Thursday, November 14, 2013

Fair Catch: Author Interview & Giveaway


You may remember my review of 'Fair Catch' that I posted about a week ago, well here is the interview that the author, Cindy, was awesome enough to grant me!!

Questions from Me:
What inspired you to write this book? I was a huge fan of a professional football player who was single and seemed to earnestly be seeking to find a wife. I noticed the guy dated all kinds of celebrity type girls and I wondered what it would be like if he were to pick someone who was ordinary like a divorced single mother.

Were any of the characters modeled after real people? All of my characters have a little bit of someone I’m acquainted with.

Did anything help with your writing process? Reading is the number one aide to a good writer. Attending writing workshops and conferences is a huge help. I’m also a member of critique group which is very beneficial to a writer.

What inspired you to start writing generally? I have always loved reading. One day, I had this idea for a story and I thought, “Hey, I’d like to write a book.” Once I started writing, I couldn’t stop.

What is your favorite book of all time? Hmm, limiting it to one is a tough question. I guess the one book I’ve read a few times and could easily sit down and read again is Love Starts with Elle by Rachel Hauck.

What should we expect next from you? I have several works in progress, including Discovering Sophie which is due to be released right before the Thanksgiving holiday.

What is your dream job or life? A successful author :)

Questions from Becky:
1. I appreciated your approach to religion in your book.  You managed to include it as a natural part of your characters lives without it feeling overbearing and you also never mentioned a specific religion thus allowing people of differing religious backgrounds to fill in the details themselves. Was that intentional?  How did you envision the role of religion in your novel as you began the writing process? I love romance, but found it was hard to find “clean” romance until I discovered the Christian market. It opened up a whole new world of fantastic stories. I especially like the books where the characters’ faith is a part of who they are and what makes them do the things they do. Naturally, when I started writing, I wanted my characters to have morals and those morals backed by their faith.

2. Sometimes the romance between characters can seem too cheesy and unrealistic  or too forced and unbelievable.  How did you try to strike the right balance between the two? It’s important to know what genre you like to read and to write. I like happy endings, and a romance will always have a happy ending. If you pick up a romance, the two main characters are going to be attracted to each other.  So knowing these rules up front, the reader is expecting there to be chemistry between the two main characters. I like to infuse humor in all my stories and I believe that makes the relationship much more fun to see unfold. 

3.  What was the most challenging part of writing this book?  What was the easiest? For me the biggest challenge is getting the ending right. I want the reader to feel satisfied with the outcome. I always include an epilogue which allows the reader a little glimpse into the lives of the main characters. The easiest part: Hmm, I guess I know my characters so well that it was fun to put them in different situations to see how they would handle each event. I love writing dialogue and can almost hear the conversations in my head. 

Giveaway!!!
  
a Rafflecopter giveaway
 Available only within the US.

 Fair Catch is available for purchase as an e-book and also as a paperback

Already read Fair Catch? Comment and let us know what you think of the book.
 

2 comments:

  1. All of these giveaways are so fun! How do you keep finding people to interview?

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! Craig Packer is the brother of an old friend and I went to church with Cindy while I was growing up. I have another interview coming up with an author for which I kind of applied to review her books and she agreed to an interview as well. I'm super excited!!!

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