Earlier this week I let you know about the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (JPAC), a new open-source scholarly publication. But what about publications produced by the Amish? While scholarly journals provide a different and valuable perspective, it’s also nice to read writings direct from Amish writers. And there is a wide and growing range of such periodicals. Some of these are pretty well-known, while…
Folks, does anyone actually take these offers? This is an addendum to my June post on the ad I found for Amish romance plot writers. A number of you chimed in explaining how bad their deal was. Here’s what some of you with professional writing experience had to say then: Boyce Rensberger: The fees offered are absurdly low. This must be some kind of rip-off….
Well, not wanted by me, but by someone who’s posted a job offer on freelancing site Upwork. This is just a quirky thing I came across in my Amish news feed today. I wondered some years ago if the appeal of Amish romance would continue. Going by anecdotal evidence at least, the genre appears to still be running strong. This kind of ad seems to…
Ira Wagler‘s best-selling 2011 memoir Growing Up Amish told the story of his life as a young man, and his eventual decision to leave the Amish behind. Broken Roads: Returning To My Amish Father is his just-released follow-up. It covers subsequent events in his life, and in particular, his relationship with his father, David L. Wagler. Among David’s accomplishments, he was co-founder of the Amish…
Free Rein One day in late fall, snow fell and caught me unprepared for winter. Hoping to save a little time, I took a different way home, one with which I was not too familiar, yet I anticipated no problem. Old Dobbin obligingly trotted on, but I was not far until I began to have doubts that this road was leading me home. By now…
We have a winner today of Marcus Yoder’s new book, Cathedrals, Castles, and Caves: The Origins of the Anabaptist Faith. If you missed it, you can find the Q-and-A with Marcus here. Excerpt from Cathedrals, Castles, and Caves But before we get to the winner, an excerpt from the book. The following is the full Chapter 24, entitled “Preacher On The Run”. In this excerpt, we learn…
Is Amish life “earth-friendly”? How do Amish view and treat animals? How does the Bible influence Amish perspectives of nature? Do Amish people eat an “all-natural” diet? Nature & The Environment in Amish Life is the new book by David McConnell and Marilyn Loveless. The authors investigate these and many other topics in great depth. One thing is clear: the answers to many of these questions…
Today’s Q-and-A is a bit different from most previous editions, for two reasons. First, the author is Amish mom Delilah Byler. Delilah kindly answered some questions about her book and family for us today. Second, the book is called Where Are Aldo’s Treasures?, and it is a children’s book. Delilah created this search-and-find book from her own experience as a mother of eight children. I…
Today we have a winner of A Midwife in Amish Country – in fact, we have two winners, as author Kim Osterholzer has kindly offered a second signed copy for the giveaway contest. Kim also wanted to answer some more of your questions about being a midwife – so we’ve got about 10 more below (see part 1 of her answers here). You’ll find the…
How about a glimpse of Amish life through the eyes of someone living it every day? There are currently at least three Amish women writing columns published in newspapers across the nation. They are: Gloria Yoder Lovina Eicher Millie Otto These three columns follow a similar model, with reports from daily life running an Amish household, being a mother, and handling all the tasks and…