Interview with Sherry Kyle

» Posted on Apr 26, 2011 in Blog | Comments Off on Interview with Sherry Kyle

Sherry Kyle

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 Sherry Kyle:

1. What made you start writing?
When my children were small, I would take them to the local library to check out picture books. After reading piles and piles of books to my kids, I thought I could write one too. So I signed up for a course through the Institute of Children’s Literature and have been taking courses and writing ever since.

2. How long have you been writing? When did you sell your first book?
I’ve been writing for about thirteen years. I sold my first book titled My Special Someone co-written and illustrated by my daughter Brittany and I in 2002. It’s the story of adoption from a child’s perspective.

3. How do you handle rejections?
I’m getting used to it. LOL! Rejections still hurt, but no matter how many I get for each manuscript, it only takes ONE publisher to say “YES!”

4. Why do you write?
I ask myself that question all the time. Writing is hard work! The best way I can answer that is to say that I can’t stop myself. I’m hooked! I love being creative and writing gives me the outlet I need. In a nutshell, God wired me to write.

5. What would you be doing with your free time if you weren’t writing?
I’m a mom of three active teens and one tween, so I probably would drive on more field trips and volunteer in the classroom. In my spare time I do enjoy reading, watching movies, taking walks along the beach, and hanging out with my family and friends.

6. What are you working on right now?
I just finished writing my second girl’s book for Legacy Press called The Christian Girl’s Guide to Your New Room about planning, decorating, and organizing a girl’s bedroom. I also have another book contract with Abingdon Press for The Heart Stone, a contemporary novel about a heart-shaped diamond ring that is worn by a single mother but once was offered to another. And now the widow is thinking about the man she let get away. This book is about two women’s journeys to find love and will be released in the spring 2013.

7. Do you put yourself into your books/characters?
Oh, I’m sure I do. In fact, my mom and sister have mentioned they find gestures or dialog that remind them of me. I let my family read everything I write. They’re my first readers.

8. Tell us about the book you have out right now.
Delivered with Love is about an old love letter found in the glove compartment of a young woman’s inherited 1972 Volkswagen propelling her to leave her life in Los Angeles and go to the small town of Capitola, California.  There her dream of finding the writer of the letter leads her on an unexpected journey that changes her life forever.

It’s a story about faith, family, forgiveness, and love.

You can view the book trailer here:

9. Do you have any advice for other writers?
Enjoy the process. Sometimes writers are so eager to get published that they don’t want to go through the steps to get there. Take writing classes. Go to conferences. Network with other writers. Talk to agents and editors and find out what they’re looking for. Have fun!

10. How important is faith in your books?
All of the books I write (nonfiction books for tween girls and contemporary novels) have a spiritual thread, whether it’s about what the Bible says about what we should wear (The Christian Girl’s Guide to Style) or searching for the writer of an old love letter and finding God (Delivered with Love). My hope is that my readers take away an insight about our Heavenly Father.

11. What themes do you like to write about?
Forgiveness, trust and love tend to find their way in each of my books.

12. What is your favorite book you’ve written and why?
Delivered with Love is close to my heart since it is my first published novel.

13. What is your writing schedule like?
Once I get my husband and four children out the door for school, I check my e-mail and go on Facebook while I eat breakfast. On most Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I post a blog on my website (www.sherrykyle.com). On a good day, I’m in my office until the kids need to be picked up from school. Once they’re home I call it quits, but there are some days when I keep going. On those days, my husband picks up pizza or burritos for dinner. I try and write every day, but sometimes life takes over.