Interview Moment: Authors' Garden

Post by Donna J. Shepherd, Writer, Speaker, Singer.

Interview on Book Bites for Kids

I was interviewed on Book Bites for Kids. Host Suzanne Lieurance talks with authors about their books and writing for children.

Book Bites for Kids

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A new review just went up on Reviews by Heidi for No More Gunk! & OUCH! Sunburn. Thanks, Heidi!

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ReviewsbyHeidi/524158/

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Interview with Mary DeMuth, author of Wishing on Dandelions

Today it is my privilege to share an interview with author and fellow Master's Artist, Mary DeMuth, author of Wishing on Dandelions - a follow-up novel to Watching the Tree Limbs.

This book deals with difficult subject matter: childhood sexual abuse and its residual affects. How did this book emerge?

My passion is to write about redemption through the avenue of story. I started the first book, Watching the Tree Limbs, in a flurry. In my mind I saw the streets of Burl and a girl who didn’t know where she came from. Because my personal story involves different instances of sexual abuse, I wanted to write a story that showed the reader how God could intersect an abuse-victim’s life and make a difference.

So, are you Maranatha?

In some ways yes, some no. Like Maranatha, I felt like God had transformed my life in such a radical way (like her name change from Mara—bitter—to Maranatha—Come Lord Jesus). Like Maranatha, I endured sexual abuse, but I was much younger when it happened. Like Maranatha, I wondered if I had been marked, that every sexual predator could “tell” I was a ready victim. I wrestled through relationships in my teens with Maranatha’s twin feelings of revulsion and attraction. But, she is not me in many other ways. She is more independent. She has no parents. She lives in an entirely different culture. She is less ambitious. She has the privilege of many wiser people to mentor her through life.

What made you decide to write a love story?

The book didn’t start out in my mind as a love story, but it evolved into it as I continued writing. Characters have that uncanny way of taking your prose and running in all sorts of directions with it. Charlie just kept being faithful. In a sense, I fell in love with him!

What made you choose East Texas as the setting for both novels?

The South fascinates me. I grew up in the Northwest. When my last child was born, my husband was transferred to East Texas to start a department in a hospital. Because I was a stay-at-home mom and home schooling, I didn’t have much else to do there except to observe small town southern culture. Because I didn’t grow up in that culture, my senses were heightened and I eventually began to really appreciate the differences.

Childhood sexual abuse is not talked about very often, and seldom covered in novels. What made you decide to write about it?

For that very reason. The more victims are quiet, the less healing they will receive. The more we talk about it, bringing heinous acts to the light, the better able we are to know we are not alone. I wrote this book so other abuse victims would feel validated and heard. And to offer hope.

Why do you end your books with hope?

Because hope is essential to Jesus’ Gospel. Even when things are bleak, there is always hope—if not in this life, then in the next. I’m not interested, however, in presenting hope in a superfluous way. I don’t want to tie up every story thread neatly. The truth is, life is tragic and difficult and bewildering, but God intersects that life and brings hope.

Have you always wanted to write?

Yes. Since my second grade teacher told my mother that she thought I was a creative writer, I’ve wanted to write. I kept a diary since the sixth grade. Though I was an English major, I didn’t start writing seriously until my first daughter was born. I wrote for ten years in obscurity before my writing career took a turn for the better.

Who are your literary heroes?

I love Harper Lee. I only wish she’d written more. Leif Enger, who wrote Peace Like a River, greatly inspired me to write visually and artistically. I love Sue Monk Kidd’s Secret Life of Bees, how you could almost taste her characters. I’m fascinated and intimidated by J.R.R. Tolkein—how he managed to create an entire world with several languages is way beyond my literary prowess.

What do you want your reader to take away from Wishing on Dandelions?

That redemption of a broken life takes time. We’re all on a journey of healing. Sometimes it’s slow going, but if we can endure through the dark times, God will bring us to new places of growth. I want the images and characters to stay with a reader for a long time.

Mary, thank you so much.

Readers, here's a link to Mary's site: Relevant Prose
Purchase Information: Bookfinder4U

No portion of this Website and no column may be reproduced BY ANYONE without WRITTEN permission BY DONNA. For more information, contact Donna by clicking on the link in the right-hand column. - Thanks.

Interview with Mom2Mom Connection

Heather at Mom2Mom Connection interviewed me on two different subjects - writing for grownups and writing for children.


Click here to read about writing for children.

Click here to read about writing devotionals. Thanks!

Blog Tour with Alyice Edrich

Since I have an ebooks available now, The Lonely Lightning Bug (Guardian Angel Publishing), I had questions for eBook author, Alyice Edrich, when she made a stop here on her blog tour.

Alyice Edrich is the author of several work-from-home e-books, including Tid-Bits For Making Money With E-books - where parents earn hundreds of dollars selling information they already possess.

Donna: How long should an e-book be?

Alyice: An e-book should be as long as it needs to be to get the point across. Often, people come up with a great title, a great theme, but then leave the readers hanging because they don’t put in the time necessary to write a thorough book.

If you are writing a book on how to build a tree house, for instance, your book will need to be comprised of things such as: do you need a building permit, how to get a building permit, how to draw up a blue print, how many people will be needed for the project, how to tell if a specific tree is sturdy enough, what types of woods are there and which are best, should you use nails or screws, shingles or cement, etc. Then of course, you’ll need to decide if pictures should be included and if you use pictures will they be sketches or actual photos, in which case you’ll need to build a tree house from scratch. Such a book could run 200 pages.

If you are going to write a book about building a tree house, it does no good to just give a list of rules in 20 pages. People could end up buying too soft of a wood, untreated wood that warps once put together causing a safety issue in the structure, and nails that rust or loosen over time.

By taking the time to go into detail, providing more than surface answers, your readers will tell others about your book and you’ll gain more sales through word of mouth advertising.

Donna: Do non-fiction e-books do better than fiction?

Alyice: Yes! While you can do well with fiction books, many people buy fiction to read at leisure and often prefer bound copies. It’s a little hard to read a computer printed book while soaking in the bathtub, or traveling on a bus, for instance.

Donna: How do you decide the price of an e-book?

Alyice: It depends on what the market will bear. If you have written a book that can be found in traditional bookstores for $10, then you’ll have a very hard time selling your e-book for $50 unless you do some sort of package deal where you include bonus e-books or a bonus training session via email or the phone.

Donna: How long are chapters in an e-book?

Alyice: Again, chapters should be as long as they need to be to get the point across. But I will tell you this: readers feel ripped off if they receive an e-book with twenty chapters and those chapters are only one page long or consist of graphics that take up over half the page and then three pages in each chapter.

Donna: How do you market an e-book?

Alyice: Marketing e-books is just like marketing any other product. You have to develop a business plan. You have to discover your target audience and then you have to pitch your e-book to that target audience.

Market your e-book through word of mouth, speaking engagements, published articles, advertisements, press releases, radio interviews, etc.

You can visit Alyice Edrich at The Dabbling Mum Press to order a copy of her e-book, Tid-Bits For Making Money With E-books today! To make more stops on the blog tour, click HERE.

Author Chat

Twice each season on his website, Kevin Scott Collier, the illustrator of Topsy Turvy Land, features an interview with a writer or author with whom he has worked. For the end of winter 2006, he chatted with me! We discuss our joint creation of Turvy Turvy Land, Chizzy's Topsy Tale, and The Lonely Lightning Bug, and a few other topics. To read, click here!

Interview in Sisters in the Lord Magazine

It was my honor to be interviewed by Wendy Lynn Decker for Sisters in the Lord Magazine. If you'd like to read the interview, click here.