Why did
you choose this Genre?
Well, I feel this genre chose me. I’ve lived among the Amish
for so long, when I started to write a novel, it was natural. I was going
through a hard time a few years back, and imagined if I lived across the street
from my Amish friend, Lydia, what would it be like? We live a half-hour away,
but what if we were neighbors? Lydia was experiencing grief, losing a
sister-in-law to a heart attack, and I’d just lost my mom and two cousins. So,
for therapy, I started writing Knit Together:
An Amish Knitting Novel, calling Lydia
“Katie” and me, “Ginny”. It’s very
semi-autobiographical. When I was 15,000 words into the novel, I met my agent,
Joyce Hart, as a bookstore just gabbing about Amish fiction. I told her I was
writing an Amish novel and after a few months of talking, she took me on as a
client. I was floored, and as I wrote the rest of the novel, it was very
therapeutic.
What is
your favorite Bible verse?
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. Isaiah 61:1 (NLT2)
This verse is just full of hope. I first started meditating
on it when my dad passed away, on Christmas Day, sixteen years ago. I was
brokenhearted and clung to this scripture. At first I focused on He came to
comfort the brokenhearted and then I started to see how Christ wants to set
captives free. So, my husband and I started getting involved with poverty
ministry. We’ve been volunteer advocates for Compassion International for
thirteen years now. Third world poverty is cruel, especially to children, and
we hope to make a difference…to see these children set free through knowing
Christ’s love and meeting their basic needs.
Besides
entertainment, what do you hope readers will take away from your books?
My greatest hope for my book though is people will realize
you don’t have to be Amish to be happy. I have a town full of people, half
Amish and half English, similar to the town I lived in in Upstate NY. We saw
people wanting to turn Amish, and Amish wanting to be English.
I came to realize that peace is found in Christ alone. But
lately, the Amish have been bombarded by folks who ask, “How can I become
Amish?” Here’s advice one Amish man put in the Budget, an Amish newspaper:
“If you admire our faith, strengthen yours. If you admire our sense of commitment, deepen yours. If you admire our community spirit, build your own. If you admire the simple life, cut back. If you admire deep character and enduring values, live them yourself. “
I put this quote in Knit Together, and show how Ginny and
James Rowland change their life radically after following this advice. So I
show a family who doesn’t turn Amish, but gleans a lot from them. I hope
readers can do the same.
What
sparked your decision to journey down the adventurous path of writing?
My seventh grade
teacher, Mrs. Polk, had me come to the front of the class and read my poem,
“Spring”. I was hooked after that. I started writing songs, playing them as I
strummed my guitar at Christian coffeehouses in the 80’s and at church. I still
enjoy writing poems…
What
are your hobbies other than writing?
Music’s always been a big part of my life. I play the flute,
guitar and got a mandolin that I don’t have time right now to learn how to
play. But living rural, my husband and I enjoy having family and friends over
for bonfires and picnics. I love to knit and crochet, too. I’ll be a granny
soon, so I’m crocheting a baby blanket. But I just can’t seem to write enough. It’s
so much fun!
Are you
writing anything right now? Can you tell us about that?
Well, I write continuing shorts. They’re novelette size, being
35-40 pages. Amish Friends Knitting
Circle is out every three weeks, and it’s about Granny Weaver’s knitting
circle made up of Amish and their English friends. I’m also writing a series of
stand-alone Amish Knitting Novels. Knit Together and The Amish Doll are done, and I’m working on a novel about a female
Amish herbalist. I write from experiences, and an Amish friend of mine is an
herbalist. In the novel, Anna will knit shawls for terminally ill patients who
come into the shop she shares with her father…but of course, it’ll be a love
story too.
Tell
the readers where they can keep up with you, your website or blog.
You can reach me at www.karenannavogel.com
or my blog Amish Crossings at www.karenannavogel.blogspot.com
Karen Anna Vogel-Amish Knitting Circle on Facebook as well.
