Monday, April 20, 2009

Spotlight shines on Allison Pitman




Today we have Allison Pittman visiting us and she has offered to send out a book to a lucky reader so be sure to follow the instructions at the bottom of the post to get entered.
Please tell us a little about you.


I left a 17-year teaching career to follow my writing full time—and God has been so faithful in His blessings there! I’m married to the hands-down greatest guy in the world, and we have three great sons—twin teen-agers and a 10-year-old.

Allison, please tell us what your newest novel is about.


Stealing Home is the story of four people, each living in haunted isolation, each harboring a secret passion.
Duke Dennison is a superstar with the 1905 Chicago Cubs. He’s also an alcoholic, and that’s threatening his game. When he’s whisked away to the small town of Picksville to sober up in anonymity, he bides his time flirting with Ellie Jane Voyant, the town’s oddball spinster.
Ned Clovis, the town’s feed store clerk, has loved Ellie Jane since childhood, but he loves baseball and the Duke almost as much. So when Duke rounds up the town to form an impromptu league, featuring a great natural talent in a young African American boy named Morris, both Ned and Ellie Jane find their worlds coming together.


Who is the most important influence in your life besides God?

Definitely my mother. She is the most godly woman I know—so unwavering and strong in her faith. She takes true, absolute, utter joy in her salvation and her relationship with Jesus. She simply loves him. And she’s so saturated in His Word. I love to just get on the phone and talk with her about scripture, our Lord, the Old Covenant, Creation, End Times…anything! She’s a one-stop source for Biblical truth and recipes!
You are blessed to have her in her life. I hope you tell her that often.



Let’s pretend money is not a factor, if you could go anywhere is the world where would you go?

Disneyworld. Two weeks at the Grand Floridian.
What book are you reading now? What books are found lying around your home?

I’m reading Run by Ann Patchett.
I actually started it months ago, but then I had some other “required” reading come along, so I’ve just been able to get back to it. And you’ll find absolutely anything and everything around my home from Wuthering Heights to Harry Potter.









What is your favorite children’s book?



Hands down, it’s the Little House on the Prairie series. The year I got the whole series for Christmas, well, that was my favorite Christmas gift ever. I still read them over the summer. The writing is so simple, but so precise and descriptive. The stories are timeless, and I think they prove the point that rather ordinary lives are the stuff legacies are made of.

What do you find most challenging about writing?

Simply getting it done. Like, pulling up the Word doc and putting words on the screen. I’m too easily distracted by, well, anything.
Oh I can relate to this Allison. I find the blank word doc very intimidating and distractions get me too.

What do you find most rewarding?

Hearing from readers. It never fails when I’m just about to throw my laptop out the window, I’ll get an email from a reader who loved my book. That’s enough to spur you on to another 500 words before calling it a day! I think of my readers’ letters as being the voice of God’s approval for the work I’m doing.
Hopefully you will here from some new readers with this new books.

What would you like your readers to say about your writing?

I’d like them to feel like I’ve taken them to a place and introduced them to people they’ve never even really thought about before. With Stealing Home and even the next two books to come, I’m taking characters from the world of turn-of-the century professional baseball. It just seemed fun to write historical without ranchers and cowboys and the typical stock characters. Not that I don’t love those guys, but there was a whole world functioning in those days, and I think it gets underrepresented in Historical fiction.

Where can readers find you on the Web?
My website is allisonpittiman.com
Blog: apittman-crossroads@blogspot.com
And, of course…Facebook!

Here is what others are saying about Stealing Home.

"There is no doubt about it. Stealing Home has earned a place on my keeper shelf. Allison Pittman's wonderfully drawn characters captured my heart and never let go. I hurt with them, laughed with them, loved with them, and cried with them, and I will surely never forget them. Don't miss this book!"-Robin Lee Hatcher, best-selling author of Wagered Heart and A Vote of Confidence

"The fabulous ensemble cast of Stealing Home broadens the scope of Allison Pittman's well-crafted novel, setting it apart from typical period romances and grounding the story with historical relevance. Yes, readers will want Ellie Jane to find love, but they'll want much more than that, too-justice for Morris; hope for Ned; peace and victory for Duke. And they won't be disappointed. Stealing Home drew me in from the first pitch and held me until the final strikeout."-Christa Parrish, author of Home Another Way

"Allison Pittman hit one out of the park with Stealing Home. The superb cast of characters in this tender story of hope, love, and healing settled in my soul and made me long to stroll down to the town square and linger a while. An unexpected delight in this lovely tale was the narration by Morris, an innocent yet perceptive young man who knows the citizens of Picksville better than they know themselves. More than the story of a few characters, Stealing Home is a study of small town life at its very worst and its shining best."-Megan DiMaria, author of Out of Her Hands and Searching for Spice

"Written with an elegant flair, Stealing Home is a tremendous story of love, patience, and hope against hope."-Alice J. Wisler, author of Rain Song and How Sweet It Is


If you would like to win a copy of Stealing Home leave a comment with a way to contact you. Please put your email in this format: runninmama[at]sbcglobal[dot]net. The contest runs until May 4th. Email subscribers and followers earn an extra entry.

You also must answer the Question of the Day:
Tell me your best memory of a baseball game.
Mine is when my husband and I played on a co-ed softball team. It was so much fun right up until I broke my nose. Then I never played again.

24 comments:

KR said...

Please count me in.

I follow.

Favotite baseball memory..my son's first Little League homerun!!!

mj.cowaed[at]gmail[dot]com

Renee (BlacknGoldGirlsBookSpot) said...

My favorite baseball memories are playing with my little brothers in the backyard and our annual family reunion games played right after everyone has eaten wayyyy too much at the potluck supper! Please enter me to win this book! I love Allison's books!

Carole said...

After reading Ten Thousand Charms, I want to read anything Allison writes. Thank you for the interesting interview and giveaway.

I'm not into baseball, so I'll have to refer back to the time my husband played with our church softball league for my memory. Let's just say that he is not naturally gifted for the sport, so he often filled the catcher's spot. His talent was humor, so he talked constantly and completely rattled the opposing team's batters. Our side died laughing, as everyone could hear him, but there were some tense moments with the other teams.

Thanks again for the chance to win Allison's book.

cjarvis [at] bellsouth [dot] net

Lorraine said...

What a wonderful question for me to have to answer.
I always wanted to go to Fenway Park to see the Red Sox play but never made it there.
Last year my son bought tickets to surprise me. I was 67 years old.
What a thrill! The Red Sox won that day. Double thrill!
Lorraine
MOML1@COX.NET

Musings of A Minister said...

It was when Luis Gonzalez of the Diamondbacks came through with a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth inning of the 2001 world series to beat the New York Yankees.
I would love to read this book. Clif(AT)CCDitmore(AT)cox(Dot)net

Unknown said...

I'd like to read this book. I'm a follower.

bjhopper(at)me(dot)com

Unknown said...

Best memory of a baseball game would be when I actually went to a game. I've only been to a couple of games and the only thing I really remember is sweating.

bjhopper(at)me(dot)com

robynl said...

best memory was going to a game with a guy I really liked and his brother and family came with. Some organization had put on a 'biggest banana split' eat for the kids in conjunction with Dairy Queen and you should have seen the kids go for it.

sarahw said...

sounds like a great book. my fav baseball memory would be the whole community coming together to watch the men folk play and then when the game was done we all savored a soft ice cream.
please enter my name in the draw.
thanks,
sarahwoll at hotmail dot com

robynl said...

of course I forgot, yikes.

yourstrulee(at)sasktel(dot)net

Edgy Inspirational Author said...

Love Allison, and love her writing. Baseball memory. Well, I personally played softball for five years when I was a kid. I also loved to attend minor league baseball games in my home town. Favorite recent memories were going to the Diamondback stadium the year they opened the new one and watched the top open up and then seeing a real fight on the field where the players got in a brawl. That was fun. Plus I was seated in the special suite with snacks galore and comfy couches to sit on while watching the game.

squiresj said...

My favorite baseball memory is when I was younger. My Aunt worked for G.E. She got free baseball tickets to our home baseball team. One time we walked to the ballfield and Dad gave us $ 5 apiece for hot dogs, popcorn and drinks. That was a lot of money then. It was the one and only baseball game we ever got to enjoy.
Also my oldest daughter played baseball in High School.

squiresj said...

I forgot to include my email.
jrs362 (at) hotmail (dot) com
Enter me to win book - my post is above.

ladybug said...

I DO NOT like sports. I grew up with a bunch of brothers who lived for sports and boy was I glad that chitter chatter died away after they moved away from home. I can still hear them agruing what the Minnesota Twins did wrong, right, who they traded, should have drafted. Ugh!!

I love the cover of this book though. It's so attractive. Would love a chance to win!

ldneuhof at hotmail dot com

Katie Marie said...

umm...my favorite memory of baseball is on a sunday afternoon, my dad and my other siblings would all go outside in the front yard, set up the bases and play till dark. It was so much fun! Ahh...memories!! :-)

Count me in the drawing please!

KM

legacy1992(at)gmail(dot)com

Katie Marie said...

I follow!

KM

legacy1992(at)gmail(dot)com

Becky C. said...

Please enter me in the contest for this book.

I guess my fondest baseball memory, is when I was little I would go to some games with my Dad

Becky C.

rec@hiwaay.net

Sandee61 said...

I've always loved baseball, and went to both my son's games when they were young. Now their grown with children of their own, and I'm still watching baseball...theirs! I also keep up with the Cleveland Indians here in Ohio.
I enjoyed the interview and would love to be entered in the giveaway.
Thank you!

Blessings,
Sandy

Muzzley56[at]aol[dot]com

Jo said...

Please enter me in the contest. Would love towin the book.

My first memory of baseball. Interesting question. I'm a only child and my father was never interested in sports at all. I grew up in a era where girls didn't play baseball so I had no interest in it. That is, until my sons started playing it and my best memory was when my oldest son did a home run and was I ever excited.

Blessings,
Jo
ladijo40(at)aol(dot)com

Carrie Turansky said...

Thanks for this interview! I read the first chapter of this book on line and loved it. My favorite baseball memory is watching my husband and sons play together on our church softball team. Please enter me in the drawing.
Thanks,
Carrie
Carrie (at) turansky (dot) com

Anonymous said...

I would love to win "Stealing Home". Best memories of ball games is watching the Fort Worth Cats. lilorphannie63@sbcglobal.net

Anonymous said...

My best memory is watching my husband play baseball when we were dating. I really enjoyed that!

Patty said...

Well I have a few baseball memories. For me going to my first professional baseball game at Safeco field in Seattle was totally awesome. Now my memories are of watching both my girls play fastpitch softball. I also enjoyed watching my husband playing softball when we were dating and now occasionally catching his games in between the two girls's games. So, I guess you might say we are a ball-playing and watching family.

pleblanc_1[at]charter[dot]net

Patty said...

Just realized I was a little late getting in on this one. Oh well, it was still fun to share my baseball memories.