Interview with Mary Ellis

» Posted on Apr 28, 2011 in Blog | Comments Off on Interview with Mary Ellis

Mary Ellis

This week I’m hosting Sherry Kyle with Delivered with Love and Mary Ellis with Abigail’s New Hope. 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 (May 1st) evening.

Interview with Mary Ellis:

1. What made you start writing? I’ve had it on the back burner of my mind for a long time. But I had to wait until certain other responsibilities in my life were no longer so time-consuming.

2. How long have you been writing? When did you sell your first book? I have been writing for around 12 years, and sold my first book around 6 years ago.

3. How do you handle rejections? I do much better when I remember: It’s all by God’s hand (my success or failure) and thus should be all for His glory. I take myself out of the equation.

4. Why do you write? I can’t help myself; I must write. I love telling stories about Christian families who use their strong faith to carry them through life’s difficult times.

5. What would you be doing with your free time if you weren’t writing? I’d love to say cleaning my house, but that probably isn’t true. If I didn’t love writing, I’d spend all my free time in my yard and garden. I love working in my yard. Right now I have tons of dead tree branches to gather up and burn in a bonfire.

6. What are you working on right now? I’m writing Book 4 in the Miller Family series. It picks up after “The Way to a Man’s Heart.” But there will be a total of 3 books released in between. Book 4–An Amish Family Reunion probably will be out in January 2012.

7. Do you put yourself into your books/characters? Yes and no. I often give them attributes and abilities I don’t have, for instance gourmet cooking and baking. Perhaps I live vicariously through my heroines.

8. Tell us about the book you have out right now. It is the story of two sisters. One is a midwife and must spend time in jail away from her family because she attempted to save a woman’s life. When her sister comes to care for the children, she discovers a deaf mute living in the woods as a recluse. Determined to teach him better communication, she soon discovers hearts don’t require either speech or hearing for love to bloom.

9. Do you have any advice for other writers? Never give up. I knocked on a lot of doors before I found the right “home” for my work.

10. How important is faith in your books? Faith is central in every story I write. Only through faith can our lives find the meaning that every human being seeks.

11. What themes do you like to write about? I love stories of strong women who set out to accomplish the impossible, to prove to others and most of all to themselves, that they can.

12. What is your favorite book you’ve written and why? What question! That’s like asking a mom which of her kids she likes best. But if I’m forced to choose, I would pick A Widow’s Hope—a gentle tale about a shepherdess. It was the first Amish romance I’d written, and I so enjoyed finding my voice.

13. What is your writing schedule like? I usually start writing around 9:00 and finish around 4:00. I sometimes take my laptop to the library or coffee shop or to the nearby lake, whenever my office seems too confining. I don’t work on Sundays and I try to leave Saturdays free too. But I usually work at least part of the day on Saturdays.