Dorothy Clark’s interview

This week I’m hosting Dorothy Clark with The Law and Miss Mary and Patti Lacy with What the Bayou Saw. If you want to enter the drawing for the book, please leave a comment on one of the post during the week with your email address. I will not enter you without an email address (my way to contact you if you win). If you don’t want to leave an email address, another way you can enter is to email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawings end Sunday (Aug 16th) evening.

Dorothy Clark’s interview:

1. What made you start writing?
One Sunday in church a visiting pastor said, “The Lord would have you write down everything He gives you.” A few weeks later a sentence about a woman holding onto the sideboard of a wagon came into my head. I wrote it down. That was the beginning of my first Steeple Hill historical, Beauty for Ashes. I’ve been writing ever since.

2. How long have you been writing? When did you sell your first book?
My agent sold my first four books in 2004

3. How do you handle rejections?
I do not take them personally. I write the books the Lord gives me. I leave the marketing of them up to Him.

4. Why do you write?
I write because I believe I was called to do so. And because the Lord has since placed the desire to write in my heart.

5. What would you be doing with your free time if you weren’t writing?
Housework! LOL

6. What are you working on right now?
I am writing my third Love Inspired Historical. The heroine in this book is a cousin of the heroines in my first two LIHs – Family of the Heart and The Law and Miss Mary.

7. Do you put yourself into your books/characters?
Not intentionally. But, since we are the sum of our nature and our experiences, it is inevitable that bits and parts of me sneak in there.

8. Tell us about the book you have out right now.
The Law and Miss Mary is the story of a heart-wounded, but feisty and compassionate young woman from Philadelphia who goes toe-to-toe with police captain Samuel Benton and the city fathers of 1840 St. Louis over their disgraceful treatment of orphans. In her fight to provide a home for the innocents, Mary Randolph discovers the true definition of beauty and the real meaning of love.

9. Do you have any advice for other writers?
Persevere! Write the story the Lord places in your heart.

10. How important is faith in your books?
Faith is the heart of my stories. It is an integral part of my character’s lives. I could not write a book without it being present.

11. What themes do you like to write about?
Truthfully, I do not choose the themes of my books. I pray and write what the Lord gives me. But I do love to share the truth of God’s love and faithfulness.

12. What is your favorite book you’ve written and why?
This is difficult to answer because each book I’ve written is special to me for different reasons. But if I must choose one, it would be Hosea’s Bride. That story about a pastor’s and ex-prostitute’s love touched reader’s hearts in amazing ways.

13. What is your writing schedule like?
My husband is retired so I keep my schedule flexible.