Joann Thomas- How many books have you sold?
Frankie C: Can you write a book about someone who goes back in time? Well, technically I did write one like that. People from the future came to the past to “rescue” them from accidental deaths and to live in the future. Among some of the more famous people they “rescued” were Amelia Earhart and Glen Miller. I also have ideas for a series that takes people back in time, but when they return home, they don’t quite know if they ever left or not. It feels a bit historical to me, so I don’t know for sure if it’ll work. I do plan to try it though.
Cassie C: What do you do when you can’t think of anything new when you’re writing your books? That has never been a problem for me. My problem is being able to get all the ideas that I have down on paper in the first place. Sometimes I do have trouble trying to decide the best way to write something though. That can be annoying. I usually just write it, even if I don’t like how it is, and fix it later when I know what I want.
Adric C: What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re bored? Well, I don’t get bored very easily. My mind is always writing new stories, I do a lot of crafting and such, so it’s really rare. However, sometimes when I don’t want to do what I need to do, I’ll go read or play solitare on the computer.
Cassie C: I love the Hardy Boys. Are you planning on writing any mystery books? Funny you should ask that. Two of the characters from Ready or Not, Vannie and Laird, will be in a mystery soon! I’m really looking forward to writing their story!
Adric C: How many kids in your family are afraid of the dark? (insert chuckle from mom here lol) Only my oldest, that I know of, was ever afraid of the dark. If the others were, they never said anything about it. Challice also used to get skittish if she watched a Charlie Chan mystery after dark.
Sharon B: Do you know how many books will be in the Wynnewood series? There will be at least three. I cannot decide whether to continue telling the story after Dove reveals what she is or not. Maybe I’ll make a poll for the website and everyone can vote. What do you think? Part of the problem is, I have an idea for a new series that is really exciting me, but I love my Wynnewood, and I don’t know if I’m ready to part with it yet.
Sharon B: Is April your favorite month? Are you hinting that I’m a fool? Hmmm. Actually, April and October are two of my most favorite months. I like them because here in the desert, they are the nicest months weather wise. My favorite month, however, is December. LOVE December.
Susan K: How do you pronounce your name? Shuh-TONE-uh. I have been called everything from “ChautUna” to “ChaNtona” to “Chautaqua.” People always asked me if it was “Indian” when I was younger. Now if they see me after they heard or saw my name, they usually say, “Oh, I thought you were black.” Then they get embarrassed and start apologizing. I used to get irked at it, because I thought they were implying that there was something wrong with being black. Then I realized they were embarrassed for not saying, “African-American.” I find that kind of funny
Susan K: How often do people ask you if its a pen name? No one has done that yet, but most people ask if I have a nickname when they hear my name. I think people just can’t imagine anyone CHOOSING a name that is so difficult to remember/spell etc for a pen name. I considered using one, though. I thought about a lot of things including using the one my dad used to say he wanted to use, but really, I am Chautona. It fits me. I’ve considered just being “Chautona” but nah. I like being a Havig and it’s not a difficult last name.
Susan K: How do you map out a new book? Do you write the ending first? Actually, I rarely know the ending of a book when I start. I usually have a “what if” scenario in my mind and a character comes to life from that. Once I have that, I just write until the story is told. For example, with Ready or Not, I wondered how a woman fresh out of college would handle being the instant mother of eight (I had eight children at the time). Then I wondered what would happen if, like me, she had ZERO experience with children when that happened. The story spiraled from there. For the Wynnewood series, I thought of Dove and wondered what would happen in a superstitious time to people like her. She is a very strong personality and really tells me what’s going to happen rather than the other way around.
Susan K: Do you see your characters in people you meet or do you base your character off of people you know or are you just that awesome? Well, I’d say that I’m just that awesome. No, just kidding. Seriously, most of my characters come from nowhere. Sometimes I’m inspired by someone or an event, but usually they’re just themselves. For example, I don’t know Aggie. I don’t know Dove, but she does have a little of my Jenna in her, and I don’t know Alexa or Lane. I did see a man once, driving a banana yellow Mini Cooper. He had a handlebar mustache and smoked a pipe. I have a character that IS that man now. Don’t know what the real dude is like, but my character just makes me smile. He creeps my friend Michele out though. Just sayin’. Oh, and there is a lot of my mother and my oldest daughter in Grace from Noble Pursuits.
Susan K: Why did you chose to write this particular series? I was intrigued by the idea of a little girl who was such a social reject that she didn’t know anything about the Lord. I wondered what kind of adventures she might have, what kind of hardships, and what would happen in her life if someone stepped out from the rest of the cruel crowd and befriended her. I had intended for it to be a girl who made friends with her and Philip would be that girl’s sister, but the minute I started writing, Philip took over as the other main character, and nothing I tried could change that.
Faithful: Do you tell stories to your kids? I do tell stories of when I was a child or my parents were children, but I’ve only once told a story to my children that I wrote. Challice was uncharacteristically rough with a book one day, and instead of scolding her, I told the story of “The Very Special Book” to illustrate how to care for books and why it’s important for more than being a good steward of our possessions. It worked. I never had another problem with her and being too rough. I really want to see that book illustrated and printed. Sigh.
JoAnn in WV: You have a lot of stories in process…do you get them confused when you pick one to work on? Not usually. I sometimes I have to make sure that what I thought was in the first book wasn’t cut out before I reference it in a sequel, but USUALLY the stories are like when you tell your kids about what you did when you were little. We don’t usually confuse cousin Julie with cousin Martha or one town for another.
JoAnn in WV: Do you have to go back and re-read the last chapter(s) to continue writing? If it’s been months since I’ve looked at a story, I’ll sometimes reread the last chapter or two to make sure I really wrote down what I think I did. Sometimes my brain gets ahead of my fingers. When I’m editing, sometimes I’ll find entire sections of sentences missing because my head filled it in but my fingers couldn’t keep up. For instance, I might start to type, “Chautona answered a lot of interesting questions on her blog that day, but fortunately, no one asked how much she weighed.” The problem is, often my fingers will type, “Chautona answered a lot of that day, but fortunately how much she weighed.” When I reread those kinds of things, I shake my head and wonder why I think I can write at all. I always reread the last paragraph or two before starting work on a section because it helps get the flow of the chapter back in place.
JoAnn in WV: Do you “force” your characters into the role you create for them or do you let them lead? I try, but it rarely succeeds. Sometimes, I’ll shelve a book until I can either accept that it’s not going to go the way I wanted it to or until I convince the characters that my way is best. It took months to convince Cara that she needed to have an argument. She is such a people pleaser that she was willing to ignore something really important to her in order not to rock the boar. She’s just about to upset the book. Good girl, Cara.
Trinity question 1: Where do you get the motivation to write each chapter? Basically, I have a story inside. It’s dying to get out. Chapters are just a way to eat the elephant one bite at a time. When I don’t feel like working on something for whatever reason, chapters make it palatable (except for Aggie since her chapters are more like 2 chapters of my other books). I just tell myself, “Finish this chapter and then go do something else.” It keeps me going when I don’t want to deal with a hard scene, when I’m working on a story bridge, or when I am just tired and lazy.
Trinity question 2: How do you decide what each characters roles are going to be? Characters tell me what their roles are. I’ve had characters I wanted to be gentle and patient who refused to do it. I’ve planned for someone to do something that someone else insisted on doing. In Willow, I had every intention of Willow getting together with no one, but if she did, it would be Bill. No doubt. She refused to listen and ended up a mush pot. LOL. In book two of Cloaked in Secrets, Brodor Clarke has a secret that I TRIED to prevent, but the man wouldn’t relent.
Trinity question 3: What inspired you to start writing? Originally, it was the book, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. If you read my Bio, you can see how one teacher’s wise admonition really spoke to my heart. I have always, from as early as I can remember, rehashed conversations, making them go the way I thought they should have, saying what I wish I had had the courage to say, or rephrasing something to avoid confusion. Writing is a way to put all of that somewhere that I can see it working out how I wanted it to. Unfortunately, characters often mess that up, but it is a start. More recently, I started writing as a way to clear my head. I had so many stories flooding my mind for so long that I needed to get them out of there!
Trinity question 4: Whens your favorite time to just get into writing your book (Ex: morning, afternoon, night time)? I write at all times of the day and night, but my favorite time is after everyone has gone to bed. I start writing, and often get so lost in what I’m doing that it takes me a while to realize I’m hungry, falling asleep, or in dire need of the “little girls’ room.”
Trinity question 5: Does your Family read your books before they are published? No, actually, only my oldest has read everything I’ve published. The older girls have each read a book or two, and Jenna has read Shadows & Secrets. Kevin, the boys, and the younger girls haven’t read any of it. None of them read before they’re published.
Trinity question 6: What is your favorite book that you have written? From the Cinders. Ella’s story has a pull on me that no other story does. Argosy Junction is my favorite of those that are published though.
Trinity question 7: Do you only work on one book at a time or more than one? I have about forty books in process at the moment. I usually am only working actively on two or three at a time, but easily up to five. I rarely work on more than five at a time though. Right now I’m working on For Keeps (the sequel to Ready or Not), Beneath the Cloak (the sequel to Cloaked in Secrets), in addition to Past Forward. I am also currently editing Princess Paisley and Thirty Days Hath.
Nathan (Susan K) – Why are there so many weird words? I wanted to preserve a little of medieval England, but I didn’t want to make them all talk in Old English, so I mainly used old English words for the names of places. Wyrm is the old English word for dragon. I didn’t want to call the dragon that, because it’d get REALLY confusing, so instead, I named the forest where the villagers had assumed he lived, “Wyrm Forest.” The same with Sceadu (shadows) or Ciele (cold). Words to describe the places in the old English. I mean, we get used to calling places in America by odd sounding names like “Appalachia” or “Monongahela” so I thought it’d work well. For Dove, I needed her to have a word to call her other than creature so it didn’t become redundant. By mixing ge-sceaft and creature, the words didn’t get over used. Brodor, Modor and Fadaer were all so close to the modern English words, that I decided to use them for flavor. I really did try not to make too many of them in the text.
Abigail (Susan K) – How long did it take you to type it in? Well, that depends upon what you mean. If you mean exactly how long did it take to type every word apart from writing the story, then I’d say about 17 hours. However, to write the story took me about three months. To edit it, took another month or so.
Nathan (Susan K) – What’s the main thing that is going to happen in the new book? I would say it is that you are going to meet some new people that make the story very exciting in my opinion. Either that, or trying to capture the unicorn.
Nathan (Susan K) – Why did you make a dragon in it? Becaues dragons are cool! Ok, well that and because I needed something that a little girl like Dove could do that Philip couldn’t do for himself. They needed to meet and he needed to feel enough gratitude to help him get over his natural resistance to her.
Bethany (Susan K) – Is there a unicorn in the second book? (Cloaked in Secrets) Yes!
Abigail (Susan K) – Is there going to be a third book in this series? Yes there is! Our amazing illustrator and I hashed out the plot for Beneath the Cloak just recently, and I’ve already started on it. Let’s just say it’s going to be WAY too much fun for me.
Bethany (Susan K) – Is Cloaked in Secrets funny? Well, I think it’s hilarious in places. In particular, I like the snowball fight, and Jakys.
Nathan (Susan K) – Is the second book (CIS) going to be full of action? Why don’t you tell me? You have a village who thinks Dove is dead, Dove meeting people who want to kill her, having to go back to those people to help them, a double dragon rescue… And that is just a little taste… Action? What do you think?
Sean (Susan K) – What was your inspiration for this book? I had been reading the Squire’s Tales and The Ranger’s Apprentice, as well as a delightful story by a friend of mine “The Third Wish,” and I think they all kidnapped my imagination and literally tossed me into the dungeon of fantasy until I agreed to try my hand at it. I really wanted a story about someone so unfamiliar with the Lord that the Bible and all of its rich stories were new. I wanted to show them through fresh eyes.
Sean (Susan K) – Why did you chose England (over say Germany – it could have been an angry book)? Silly reason. I liked the name Wynnewood. It means “pretty” wood. Yeah, it’s Welsh, but close enough for me.
Olivia – Are you going to have a character named Olivia? (She can write on walls and play with everyone else’s Legos) Well, actually, I have a perfect place where I can use Olivia. But, I can only do it if I can find the name on medieval name rolls, so get your mom hunting to find it near the middle of the thirteenth century!
Miriam (Susan K) – Do you have a character that giggles a lot? (like me) Well, you don’t get to see it in this book, but Letty giggles a great deal. You’ll probably find her giggling a lot in the next book.
Bethany (Susan K) – Are there turtles in the book? Not in Cloaked in Secrets, no. However, there is going to be a fire breathing toad in the next book!
Caleb (Susan K) – Do you have any hippos in the book? If you do, what sound do they make? My hippo says Baroo’. If you pretend that Bertha is a hippo, then I would say yes. Bertha doesnt’ say Baroo`. Bertha says, “bah.” She’s a little rude sometimes, don’t you think?
Sean (Susan K) – Have you considered using the phrase, “I have a bad feeling about this?” Actually, I have! I think I’ll make sure it’s in Beneath the Cloak. What thinkest thou?
Susan (Susan K) – Do you find yourself wanting to use quotes from movies in your books? Because as I read the ones I read, I found myself saying them. lol I do! Movie quotes are such a huge part of my life, that I know they’re probably popping up in books without me realizing I even quoted them. If you read the sentence to me, I’d know it and what movie it was, but I don’t always realize I used it. I have made a conscious effort to look for them very carefully in Wynnewood. I can’t imagine inserting, “I’m blessed with work,” in a book set in a time long before people could even imagine movies.
Michele WV- How’s Cara coming? Cara is actually in my tray again. I’m happy that she has decided to blow her ever-patient top. Things can happen now. The end is almost near. I’m kind of sad.
Christopher (Michele WV)- Can I have a copy of the next book you write? I can’t imagine why not!
Erin (Michele WV)- Can I be a character in your books? Well, since your name is Erin… I might have a way to include you…
Sean (Michele WV)- Mommy said you like trains? Can you write a book about trains…maybe with dinosaurs in it? Oooh… dinosaurs and trains. Let’s see… if a little boy named Sean went on a journey, what would happen if the engineer was a dinosaur who took him on the ride of his life?
Christopher (Michele WV) – What is Dove’s secret? (nice try, huh?) Dove’s secret is that she doesn’t know if she wants to trust the Lord to be who He says He is.
Michele WV – Will you finish Junie for me? Not on your life. I want you to finish it for ME.
Michele WV–Are you actively seeking an agent/publisher yet? Yes, I am! I have contacted a writing agent and she and I are working to prepare Plotting Santa for submission.
Michele WV- Does your family ever give you input on characters? Hmm I think there have been a few suggestions, but mostly, no. I don’t even know if I have used any of the suggestions, but since they don’t read most of the stories, they don’t know enough to suggest. Oh, I think it was in Plotting Santa. I think I had a few suggestions there.
Michele WV – Are you enjoying working with Craig? I love it. To be honest, the books wouldn’t have been nearly as good without his input. He is a wealth of knowledge on fantasy, the area of England, the history, everything. It’s amazing. I’ll say something and he’ll say, “Oh, well you know this or that…” And I sit here, jaw agape, taking notes. He’s hilarious, he’s encouraging, and I really wish I could take him and his wife out to dinner. I have a feeling they’d be a whole lot of fun to watch. He is highly underpaid, though, and that produces guilt. Huge massive amounts of guilt.
Rachel in Indonesia – Where in your house do you write best? In my recliner, in the living room. It’s the most comfortable spot, my laptop fits perfectly, and I have a view of everything around me.
Rachel in Indonesia – Do you write because/when you’ve set aside time to write, or do you have to wait for inspiration to come? Both. I rarely have “inspiration” problems, but when I do, or when I don’t know how to do what I want to do, I just pull out another book to work on for a while. I set aside time AND I will sit down and pound something out when I think of it so I don’t forget it.
Rachel in Indonesia – How old were you when you wrote your first story? When I was twelve, I wrote my first “novel” type story. Before that, all my stories were in my head.
Rachel in Indonesia – What was your very first story about? It was an embarrassing load of self-righteous drivel. I don’t even think it had a plot– just a series of scenarios designed to show how spiritually superior the girl, her family, and another family was.
Rachel in Indonesia – Did you know as a child you wanted to write? At age twelve, I knew. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Just sayin’.
Rachel in Indonesia – Do you correct mistakes (spelling, punctuation, etc – easy stuff) when you see them as you write, or wait to go back later? If I see it, I correct it. If I don’t, then it gets fixed later. I’m not like Barbara Cornthwaite… I don’t perfect each section as I write; however, I do correct obvious muffs when I find them. OR, if I’m not sure how I want to fix something, I’ll leave a note, highlighted in yellow, that usually says, “Pathetic, fix this!!!” or “Oh, come ON Chautona… do something about that” and then when it comes time to edit, I do. Unfortunately, in Aggie, I missed one of those notes to myself and made a huge mess.
Rachel in Indonesia – Do you write on the computer or on paper? Computer always. I am convinced that I’d have written sooner if I had owned a computer earlier. Once it hit me how fast it’d be to write on a computer, I went crazy!
Rachel in Indonesia – Do you enjoy writing mushy stuff any better than you did a few years ago? No. Period. Exclamation point. However, I do think I’m better at it. It is a little more natural to read for me. I particularly do not enjoy writing anything physical. A kiss about does me in. EW! The book Michele asked about, Cara, is probably the most romantic book I’ve ever written and there is no touching, very little talking, and a lot of raw emotion. Mush to the core! It’s nauseating, but it did help me get over that awkward hump. Hope helped too.
Rachel in Indonesia – Did you ever finish your story of Ecnedaced(not sure I’m remembering that right)? Endecadec. It was “Decadence” jumbled. I changed the name to Kedwick (wicked jumbled) and I’ve completed more, but it’s not done. Suddenly I’m in the mood to work on it. Thanks a lot.
Rachel in Indonesia -Are you going to publish your Santa story? I am working with a writing agent right now to do that very thing. I’m very excited.
Kristi in AL- HOW do you find time to write? You know how some people sit down and knit or crochet, others keep a spotless house or garden, and others dash all over the countryside working taking their kids here, or shopping there, or running this or that errand? Well, instead of doing those things, I write. I might sit down, write five sentences, get up, go help a kid, come back, write five more, check HK, come back write another paragraph or three, go make a card, come back, finish the chapter, start a new one, etc. It’s very Biblical too. You know, “line upon line… here a little, there a little…”
Kristi in AL- What is your favorite of your published books? Argosy Junction. It is very dear to my heart. Between the message of the book, the poetry in it, and my father’s songs singing from nearly every chapter, how could it not be?
Kristi in AL- What is your favorite of your as-yet-unpublished books? Ella. From the Cinders. I really want to find a mainstream publisher for it, but I’m terribly afraid it wouldn’t be accepted since it’s a series, so I’ll take care of that one myself.
Susan K- If any book you wrote could be made into a movie, which book would it be? Well, obviously Plotting Santa. I think that’s kind of a given. If any of the others could be made into a movie, I think I’d like to see it be Aggie. Can you imagine the hilarity???
Susan K- And who what actors would you like to see play the lead roles? Ok, if we’re talking Aggie (cause the other changes so fast depending upon years) then I’d want
Aggie- Amy Adams
Vannie- Hallee Hirsh
Geraldine- Glenn Close
Luke- Logan Bartholomew or Skeet Ulrich
William- David Boreanaz
Libby- Mare Winningham
Susan K- Is there any actor/actress you can see playing any of your characters? I always picture the little boy in Stuart Little as my Andy, but of course, he’s much too old now.
Susan K- Do you hear music in your head as you are writing? Meaning, if it was a movie, this is the type of song you want playing during that part. Sometimes, yes. I definitely did as I wrote Prairie. Obviously, I did when I wrote Plotting Santa, and somewhat during Cara. I tend to hum Aggie’s hymns while I write her, but I suppose that’s not what you mean.
Susan K- Do you desire any of your books be made into movies, or would that lose the books “soul” for you? Well, again, definitely Plotting Santa. It’s always seemed like a movie book to me. The other books would depend upon what they cut/edited/changed. I mean, take Wynnewood. If they stripped the Christianity from it, I don’t think I could handle it. I guess as long as it still felt like “my story,” I wouldn’t mind. If it just felt like it was influenced by mine, then it’d depend upon the story.
Susan K- Who edits your books and how does that work? Well, that is a complicated question. Originally, I had several people going over it with me, hoping to catch things. I thought with lots of fresh eyes, it’d work better, but actually, it didn’t. I had the gift of editing from a friend for Shadows & Secrets, and it had many fewer errors. For Aggie and Cloaked in Secrets, I hired a professional editor, Barbara Coyle, after another friend and I combed it first. I’ll probably stick with doing that in the future. Basically, I send the book, they send it back with questions and correction suggestions, I do those, they read again, and voila! Then I get to find all the stuff we missed when I go through the proof copy. It’s amazing what you find when you actually have it in your hands that you missed on the screen.
Susan K- When are you going on a book tour? Just as soon as I win the lottery. Wait, I have to play to win, don’t I? Well, as soon as someone sends me a winning ticket or as soon as I sell enough copies to pay for it. Ok, seriously though, I can’t see ever being “big” enough to warrant something like that. Only if Santa sells. That one actually has the potential, I think, to require that kind of thing.
Susan K- I want to know if you are going to shop Santa around to a publisher, I know its been asked already, but I want to know also. We’re doing that now. My friend Darcie is getting the book ready, is writing the query letter and book proposal, and then we’re going “shopping” to find someone to publish it.
Geri H- What does your family typically eat for dinner when you are in a writing frenzy? Um, basically what we always eat. If I don’t fix it, Kevin does. Actually, he cooks more often than I do half the time. I think it’s more likely to be something like Chili Spaghetti or Hamburgers than it is to be those things on other nights of the week just because it usually means I’ve forgotten to defrost something.
Geri H- If you were asked to have your books turned into movies, would you? I’d have to see the screen play first. You know, I almost didn’t answer this one because it’s almost a duplicate, but then I realized that I have another book that I think would make a GREAT movie and would definitely agree to. Alexa and her mysteries would be cool movies!
Geri H- What do you do to bring out your creativity or when you are having a writer’s cramp and can’t think of what to write about? That just doesn’t happen. However, when I feel like I’m not enjoying it as much, I usually go make some cards, watch a movie, read a book, sew a garment, or take a nap. Then I’m ready to go again. I don’t think I’ve ever had writer’s block. I always have the opposite problem. I have DOZENS and dozens of stories swirling in my brain and I can’t type them out fast enough. Drives me nuts.
Mitchell- Have you looked into getting your books approved for the AR reading program so school children can get credit for reading them? I have requested that Shadows & Secrets be considered for the AR program, but have not heard back from them about it aside from the initial “Thank you for your suggestion. We will take it under advisement…” yadda yadda. Once the second book is in print, I plan to ask again and include that one. I hope that by asking with every book, eventually they’ll agree.
Mitchell- Is Lord Charles Morgan still the lord of Wynnewood Castle in the second book? Yes he is! And,he is in the third as well!
Mitchell- When reading the first book of the series, I came away feeling like Dove was just like any other little girl and don’t understand why the villagers treat her so badly, does the second book reveal the reason? The second book doesn’t reveal why Dove is so feared, but it does show that Bertha’s requirement for the cloak and the secrecy is wise. In the second book, someone does see her and the result is almost catastrophic. You will find out the fear and what causes it in the third book, Beneath the Cloak.
Mitchell- I love book series with lots of books — can you make Wynnewood a 10-book series? That’s a very interesting question, because I was trying to decide if I should make it just the three, ending with knowing Dove’s secret, or if I should go in and branch out into some of the other characters etc. I do have another series in mind that would have at least five to seven books, so I can’t decide which to do. I think, after book two is available, I’ll put up a poll on the website and see what everyone thinks.
Zachary- Have you considered adding monkeys to your stories? (Would be funny if it was a barking monkey — yes, I’m silly.) I like monkeys. I actually have a character in one of my books who has a spider monkey!
Cari- How do you keep your many story-lines straight? Just kind of like how you keep your kids straight. You might get their names mixed up when calling for them or talking about them, but your head has it straight. What cracks me up is how often I mixed King Jack and Prince Rupert in Froggilandria. My characters are like “imaginary friends” to me. They’re very real in my head, so keeping them straight is usually fairly easy. What isn’t easy is being sure of what happened when in relation to different stories. I dont’ want to write that so and so was married when they hadn’t met mr. right yet.
Cari- Do you ever find you are confusing one story with another (since you have so many going at once)? Not generally, no. Where I find it most is in Aggie and Wynnewood due to the series. Once in a while, I am not sure if I wrote xyz in the first or at the beginning of the second, but usually I keep them very clearly marked in my mind.
Cari- Have you ever started writing one story only to have a character within that story demand it’s only story be told which results in another book? Yep. Christine from Thirty Days Hath DEMANDED her own story (especially since I FORCED myself to stick to the outline and not let her stay with Adric), as did April. I was writing Bentley when I realized that Tait insisted on having his own story too. It actually happens quite frequently now that I think of it. Weird.
Cari- Do your characters have their own “life” so to speak or do you feel you dictate how their life exists? Mostly, they tell me the story, and I try to convince them to do what I want. Sometimes they’re very tractable and follow my “script” and other times they refuse to obey. They dig in their heels, turn the wheel, or do whatever has to be done to make things go their way. It’s very annoying.
CindyLouWho- How long did it take you to write your first book? The first Aggie was written slowly over the space of a few months. I was really writing for my own amusement and that of a friend, and then I kind of got addicted. I’d say three or four months.
CindyLouWho- How many books in all have you written now. Ok, lemme go count… Ok, I have nineteen books that are completed or 3/4 completed. I then have about thirty-five or so more books that are in progress. Published, I have five as soon as Cloaked in Secrets is available.
CindyLouWho- Do you ever sleep? Every day whether I need it or not. No seriously, I sleep at least 9-10 hours a day.
CindyLouWho-How do you find time to do everything you currently do? You know, I tried to figure that out once, but halfway through that process, I realized that there was a whole lot I could have gotten done while I wasted my time trying to see where I got the time in the first place. I think the answer is that I don’t “make” time, don’t schedule this and plan that. I just live. And as I live, things get done. Oh, and I shamelessly pay my children to do my work on a regular basis.
CindyLouWho- Do you have a housekeeper do the housework while you’re writing? No, I have children for that. Seriously, if it’s my job to get something done and I don’t want to do it, I pay them to do it for me. Andra and Jenna both got paid for cleaning my room this week. Andra did the initial blow through, Jenna did the fine detail work. Brilliant.
CindyLouWho- How many late night writing sprees do you usually have? About 365 give or take one or two. Seriously. The family usually is in bed by 10. I write until Nolan calls me to pick him up, go get him, write some more, he goes to bed, and then I write some more.
CindyLouWho- Will you be having any book signings in AZ? “) Got a spare room? Not a spare ‘oom, a spare room.
CindyLouWho- Do you ever plan on publishing a work of art that shares some of your stamped creations? A work of art? I’m not sure what you mean.
CindyLouWho- Having not read any of your books yet, are your plots christian or just good wholesome reading or ? All of my plots are Christian aside from Plotting Santa which is pure fantasy silliness. It’s crazy that I, who never pretended about Santa much less believed in him and did have him as a part of our family’s Christmas celebrations, wrote a Santa story.
CindyLouWho- Are you in any bookstores in AZ that you know of? Any Christian bookstore CAN get my books. They are also available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but someone told me their Borders said, “We cannot get that book.” So, who knows? I know Barnes and Noble will order it for you. I always like to hear that someone went into their local Christian bookstore and requested my book. Most bookstores will order a second copy for the shelf and that gets my books into more hands. 
Sharon B- Which book is Kevin’s favorite? I’d say the one that sells the most. Kevin hasn’t read my books. They’re not really his genre. He’s more of a techie non-fiction sort or a Tom Clancy type.
Sharon B- What do your children think of Wynnewood? Jenna loves it. She and her friend Hannah hound me for finishing the next frequently. I don’t know if the older girls read it or not. If they did, they didn’t love or hate it, because those I hear about. Andra hasn’t read it yet, but it’s on her list for the school year.
Sharon B- What is your must have snack while you write? I prefer things that aren’t messy. Red hots (Cinnamon Imperials from Brachs), m&m’s stuff like that. Usually I’d say COKE, but it’s summer, and I don’t drink Coke most summers.
Sharon B- Do you have a time of day that you are more inspired? When the house is quiet at night and no one is around yammering at me. hee hee
Sharon B- Have you thought of naming a character Sweetie? No, but now I have one in my mind already. Oh thanks a LOT. ARGH. She’s gonna be fun. Oy. Ok, I’m going to have to find a title and make a document now. Sheesh. Some people.
Sharon B- How soon will the third book be released? (This is from my girls, lol.) I’m hoping for Winter 2011
Sharon B- Will you write another children’s series from another time period? I plan to do a few. I want to write the stories of Willow’s childhood. Kind of like Little House on the Prairie but Willow style. Then, I want to do my other fantasy series so it’ll be from a time that never existed. It’s going to be a whole world unto itself. Then, I was thinking about a children’s sci fi series that starts with my Exiles of Kedwick that Rachel asked about. Other than that, I’m not sure.
Sharon B- Has the book writing slowed down you other interests such as sewing? Actually, that slowed down before I started writing consistently. What really hurt it was when I decided to close Wardrobe Classics. I was tired. Then, I started to sew again just before I got sick and I haven’t really recuperated fully. I still sew (going in to help Andra with a skirt in a minute) but not as frequently as I did, but that we can’t blame on writing. I was writing Aggie in the height of Wardrobe Classics.
Bethany G- Does Kevin read your books? Nope. One of the guys at work ribs him about that, but it doesn’t bother me. If he wrote a book, it’d likely be on computer interface systems, and aside from checking the book out or reading the preface to see what the point was, I doubt I’d read it either.
Bethany G- Does Kevin or your kids ever make fun of anything you’ve written? Oh, sure. Braelyn hates Noble Pursuits. They make fun of my teeth more, though.
Bethany G- How do you decide on/come up with character’s names? It’s an extremely scientific process that would take a great deal of time to explain. Ok, I go through baby name lists until something feels like the person. Sometimes I get the name first and the story comes later. That happened with Rhonna and Tennyson. I chose Aggie for Ready or Not because of what I wanted Ian to call her. For Wynnewood, I had the HARDEST time coming up with a name. I knew her permanent name and why she had it, but for the “nickname” that Philip gave her, it took forever.
Bethany G- Have you written non-fiction? Some, yes, but nothing I’ve shared with anyone. I’m not confident on non-fiction. I prefer fiction.
Bethany G- If you were to write non-fiction, would you write a book about someone you know personally, such as yourself, a friend or family member; or would you write about someone/something famous/historical? I would like to write a biography of California Joe, but I doubt I will. I prefer the sanitized version of his life as told in the ballad over the truth. If I wrote non-fiction, it’d probably be about a subject I wanted to encourage people in such as parenting or some kind of self-help thing.
Bethany G- Have you ever knowingly put people you know in your books? Espically your children? Not people, but scenarios, yes. For example, in Aggie, the scene where Aggie freaks over Vannie and wants to rush her to the doctor, that happened to a friend of mine. I used the name Verily, which is my friend’s husband’s name, but I don’t know her husband at all, so I have no idea if my Verily is anything like hers. I accidentally put my son-in-law in Aggie as Luke long before I ever met him, but I guess that doesn’t count. I did almost feed Challice hot chocolate as an infant in the exact manner that Aggie fed Ian coffee. I just happened to catch it when I squirted my arm with it and noticed it was brown. There is a lot of my mom’s and Challice’s personalities in Grace, but I didn’t choose to do it deliberately. Basically, no.
Bethany G- What would your kids think if you put them in a book? I think it depends upon how I portrayed them. 
Bethany G- Would you ever write a book in German? Nein. Es wäre ein sehr kurzes Buch.
JoAnn WV- Do you see yourself in any of your characters? Which one or ones? Hmmmmm There is a bit of me in Mavis, but more of my mother. I actually tried to use Mom as a pattern for Mavis. I also see a lot of me in Kari (Willow’s mom). There is some of me in Grace, but only because in some ways, I’m a lot like my mom.
JoAnn WV- Do all of your characters have a real person that they are based on? No, most do not. I did realize that Princess Paisley and events and people in that book are very very very loosely based upon Dell’s children and family.
JoAnn WV- Will you publish Princess Paisley? Yes. I’m trying to edit it now. I wanted to have that out for Christmas this year.
JoAnn WV- Which of your characters is most like you? Kevin? Lorna? Most like me, I’d say Kari. Like Kevin? Hmmm probably David in From the Cinders. Lorna? Well, possibly Cari in Aggie. If that child had half a chance to take over the world, she’d do it… and keep them laughing all the while. Since I’m more confident than Aggie, she doesn’t try to pull those stunts with me, but she will try with Andra because Andra will let the kid get away with murder if I don’t keep on top of it.
Barbara H- Jonah wants to know: when is the last book coming out? *lol* impatient, isn’t he? Well, I’ve already started it, and hope to have it out in Winter of 2011. That’ll depend upon the ability to get it written with NANO coming up and of course with Craig’s schedule. He is so generous to me, that I don’t want to put any pressure on him to “hop through hoops” to keep up with me.
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