This week I’m hosting Christa Allan with The Edge of Grace, Cerella Sechrist with Love Finds You in Hershey, PA, Raquel Byrnes with Purple Knot (an ebook), and Pam Hillman with Stealing Jake (there is no drawing from this blog but Pam is having a contest at this link: http://pamhillman.blogspot.com/2011/07/pams-blog-tour-kindle-contest.html for a Kindle giveaway). If you want to enter the drawings for Christa Allan, Cerella Sechrist or Raquel Byrnes’ books, 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 (August 28th) evening.
Interview with Raquel Byrnes:
1. What made you start writing?
I’ve always loved to jot down scenes in my head when I was in high school. I’d fill composition books with ideas. It wasn’t until my daughter was born and I was at home that I really sat down to tackle a full length book.
2. How long have you been writing? When did you sell your first book?
I’ve been writing for over a decade. My agent sold my first book earlier this year. The three-book series will be released this year and next through White Rose Publishing.
3. How do you handle rejections?
I try to get some distance…I tend to file them away in a folder. I figure I had to actually send something out to get rejected and that’s a lot more than doing nothing. It comes with the territory.
4. Why do you write?
I don’t think the characters in my head would ever quiet down if I didn’t write their stories. I can’t seem to help myself. If I see an interesting person or a strange personality quirk my first thought is that it would make a great character.
5. What would you be doing with your free time if you weren’t writing?
I think baking. I apprenticed with a pastry chef when I was first married and I love to make all those delicate pastries.
6. What are you working on right now?
I’m finishing up a Christian Gothic romance. It’s all dark and mysterious and full of romantic moments so I’m having a grand time.
7. Do you put yourself into your books/characters?
There are whispers of myself and things I’ve experienced in all of my characters. I often make a cameo in a book…in my current release, Purple Knot, the hacker that my main character deals with goes under my actual online handle. People that read my blog will recognize it.
8. Tell us about the book you have out right now.
Purple Knot is a romantic suspense. It’s about a petite private detective, Rain Cruz, who has to return to the life she fled in order to solve her best friend’s murder. She is forced to team up with her ex fiancé and as sparks fly, so do the memories of what tore them apart. They have to catch a killer and survive in order to have a second chance at love.
9. Do you have any advice for other writers?
I would say to give yourself a chance to get better. Writing is a sort of learn and grow as you go type of craft. The more you read and the more you write, the better you’ll get.
10. How important is faith in your books?
My faith is an inseparable part of me as person and there is faith in my novels. The characters move along a spiritual arc in the book, but Purple Knot is first and foremost, a great story. It has love and suspense and exciting twists.
11. What themes do you like to write about?
I like to write about things we all face in this life. Love, loss, redemption, romance…the whole gamut of emotions and circumstances.
12. What is your favorite book you’ve written and why?
Well, I’d have to say that so far, Purple Knot is my favorite. It holds a special place in my heart because it is my first book to be published.
13. What is your writing schedule like?
I write for 5 or 6 hours a night, five days a week.
