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Press Room
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Interview of Chicagoland writer: For CWA's October interview, editors invited Renetta (Ren) Dudzinski of Rochelle, Illinois to discuss Book One of her JOURNEY BOOK SERIES.
CWA Editor. Renetta, please tell us how you got started in your writing career?
Renetta. My writing is a recent blessing. My decade-old feed and animal supply business had been suffering due to several reasons, and my husband had been out of work for over a year. I asked God to give me something pleasant to think about while I tried to go to sleep at night.
CWA. Like many of us, then, you were strengthened by your faith?
Renetta. Yes, but its one thing to say that all that you have belongs to God, and quite another to actually be faced with losing it all. I didn't want to be afraid, so I did the only thing I knew I could count on, I prayed. That night I saw this story of Rose and David as soon as I closed my eyes, and it continued as soon as I was awake the next morning, for four days. After telling my family what I had seen, we decided I should write the story down.
CWA. On what brand of computer did you write your first story?
Renetta. You're kidding. The first book was written with ten number two pencils, filled three notebooks and took six long days to write.
CWA. How many books are there in the series?
Renetta. I have four books in the series written and I am currently working on the fifth book. I really enjoy the time I spend with Rose and David.
CWA. Can you explain the statement in the caption to Journey, Book One," about these [w]ritings are taken from the Journal of Rose Coulter"?
Renetta. Sure, the book is written as words of sixteen year old Rose Brocksmith who wed her childhood friend, David Coulter. Their families relied on their strong Christian backgrounds to help the young Illinois couple prepare for a future in on the Western frontier.
CWA. What follows after Rose and David's two year engagement and wedding?
Renetta. Rose's Journal had recorded in great detail many of the preparations for their long journey, such as the design and construction of the covered wagons and wagons to carry the small livestock, and the accumulation of the food and supplies to be taken along.
And, Rose learns many necessary skills from her mother, such as mattress and pillow making, clothing construction, bread cake baking, food preservation, and how to make a good pot of coffee outdoors.
CWA. Please explain the part about Rose and David's fathers having a vision?
Renetta. Both men believe they have heard from God, who instructed the newly weds not to travel on the dangerous Oregon Trail. They convince their children to follow God's leading and they arrive in the Nebraska Territory some months later without incident. Rose's Journal tells how they staked their claim, built their cabin, and fenced their claim near the small town of Reliance in the Rocky Mountain foothills, while preparing for their first long winter of isolation.
CWA. Is this story a romance?
Renetta. No, not at all. In fact, I have been told that it is not a love story, but a loving story. The men that have read the story have given me different opinions. Some think it reads like a western, others think it is more historical, and still others just liked all the details. I've heard from hundreds of people, male and female, aged nine-years to ninety-five years old, who have read the book and each, one has asked for more of my Christian Historical Fiction.
CWA. Who did the artwork for your cover? Who is Minagi?
Renetta. Minagi is a Japanese name used by my daughter, Sandra. She designed the book cover to look like an old leather journal when she was just sixteen years old. Each book in the series will be a different color, deep red, dark blue, forest green, rich purple, etc.
CWA. How will you market your books?
Renetta. One of my missions is to promote the independent Christian retailers. I will be working directly with them to promote the book series.
CWA. When will the book be available?
Renetta. The first book in The Journey Book Series will be available in November 2005, followed by Book Two and Book Three early in 2006.
CWA. We've asked other interviewees to speak about their favorite thing or part of Chicago? Please share your thoughts about the Windy City.
Renetta. Sure, I always get Home Run Inn Pizza whenever I'm anywhere near one of their restaurants. I lived a block from the original tavern on 31st St. in the 1950's where Nick and Mary started their business. They were good friends of my grandparents.
CWA. In closing, I must mention that (like many of us) Renetta also Thanx her husband Gary for his support of her writing. As well, she credits their children, Daniel, William and Sandra. Gary also founded Rhapsody Press in 2004 to publish Renetta's books after two unsuccessful attempts to publish with subsidy publishers. In the future, Rhapsody Press plans to publish Christian fiction, featuring good Christian characters, as well as devotionals for local ministries.
Christian retailers interested in The Journey Book Series may contact:
Rhapsody Press
P.O. Box 483
Rochelle, Illinois 61068.
Phone: 815-562-9468
Fax: 815-562-7550
Email:publisher@rhapsody press.com
The Journey, Book One, ISBN 1-933145-07-2
The Journey, Book Three, ISBN 1-933145-09-9
The Journey, Book Two, ISBN 1-933145-08-0
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**
The Journey, Book One, by Renetta Dudzinski
Review by Jeannette Clinkunbroomer
As Confucius says, every journey begins with a single step. For sixteen-year-old Rose Brocksmith and her fiancee, David Coulter, their passage through the five-volume series, The Journey, by Renetta Dudzinski, starts with their 1869 marriage in this novel, Book One. And, if Rose and David’’s union marks a beginning, it also signals the end of their lives as dependents in the well-established, comfortable homes of their parents on the northern Illinois prairie.
Months before their wedding day, Rose and David decided to make the long journey west to what was then the Nebraska Territory, now better known as Wyoming. With the blessings and considerable support of both the Brocksmiths and the Coulters, Rose and David carefully accumulate all they will need, not only for the wagon passage to the West, but to make a home for themselves when they arrive. These necessities include foodstuffs of all kinds, tools, bedding, and some furniture, and also reach beyond material things. Rose spends days with her mother learning to bake good bread, to sew men’’s clothing, to preserve fruits from the orchards and vegetables from the garden. She and David both learn how to handle the Belgian draught horses they will take with them, and the horses are a special gift; they pull the wagons, but David also will breed them for income on his own farm.
Rose and David follow their own course to the new land, deliberately avoiding the rowdies and opportunists who populate the well-worn Oregon and California Trails. Here, too, counsel from their parents helps them avoid what could be a troublesome situation at a heavily-trafficked ferry as they leave the settled U.S. states and head into the vast and largely unsettled western territories.
Their new home is a beautiful valley that lays beyond two pillars of stone -- a natural gateway. Nearby is the small town of Reliance, little more than a stopping place for travelers bound farther west. And once Rose and David stake a claim to the land, the real work begins. According to law, they must fence their hundreds of acres. For their own health and comfort, they must build a cabin and barn, lay out and clear the fields they’’ll use for planting, learn who in Reliance is a friend and who might mean trouble.
Throughout Book One, the reader is struck by the monumental task of moving an entire household across the country and the heavy, seemingly never-ending labor of turning the wilderness into a place that can provide sustenance and human comfort. Both the Brocksmith and the Coulter families are devout Christians, as are Rose and David. They trust in God’’s intentions, spend time each day in prayer and Bible study, but also understand that they, themselves, must do the hard work on earth. Respecting each other, their neighbors, and the land, |
“Once I began reading the Journey I could not stop. This story is inspiring. In spite of an unknown future, traveling to claim their land, and loads of hard work, David and Rose never forsook their relationship with the Lord. As exciting as their journey was, they always made time for the Lord and found a way to touch others with His love. I would encourage everyone to read this heavenly adventure that reinforces God’s order and design for marriage and family. I can’t believe this is your first book!”
Pastor Ronald E. Smith Jr., Founder of Scripture Of The Day International
“You are a talented writer! Your book is excellent. Your style is better than J. Oke. Your road of thought is clearer.”
Reverend Dan Mooney
Elliot Road Baptist Church
“It was wonderful. I just loved it. A great demonstration of how we should live. My husband will read it next.”
Mrs. Kruger, Pastor’s Wife
“The Journey was delightful!”
Jan Culkins, Korean Missionary
"After reading the first two installments of Mrs. Dudzinski's "The Journey" series, I feel like David and Rose Coulter are long time family friends. Their story is fascinating and Renetta's ability to engage the reader in the lives of the characters left me unable to put the book down. The Coulters are an excellent example of Christian courage and character. They constantly strive to live a life pleasing to God in accordance with His word, grow closer to Him through Bible study and prayer, and seek His will for every aspect of their life. God blesses their obedience and uses them to touch the lives of every person they come in contact with. I am anxiously awaiting the next pages of Rose's journal so I can learn what God has in store for my friends the Coulters and the Coulter Children's Home."
Brother Jim Heidebrecht
Pastor, Fellowship Baptist Association (Missouri)
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A Tale of Faith, Love and Courage:
The Journey, Book One, by Renetta Dudzinski
Review by Christopher (C.W.) Gortner
At the turn of the century, thousands of hopeful young pioneers in search of land and a better way of life immigrated across the country to the West. For the most part nameless to history, these anonymous families and couples, fathers and sons, daughters and mothers, helped shape the West with their courage and perseverance into the country we know today.
Renetta Dudzinki’’s The Journey, Book I: The Journals of Rose Coulter invites the reader into this exciting historical time of bravery, hardship and triumph. Through the eyes of young Rose, the daughter of a close-knit Christian family who is wed to David, son of a neighboring family, we experience the perils, the hopes, the enduring faith and the sacrifices of a newlyweds who embark on a grand journey West to build a homestead for themselves.
With Rose and David, we join the trains of people and livestock who battled the vagaries of weather and of landscape, compelled onward always by a vision of a future that many believed had been imparted to them by God. Rose’’s faithful entries in to her journal, which form the basis for Dudzinki’’s story, are meticulous in their detail of every-day pioneer life, from lists of foodstuffs required for a trip across country on a horse-drawn cart to the condiments needed to bake a pie and lengths of fabric to make new clothes. Many of the items we take for granted today, mass-manufactured as they are by machines, are thrown into vivid relief; and we begin to understand the extraordinary amounts of time and energy these long-gone people needed in order to make their lives more comfortable. Rose and David’’s faith in each other and in their vision of a homestead echoes throughout the book, mirroring the dreams of thousands of couples like them, who left loved ones and familiar lands behind in quest of an adventure into the unknown.
Written in the uncomplicated prose of a young girl, suitable for adolescents and adults alike, filled with the struggles and the faith of young Christians, The Journey is more than a meditation on the history of the pioneers: it is a timeless tale of young love and hope.
C.W. Gortner is a writer based in San Francisco, and the author of The Secret Lion
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“Rose Coulter’s journal is a journey of faith and soul, filled with adventure and hardships of the pioneer era. I reviewed the book!”
C.W. Gortner, Author
“I definitely enjoyed the story. You get a real sense of what life was like in that time period. Rose and David are quality characters, you can almost see them in your mind’s eye. This book will be appealing to a large group of people, of a variety of ages. You should be pleased with your work.”
Lynne Garden, Author and Producer of “Jerusalem Now.”
“A wonderful book, written in a unique and appropriate style, and with a perfectly chosen culmination! Renetta Dudzinski blends the style of a realistic and warm turn of the century journal with that of a first person real time narrative, from the viewpoint of a young Wyoming settler and her husband. I think what I found the most fascinating about it was the way Dudzinski was able to write so convincingly in the style of an actual journal as it might have been kept by a young woman settling out West in the late 1800's, yet managed to keep the story moving in a present-tense storytelling style. The two approaches are not easily melded together and I think the author handled this quite successfully! Faith supports the characters through their pilgrimage and into their creation of a home in the wilderness. The first book of a multi-volume saga, The Journey lays a firm groundwork for what will follow.”
Michael McFadden, Author and Activist
“When I started reading The Journey I couldn’t put it down! I wished it had many, many more pages.”
Carol Edwards, Journalist and Author
“It’s hard to describe the good feeling I got from your book. I felt sort of “cleansed” by reading it-by being reminded of a day when hard work and self-sufficiency was a way of life. Your writing is so clear and emphatic to these fine young people, it just made me want to know all about the rest of their lives. I can’t wait until you finish Book 2. I want to be on the list when it comes out.”
J.S. Cole, Journalist and Author
“I loved this book and hated to put it down once I started reading it. Was so nice and refreshing to read something pertaining to family. I loved the Bible verses too. It brought back memories of my childhood when my aunt lived on a farm and used a horse and buggy.”
Evelyn Seamons, Author
“I wish you well in marketing your book and in your continued growth as a writer. Since I keep on learning myself I'm always encouraged when I know writers are out there learning our great craft. Keep at it!”
All the best,
Jim
James Scott Bell, Author
“It's good to hear from you, and especially to hear that you've written an entire series. Waytago! Are you a member of American Christian Fiction Writers yet? That group would really be a benefit to you. You can visit the Web site at: www.americanchristianfictionwriters.com.”
Blessings,
~BRANDILYN
www.brandilyncollins.com Don't forget to b r e a t h e . . .
Brandilyn Collins, Author
“Godly book. Great writing for a first time author. I can’t wait to see what comes next!”
Lamont Robinson, Author
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