If you want to enter either or both drawings this week for MaryLu Tyndall’s Red Siren and Cecelia Dowdy’s Milk Money, please leave a comment with your email address (this has to be there or I can’t enter you in the drawing) or you can email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawings end Sunday evening.
MaryLu Tyndall’s interview:
1. What made you start writing?
I’ve always written. Even as a kid, I’d make up stories and write them down. In High School, I had a poem published in the yearbook and during my 20’s, I started several novels. I never thought I had a chance at publication. Writing was more of a hobby, until one day 5 years ago, I felt God calling me to write a novel about Christian Pirates. Yes, I thought I hadn’t heard Him correctly either. LOL
2. How long have you been writing? When did you sell your first book? I sold my first book in the fall of 2005. My publisher was so excited about Christian pirates that they asked for 2 more books in the series which I hadn’t written yet. You can imagine my shock and excitement! And anxiety! Now, I had to actually produce something worth reading. Yikes. I’m glad God was there with me along the way. That series is called Legacy of the King’s Pirates and the three books, The Redemption, The Reliance, and The Restitution, have all since been published.
3. How do you handle rejections?
Nobody likes to be rejected. It just plain hurts. And no matter how much you try to not take it personally, you do anyway. But, as a child of God, I remind myself that He has a plan for me, and He promises it will be a good plan. Maybe not the one I want, but how do I really know what’s good for me, anyway? Ultimately, I write to glorify Him, so my writing career is in His capable hands. When I remember that, rejections are much easier to deal with.
4. Why do you write?
The number one reason I write is to glorify God. I pray over each story and hope that God can reach someone through the words He has given me with a message of Hope and Love and Purpose. The fact that I love what I do is just icing on the cake!
5. What would you be doing with your free time if you weren’t writing?
Oil painting and gardening, but you’re right, I no longer have any free time since I became an author!
6. What are you working on right now?
I’m working on a trilogy entitled Charles Towne Belles. Each book follows the life of one of 3 sisters, all daughters of a British Admiral stationed in Charleston, South Carolina in 1718. Each sister represents one of the seeds in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13.
7. Do you put yourself into your books/characters?
Absolutely! I pour myself into them, but I also give them tons of other qualities, some I aspire to, and others I find unnerving. I try to make the most interesting, challenging, yet lovable characters I can (all except the villain). Every character has deep flaws caused by things that happened to them in their past, but through the story they come to see their flaws and work hard to overcome them (with God’s help).
8. Tell us about the book you have out right now.
The Red Siren is about a lady who gives up on God and men and turns pirate in order to procure enough wealth so she and her sisters won’t be forced into unwanted marriages. The hero in the story is a Navy Captain sent to capture all pirates around the Carolina coast and bring them to justice. What he doesn’t know is the young red-haired lady he has fallen for is the pirate he’s been hunting for years. (yes, I’m also very mean to my characters)
9. Do you have any advice for other writers?
Make sure writing is God’s will for you and not your own. Then never give up until He says. Study your craft, Attend conferences, join online writers’ groups, join a critique group, hire a book doctor if you can afford it, write what God puts on your heart, and pray, pray, pray, always putting God’s will ahead of your own.
10. How important is faith in your books?
Faith is extremely important in my books. I usually start with a spiritual theme—something that I want to get across to my readers—and then I build the story and characters around that theme. I’m not the type of writer who weaves a subtle spiritual message into my stories. My messages of faith are pretty much in your face. But that’s just my style.
11. What themes do you like to write about? God’s unconditional love, Redemption of the worst sinners, Putting God first, Trusting God, God’s presence and power.
12. What is your favorite book you’ve written and why?
I love the third book in my pirate series, The Restitution, because in it, I take a really bad pirate—the villain in the first two books—and transform him by the power of God’s love into a godly man of integrity. It’s also an incredible love story that revolves around letting go and letting God.
13. What is your writing schedule like?
I treat my writing like any full time job, so I get up early as if I were going to work, read my Bible, and have my prayer time, then dive into my writing. I normally spend an hour or two in the morning going through emails and doing marketing type work and my afternoons I spend actually writing. I set a quota of words to complete each day and try not to stop until I do. (But of course with a house, a husband and 6 kids, that’s not always possible)
Thanks for having me on, Margaret!
