Liz Tolsma is the author of several WWII novels, prairie romance novellas, a romantic suspense, and an Amish romance. She is the host of the popular podcast Christian Historical Fiction Talk and is also an editor. She resides next to a Wisconsin farm field with her husband and their youngest daughter. Her son, daughter-in-law, and daughter are all U.S. Marines. In her free time, Liz enjoys reading, walking, working in her large perennial garden, kayaking, and camping.

You can connect with her through:  Website  |  Newsletter  |  X  |  Facebook  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  BookBub  |  Goodreads

Now for the fun stuff! I have to admit I am partial to my Fast Five. 🙂 So settle in as I hit Liz with rapid-fire.

CC: Pineapple pizza or candy corn?

LT: Is neither an option? I really don’t like either one.

CC: Test the waters or dive in the deep end?

LT: Test the waters

CC: Guacamole or salsa?

LT: For this one, I’d like both!

CC: Silly hats or silly socks?

LT: Silly socks. I can be silly, but I do it in private rather than in public, so the socks make sense.

CC: Passwords or secret handshakes?

LT: Hmm. Probably passwords, especially if I can use face recognition because I can’t remember my passwords.

CC: I am so thankful for password apps and face recognition. LOL, so let’s dive in to getting to know you a little better.

What fiction book has most impacted you?

LT: “Love Comes Softly” by Janette Oke. It’s the first Christian novel I read, and it opened my eyes to the genre. After I discovered it, I read all I could find, and one day, decided maybe I could write a book too. It’s the one that got it all started.

CC: Janette Oke has had such an impact on so many. She to had a major impact on my life and my eventual writing journey.

What does your writing process look like from beginning to end?

LT: It depends on the book. Sometimes I have no deadlines or longer ones, so that allows me to do more research and story and character development on the front end. When I have a tight deadline, I have to do all that on the fly and often have more rewrites. Overall, I don’t work off an outline. I love to see what develops much the way a reader would. That’s the most fun part of writing to me.

CC: I admire you for being able to do it that way. I used to be like that, but I feel like I prefer to have an outline more often than not, even if very loose. 

What has been your biggest struggle on this writing journey?

LT: The marketing part of the job has been the hardest. I never went to school for it and never took any classes. I’m learning as I go, and I’m still learning, especially with the way marketing and social media are ever-evolving. Sometimes I wish I wrote forty years ago when the publishers did all that for you!

CC: Boy do I feel you on this one. It all feels like so much and so overwhelming. There just aren’t enough hours in the day.

How have you seen God work through your writing journey?

LT: He has always brought the right story and the right publisher to me at the right time, even when I doubted it would ever happen. Throughout, he’s taught me to rely on him more and more and less on myself. It’s a lesson I have to keep learning. Trust isn’t an easy thing, and letting go of the way I have my life laid out so God can work is difficult. But he has proven himself faithful, and that’s what I lean on.

CC: I feel like I must not be learning this lesson very well, because I have to keep learning it over and over and over and over again. LOL but He has and does prove Himself faithful.

Do you have any advice for those who might want to write their own stories?

LT: Write. This is supposed to be a longer answer than that, but that’s the first step. You can’t learn how to be a better writer unless you’ve tried it, just like you can’t learn to be a better skater if you’ve never stepped on the ice. So get out there and write. And work hard to improve. This applies to aspiring authors and those who are already published. Even the world’s best figure skater continues to go to practice and work with a coach. So it is with writers. We can always strive to be better.

CC: I agree! May we always strive to be better and grow as writers.

Before we dive into your inspiration, etc, for What I Left for You, allow me to introduce my readers to the story itself.

What I Left for You by Liz Tolsma

A Family’s Ties Were Broken in Poland of 1939  

1939 Helena Kostyszak is an oddity—an educated female ethnic minority lecturing at a university in Krakow at the outbreak of WWII. When the Germans close the university and force Jews into the ghetto, she spirits out a friend’s infant daughter and flees to her small village in the southern hills. Helena does everything in her power to protect her family, but it may not be enough. It will take all of her strength and God’s intervention for both of them to survive the war and the ethnic cleansing to come.  

2023 Recently unengaged social worker McKenna Muir is dealt an awful blow when a two-year-old she’s been working with is murdered. It’s all too much to take, so her friend suggests she dive into her family’s past like she’s always wanted. Putting distance between herself and her problems might help her heal, so she and her friend head on Sabbatical to Poland. But what McKenna discovers about her family shocks everyone, including one long-lost family member. 

Purchase your copy at  Amazon  |  Baker Book House  |  Barnes and Noble  |  Christianbook

CC: Where did you get the idea for this story?

Reader, do you know any little known historical facts?

Giveaway

Liz Tolsma is generously giving away one copy of What I Left for You to one contiguous U.S. resident, 18 years or older. Just complete the Rafflecopter entries below for your chance. Entries close 11:59 p.m. EST on 10/29/2024.

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