Winnie Griggs is a multi-published author who writes for Love Inspired Historical. Her writing has garnered enthusiastic reviews and numerous awards, including a recent RT Reviewer’s Choice Award.
Winnie spent her childhood in an area her friends thought of as the very back of beyond. She and her two younger siblings spent many an hour exploring the overgrown land around her home, cutting jungle trails, building forts and frontier camps, and looking for pirate ships on the nearby bayou. Once she ‘grew up’ she found other outlets for dealing with all those wonderful, adventurous imaginary friends by filling notebooks with their stories.
Eventually she found her own Prince Charming, a rancher whose white steed is disguised as a tractor and whose kingdom is nestled in a small rural community she happily calls home. Together they’ve built their own storybook happily-ever-after, including four now grown children who share Winnie’s vivid imagination and her husband’s steadier influences and who are now out in the world pursuing their own adventures.
Visit Winnie Griggs online
A Family for Christmas
An Unexpected Gift Eve Pickering knows what it's like to be judged for your past. So she's not about to leave the orphaned boy she's befriended alone in this unfamiliar Texas town. Since Chance Dawson's offer of shelter is the only way to look after Leo, Eve is determined they'll have a warm, welcoming home for the holidays. Chance came from the big city to make it on his own despite a painful secret. But Eve's strength is giving him a confidence he never expected—and a new direction for his dream. With a little Christmas blessing, he'll dare to win her heart—and make their family one for a lifetime.
- ISBN: 0373829833
- Publisher: Love Inspired
Interview with Winnie Griggs
Winnie Griggs is a multi-published author who writes for Love Inspired Historical. Her writing has garnered enthusiastic reviews and numerous awards, including a recent RT Reviewer’s Choice Award. Welcome back, Winnie. A Family for Christmas will be your seventh Love Inspired Historical release since I last interviewed you in Aug 2010. That’s quite the tally.
Is there a secret to writing a successful Love Inspired Historical?
Just like writing for any line, the secret is to write an engaging, compelling story. As for the specifics of Love Inspired Historical books, they have a strong focus on family and community and have a tender, deeply emotional, heartwarming romance at their core. They are told from a Christian worldview and matters of faith are woven seamlessly into the everyday life and growth arc of the characters.
What is the premise of A Family For Christmas?
Here is the teaser that describes the external plot:
In the act of performing a good deed, Eve finds herself stranded in a strange town without means to support herself, but is the smooth talking stranger who comes to her rescue a white knight or a rogue? At a deeper level it is a story of two people’s journey to self- acceptance. The heroine was born out of wedlock and for her entire life has been made to feel she is nothing more than an ugly embarrassment to her family. The hero has dyslexia and has always worked hard to hide this fact from those around him. Both must learn that they are indeed worthy of finding true love and grasping their own happily ever after.
Are there more Texas Grooms stories in the works?
There will be one more, the story of the fourth and most enigmatic of the men, Mitch Parker.
What is the connecting factor is this series other than their being Texas grooms?
This series follows the lives and loves of four very different men who traveled together from Philadelphia to a small town in Texas to look for fresh starts. And what they find there is so much more than they ever expected.
Why Texas grooms?
If you’re asking where the series title came from, it was the brainchild of my editor, based on the fact that these four bachelors traveled from ‘back East’ to Texas and settled there.
If you’re asking why I set it up that way, I just love fish out of water stories and wanted to get these men as far out of their comfort zones as possible
How do you decide what careers your characters will have?
That is a key part of figuring out who my character is. Sometimes it comes to me immediately, sometimes I have to really dig to figure it out. It has to be the right fit for who my character is at his core and for the kind of heroine he will attract. But there’s not a specific process I go through that I can describe to you - it’s one of those things I mull over until I find something that I know in my gut is right.
How do you juggle your responsibilities and still write 2-3 books a year?
LOL - not very well I’m afraid! I’ll admit it is easier now that I’ve retired from my day job but there just never seems to be enough time to get everything done that I’d like to accomplish.
What do you consider the greatest moment of your publishing career to date?
Oh wow, that’s a difficult question to answer, so I’ll just mention one of the first of many unexpected outcomes. Shortly after my first book hit the shelves my high school alma mater invited me to give the commencement address for their upcoming graduation ceremony. I was immensely honored. Addressing that group of young people was an exciting and humbling experience. And not only did it happen to coincide with the 30th anniversary of my own graduation, but my brother’s wife had a niece among the graduates which made it a family affair to boot!
What’s the most memorable thing a fan has said or written to you?
I get oodles of reader letters and emails with each book release and I read and treasure each and every one. The ones that move me the most, though, are the ones that convey how my story has touched their hurting heart in some way. And when that happens I know that there is more than my words in play. Those are the moments that humble me, that inspire me, that are the moments I write for.
Any parting words?
I love to hear from readers and other writers! Please feel free to email me at winnie@winniegriggs.com. You can also connect with me on
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/winnie.griggs),
Pinterest (http://www.pinterest.com/wdgriggs/) or
Goodreads (http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/191160.Winnie_Griggs)
Thanks for sharing with us, Winnie.
Is there a secret to writing a successful Love Inspired Historical?
Just like writing for any line, the secret is to write an engaging, compelling story. As for the specifics of Love Inspired Historical books, they have a strong focus on family and community and have a tender, deeply emotional, heartwarming romance at their core. They are told from a Christian worldview and matters of faith are woven seamlessly into the everyday life and growth arc of the characters.
What is the premise of A Family For Christmas?
Here is the teaser that describes the external plot:
In the act of performing a good deed, Eve finds herself stranded in a strange town without means to support herself, but is the smooth talking stranger who comes to her rescue a white knight or a rogue? At a deeper level it is a story of two people’s journey to self- acceptance. The heroine was born out of wedlock and for her entire life has been made to feel she is nothing more than an ugly embarrassment to her family. The hero has dyslexia and has always worked hard to hide this fact from those around him. Both must learn that they are indeed worthy of finding true love and grasping their own happily ever after.
Are there more Texas Grooms stories in the works?
There will be one more, the story of the fourth and most enigmatic of the men, Mitch Parker.
What is the connecting factor is this series other than their being Texas grooms?
This series follows the lives and loves of four very different men who traveled together from Philadelphia to a small town in Texas to look for fresh starts. And what they find there is so much more than they ever expected.
Why Texas grooms?
If you’re asking where the series title came from, it was the brainchild of my editor, based on the fact that these four bachelors traveled from ‘back East’ to Texas and settled there.
If you’re asking why I set it up that way, I just love fish out of water stories and wanted to get these men as far out of their comfort zones as possible
How do you decide what careers your characters will have?
That is a key part of figuring out who my character is. Sometimes it comes to me immediately, sometimes I have to really dig to figure it out. It has to be the right fit for who my character is at his core and for the kind of heroine he will attract. But there’s not a specific process I go through that I can describe to you - it’s one of those things I mull over until I find something that I know in my gut is right.
How do you juggle your responsibilities and still write 2-3 books a year?
LOL - not very well I’m afraid! I’ll admit it is easier now that I’ve retired from my day job but there just never seems to be enough time to get everything done that I’d like to accomplish.
What do you consider the greatest moment of your publishing career to date?
Oh wow, that’s a difficult question to answer, so I’ll just mention one of the first of many unexpected outcomes. Shortly after my first book hit the shelves my high school alma mater invited me to give the commencement address for their upcoming graduation ceremony. I was immensely honored. Addressing that group of young people was an exciting and humbling experience. And not only did it happen to coincide with the 30th anniversary of my own graduation, but my brother’s wife had a niece among the graduates which made it a family affair to boot!
What’s the most memorable thing a fan has said or written to you?
I get oodles of reader letters and emails with each book release and I read and treasure each and every one. The ones that move me the most, though, are the ones that convey how my story has touched their hurting heart in some way. And when that happens I know that there is more than my words in play. Those are the moments that humble me, that inspire me, that are the moments I write for.
Any parting words?
I love to hear from readers and other writers! Please feel free to email me at winnie@winniegriggs.com. You can also connect with me on
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/winnie.griggs),
Pinterest (http://www.pinterest.com/wdgriggs/) or
Goodreads (http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/191160.Winnie_Griggs)
Thanks for sharing with us, Winnie.
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