Why Asheville? - Frequently Asked Question About My Latest Amish Fiction Series

The first thing readers want to know is why Asheville? As you may already know, there's a town called Asheville in North Carolina. I've never been to North Carolina. So why write a story about a fictitious town in Missouri named Asheville?

I'm a big Christy fan. You know, the book that named the Christy awards? It was written by Catherine Marshall in 1967 and is out of print now. If you're really lucky you can still find a used copy like I did on ebay. They even made a TV series about it. It was probably the last thing I read before starting my Amish writing in January.

I have a hardcover copy with a beautiful line drawing map of the area in the front. It shows you where each family lives in Cutter Gap, Tennessee. The main character was from the town of Asheville. I fell in love with that story. And the map.

So when I decided to create Swan Creek Settlement I made my own, complete with a nearby town of Asheville. In case you're wondering, Swan Creek is real. If it rains too much, the creek rises and we are stuck at home till it comes back down. All a part of livin' in the Ozarks.


Here's the map I made. Not half as nice as the one in the front of Christy, but it helped me visualize the area when I wrote the first few books. My daughter helped me by coloring in the corn fields. :)

We made Amish houses blue and Englisher houses yellow.

You can purchase What Happens In Asheville (An Amish Rumspringa Book 1) for only $0.99 on Kindle. Books 2 and 3 are also $0.99 for a limited time. Also available in paperback.