Lyn Cote’s interview

» Posted on Dec 16, 2008 in Blog | Comments Off on Lyn Cote’s interview


If you want to be entered in the drawing for Her Captain’s Heart by Lyn Cote, please leave a comment with your email address or email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawing ends on Sunday evening.

Lyn Cote’s interview:

. What made you start writing? I found I had a talent for it and got praise from my grade school teachers. That’s when I started wanting to be a writer.

2. How long have you been writing? When did you sell your first book? I started writing in 1984 and my first book sold in 1997. Not having the Internet till the mid-90’s slowed me down. I don’t know if the younger writers now who have all the resources of the “Net” know how lucky they are.

3. How do you handle rejections? I bounce back pretty fast. And I’m a fighter.

4. Why do you write? I write to entertain, encourage and enlighten.

5. What would you be doing with your free time if you weren’t writing? Interesting question. I’d probably do more crafts and go out more.

6. What are you working on right now? The first book in my Gabriel Sisters series HER CAPTAIN’S HEART debuted this month, my first Love Inspired Historical. I’m working on the second in the series which will be released next Christmas. The Gabriel sisters are three Quaker women who are trying to bind up the nation’s wounds after the Civil War.

7. Do you put yourself into your books/characters? I don’t know how an author could write a book and not put herself into it. What I write is very much me. This book I decided to use all the names of my aunts and uncles and some cousins for the characters. That’s been fun.

8. Tell us about the book you have out right now. Her Captain’s Heart is the story of Verity Hardy, a Civil War widow, who goes to VA to teach former slaves at a Freedman’s school there. She finds that the school hasn’t been built yet and that she will be working with Capt. Matt Ritter. I made my own book trailer for this story. Drop by my website: www.LynCote.net and at the bottom of the homepage, you can click and watch the trailer. For my first attempt, I don’t think it’s so bad!

9. Do you have any advice for other writers? Take time for life. Always add “wiggle room” to every deadline.

10. How important is faith in your books? God is in me and I am in my books. That reminds me of how the Apostle John (my favorite) always wrote. Read John 14-15 and see if I didn’t suddenly start writing like him. Not a bad thing.

11. What themes do you like to write about? I usually write about what God told Samuel when he was looking at Jesse’s sons for the next king of Israel, “Man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart.”

12. What is your favorite book you’ve written and why? I can’t really have a favorite. That’s like playing favorites with my children. But I was happy that my first historical series, Blessed Assurance, was re-released in a 3 in 1 book last October. I had a chance to polish them and let them go out to new readers.

13. What is your writing schedule like? I write around 6-8 pages a day if I’m on my “game.”

14. How do you juggle writing for different houses? I always build in that “wiggle room” I talked about.

15. For Love Inspired you write for both the regular line and the historical line. Which one do you like to do the most and why? Again, I can’t choose because I’ve really written for all three lines, including the Suspense line and enjoy the variety. But my first voice and first love is historicals.