Anna Urquhart

 Anna Urquhart was traveling to Paris to work on her Masters of Fine Art degree, when the call came suggesting she audition for A Pioneer Christmas Collection.

She thought about a story idea while flying across the Atlantic Ocean. “I’d seldom heard stories of pioneers traveling by water. I examined the opening of the Erie Canal in the 1830s which led to settlements in then-Michigan Territory. That time period sparked my initial interest, combined with the fact my husband lived in Edinburgh, Scotland for many years.”

The result is A Silent Night.

Not a conventional love story, Anna’s tale involves a young couple very much in love who seek out a new life far from Scotland. While building a home and working hard, the husband goes missing and our heroine is forced to make difficult choices. Click to Tweet

The idea came from putting a woman in the kind of situation most women fear: helplessness. “It’s an abstract fear, but on the frontier becomes tangible quite quickly,” Anna said.

“Families were forged on the frontier from more than just blood-ties, and it’s curious to me how that seems to happen in times of struggle. Michigan Territory was quite wild at the time, with constant threat of weather, Indians, wild animals, and even trivial accidents that could change a person’s life. I tried to capture that wildness throughout the story.”

In terms of character, Anna saw aspects of herself in her heroine. “I have my protagonist’s propensity to second-guess herself. Additionally, I think that as a result, she continues to drive toward self-reliance, posing an unwillingness to surrender to the guidance and strength of the Lord.

I also gave my protagonist a daughter–whom I named after my own daughter–and my character’s struggles, as you can imagine, quickly became personal.”

When a story becomes personal to a writer, things creep in the author may not realize. That happened to Anna in A Silent Night.

“I had no clear spiritual theme as I began the story because I find that often the story itself has it’s own message it wants to forge. As I dug deeper the theme of surrender seemed continually to appear, and it became clear that the direction the story wanted to take was to look at the age old decision faced by every one of us: to hope that our own strength is enough to sustain us or to surrender to the One who loves us, pursues us, and calls us by name.” Click to Tweet

For the reason, perhaps, the ending surprised even Anna. “It turned into a completely different kind of love story than even I had anticipated.”

As for being a pioneer herself, Anna, like many, doesn’t believe she’d be a good candidate, “Though I’d like to imagine I’d put on a good show while I lasted. My husband assures me that I’ve not the makings of a frontierswoman, and I believe he’s right. However, I am quite handy with duct tape.”

“A part of me, though, itches to see what it would be like on the frontier struggling for survival. I think within each of us is a desire to know what it is that we’re made of, to see the exact boundaries of our strength and fortitude.”

In terms of Christmas, Anna’s vision is about families gathering, coming home from wherever they are.

“Most of those traveling west, however, didn’t have that luxury. They had only each other and those they’ve met along the way, who essentially became family. That is what I tried to capture in A Silent Night–the gathering and celebration of new-found family.”

To learn more about Anna Urquart, check out her webpage: http://www.annaurquhart.com

To read Anna’s story of writing A Silent Night for A Pioneer Christmas, see her blog post: http://bit.ly/14c5cAr

 

12 Days of A Pioneer Christmas
Monday, August 19	12 Days of Christmas Introduction
Tuesday, August 20	Cynthia Hickey on cynthiahickey.blogspot.com
Wednesday, August 21	Kathleen Fuller on www.kathleenfuller.com
Thursday, August 22	Michelle Ule on michelleule.com
Friday, August 23	Marcia Gruver on Yielded Quill
Saturday, August 24	Shannon McNear on www.shannonmcnear.com
Monday, August 26	Lauraine Snelling on michelleule.com
Tuesday, August 27	Kathleen Fuller on www.kathleenfuller.com
Wednesday, August 28	Vickie McDonough on www.shannonmcnear.com
Thursday, August 29	Anna Urquhart on The Silent Isle
Friday, August 30	Michelle Ule on Colonial Quills
Saturday, August 31	Michelle Ule on michelleule.com
Sunday, September 1	A Pioneer Christmas Collection Release!!