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Best-selling author Lois Walfrid Johnson offers edge-of-your-seat adventure with the Northwoods, Riverboat, and Viking Quest novels. Her Let's-Talk-About-It books help kids make choices. Burnt Cookies is a story devotional for girls. Either Way, I Win helps adults grow in prayer and find courage for facing tough times. See About My Books for more about these titles. Lois will be updating this page, using questions from the e-mails she receives. So return to this page often. |
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How long does it take you to write a novel?
Usually I need to finish a book every six months. Then my editors look at my manuscript and make suggestions about anything that needs to be explained better. I answer their questions and rewrite sentences, paragraphs, or scenes to make them more clear. It's just like what you do with your school assignments, right? |
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Did Big Gust really live? Yes, he truly lived in the early 1900's. He was seven feet, six inches tall, weighed 360 pounds, and wore size 18 shoes. People loved him because of his kindness, but also enjoyed knowing about his great strength. The stories I tell about Big Gust in several Northwoods books are either true or similar to something he was known to do. If you visit Grantsburg in northwest Wisconsin, they've honored their legendary village marshall with a life-sized wooden carving of him on the street leading into town. His uniform and a gigantic crutch he used after an accident are in the Grantsburg museum. His gravestone in the Grantsburg cemetery simply reads BIG GUST. You might be surprised to know that his sister Augusta was only about five feet tall! Photo published by Burnett County Sentinel, Grantsburg, WI, and used by permission. |
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Where did you get your Jacob's Ladder wall hanging?
When I traveled in Illinois to research The Swindler's Treasure, I met Kathy Cook, a teacher at the Illinois School for the Deaf. She invited me into her classroom, and I talked with her five second graders, as well as other students and people connected with the school. With their help I created my deaf character Peter, who quickly became a character many of you especially like. When an older student told me how he taught his dog sign language, I thought, Ah ha! Peter can do the same thing! One day a surprise package came in my mail. I opened it to discover a wall hanging made by Kathy Cook and her five second graders (see About the Author). Kathy used the Jacob's Ladder quilt design. I looked at the lovely quilted hanging and thought, Hmmmm. How can I use this in a novel? You'll find the answer in The Mysterious Signal! |
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Will you tell me what it means to be a Christian? I'd be glad to. God has done something very special for each one of us. There's a verse in the Bible that explains it really well: "For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16 Living Bible) The Bible tells us that every person in the whole world is sinful. When we sin (do wrong things), it separates us from God. But he figured out a way for us to receive forgiveness. God gave his only Son, Jesus, who died on the cross for each one of us. After three days Jesus rose from the dead and lives forever. Those who believe in him receive his salvation right now on earth. They become a Christian. When they die they will go to heaven and live there forever. |
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If you'd like to know Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you can do this: Thank Jesus for loving you. Believe that He died on the cross for your sin. In the Bible Jesus says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6 NIV) The Bible also promises that "God has shown us how much he loves us—it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8 TEV) Tell Jesus that you're sorry for your sin and ask him to forgive you. The Bible tells us, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us. But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing." (I John 1:8-9 TEV) "Confess" means to tell God that we know we've done something wrong. Ask Jesus to be your Savior and Lord. The Bible promises that "Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:13 NIV). Good news, huh? Thank Jesus for the salvation you received in the moment you asked. The Bible says, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." (John 5:13 NIV). You can pray like this: Thank you, Jesus, for loving me so much that you died on the cross for me. I'm sorry about my sins and ask you to forgive me. I also ask you to be my Savior and Lord. Thank you that right in this moment I receive your salvation and eternal life. |
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I'm writing an article or book report about you. Try this: Click all the buttons, and you'll find answers to the most commonly asked questions. Check the acknowledgment pages at the end of each novel for clues about how I put together a story. Two novels will be especially helpful: Disaster on Windy Hill for my family background and how my experiences helped me write the Adventures of the Northwoods series and Escape into the Night for how my husband Roy thought up the idea for the Riverboat Adventures. The acknowledgment pages in each of the five Viking Quest novels give some insight about how I put a novel together. The last in the series, The Raider's Promise, tells the most. Your school or local public library may have some of the reference books in which I'm listed:
You'll find the longest articles in these:
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