For me, most all of my book story ideas come from thoughts or mental pictures that slip into my mind while visiting the places I write about. My home and heart live here in the mountains of Tennessee, but our favorite vacation spot is Edisto Beach, that we first visited when our children were small in the 1980s. Edisto is a quieter and less commercially developed place than busier beaches like Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head nearby. We loved this aspect of the island, enjoying the easy beach access, the peace and calm of this laid-back coastal community.
One summer at the end of the 1990s, when J.L. and I were vacationing at Edisto, we visited Hunting Island State Park and the big lighthouse there. The idea began to play around in my mind, wondering what it might have been like for four sisters to grow up on a windswept island beside a lighthouse. I soon began to envision these sisters, each different and distinct, raised in the family’s big bed-and-breakfast for tourists that had once been the lighthouse keeper’s home. Ideas began to drift in more and more and I was soon excited about this new book idea.
Once I get an overall concept and loose plan for a book, I begin to visualize the main characters for the books. For this four-book series, each book focuses on one of the four sisters. The first book LIGHT THE WAY introduced fictitious Watch Island on Edisto’s north end, plus the Deveaux Inn, Lighthouse, and the Deveaux family. The head of the family, Lloyd Deveaux has died unexpectedly, bringing sorrow and more work load to his wife Etta and to her daughter Burke. The oldest sister, Burke, has always loved the life at the island and never left as her sisters have. LIGHT THE WAY Is Burke’s story … and it becomes Waylon Jenkins’ story, too, when he retires from the Navy to come back to his family home on Edisto. Waylon and Burke grew up together, and it is sweet how they reconnect in this story. Lila, the youngest sister, has recently returned home, too, and before the book ends, the other two sisters also return, each running from personal problems. Gwen returns home with her three children, hurt over a betrayal with her husband. Not long after that, Burke and Gwen go to Nashville to bring home Celeste, and it is Celeste’s story you will read in LIGHT IN THE DARK.
Even though I have always visited the places where I set my books, I return to those settings again to explore as I begin to work on a new book set there. I pick up brochures, take photos, talk to people, learn historic facts, and gather story ideas. As I am researching and creating the settings for a book, I also develop and flesh out all the secondary and side characters. The sisters’ parents, Lloyd and Etta Deveaux, had to come to life, as did a diversity of neighbors and friends. Additionally, I spent months developing the Deveaux Inn, lighthouse, gift shop, and the entire 500-acre lighthouse station. I had to find out how a lighthouse works and to design the interior and operations of the inn and lighthouse. I also spent time learning about and creating the cottages, outbuildings, harbors, marina, and creeks around the island, and developing the employees who would help the Deveaux family run the inn. I studied extensively, too, to gain more knowledge about the South Carolina coast, the tides, ocean, climate, about the island, the lighthouse’s history, Edisto’s marshes, creeks, birds and animals, seashells, and a million other small things that might play into the stories.
To make each story more unique, I varied the setting focus of each book. LIGHT THE WAY focuses its story and setting on the lighthouse island at Edisto. LIGHTEN MY HEART branches out to take readers to scenes around Beaufort and Port Royal. This third book, LIGHT IN THE DARK, centers much of its story in downtown Charleston. I researched and learned about the city’s history, studied maps and articles, and my husband J.L. and I explored all over the downtown streets where scenes in the book would take place. We discovered so many spots we’d never visited before on these explorations, finding quiet gardens tucked away between gracious historic buildings, sleepy cemeteries, little museums, and cute restaurants and shops. I spent extensive time around King Street where many scenes in my story take place, bringing me wonderful ideas to help enrich Celeste’s story.
As an author, I always create an “Inspiration Collage Board” for my books … and here you can see my board for the Lighthouse Sisters books. The four books have a rich array of characters you will meet along the way. All their lives have problems and challenges… and they often little mysteries to unravel. In LIGHT THE WAY, a series of murders are going on around the coastal area that Burke and Waylon get swept into. In LIGHTEN MY HEART Alex’s family’s restaurant gets troubled, as do other Beaufort businesses, by a counterfeiter. And in LIGHT THE WAY, Celeste and Reid work their way through their own set of problems you will soon read about and get caught up in.
I hope you’ll curl up in a comfy chair in your house, or out on the porch in a favorite rocker, and settle in to enjoy this new Lighthouse Sisters book.
READ MORE IN 2024
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” [ Joseph Addison, 17th Century English writer]
“Reading makes the mind grow.” – [Kacey Riel]
“Reading helps us gain insight into our own lives and the lives of others.” [Diana Raab, PhD, Psychology Today]
“The seeds of dreams are often found in books.” [Dolly Parton]
“When I think of all the books still left for me to read, I am certain off further happiness.” [Jules Renard]
Up close, some tree leaves are “Smooth Edged” or entire, around their sides, while others are zig-zagged or “Tooth Edged.” Dogwood trees and Crabapple trees, familiar to most, are good examples of “smooth-edged” trees, although the Crabapples do have tiny teeth around their edges. Beech trees are a more obvious example of “tooth-edged” trees. There are several different types of Beech trees but the American Beech is particularly stately and beautiful, often growing into a tall, giant of a tree. Elm trees, too, are “tooth-edged” trees and the well-known American Elm is often a large shade tree with wide spreading branches. The elms and beech in our neighborhood turn a golden yellow and then brown.
After you begin to study more about tree leaves, you will find that many are recognizable in the fall not only by their color but by their shape. Also, some trees have different shaped leaves on different varieties, like on Sassafras trees. In our neighborhood is a giant red-leafed Sassafras with long simple leaves with no lobes. It turns crimson red in the fall. Also in the neighborhood is a Sassafras tree with three-lobed simple leaves. This shorter sycamore tree’s leaves turn a rich yellow in the fall. I often think these sycamore leaves look sort of like mittens in shape and often the leaves only have two lobes instead of three, looking even more like a mitten.
Often you can recognize trees not only by their leaves but by their nuts, seeds, or berries. The Sweetgum tree is one of those. Its pointed lobed and toothed leaves are somewhat star-shaped. Sweetgum leaves turn red and purplish-red in fall and you can often find the tree’s round, spiny “sweet gum balls” nearby, the tree’s fruit, containing the seed. Young Sweetgum trees don’t produce Sweetgum balls at first but the trees start producing them later as they age.
The Chestnut tree not only has distinctive leaves, easy to identify, but it produces sticky “Chestnut Burrs” in fall. The leaves on a Chestnut tree are often big, too, like magnolia leaves. My neighbor has a big Chestnut tree in her back yard and it’s her hand you see in the photo holding one of the tree’s burrs.
Two less common trees to watch for in the fall landscape are the yellow Gingko tree, with its green leaves gradually turning a vibrant yellow and the Red Dawn tree, sometimes called the Dawn Redwood tree, a deciduous tree with leaves that look much like an evergreen Christmas tree. The Ginkgo tree, also native to East Asia, is one of the oldest known living tree species in the world. The leaves have a distinctive “fan” shape, making it easily recognizable. I remember several beautiful Gingko trees on the University of Tennessee campus and we are blessed to have a lovely Gingko in our neighborhood, a beauty of yellow color right now. Another very old tree, you might spot because of its unique leaflets, is the Dawn Redwood. My neighbor has one in her yard and as fall wanes it turns a gorgeous orange. This tree is actually now an endangered species and like many redwoods can grow to a great height.
As you look out across the hillsides at the fall colors, when you’re stopped along the way or driving, many of the yellow trees you see are most likely to be beech, birch, and yellow tulip poplars, while the lush rich orange and yellow-orange trees you spot are probably sugar maples, oaks and sweetgums. The reds scattered and clumped on the hillsides may be mainly maples, dogwoods, sassafras, and oaks. The colors of fall are always a delight and I love knowing that I’ll know more now about what kind of tree I’m seeing as I enjoy them. To learn more about the trees near your home, pick up a “tree guidebook” to help you identify the trees you see, read about identifying trees on the internet, and possibly download one of the “tree identification” apps to help you learn more about the trees in your fall landscape….And enjoy the fall!
Until 2019, all my books were set around the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina, near where I live. My first book, titled THE FOSTER GIRLS, published in 2009, quickly became well loved by readers, as did the subsequent books in the series. All twelve of these titles were stand-alone novels, each taking readers to different places in every book with a new story and new characters. While working on the final books in the Smoky Mountain series, and already planning a new continuing series my editor at Kensington named The Mountain Home Books, a new idea began to rumble around in my mind for books set at our favorite beach in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. I talked to my editor at Kensington at the time to see what she thought about it. Audrey said, “Lin, I think your readers will love traveling to the beach with you. Everyone loves your Smoky Mountain books and I’m sure they’ll love any books you write set at the beach, too.” So. after finishing my current mountain title … I started to work on a new Lowcountry trilogy of books set at Edisto Beach.
The term “Lowcountry,” in general, refers to any low-lying geographical country or region. However, when South Carolinians talk of “The Lowcountry” they always mean a specific geographic region consisting of the twelve counties along the South Carolina coast. This region extends from Georgetown, just south of Myrtle Beach, through Charleston, Edisto, Beaufort, Hilton Head, to end at Daufuskie Island above Savannah at the Georgia border. The South Carolina Lowcountry implies not only a specific region but the term also embraces a unique cultural mindset, its people and places. The Lowcountry area is known for its distinct beauty, sandy beaches, recreational pursuits, seafood, historic places, and favorable climate.
J.L. and I had always taken most of our vacations at different Lowcountry beaches but one summer in the 1980s – when our children, Max and Kate, were three and five—we discovered Edisto Island and Edisto Beach. It immediately snagged our hearts and drew us back summer after summer – and still does. Edisto Island is located on the coast, in the heart of the Lowcountry, half way between Charleston and Beaufort. Edisto is one of South Carolina’s Sea Islands, the larger part in Charleston County with its southern tip, Edisto Beach, in Colleton County. The roadway into Edisto from Highway 17, winds its way to the beach, traveling through remote rural areas and crossing long stretches of marsh land. Edisto Beach, at the road’s end, is an unobtrusive place, not very commercial in comparison to most of the well-known beaches along the Lowcountry coast. But we loved that aspect about it right away, and we returned year after year to enjoy the beach, the quiet island, the small shops and local restaurants, the bike trails, and the area’s beauty and laid-back charm.
It was to Edisto that I wanted to take my readers—to a lesser-known place in the Lowcountry with a small-town feel. My first Edisto book CLAIRE AT EDISTO, brought Claire Avery to the island to recover after the unexpected loss of her husband Charles. Claire had been a stay-at-home mom with two small girls, Mary Helen, nine, and Suki, five. Living at the time in the church manse, next to the historic church where her husband had pastored, Claire was facing all the many transitions an unexpected loss encompasses—shock, grief, lifestyle changes, a multitude of decisions, and the need to find work and a new home for herself and her girls. The resulting book is the story of Claire’s journey and all the adjustments and problems she faces making a new life on her own. The house she comes to at Edisto, for a space of vacation and a time to grieve, belongs to her husband’s brother Parker. The beach house, named Oleanders, is familiar to Claire, as she, Charles, and the girls often visited at this house for vacations.
In developing the Lighthouse Sisters books, I enjoyed branching out to visit and spend time in nearby cities close to Edisto. In LIGHTEN MY HEART, Gwen’s story, a large part of the book’s setting is in Beaufort and Port Royal. Beaufort is one of our favorite Lowcountry spots to visit, kind of like a small “Charleston,” and I especially enjoyed creating Trescotts Restaurant in downtown Beaufort. Since Gwen gets a Lowcountry teaching position she’s been hoping for in the nearby community of Port Royal, many of the book scenes are centered there, as well. J.L. and I were charmed with our visits to historic Port Royal, founded in 1562, which we’d missed exploring much before. If you’ve missed going to Port Royal, too, take a day to see all its sites when you are in the area. It has wonderful walking trails, historic buildings, charming shops, great local restaurants, a Cypress Wetlands, streets lined with colorful homes, and a scenic beach with boardwalks and an observation tower at The Sands.
Right now, as I write this post, I’m finishing my final outline for the last book in this four-book series, Lila’s story, which will focus on the Deveaux Inn and Lighthouse again, while branching out to encompass Edisto Island as a whole. In this book, I’m bringing a big plantation into the story, a market on the highway, many new characters, and a sweep of hidden issues and problems that need to come to light and be dealt with for many of the characters to find peace and joy again. As the title THE LIGHT CONTINUES suggests, life and love do continue after problems and pains. And we can all begin again after sorrows and hurts and find new love and joy. I hope you will enjoy all four of these Lighthouse Sisters books … and tell your reader friends about them!
My husband J.L. and I just returned from a week at Edisto Island, enjoying the beach and a time of relaxation. While there we visited new places, and met some new people, that I hope to bring into the novel that I’m beginning. I gathered a lot of fun stories and facts while visiting at Edisto, too, that I hope to work into my storyline. Readers are already hoping I’ll write more Lowcountry books in the future, as well as continuing more mountain books… and a few ideas are already drifting around in my mind for future stories. So, In time, I’m sure there will be more Lowcountry books as well as more Mountain Home books to come.
An old quote by Toni Morrison says: “If there’s a book you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” And that’s exactly what I did … taking readers first to the Smoky Mountains I love and then to the Lowcountry with wholesome, rich, and memorable stories that will linger in your heart and mind, draw you back to read them again and again … and pull on your heart to visit the places I write about….Books are truly the way I go home with people, and I hope you’ll let me “visit” with you soon in one of my stories ….Happy Reading!
Lin Stepp 