Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.

A. Thanks so much for inviting me to be with you! I’ve spent my life in rural Pennsylvania, and when I first started to write, I wanted to create stories about exotic people and places. Luckily, I finally realized that the stories I had to tell were the stories right in my own backyard—stories of faith and family, stories of people deeply rooted in their communities,