Shelley Shepard Gray, a popular author of more than 55 books, meets Phyllis Gossel (center) and Donna Englehart (right) during an hour-long talk and book signing at the Ada Public Library on Saturday morning.

The author told how she began writing, the work involved in producing so many books, and how much fun writing is to her.

With a laugh she said, "I get paid for making making things up." Most of her books are inspirational novels about Amish women (she is not Amish), but she has also tried her hand at historical novels, romance books, and westerns.

She is now researching Civil War life because that period of time will be the setting for a new work.

She is prolific, with a goal of writing a novel every three months. Women love to read her work (all 15 people who attended her Ada presentation were women) because she has been on the New York Times Bestseller and USA Today Bestseller lists several times.

No small feat. Her publisher is HarperCollins, one of the world's largest publishers of English language books. After her talk, the ladies attending gobbled up her books, most buying three or more.

She signed each one, chatted with the buyer, and graciously smiled for a photograph with the buyer. No doubt, she was popular in Ada before her appearance, even more so now.

An Amish Book Club meets at the library at 1 p.m. the third Tuesday of each month. No doubt Shelley Shepard Gray has been on the club's reading list in the past and will surely be in the future.
(Monty Siekerman)