Molly: Hi, Margaret. Before we start, I want to say that you are one of my favorite people and one of my favorite authors. I have gobs of your books.
Margaret: What made you start writing?
Molly: Two fourth grade teachers told me I had talent. I was a kid. I believed them.
Margaret: How long have you been writing?
Molly: I wrote poems at an early age, and my mother wrote them down. But I didn’t actually start writing to sell until I had graduated from college and started teaching school. I took a course in fiction writing by correspondence, and it helped a lot more than the creative writing course I took in college.
Margaret: When did you sell your first book?
Molly: I sold my first novel, For Always, to Zondervan in 1985. It came out in 1986.
Margaret: How do you handle rejections?
Molly: Prayerfully. As a Zondervan author way back when, I was one of the first to write and sell romantic Christian fiction. As I mentioned, I sold For Always and then The Rogue’s Daughter to Zondervan. I also sold a third novel to Zondervan, but before it came out, the Christian fiction market dried up. The third novel never came out, but I got to keep my advance. During the dry spell, I was rejected many times. Christian publishers just weren’t buying fiction. I considered writing “sweet” secular romances during the drought, but I knew those kinds of books weren’t for me because I had already dedicated my writing to the Lord. So I waited on Him. And waited and waited. I sold Brides and Blessings to Love Inspired in 1998, and it came out in 1999.
Margaret: Why do you write?
Molly: As we will discuss later, I am a dyslectic. As a result, I was not a good student. I couldn’t read or spell or do math well. But I could tell stories, draw and sing. And my teachers told me that I was creative and imaginative. It’s not surprising that I was drawn to things I did well.
Margaret: What would you be doing with your free time if you weren’t writing?
Molly: Something else creative, I guess. My husband was in the army when we first married, and when we lived in Germany, I was constantly drawing plans for a future home. I got fairly good at it. In fact, I designed to scale the first home we ever built.
I’m very interested in Bible prophecy. So I am sure I would be reading books on that topic.
Margaret: What are you working on right now?
Molly: I have a six-book contract with Tsaba House, my current book publisher, and they are also reprinting The Rogue’s Daughter. So I really have a seven-book contract with them. God willing, I will complete my contracts and write still more books.
I just finished a short contemporary romance that I think will be called Texas Tycoon. Tycoon has a Cinderella plot and is sort of a romantic comedy. It’s one of two short novels under one cover, and Teresa Slack will be writing the other book.
Currently, I am writing the sequel to Sanctuary, my newest novel, and I hope to call the sequel Secret Place. Secret Place is a historical set in Scotland and ends in South Carolina.
I am also contracted to write two non-fiction books. More about that later.
Margaret: What is your writing schedule like?
Molly: I’m a slow writer, and I write and rewrite constantly. Therefore, I can’t turn out four books a year like say—a Margaret Daley. I’m doing good to write one or two books a year. But with all these books contracts under my belt, I will have to learn to write faster.
Margaret: Do you put yourself into your books/characters?
Molly: Yes. I am the only person I really know well; so there is always a little of me in every book I write.
Margaret: Tell us about the book you have out right now.
Molly: The Winter Pearl is the only book I have out right this instant. It is my long Steeple Hill historical, and it came out in mass-market paperback in February 2007.
However, Sanctuary, another long historical novel, is set in France in 1740, and Tsaba House will published it in trade paperback later this month—September 15, 2007—to be exact.
Sanctuary is a fast-placed romantic adventure story about forgiving the unforgivable and is the first of three long historical novels in the Faith of Our Fathers series about the Huguenots.
Margaret: Do you have any advice for other writers?
Molly: Yes. If the Lord has given you the talent and the desire to write, never give up.
Margaret: How important is faith in your books?
Molly: Super important. I gave my writing to the Lord years ago, and I try to give Him all the honor and glory.
Margaret: What themes do you like to write about?
Molly: Forgiveness, for one. The Winter Pearl, my long Steeple Hill historical, was about forgiveness, and it was used in prison ministry. And as I said, Sanctuary, my upcoming long historical, is about forgiving the unforgivable.
Margaret: What is your favorite book you’ve written and why?
Molly: My favorite book is always the one I am writing at the moment because I get to decide what will happen next in the story.
Margaret: You are part of a non-fiction book called The Overcomers. What made you participate in this project?
Molly: As I mentioned earlier, I am dyslexic, and while on the Love Inspired Author’s Loop, I discovered that six other Love Inspired/Steeple Hill authors were also dyslexic. As a result, five of us decided to write a book in order to help other dyslexics who struggled in school as we did.
The complete title of our non-fiction book is The Overcomers; Christian Authors Who Conquered Dyslexia. The book will be published by Tsaba House and is written my Jane Myers Perrine, Ruth Scofield, Ginny Aiken, Margaret Daley and me—Molly Noble Bull. And yes, I said Margaret Daley.
By the way, my web address is www.mollynoblebull.com, and my blog address is www.shoutlife.com/mollynoblebull.
Love ya, Margaret.
And blessings to all who truly turn to Him.
