Happy Monday!
Each Monday I would like to take some time to get to know some of our favorite authors. My hope is that this will help readers connect with the authors.
Today I would like to introduce you to: Laura DeNooyer!
I recently met Laura through the BRRC. She reached out to me and I read her book. I really enjoyed it and am happy to share about it here!
Author bio:
Laura DeNooyer thrives on creativity and encouraging it in others. She spotlights creatives of all kinds on her blog, Journey To Imagination, and highlights authors and their novels in her Standout Stories blog. A Calvin College graduate, Laura has decades of experience teaching art and writing to middle school and high school students. She and her husband raised four kids. An award-winning author of heart-warming historical and contemporary fiction, she is president of her American Christian Fiction Writers chapter. When not writing, you’ll find her reading, walking, drinking tea with friends, or taking a road trip. Visit Laura at https://lauradenooyer-author.com or on Facebook, BookBub, and GoodReads.
To help us get to know her, I have given her some questions and here are her responses:
Q: How long have you been writing?
A: I chose a writing career in 2nd grade. Mrs. Haan gets all the credit. She had students turn original stories into illustrated books. After catching the writing bug, I was unstoppable. The thrill of crafting a good story still compels me today.
Years later, at Calvin College in Michigan, Professor Besselsen adopted the role of Muse when he introduced me to Appalachian culture. He took education students to western North Carolina to aid in the mountain schools. Throw 22 Midwestern college kids into Appalachian culture and it’s instant culture clash. As we learned and fumbled through it, I fell in love with the area and its people. My novel All That Is Hidden grew out of that three-week visit.
Q: What are you currently working on?
A: Two things, mainly. I host authors on my new Standout Stories blog and I’ll be seeking a home for at least two unpublished novels, both historical fiction. One is Biblical fiction, set in the time of Christ, and the other is a split-time story (1980 and early 1900s) featuring The Wizard of Oz author, L. Frank Baum. Not southern fiction this time, but set in a small town in Michigan where Baum’s family spent their summers.
I gravitate toward family dynamics and second chances in small towns and bygone eras, wherever they happen to be. With my kids all grown up, I finally have time to fine-tune several manuscripts and seek publication.
Q: What are some of your writing must haves? (Drink, snack, supplies, etc.)
A: Tea. Lots of tea, usually fruity herbal or green tea with lemon. Plus a window to the world.
Q: What is your favorite time period to write about? Or read about?
A: I find the early 1900s fascinating with all the changes and developments in communication, transportation, and technology. The 1960s and 70s intrigue me, too—as someone who grew up in that era. I also enjoy the 1800s, Biblical fiction, and some contemporary, as long as the setting comes alive and the stories are character-driven with complex relationship dynamics and situations that pop the comfortable bubbles we sometimes live in.
Q: What are some of your favorite books?
A: My all-time favorite book is To Kill a Mockingbird. That book comprises all the features I love about a riveting story: complex characterization, a strong sense of place, a compelling premise, realistic dialog, and layers of plot. Over the years, I’ve preferred general market and literary fiction, but have recently started enjoying some Christian fiction, too. Recent favorites: The Last Runaway (Tracy Chevalier), The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery (Amanda Cox), and My Dearest Dietrich (Amanda Barrett).
Q: If you could spend a day with one fictional character, who would you pick and what would you do?
A: This is such a great question, but every time I look at it, I can’t decide. At least not as an adult. The kid in me says Pippi Longstocking. I must have read that book twenty times, never tiring of it. I wished I was as bold as Pippi. We’d spend part of the day at her home, Villa Villekulla, with her monkey Mr. Nillson and the neighbors, Tommy and Annika. We would pack a picnic lunch, go out to the country, and let the adventures come. Pippi always knows how to find them.
I have saved my favorite question for last!
Q: What would you like readers to take away from your books?
A: I hope readers see a different perspective, chew on something they’ve never considered before, empathize in new ways, and discover grace, forgiveness, and redemption in unlikely places. All this while journeying through the story as a vicarious experience.
At the heart, stories I write in some way “redeem the years the locusts ate” (Joel 2:25).
To connect with Laura, please click on any of the following links: her website, book trailer, and her newsletter (and receive a free gift).
I’m also featuring her book, All That Is Hidden. This book was really good! It has a To Kill a Mockingbird and Sandlot vibe. You can check it out on Goodreads here or on Amazon here.
About the book:
Are secrets worth the price they cost to keep?
Ten-year-old Tina Hamilton finds out the hard way.
She always knew her father had a secret. But all of God’s earth to Tina are the streams for fishing, the fields for romping, a world snugly enclosed by the blue-misted Smokies. Nothing ever changed.
Until the summer of 1968. Trouble erupts when northern exploitation threatens her tiny southern Appalachian town. Some folks blame the trouble on progress, some blame the space race and men meddling with the moon’s cycles, and some blame Tina’s father.
A past he has hidden catches up to him as his secret settles in like an unwelcome guest. The clash of progressive ideas and small town values escalates the collision of a father’s past and present.
All The Bookish Adventures 
Thanks for sharing details about this author whose books sound as interesting as her background.
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Thank you for dropping in!
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