Interview with April Gardner

» Posted on Feb 18, 2011 in Blog | Comments Off on Interview with April Gardner

April

This week I’m hosting Miralee Ferrell with Love Finds You in Tombstone, Arizona, Janelle Mowery with When All My Dreams Come True and April Gardner with Wounded Spirits. If you want to enter the drawings, 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 (February 20th) evening.

Interview with April Gardner:

1. How long have you been writing? When did you sell your first book?

I began writing six years ago and sold my first book four years later. It released Dec 2010. It was a long wait for that first contract to become a book in my hands, but it was worth it!

2. Why do you write?

I write mostly because there are characters in my head that are so real and wonderful, I want to introduce them to everyone I know!

3. What would you be doing with your free time if you weren’t writing?

Probably something else creative and fulfilling like quilting, knitting, or eating chocolate.

4. What are you working on right now?

I’m falling in love with the characters and setting of Warring Spirits, the sequel to Wounded Spirits. Warring picks up in 1816, two years after the end of Wounded and is set mostly in the Spanish province of Las Floridas. If you read Wounded and loved the unique setting, you won’t be disappointed with Warring!

5. Tell us about the book you have out right now.

In 1813, Alabama was Mississippi Territory and the furthest west Americans dared go. Those who chose to live there did so at their own risk. Adela McGirth’s and her family are no exception. They are swept away by fervor of the Red Sticks as they attempt to cleanse their land of encroaching whites.

A loyal warrior, Totka takes scalps with little compunction. When beautiful and courageous Adela is placed in his charge, his hands are bloody with guilt. But she could never love him anyway. He’s the enemy, after all, and the source of her grief.

6. Do you have any advice for other writers?

Join a critique group!! I wish I’d done it years earlier.

7. How important is faith in your books?

I mostly read Christian fiction, so faith in literature is very important to me. Although when I write, I don’t generally have a faith message I try to push. My characters naturally have inner struggles, and if they rely on God’s power, they will find victory. It just happens that way. My spiritual themes just tend to evolve on their own.

8. What themes do you like to write about?

I get a thrill at finding an intriguing bit of history buried by time and lost to most. Any setting will do, although I prefer it be American. It’s important to know where we’ve come from and who carved our country into what it is.

9. What is your favorite book you’ve written and why?

Wounded Spirits is the story of my heart and dreams. I formed a bond with the characters that will probably be hard to repeat. It’s also the story God used to fulfill my dream of being published. I saw His hand working in it from start to finish.

10. What is your writing schedule like?

I try to write from 10-2 every day, uninterrupted by email or phone. If I can manage 1,000 words, I’m happy.