INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:

How long have you been involved in your particular career?

18 years. Wow, I can’t believe it’s been that long!

What prompted your decision to become a writer?   

Like many before me, I was an avid reader of romance. Then I came across a few books that made me think, hey, I can do at least this well. And so I tried and was lucky enough, after much hard work and perseverance, to succeed. I was not an overnight success.

How has your line of work changed during the past ten years? 

Ah, dear. After 16 sexy romances in the secular market, I crossed over to inspirational fiction in 1999. I admit, I was like Jonah headed to Ninevah, but looking back, I can see how God closed the door to the secular market and opened wide several in the Christian segment. I’ve never looked back with regret.

What aspects of your work do you enjoy the most?

Perhaps I should say what I enjoy the least. Marketing and promotion. I love every aspect of writing. Each day is a new creation and a chance to improve on yesterday’s work. Each release is like sending out a messenger dove in anticipation that God has that message, that story, in mind for someone I’ve never met.

What are the most challenging problems for writers?

Again, for me it’s promotion and marketing, the business aspect. I love researching, writing, and even revisions—anything to make that story worthy, to bring it to life for someone.

What motivates you? 

I am creative by nature and this is a wonderful outlet for that creativity. I am spiritual by nature also, and again, here is an outlet for that spirituality as well.  How blessed I am to follow a dream and get paid to do it! And paid in more than simply a monetary sense. Money alone can not justify the heart and soul (aka blood, sweat and tears) that I put into my books.  If so, I’d have quit a long time ago. <GRIN>

How did you get your first big break into the writing business? 

I shotgunned the market with proposals, ten each, to agents and publishers I’d selected from the Writer’s Market. I’d never heard of RWA then and ACFW didn’t exist at all. The Writer’s Market was the only guide I had.

New Years Eve 1987, I received two manuscripts that I’d sent out six months earlier, before Writers Market suggested that one didn’t send out ten pound manuscripts in lieu of proposalsJ. They were generic rejections from the last of the publishers I’d contacted. It was the final straw. I broke.

I’d just buried my dad a week earlier and, in the depths of undiagnosed chemical depression, I fell to my knees and gave my hope of becoming published to God. I asked Him for a sign, something I couldn’t bend to my will because I wanted it so badly. I was willing to accept no for His answer. No matter how much it hurt.

January 2nd , or the first day that there was mail after the holiday, I received two requests from publishers to see the ms and one from an agent. Yes! God was backing me. In July, I sold my first book. The same one that had been rejected on New Years Eve, not a word changed. Kensington went on to purchase my next fifteen books and I sold one contemporary to Meteor Publishing’s Kismet line.

For what achievement would you like to be remembered? 

That my books gave people a “grace-lift.” That a Windsor read was not just humor and entertainment, but informative and uplifting.

Are there things you haven’t accomplished yet that you still would like to accomplish? 

Yes. I’d like to ride a camel and an elephant. Not far. Just to get the feel of it.

On a more serious note, I’d like to write historical novels that use the setting of the early (Pre-Constantine) Christians in the British Isles. I’d also like to write a non-fiction book about a Christian mother’s witness to her New Age daughter. After being stalked and assaulted in college, my daughter turned against God and became involved in Wicca. The research for my Fires of Gleannmara Celtic Irish historical series led me to the historical information on how the early Christians witnessed to the pagans that enabled me to witness effectively to her.

If you were not involved in your present work, what would you most likely be doing?

I would probably be pursuing a career in the ministry, or some semblance therein. Had you asked me this question before being published in Christian fiction, I’d have said that I’d be working as a software consultant.

How keen is competition in your field?

There are so many good writers and so few publishers that it is a highly competitive market. Yet we are all on the same team in inspirational fiction. So when a fellow writer makes the bestseller list or wins an award, I earnestly congratulate them like so. “I wish it had been me, but since it wasn’t intended, I’m so glad it’s you.” J

What is the secret to having satisfied readers in your business?

Write a good book, one with characters that can be identified with, one that pulls at the emotions and makes one think about their faith journey.

What trends are currently developing in your profession? 

I’m leery of trends. Trends come and go. Personal evolution/improvement is more important, IMHO. A good book, like cream, will rise to the top, trendy or no. Remember, the biggest hits were not trendy. They set the trend.

What is an average workday like for you? 

This is embarrassing. I’ve been on a six month hiatus, life-imposed. After my husband’s death, I churned out three books in do or die mode. I have finally rested. Given my mind a much needed respite.

But when I start my next project within a week or so, I will write daily from about 9am till three, breaking for lunch with my live-in mom. On a day she needs me to ride shotgun with her shopping or for a doctor’s visit, I’ll take off. Or I might skip work at the call of a friend I haven’t seen in a while. Maybe I’ll need to prepare a lesson for a Bible study group or take an afternoon to sing at the local nursing home. Life is too short to make one’s work everything.

What kinds of projects are you currently involved?

See the above. I’m preparing a proposal for the next book in the Piper Cove Chronicles—Jan’s story.

How do you get your characters?

I am part of, or I know most of them. Sometimes I’ve read their stories in real life and borrow from them. Or, in historicals, they jump from the pages of my research books saying, “Tell my story!”

Do people in your line of work have much time for families?

Not if they allow their work to come first. I have done that. I have regretted it. I have learned from it. And yet, I still struggle with it. I still must re-prioritize when I slip into my work first rule and re-set to God, family, work—in that order. When I do, God makes sure I can turn out twice as much good writing in half the time. Truly amazing. But then, so’s God.J

Do you travel much? 

Every chance I get, although I don’t get the chance a lot.  I usually take one trip a year—a cruise, usually. Don’t really care where it goes, just so I’m shipboard and being spoiled. This year I finally made it to Ireland with Angie Hunt, Terri Blackstock and Wanda Dyson. Imagine four writers traveling together. No kids whining about another bloomin’ castle or asking to go to Hard Rock Café. It was sheer delight! I do try to attend the ACFW Conference each year.

Does your work put pressure on you? 

Absolutely. Then I go back to aforementioned re-prioritizing and God takes over my scheduling.

How did you prepare yourself for your career? 

I was an avid reader. My degree was in education, so I can’t help but teach something when I write, especially in my historicals. I’m a historical nut case. I wish I had a degree in English, but had I chosen something other than education, it would likely have been history. If I’d known I’d become a writer, it would have been English. Back then, teaching was foremost in my mind.

What type of reading do you like? 

I like all genres from fantasy to thrillers…the latter, being my least choice, I fear. No. I mean I really fear! Okay, I’m a wimp. I’ll admit it.

In regard to your profession as a whole, of what are you most critical?

People who criticize a genre without having read it or judge a book by its cover, so to speak. Or those who stereotype all writers of one genre as being the same. There is such a variety of stories, even within the same line.  Never say I’ll never read this or that type of book, because you just might miss the read of your life.

What do you do when you need to get away from it all? 

I suffer chemical depression which is compounded in winter by sun-starved days.  Since I can’t afford a winter-long cruise or stay in the sun, I sometime take a day off just for me. I might drive to the ocean—just twenty miles away. Or indulge in something I love to do, like shopping, a meal out or a movie with friends, a pedicure, or reading for fun in front of a blazing fire. And I sing and play music—guitar. Music sets the spirit free and calms the soul.

Are there any professional associations that you belong?

Yes, I belong to RWA and several chapters, ACFW and the Mid-Atlantic Chapter, Novelists Inc. and AWSA, the Class graduates’ speakers association for Christian women.

What are your short and long range career goals? 

Short range is to finish the Piper Cove Chronicles, which are romantic comedies with a dash of suspense for good measure. I need to tell the stories of all four of the bosom buddies, so BUY Wedding Bell Blues and For Pete’s Sake TODAY! If you don’t, you may never know why Jan always wants the guy she shouldn’t have or how sassy, self-centered Sue Ann’s posh lifestyle and money buy her more heartbreak than love. But their bosom buddies never fail to come to the rescue. It’s all for one and one for all… Sorry, got carried away there:/

Long range is work up a proposal for a first-century British novel and take notes for a nonfiction work on first century Christianity and how/why it won the pagan hearts and souls. Face it, our New Age is really Old Age. We could learn a lot from our early church history. I’m just waiting for God to give me the go-ahead. Meanwhile, I’m preparing a little at a time.

What sort of educational background do you have?

I have a B.S. degree in Education from Salisbury University. I wanted to teach little urchins. Some jump to novelist, eh?

How do you spend your weekends and off-duty hours? 

I spend them with friends and family, shopping, eating out, or feeding the multitudes at home. I enjoy reading and watching TV—Fox News, Discovery, the History channels, National Geographic, TLC and occasionally, an old movie. I also love forensic-based shows, both reality and fiction. Mom freaks out when I tell her it’s how I relax.J Then there’s playing music for fun and as a ministry. I stay busy.