Author Interview:

What led you to write The 20th Christmas?

I'd always wanted to write a Christmas-theme book. I love reading them and watching holiday movies on Hallmark and Lifetime each year. I enjoy Christmas music and, ever since I was thirteen and first heard Amy Grant's "Breath of Heaven," I was interested in writing a story with that as the theme song. I find the winter the most inspiring time to write, yet I do my least amount of writing then due to the busy-ness of the season.

However, during the fall of 2013 my church had a service about how we each have a specific gift to be instruments of God. I was ashamed to admit that I'd never used mine to write for God. I wanted to thank Him for not abandoning me throughout the years--to write a book about trusting Him--but after the holidays.

God said no, now was the time! when I awoke from a powerful dream the first week of November. Throughout my life, my story ideas have come from a variety of inspirations: music, movies, photographs, paintings, conversations with others. . .but never have I related to writers who say their book was from a dream they had. My dreams make no sense. People morph into other people. They flip between the past, present, and future. Maybe if I was a sci-fi writer. . .but that's not my genre! Still, I grabbed my notebook beside my bed and scribbled down as much as I could. I looked at my calendar and saw that it was NaNo (National Novel Writing Month), where writers are encouraged to write a book/50,000 words in thirty days.

I'd never participated because I'd always felt I had too much on my plate to write a book in a month. But, I wondered. . .what would it be like to allow myself nothing except to write? My first response was that I'm a very hands-on mother so I'd feel guilty if I didn't spend time with my children for five weeks—what if I missed something in their lives? Hmmm. . .I looked at my online photo albums and saw that the number of pictures I take per month averages 600. I decided maybe it would be healthy if I took a break! :p

What about my husband, though? Was it fair to have him become a single parent, chef, housekeeper, and shopper for a month? There'd also be no conversations of substance between us or fun activities. I thought about our ten years of marriage by then with half of those as me being a stay at home mom, and as the one to cook all meals, and how he'd never done the laundry. . .I decided, yes, let's do it. :-)

I learned of a Christian publisher from a college friend and, before I was even finished, I submitted what I had. That is usually a no-no for unpublished authors but I didn't want to waste my time completing something that was unpublishable. They had no idea who I was but wrote back and said they were, in fact, interested.

So, I wrote my first published book during a time when I never thought I'd write one (Thanksgiving-Christmas), in an amount of time that I never thought possible (one month), by means that I never thought (a dream), in a way I never thought (submitting it to a publisher prior to completion), and it was a genre I'd never attempted before (inspirational).  The entire process was different for me as well; I'm more of a plotter than a prancer, which means I try to write a summary and outline before I write a book. With that said, I don't always know what's going to happen from chapter to chapter, however with this book I knew nothing at all! I wasn't concerned with following "writing do's and don'ts;" I sat down at my computer and just let the words flow.

What message do you want readers to walk away with?

The 20th Christmas turned out to be more than just a book about a toddler named Chase who is kidnapped from a coffee shop; it's a story about parents' love. . .and of a marriage over time. . .and of how tragedy can harden a previously soft person. It's about letting go of our ideas of how life should be, especially in our instant-gratification-quick-fix society, and seeing the whole picture in God's time and way.

Even though the book is fiction, these elements in our world are real and something we can all relate to. If just one person can have renewed faith and hope in their own life, then I did what I was supposed to with this book. Of course since it's my first, there are things I'd do different (such as, expand on the Austin storyline), but it had to be a fast-paced story to stay under the 200 pages. Those who like quick reads will prefer that aspect; those who prefer longer, more descriptive stories can look forward to my next book which will be double the size and is taking much longer to write—but I'd heard about NaNo for years and never thought I could do it. . .so The 20th Christmas was proof to myself that I could do it!

Since writing a novel in a month was a first for you, how long does it usually take you to write a book?

I have manuscripts that I've been writing for as long as five years but haven't completed yet. For me, starting a novel is easy. But mid-way through I get frustrated, lose my inspiration, and most often stop because life happens. I'm a wife, a mother of two, I like hobbies, I treasure my friendships, I get tired and sick. . .and, a bigger deal than I'd prefer to admit: my house gets too messy for me to be able to concentrate. My ideal is to shut myself in a room somewhere and write from the minute I wake up until I go to bed, every single day. There is no concept of time when I write, and nothing I prefer doing more—it is invigorating and fun and therapeutic and fulfilling. However, I don't have a cabin in the mountains; there are interruptions, places I have to go, things I have to do, people I have to see. . .but, last year I was fed up with excuses holding me back so I'm glad I finally shut myself in my room!

I'll admit, a part of me was tempted to keep writing all to myself since it's always been an area of my life that I don't care what anyone else thinks and can just be free—but, I'd also had the goal since I was a child to be able to walk into a bookstore and see my work. To hold a hard copy in my hands. To know that I put forth the effort and was rewarded. There have been so many books that have touched my life (often non-best sellers) and I wanted to do the same for others—to write stories with a positive message. I owed it to the little girl inside of me who once told people that it was my purpose and what I was put on this earth to do. I'm not sure if I'll try the “one month” thing again so that I can take my time to give it my best, but I'll definitely be writing a book or two each year from here on out.

How long did it take you to be published?

I was thirty-three when I signed the contract, although it almost happened when I was twenty-seven. The 20th Christmas is my first published book, but fourth completed manuscript (the other three have been buried in my closet and I don't plan to show the light of day). For my second manuscript, an editor at a new, unique line of Harlequin expressed interest, but then closed/discontinued publishing books for that line before I was given a contract. I was pregnant with my son so my priority switched to being a stay-at-home-mom (aside from writing online articles) until The 20th Christmas, which was written a couple of months after he started kindergarten.

The subject matter is every parent's nightmare—was writing this book an emotional experience for you?

Absolutely. But I knew that if I wanted readers to connect on an emotional level as I did with the curly-haired blond boy in my dream, then I had to stay in that zone. The NaNo idea of shutting myself away for a month turned out to be perfect for this book because I can get snippy when I'm writing or thinking and have to get out of character to return to my daily life. So, writing an emotional book in a short amount of time was probably best for not only myself but everyone around me! At the same time, though, this book was fun to write. Even though my own son is dark complected, his toddler personality inspired the character of Chase, so it was special to be able to write down some of my own memories of him at that age and know that they are now recorded forever. Likewise, the character of CeCe was inspired by my bubbly daughter. My husband's personality, however, will have to wait for another book, haha. He liked how the men in The 20th Christmas always seemed to be a voice of reason, but my husband is much more goofy and sporty compared to Alan and Daniel. Same thing goes for Arianna, Lydia, and Lacey as they were not based on anyone I know, either. I enjoyed following them through two decades (another rarity, as you're not going to find most short novels span twenty years).

How did your own children inspire the characters of this book?

My son loved the song, “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”--that stuff about it stopping his cries was from my own experience. My son also had a bear with I <3 U on its tummy. We experienced shoulder dystocia during his delivery and he was a sweet, compliant toddler, which made life happy and peaceful during those first couple of years. . .but my relationship with my husband would have been different with just one dramatic event which millions of families face every day. Thankfully, most of us never have to experience a child abduction, but we all go through our own set of circumstances which affect us forever. Maybe The 20th Christmas can give readers a new perspective to whatever they are facing in their own life.

How much research did you do about kidnapping and child abductions to write on this topic?

It depends on what I consider to be my first research! My dad was a DCI special agent for 32 years so I grew up hearing a lot about stranger danger, especially the Johnny Gosch kidnapping in the 1980s which I reference in The 20th Christmas—and I watched TV programs, read, and even wrote back then about it, as my two favorite stories that I wrote as a child were titled Kidnapped (1991) and Abducted (1993). So, I guess it's not a surprise that my first published book is about this topic! While writing The 20th Christmas, I spent time on national missing persons websites (such as CFSI Iowa for Missing Children) and was saddened to see how many babies and toddlers had indeed disappeared twenty years ago. . .how would anyone know what they look like now? How can they be found? It made the story of the Tates and Fellers unfortunately realistic.

How did you first begin writing?

It could have been genetics: my great uncle on my mom's side was a writer who worked for The Kansas City Star newspaper. Or, it could have been my environment: growing up as an only child, reading and writing were my first form of entertainment--my parents planted the first seeds when they used to sit next to me on the couch and read to me which was a comforting time since they separated when I was two years old; stories were my escape. Like most things in life, I'm sure it was a combination of both nature and nurture! Rarely has there been a day in my life that I haven't written something!!!

Will you stay in the Christian genre?

 If God makes it obvious again that He wants me to write another inspirational book then I will! Writing is the only time in my life when I don't have to think. If I start feeling that I have to follow specific rules or can only write about certain subjects, then my writing voice will be silenced. As of now, I've never experienced writer's block, but with pressure that could happen. In psychology, I'm a #4 enneagram which is the "creative lover" (and an INFJ on the Myers Briggs) -- so what I can guarantee is that all of my books will have the element of love.  Even in The 20th Christmas, which is not of the romance genre, we have Alan and Arianna's love story. It's so common for couples to overlook the importance of romance after they've been married for a decade; Arianna and Alan remind us to make it a priority in our marriages. (Or is it Officer Sparks who does that?!) :-) My husband was my only beta reader for this manuscript and asked why we'd never made thinking of you baskets like Alan and Arianna--I said that was a good point, haha, we should! Authors often learn from their characters as much as readers.

What was it like having your husband as a beta reader?

I'll be using him each time! He tells me like it is and knows me better than anyone else so his feedback helped a lot with this book! The funniest moment was during another one of my manuscripts, I'd written that the main character was going through a divorce and her ex husband gave her a gun so that she'd be protected while living alone. My husband was like, “Um I think that a gun is the last thing someone is going to give their spouse when they're going through a divorce. That would be a very baddddd decision.” I burst out laughing because it was so obviously true. All of my books are on the serious side, but my husband always makes me laugh.

What was your favorite chapter of The 20th Christmas to write?

Honestly, the chapter from Lacey's point of view! It's fun to write about crazy people! Alan and Arianna came from perfect backgrounds and strived to be their best selves—but Lacey was the opposite which helped break the book up as I was writing. The 20th Christmas is really two stories, so the book is two parts; we meet Lacey in the second half.

How did writing this book change you?

The process itself didn't change me, but life afterward has been different. Even though I majored in journalism and mass communication in college, and worked in television and radio, I'm not comfortable being the center of attention. I chose that profession because I like telling other people's stories (whether they're real or imaginary)--and I had to have a job to pay the bills! Once my husband gave me the go-ahead to pursue my passion whether I made a cent or not, I've preferred storytelling on paper. I like how hundreds of years ago writers got to stay reclusive. So, having to promote myself and give speeches is not my comfort zone, but that's what's great about knowing that God was behind this book—it's not about me, so I can relax and do it for Him.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

Join a writers group! I'll never forget being twenty-five years old and emailing Best Selling Romance Novelist Pam Crooks, who lives in Omaha where I resided for eight years. She gave me the warmest invitation to join her chapter of The Romance Writers of America. After attending several meetings, she slipped me a note which said that I was talented and she was certain I would be a published author someday. That meant the world to me; I still have the note. Without the writers group, I never would have submitted my first manuscript to a publisher in 2006 when I was twenty-six years old. Even though I quit the group and moved back to Iowa where I was born and raised, I re-joined the RWA in October 2013. . .and now the next book that I'm writing is of the romance genre! I'm not ready to give out the title or summary, but it's about a woman who returns to her hometown after ten years. Just like The 20th Christmas, it takes place in Iowa and law enforcement plays a role. . .I'm very excited and passionate about it, so stay tuned! :-)

 

Missing the right ingredients for a life of joy, a young baker learns lessons in the true recipe for love.

Blurb:

Ann’s hectic work responsibilities demand all her time and effort, and what was once a useful, satisfactory life has become a burden. Her bakery partner Susan has lost none of her enthusiasm for their business, and Ann can’t understand her exuberance, or her friend’s Christian faith. So she trudges along, hiding her dissatisfaction from Susan, resigned to a life of work, sleep and problems.

Unexpected comments offered by two different people cause a crack in Ann’s armor and her thoughts careen into unexpected directions. Attention from a young widower with a son challenges Ann’s resolve to stay safe and uninvolved. Susan’s example of faith through trial furthers Ann’s curiosity about God. Ann must choose to step toward the unfamiliar freedom of giving and receiving love, or stay in the shadows, stuck in the grip of past hurt and long-standing barriers.





Nancy BIO:

Nancy Shew Bolton is a wife of 41 years, mother of five grown sons, and grandmother to a boy  and girl. Ever since she learned to write, she would jot down her thoughts and impressions in little snippets of inspiration in the form of poetry, song lyrics, or short essays. About six years ago, she decided to try her hand at writing a full length book. She’s since written five works of fiction, two non-fiction, and is working on an idea for a children’s book, as well as more fiction manuscripts. Writing a full-length work is much more challenging than she thought, and she has received so much valuable assistance from other writers, especially from the ACFW critique groups. Her husband has been supportive of her long hours spent at the keyboard. Many thanks to her beloved Johnny! And now she’s under contract with Prism Book Group with a novel set to be released in September 2014! What a journey! She thanks God and His Son for her life, her loved ones and the spark of creativity inside every person. She believes each person is a unique creation, with their own special voice and place in this amazing universe. God’s handiwork amazes her every day!  

 


Buy links:

Amazon: To buy on Amazon

Barnes and Noble: To buy on Barnes and Noble

Smashwords: To Buy on Smashwords

Prism Book Group: Prism Book Group

Get in Touch with Nancy:

http://boltonnancy.com/

On Twitter

The Diamond Mine group blog

On Facebook

I read Knife Skills by Carrie Ann Lahain and the following is my review of that novel. You can also find an interview with the author below. Enjoy!


My review of Knife Skills

This book is a take on the old "Mansfield park" only it is centered around a chef student in modern days. If you know the Mansfield park story you may see correlations. I do not know that take but I greatly enjoyed the book anyway. The writing is eloquent and top of the line. The plot entertaining no matter where it originated. I hope the author has more in the works. I like entertainment in it's highest form and that's what this is!

The cooking elements of the book were interesting. I am no chef, that's for sure! But I found those parts very well written, even for those who don't really understand the cooking world all that much. The characters were vivid and fun to read and the author wrote in a manner that made things easy to picture.

I have high hopes that Ms. Lahain will write more because it's sure fun to read what she has come up with!

Why were you inspired to rewrite Mansfield park?

Being a passionate reader, I have ongoing conversations with books and with their (sometimes long-dead) authors. I laugh and cry with them. Shout at them.  A re-telling can be a natural outgrowth of this dialog. Especially when it’s a book I’ve re-read multiple times. I find myself writing my way through the book to understand why it fascinates me.

Mansfield Park isn’t the first book to inspire me to write my own novel. My WW I novel--The Ways of Mud and Bone—was based in a large measure on Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. In the case of Mansfield Park, it was my dissatisfaction with the ending of the original that drove me to re-imagine it. Jane Austen’s heroines usually get a well-earned happily ever after. And while that’s not the only thing her books have to offer, it sure is attractive. Mansfield Park is a little different. Fanny Price isn’t her true love’s first choice. She gets him only after the woman he’s infatuated with through most of the book is caught up in a scandal that wounds his family. He’s a highly moral man and must give her up. But every time I’ve read the book—five times, by now—I get the sense that the memory of this woman will always cloud his life with Fanny. Sorry, but second best isn’t good enough for a girl like Fanny Price. She deserves better, and I decided to give it to her.



How did you get ideas to make the changes you did?

Even a re-telling of an old favorite needs to stand on its own. It also needs to reflect its own era. 21st-century America is a universe away from Regency England. Unlike modern England, we don’t even have the remnants—the stately homes and the class structure—of the world that produced Jane Austen and, in turn, her novels.  Instead of a grand estate, I set the novel on Long Island. At a family-owned vineyard undergoing a pivotal change, the opening of a restaurant. I grew up on Long Island and know it well. And it offers the economic range I needed—from the glittering Hamptons to struggling working-class towns. Also, I went to cooking school and kept detailed journals. So it was easy to create the Huntington Culinary Academy and Café Bedford. The vineyard details were harder. Lots of research. I know more about the growing of wine grapes and wine production than I ever expected. 

One thing that I didn’t have to change was the emotion at the heart of Mansfield Park. A young woman struggling to with her identity, with her place in the world. Her desire to belong. To feel wanted. Of course, my Molly Price has it a lot easier than Jane Austen’s Fanny. Molly has the advantages of public education and the ability to earn her own living. She can survive a lousy marriage and try again without all of society falling down on her.





How were you able to keep it coinciding with the original?

 

In terms of conflict, that was easy. A child from a troubled home is separated from her parents and siblings and taken to live with well-off relatives. They’re kind to her (in Molly’s case, not so for poor Fanny), but she never feels quite at home. Yet, over time, her new life changes her to such a degree that she doesn’t fit back in her old one, either. So where does she belong? More to the point, to whom does she belong? Her birth family? The family who raised her? Can she build a bridge between the two?

As for details carried over from the original, some of the names survived. Molly’s siblings—William, Susan, and Betsy—come straight from Jane Austen. And her cousin Julia. Ned, her love interest, is a nickname for Edmund, the original Austen hero. Ned isn’t Molly’s cousin, of course. That’s not allowed these days. He’s a relation by marriage (cousin to her cousins) but not blood. So, growing up together, there can be that same “hands-off” feeling, but ultimately they are free to come together. Also, paralleling the original, there’s a family scandal involving Molly’s ex and someone close to her. The revelation of this secret is  a major turning point in Molly’s journey.





What struggles did you run into?

It took a conscious effort not to allow Mansfield Park to dictate my own characters and plot. I wanted to model the original, explore it, not rehash it. For example, Austen’s Fanny has two aunts. One is a little ditzy, but okay. The other (the infamous Mrs. Norris) is a horror. She never lets Fanny forget her humble origins and uses the idea of “gratitude” as a weapon and means of control. I could have replicated that in Knife Skills. But it wouldn’t be true to my Molly, whose biggest enemies are all internal. That said, internal struggles don’t necessarily show up in external action, so to keep the plot moving in a way that would interest modern readers I had to come up with more obvious conflicts as well. Mainly, there’s a no-good ex who’s gotten himself in trouble with the wrong people and put Molly in danger. She’s trying to build a life for herself and she just can’t seem to escape this ne’er-do-well and his drama. I call him Mr. Bad Penny. Every time you think you’ve gotten rid of them…there he is!



Were there things you wanted to do but couldn't because of the original and your desire to use it's patterns?


No. In fact, when I tried to follow the original scene for scene, it didn’t work. The narrative sagged under the weight like a ten-year-old girl in her granny’s wedding dress. The prose clunked along. And all the charm of the original was lost. I had a spineless but ever-so-good heroine that didn’t even interest me, and I wrote her! The struggle for me was to dig deeper. Past Jane Austen’s plot to the emotions underneath. In this way, I hoped to echo the original rather than replicate it with modern clothes and a cell phone.

What's on the horizon for you? Any works in progress?

 

I’m hoping to release my next novel in November. Morgrim’s Wood is a modern fairy tale. A women grieving the suicide of her teenage daughter takes her surviving children on a weekend trip to a cabin in the Catskill mountains and is drawn into a fairytale world hidden in the surrounding forest. It’s a meditation on grief and how, even when we can’t make sense of a loss, we need to move forward or we risk even greater suffering.





What are your writing goals in genre land your goals for this book?


As you may be able to tell, I genre hop. At heart, I consider myself a writer of literary fiction. Whatever genre a book may fall into superficially, it’s the characters I’m interested in. How they cope with the anguish-joy-hilarity that is human life on earth. My goal for any of my books is that people come to know my characters and sympathize with them as fellow travelers. I like to imagine my readers running into my characters at Starbucks and recognizing them.

Tell us a few quirky facts about you that don't usually come up in interviews. 



I taught myself to play piano from a mail order course. No lessons. Just lots of trial and error and  listening to recordings of famous pianists. I’m not very good—and years living in a condo stalled my training a bit. But I’m back in a single-family home and plan to resume regular practice. I used to love taking a new piece of music and puzzling it out note by note, phrase by phrase. 

Also, I don’t drive. I mean, I can operate a car, but I don’t if I can possibly avoid it. There’s just too much going on at one time—other drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, street signs, detours, dogs… Talk about sensory overload! I got my license in my early twenties, then I went straight through to my mid-forties without ever driving. It wasn’t easy. Most of that time I lived in the suburbs. Not a lot of public transportation. I recently took refresher lessons. My husband got sick, and I figured I needed to be prepared to get us both around. I was surprised at how easy it was to pick up the skill again. But I don’t do it unless I absolutely have to. That’s one great thing about being a writer. I get to spend lots of time home in my pajamas! 

Author Interview:

How did you come up with the premise of "wish list addiction?"

I'm a great believer in making lists. Like Rebecca in the novel, I have several on the go at any one time. I am working my way down my 'Bucket List' - I've managed to visit New York and to be an extra in a TV show!! So I wondered what it would be like for someone who became so dependant on their lists that they forget that life whizzes on past them, like what happened to Rebecca.

Do you like to make lists?

I do like to have a list on the go. We all lead such busy lives now that it's easy to forget things without jotting down what needs to be done. It helps me feel organised and I love being able to cross an item from the list!

Do you find lists helpful or overwhelming?

I find lists very helpful way of keeping track of chores - but am careful not to put too many things on there. My 'Bucket List' occasionally has things added to it when my family suggest something that sounds like fun - but it has small things on it as well as epic trips - such as learn to Crochet and get round to growing a herb garden for my baking projects.

Have you seen a little green book like the one in the novel?

'The Little Green Book of Wishes' in the novel is real. I wrote it! It's a dip in/dip out book of gems to spark the imagination, just like Rebecca's colleagues found when they challenged her to try a few out. It's available on Amazon.

How did you from the characters like the main characters ex and her boss? They were abhorrent people!

Yes, you are absolutely right! Rebecca's ex-husband is abhorrent as is her female boss, Lucinda. As with all my characters they are formed in my imagination but have a sprinkling of traits that I have come across in life. 

And what inspired you on the co- worker friend characters?

Rebecca was at an all time low when she started her new job, so she needed the friendship offered by her co-workers in 'The Wish List Addiction'. Their advice and actions were the catalyst in turning Rebecca's life around. We all need friends like these, don't you think? 

You touched on topics such as paternal rights. Are you passionate about that?

Yes, I am passionate about parental rights. I know something about the topic and wanted to explore the subject from both sides of the coin - Bradley, who did not want to have contact with his delightful son, and Nathan, who was desperate and would do anything to see his daughter. 

Do you have a cottage in mind when you write about the one in the book or is it completely from your mind?

 I do have a cottage in mind for 'Rosemary Cottage'. I have a photo pinned to my notice board- it's in better shape that the one Rebecca buys, though!

Give us an overview of the book

  Here is the blurb for the novel. I hope it's a fun read but with an uplifting, inspiring message.

Rebecca Mathews is a Listoholic—you name it, she has a 'To Do' list for it. Coupled with her daily 'Must Achieve' List, she possesses a mid-term, creatively drawn 'Wish List' and an exhaustively-researched 'Bucket List'. But so far, they have delivered nothing but spectacular failure. 

With her much-loved career exploded in her face, her marriage terminated in an acrimonious divorce and her frail father's pleas to return to her native Northumberland ignored, Rebecca concludes that if it wasn't for her beloved four-year-old son, Max, she would be adding a trip to a Swiss clinic to her list. 

A sparkle of light appears in Rebecca's life wrapped in the guise of 'The Little Green Book of Wishes', which challenges the reader to 'ditch the list' and instead to use its gems of wisdom as a 'dip in/dip out' lucky bag of challenges from all areas of life. 

Persuaded by her colleagues to relinquish her obsessive reliance on her multiple lists, cast adrift from their reassuring structure, she agrees to complete random tasks selected for her from the 'little emerald book of miracles'. 

Will it deliver the desired result and cure Rebecca of her Wish List Addiction?

And your other titles?

I have another novel coming out at the end of the year - 'Ugly Paradise - Beneath Beauty, Evil Lurks', set in the fabulous island of Bali. I also have a new novel out - 'Stiletto Heels or Bicycle Wheels?' a foodie romance set in New York which has recipes included for readers to try out at home.

Do you have any works in progress?

I'm currently working on a new romance - 'What is love?' - very much in the research and planning stage though. I'm a plotter when it comes to writing novels, not a pantster. I think it must have something to do with my love of writing lists!!!

Find Lindsey:

https://www.facebook.com/lindseypaleybooks

Wish List Addition on Amazon

I couldn't have been more thrilled when I got my contract for publication from Prism Book Group for "Accept this Dandelion." When I heard it would be released sometime around Feb 2015, I wasn't sure I could wait! Now, that time is nearing and I have an exact release date and once again, I don't know if I could be more thrilled! :)

So here goes!!  Accept This Dandelion will be released...are you ready?... February 4th 2015!!

This means a great deal to me for a number of reasons.  First, I have a thing with fours.  I was born on a four. My husband was born on a four. We were married on a four. My oldest daughter was born on a four. My youngest broke the mold and went with 31 instead. :) Good things happen on the four! So I'm excited it will be released on a four.

It's also just before Valentine's Day, which I think will be a great time for this book to come out since it's a romantic comedy. It's got romance, but it also doesn't take itself too seriously. Nothing deep or overly mushy here. Just good clean fun!

And it's during the next run of the Bachelor TV show, which starts up again in January. This is perfect because the book was inspired by the show and is based on a localized version of the bachelor...on which the main character can do NOTHING right. Let the hilarity begin!

So stay tuned to my blog and facebook page for more details about the book. I'm marking my calendar now! I'm sure you are as well...hahaha.  I will definitely do a cover reveal party type of thing when that time arises. The cover has yet to be designed but I can't WAIT to see it myself!!  And then reveal it to you!

This book makes me smile every time I read it. And I've read it plenty in the editing process! If it can do the same for you, I've done my job!

February 4th...Accept This Dandelion!!!

(Note that pre-sales will occur approximately 3 months in advance so you won't even have to remember the BIG date if you order early!) :)

Book Review:

What a sweet and captivating story. We've all had dreams we hate to wake from and for the main character it's the person in them she wants to stick around. This story was adorable and striking all at once. It's sweet and clean and good for any age. It even addresses important topics like bullying. Highly recommend it for youth and adults alike.

Author Interview:

Tell us a little bit about your background.

I was born and raised in a small town in southern Ohio. I read constantly while I was growing up and, like Ellie (the main character in WHAT DREAMS MAY COME), I was always lost in my imagination. I was definitely a dreamer. The world I found in my imagination, whether reading or writing, was always a lot more interesting than the real world around me. I’ve been telling stories and creating things for as long as I can remember, so it was only natural to start sharing my stories with others.

Have you always wanted to write?

Yes, always. I can still remember an idea I turned into a story back in the first grade that I was really excited about. In the third grade, I wrote a non-fiction book about some baby birds my sisters and I found abandoned and helped to raise. The book won a Young Authors award and my mom laminated it (the book, not the award) and from then on, I knew that’s what I wanted to be when I grew up.

Do you have another career in your past?

For most of my career I’ve worked professionally as an editor and technical writer, mostly in the field of educational publishing—writing and editing standardized tests, science and math textbooks, on-the-job training manuals, all that fun stuff. I’ve also worked as a website manager for a couple of nonprofit organizations. That was a lot of fun.

Tell us about this book.

WHAT DREAMS MAY COME is the story of Ellie—an extremely shy girl with pretty low self-esteem who has issues with her mom and gets bullied at school—and how the imaginary friend she’s been dreaming of her entire life shows up one day at her school, in the flesh, and wants to have a relationship with her. It’s a story about that shy girl who feels invisible and worthless finding out that someone loves her enough to search for her and cross great distances to find her, knows her well enough to see who she truly is inside and the beautiful things that make her unique, and cares enough to patiently help her overcome her fears and take a chance on love. It’s full of vivid descriptions, lush romance, and feel-good moments. It’s a book that will leave you feeling uplifted and make you give a happy sigh.

Was getting published hard?

I won’t lie, it was really hard. I spent probably a solid year-and-a-half trying to get an agent. I got lots of great feedback on my novel and most agents seemed to like it, they just weren’t sure they could sell it to a publisher. I got really discouraged for a while and stepped away, then came back later and tried again. Finally, it became obvious to me that traditional publishing wasn’t going to be the right path for this book. I really struggled with that. A friend had suggested Indie publishing to me but at that time, I wasn’t open to that idea at all. I really wanted to go the traditional route. Over the next couple of years, though, I started seeing more and more articles by writers who had chosen to leave traditional publishing and go Indie, or those who chose that path from the beginning and were making it work. Indie publishing seemed to be gaining a lot more respect and I started looking into it seriously and found there were several real benefits to Indie publishing. One was the creative control you have over your end product and another was the flexibility with timing, pricing, running sales, and the business end of things. The more I researched it, the more Indie publishing seemed like a solid option. What it came down to in the end, though, was that I really believed in my story and felt strongly that it needed to be out there, whatever it took to make that happen. I finally took the plunge into Indie publishing and I’m SO glad I did.

Do you have a work in progress now?

Yep, several. I have a number of completed novels that are in various stages of publication. There’s one in particular that’s in pretty good shape. I’m working to polish it now so it’s ready to publish. I’m also writing the first draft of the sequel to WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, in hopes of publishing it by the end of the year. The writing’s going well; I’m probably about 75% done with the first draft.

What are your writing goals/dreams?

I’d just love to be able to support myself with my novels so I could devote myself to that full-time. When you spend most of the day writing technical documents and editing other people’s work, it’s so hard to come home and find the energy and creativity to dive back into writing and editing a novel.

What would you tell an aspiring writing about getting published?

I would encourage them to pursue their dream wherever it takes them. There are a lot of different paths you can take to publication now: traditional publishing, publishing with an e-publisher or small press, or Indie publishing. Don’t get so locked into one path that you miss others that might be really rewarding and help you fulfill your dream. The important thing is to get your story out there. The story you’ve been given is one that only you can tell and someone out there in the world needs to hear it. If you let yourself get discouraged and give up, the world will be a poorer place for missing out on your story.

We'd love to hear some quirky facts about you...some things that don't usually come up in interviews.

I’m a super picky eater and in really weird ways. For instance, I hate bananas but I like banana-flavored things (like runts and banana pudding—I think it’s the texture of bananas that throws me off). But on the flip side, I like actual peanut butter but can’t stand peanut-butter-flavored things. It’s weird. I don’t even understand it myself, LOL. I also hate potatoes. It’s actually weird to me how many potato-based dishes there are in our country—baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, French fries, potato chips, potato soup, potato skins, potato pancakes. People love the potato. I just can’t understand it.

What authors/books especially stand out to you?

Too many to name, really. I LOVE reading—even more than writing, sometimes—so I have a ton of favorite authors and books. Growing up, I especially loved books by Madeleine L’Engle, L.M. Montgomery, C.S. Lewis, and L.J. Smith (hmm, apparently I like authors with lots of initials, LOL).

How do you come up with your ideas?

Sometimes they come from dreams I’ve had. I have a lot of really unusual and detailed, fully-plotted-out dreams. Other times, I get ideas from something I’ve read or heard about or somewhere I’ve visited that catches my imagination and just snowballs. I never have a shortage of ideas. The idea for WHAT DREAMS MAY COME was actually an idea I had ages ago for a short story I never wrote. When I finally decided to write it, the story completely took off and snowballed from a short story to a trilogy of full-length novels. My imagination tends to run wild, LOL.

Is there a certain time of day in which you write better?

Definitely at night. I’m a huge night owl, so I like to start writing at 10 or 11 pm and write until the wee hours of the morning. There’s just something magical to me about how quiet and still the world gets at night when everyone else is sleeping.

Do you like to listen to music or have a snack when writing?

Nope, I’m easily distracted, LOL. I usually like to have complete quiet, as much as possible. If I’m in a public place and people are talking, I’d much rather listen to their conversations than work (an occupational hazard, LOL), so I try to find somewhere quiet to write.

Anything else you want to add including links, pictures, etc.  You can attach a book cover picture and a picture of you as well as your links and whatever else you want me to include!

I hope you’ll check out the book and let me know what you think. I LOVE to hear from readers! For more information on my novels and updates on the sequel, WHERE NIGHTMARES WALK, you can find me at any of the following places:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorbethmhoneycutt

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/bethmhoneycutt

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BethMHoneycutt

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8304339.Beth_M_Honeycutt

Buy the book: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KMR0P1K

Thanks! It’s been fun visiting with you!

I am proud to call myself a freelance writer along with an author. I have been a freelance writer for about 5 years, but only more recently called myself an author. As a freelance writer, there are a number of things that make me smile. Here are just a few:

-Accepted Articles on Random Topics

Sometimes I take articles on topics that I really don't know much about. I write them with my fingers crossed and my eyes closed. Ha! When those articles are accepted by the client, that makes me smile! Whew! I squeaked by again!

-Easy, but high paying articles

I love to write articles on topics that come easily to me and it's awesome when they pay well too. Articles on topics I know are fast and much easier to write. I take them often even when they don't pay all that well. When they do, it's an added bonus!

-Good ratings

Several of the websites I work for allow clients to rate the writers after they complete a job. When I get a high rating, it always makes me smile. When it's on a topic I didn't feel I knew much about, that makes it all that much bigger of a smile!

-Appreciate comments

It's nice to get feedback from clients as well and when they let me know they appreciate something I've written, it makes me smile and feel like I'm in the right place. Sometimes I am amazed by what a short, 50 word product description can bring out of a client! Something I didn't think was all that special can really help them out.

-Orders!

When clients order articles from my directly, I feel appreciated and like they want me specifically to help them out. I work better with deadlines so when I have orders, I write faster to ensure the clients are getting what they want/need.

-Making stuff up

I often tell people that I make stuff up all day as a writer. :) This is somewhat true as they are many topics that I don't know that much about, but I still write on them! Making stuff up is fun! And I can't believe it's part of my job! It's amazing to me that I get to do this and someday, I'll do even more of it when my daughters are both in school.

Are you a freelance writer? What makes you smile about the job? What are your challenges??

My sister has a knack for recommending books that I really enjoy so when she says I should read something, I do my best to read it.  She told me she liked "The Discovery" by Dan Walsh so the next chance I got, I grabbed a kindle version of it since that's the only way I get to read right now and started in on it.

I won't give away details, but the book tells two stories, one current and one from the past.  Both are intriguing and they go hand in hand.  I was just getting into the current story when he switched over to the past story, but then that one sucked me in too and I wanted to know what would happen in both realms.

This is one of those books that really gets you.  Or me, at least!  I didn't want to stop reading it so I read and read and read as fast as my eyes and time schedule would allow.  I didn't want to put it down.  And yet when I was done with it I was like aw, bummer!  It's over!  I didn't want it to be behind me.  I thought about it and marveled over it.

It's not the type of book I would ever come up with or imagine on my own.  That's partly what intrigued me.  It has some history to it in the past story it includes and I just don't write that type of thing.  It had some love and some mystery and plenty of just plain good writing.

When I do reviews, I generally try to include something constructive that I didn't like to show the other side of things.  The only comment I'll make on this book is that the cover isn't what I would expect from what came inside.  The cover is very pretty, but I don't feel like it is a good indication of just how good this book is and it doesn't give any hint as to what you will find.

If you're looking for something new to read, read this.  I certainly wasn't disappointed!