Inspiration? by Sara Barnard

As writers, inspiration comes in many forms. When I was writing my Everlasting Heart series, which is due to be released from Prairie Rose Publications in April of this year, my inspiration was rich. A husband in Afghanistan, emergency surgery which predicted cancer in my thyroid, and home alone with three young children and an overactive creative mind. All of this filled the pages of the four books which comprise the Everlasting Heart series, A Heart on Hold, A Heart Broken, A Heart at Home, and A Heart Forever Wild -- all so aptly titled.

In this series, Charlotte Adamsland is left behind when her love, Captain Sanderson Redding, leaves to fight for the south in the American Civil War. After a series of adventures and trials (and battle scenes straight from the fields of Afghanistan), When word reaches Charlotte of Sanderson's death in battle, she refuses to believe it and heads north with only her faith in God, trusty horse, and belief in Sanderson's promise to return to her no matter what to drive her on. And that's just the first book.

When I completed all four books of the Everlasting Heart series, I felt as though I'd shared all of my deepest darkest secrets -- and dirty laundry -- in the pages. Do all writers feel that way?

I find much in my family life, between four kids and a mess of rescue animals and an Army veteran husband. Maybe that's why I am working on my 23rd book right now.

What is your inspiration when you write?