Today I’m excited to welcome Shannon Taylor Vannatter for an author spotlight. Don’t miss the giveaway details below.
- What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?
- Being married 36 years and having a 19 year-old. We were kids when we got married. I was a month from being nineteen and he was twenty-one. We didn’t have a clue about life, but we thought we did. The two things we did know: Jesus. We were crazy about each other. Put the two together and it works.
Our son didn’t come along until we’d been married 16 and ½ years. He is biologically ours and he was planned. It’s weird because all of his friend’s parents are ten to fifteen years younger than us. We tell him we’re wiser than they are.
He still lives at home, but is working full time, and paying his own bills. He’s not seeing anyone right now, but is saving money to get his own place by Christmas ☹
- If you couldn’t write for some reason, what would you do?
Over the years, I’ve tried to help pre-published authors by doing critiques at our local writers’ group and at conferences. I’ve thought several times, that I’d really enjoy being an editor.
In 2020, my business partner and I became co-owners of Scrivenings Press. I became certified and I’m the acquistions and content editor. I really enjoy helping authors make their dreams come true. Especially, the three prepublished authors I’ve discovered. I actually got to make THE CALL twice. I think I was excited as they were.
- What hobbies do you have?
I love crafting and sewing home décor. And I love doing jigsaw puzzles. Used to, I didn’t often do puzzles. I never had anywhere to do them except on the kitchen or coffee table. My husband isn’t a puzzler so they got on his nerves sitting out in the way.
Several years ago, my parents got me an awesome puzzle board. It has four drawers for all the extra pieces. Even though it was mobile, it was still in the way. And I tend to not want to do anything else when I’m doing a puzzle. I don’t want to feed people, or do laundry, or sleep. I just want everybody to leave me alone and let me do my puzzle. As a result, my family hates it when I do them.
Last year, we closed in our screened porch. We live in Arkansas and only sat out there about 12 times a year. The rest of the time, it was too hot, too humid, too rainy, or too cold. It’s now a sunroom. I keep a jigsaw puzzled going on the coffee table out there all the time. I love it. When I need a break from writing or editing, I go work on the puzzle for 10 to 15 minutes. It clears my mind, so I can get back to work.
But I have to make myself leave it. Often on Sundays, I spend a bulk of my time between church services, puzzling in the sunroom.
GIVEAWAY: Shannon is offering one print copy to one lucky winner. Just answer the question below to be entered in the drawing.
QUESTION FOR READERS: Is there something you love to do, that you have to make yourself walk away from in order to get the have to’s in life done?
ABOUT THE BOOK:
A Texas Bond by Shannon Taylor Vannatter
(Book 3: Texas Hill Country series)
Finding his family is only the beginning…
He came to find the children…
Will he stay to win her heart?
Learning he’s an uncle shocks Ross Lyles—but after years of handling his brother’s bombshells, at least this surprise is a blessing. A pair of five-year-old blessings Ross is determined to meet, if he can convince their aunt to give him a chance. Fiercely protective, Stacia Keyes is worried he’ll try to take the children…and lassoing her trust is harder than he ever imagined.
Available at Walmart from mid-Feb to mid-March. Or online:
A Texas Bond – ChristianBook A Texas Bond – Amazon A Texas Bond – BarnesandNoble
About Shannon:
Award winning author, Shannon Taylor Vannatter writes contemporary Christian cowboy romance and has over a dozen published titles. A romance reader since her teens, she hopes to entertain Christian women and plant seeds in the non-believer’s heart as she demonstrates that love doesn’t conquer all—Jesus does.
She gleans fodder for her fiction in rural Arkansas where she spent her teenage summers working the concession stand with her rodeo announcing dad and married a Texan who morphed into a pastor. In her spare time, she loves hanging out with her husband and son, flea marketing, and doing craft projects.
Connect with her: Shannon’s Website, Shannon’s Blog, Shannon’s Facebook, Shannon’s Goodreads, Shannon’s Pinterest, Shannon’s Twitter, Newsletter Archives, Shannon’s Amazon Author Page and Shannon’s Bookbub. Sign up for her Newsletter to get a free e-book, recipes, behind the scenes info, & enter exclusive giveaways: Shannon’s Newsletter
Recently, Shannon joined Scrivenings Press as co-owner/acquisitions/content editor.
CHAPTER ONE:
“Great bones.” The upholstery tacks popped loose with a satisfying thwack, releasing dust in a cloud around Stacia Keyes’s head. She readjusted her mask as she pulled the ancient fabric and batting away from the wingback chair.
“What a beauty.” Daddy looked up from the bookshelf he was building out of old chippy-painted window shutters. “She’ll soon be regal again.”
“What do you think of this fabric?” Stacia laid the rose gold–and-taupe-striped upholstery over the back.
“Freshen the legs with mahogany stain, and she’ll be a perfect addition to 3 Gals’ Treasures.” Daddy used the nail gun to secure a bead board panel to the shutters.
Her mom’s dream antique and vintage shop—now Stacia’s since her mom and her sister were both gone—was in the heart of Medina, Texas Hill Country. Along with Daddy’s demolition business, the store specialized in repurposing salvaged materials.
“We have an update on heavy metal rock star, Ronny Outrageous.”
Her attention zeroed in on the TV as the breath stilled in her lungs. A picture of him in full Goth makeup popped up beside the blond news anchor. Daddy grabbed the remote, bumped up the sound.
“As we reported, last weekend Ronny Outrageous was in a deadly tour bus accident.
allbettsareoff 
yes. i love to fish. i just can stay there all the time
My son loves to fish, Donna. When he was younger, I’d take my laptop and a lawnchair and watch him fish while I wrote. I miss those days. He’s nineteen now 😦
Yes, I love to plant flowers and I will stay outside fixing up the garden and planting until it gets dark outside, I usually like to get my planting done all in one day and fix up the flower beds, I am looking forward to doing this pretty soon. Your book sounds like a Great read and I love the book cover. Have a Great day and stay safe. Thank you for the chance.
You sound like my mom, Alicia. She has flowerbeds all over her yard. I like flowers, but not enough to put in the work. We once lived in an old house where an elderly lady had lived. Flower beds galore. I pulled weeds one spring and summer. The next year, I mowed them all down.
That is an easy question to answer—for me it is reading! Shannon’s books are great.
Good answer, Roxanne. Me too, but sadly I don’t get to read as much as I want. Thank for the compliment. You made my day.
I love to read. There are many times that I say, one more chapter. I am also beginning to work on crafts. I am sewing sequins and beads on calendars. I keep thinking, let me finish this color. Thank you for the opportunity.
Yes, me too on the reading, Debra. I love sequins and beads. If it’s shiny, I like it 🙂
Yes, reading is really hard to tear myself away from. Also, I love to bake and do word search so those are other tasks it is hard to tear myself away from. I homeschool my teens so it is not always easy to find the time.
Yes on reading, but I hate to cook, Cherie. I wish I enjoyed it, but I just don’t. I always spill something or make a mess and it frustrates me. My hat’s off to homeschoolers. It was hard for me to get our son through public school, I can’t imagine doing it all at home.
The book, A Texas Bond sounds really interesting!
What I hate leaving when I’m doing it, is reading. I remember burning cookies when I was younger as I got I engrossed in a book. It’s now hard to leave reading to fix food or to go to bed.
Thanks Linda. I agree on reading. I love it when I can have two or three days to do nothing but read a book. Sadly, it doesn’t happen very often.
I love doing puzzles also and find it hard to walk away.
Oh Lucy, it’s so hard for me to use my puzzle for a short break. I’d rather just sit down for days and finish it. But at least I’ve got one going this way.
I love to read and watch tv and have to make myself stop to get anything done in house
Ditto on the reading, Shelia. At least as an editor, I get to read lots of books. But one of these days, I’m going to find 2 or 3 days to read a book, just for fun. I like watching a clean romance movie, while I do a jigsaw puzzle.
Reading is one but so is crochet and playing games on electronics.
I used to crochet, Debra. I gave it up when I started writing. something had to give. But you know, I used to watch tv and crochet at the same time. I could do that in the evenings when my husband and I lose the stress of the day in mindless entertainment. A lot of electronic games frustrate me because they’re too hard. I just need stress relief. I used to play Angry Birds, but I got past all the levels. Now I play Mahjong Solitaire.
I also do jigsaws. Same that on Sunday is my main puzzle day..lol!! I often MOdpodge them and frame to hang.I do them on my counter top but I have cats and have to cover it with cardboard in the interim.
Sunday is my main puzzle day too, Kim. Sometimes I get 2 or 3 hours in. I’ve neven Modpodged them. If I don’t enjoy them, I give them away. If I love them, I keep them and do them again. My cat stays in the sunroom where my puzzle board is. He knocked it over once, but it was on a bookshelf then. The coffee table it’s on now is wide enough, it won’t go anywhere. And he only jumps up there when I’m working on it and he thinks I should pay attention to him anyway.
The thing I have to “walk away from” is sitting and reading, journaling, or just listening to the birds on my porch. Or, when the weather is bad, just doing the same thing from a chair by the window. Those quiet times are energizing for me, but after a while, I need to get up and use that energy for something more productive!
Hey Jenny, as you know, I’m not a morning person. My all time favorite thing to do when I get up in the morning, is to get a cup of coffee and sit in my recliner and just stare at nothing.