Then, one cold winter\u2019s day, my husband and I travelled out to a small church in the Victorian countryside, to conduct a wedding. I played the piano and sang for the wedding, but as soon as my job was done, I\u2019m afraid my mind and imagination was taken up by the little blue-stone church whose very walls seemed to call out to me. It was as if some romantic and dramatic story had taken place, and I needed to know what it was. Of course, that was just my imagination working over time. But from the day of that wedding onwards, I could not get that little church out of my mind, and I began to ask myself what had happened, and to whom.<\/p>\n
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The day it all began. Shelford Church \u2013 1995<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A story idea had begun to form in my mind, and I began to mull the plot over while thinking during the day, and even at night when I was supposed to be going to sleep. But because I\u2019d had no positive response from any publishers with my first six novels, I didn\u2019t think it worth the effort to actually put anything on paper.<\/p>\n In the meantime, my mother (the biggest fan a writer can have) had submitted one or two of my short stories to the CWA magazine, and they were duly printed. Then she suggested I write a serial story that could continue in each issue of this bi-monthly paper. I thought there was nothing to lose, and being as the story of \u201cThe Manse\u201d was already in my head, and wanting to get out, I started to write on a regular basis for the South Australian Country Woman magazine.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 Excerpt from the very first edition of \u201cThe Manse\u201d Jan 1996<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Well I wrote away happily, not very much each time, only enough to fill a page and a half in each issue. It was a little slow, and a bit frustrating, but it was an outlet, that apparently received positive response from the readers.<\/p>\n Then, the blow came in September 1997. The editor of SACW contacted me and asked me to write a conclusion, as the readers were getting frustrated. I nearly hyperventilated, as I had only just finished establishing the characters, and the main trouble. I was nowhere near beginning to work out the whole solution, and developing the romance etc. What to do??<\/p>\n It was at this point, during a church service, a visiting preacher from Wales was prancing all about the platform, preaching on I know not what, except that I remember him holding his Bible in the air and proclaiming firmly \u201ctake the opportunity!\u201d He repeated this more than once, and immediately an idea sprang into my mind that seemed to me an opportunity I should take. I thought about it, and eventually put into action the plan. I earnestly undertook to write the entire story complete, spoke to the editor of SACW and asked if I might include a small advertisement with my \u2018final\u2019 segment, and set about consulting friends in the know about how to print a book.<\/p>\n I gave the readers an \u2018ending\u2019 –\u00a0 a little like the ending of \u2018Back to the Future 2\u2019, which is no ending at all, and encouraged them to order the complete novel from me.<\/p>\n A few good friends set about helping me shape up the manuscript into something that looked like a book, with a very budget looking cover that sported photographic images of my great-grandparents. I took the enormous risk of printing 300 copies, which my husband duly told me I would never get rid of.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The \u2018budget\u2019 edition of \u201cThe Manse\u201d November 1997<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Well I did sell 300 copies (298 as I still have 2), and some of the readers began to beg me for a sequel. I was confused and a little annoyed, as I had never thought of this story in terms of it continuing in any way, but one persistent reader said that she was going to pray the God would give me a sequel. This really annoyed me, and I thought it was just plain silly. I went from that interview to the grocery shop, and while I was putting groceries in the shopping trolley (who knows what I bought) I hit on a central character carried over from \u201cThe Manse\u201d and by the time I got the groceries back into the car, the entire plot for \u201cGreen Valley\u201d was in my head!<\/p>\n From there I contacted a friend I knew from the Christian distribution industry, and asked him if he thought it worthwhile pushing this book through the Australian Christian bookshop network. He had his mother-in-law read the \u2018budget\u2019 version, and she really liked it. He said to go ahead and as long as I put more effort into the covers, he would give it a try.<\/p>\n I got busy and produced \u201cGreen Valley\u201d and \u201cThe Manse\u201d (the new version) and really stepped out on a limb and printed 1500 copies. Being as there were now two books, there had to be a series name, and so \u201cThe Heart of Green Valley\u201d series was born.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n![\"TheManse1\"](\"https:\/\/meredithresce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/TheManse1.png\")
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