Heidi K (Abigail)- What age were you when you started writing? Were you a little girl?
I have always made up stories in my head… I remember doing it as young as four or five. However, I didn’t start writing them down until I was around twelve. So, I guess it depends on if you consider twelve little or not.
Terran K- will Dove lose her kidney in this book? 🙂 mwwahahahahah
Alas, she will not. She will almost lose her head, she will lose her temper, and she will lose her privacy a bit, but she will retain her kidney… for now. As long as I can keep her from the quest for Candy Mountain, I think she may be fine… alas, you know her. She is a curious little thing and something like Candy Mountain is hard to resist.
Terran K- if you could only one kind of cookie for the rest of your life what kind would it be?
Andra’s chocolate chip… they’re crunchy on the outside, soft in the inside, not too sweet, not too bland… just perfect.
Terran K- what sorts of food do you like to eat while writing, snack foods or maybe Cheese Cake?
I like Reeses Pieces, Chips and cottage cheese (ala Argosy Junction), and Nolan’s Key Lime cheesecake.
Terran K- would you ever consider writing a book with charlie the unicorn and halt and Gandalf and Obi-Wan and all the others? *wink wink nudge nudge*
Well, Captain Jack Sparrow has sailed to Wynnewood where he picked up Gandalf and Halt on the hunt for Charlie the Unicorn. Alas, Obi-Wan has given Charlie lessons in how to protect his kidneys, so they had to elicit the help of Dr. Who and the Tardis to find the thing. Peter Pevensie tried to keep Reepiecheep from attacking the unicorn, but alas, the little mouse is now recovering at the hands of Miracle Max who assures me that Reepiecheep is only mostly dead.
Terran K- After writing the part with California :p did you have trouble keeping your head up in public?
I still hang the “shame” curtains daily. I avoid the public at all costs. It’s just too humiliating. At times like this, I wish I was Catholic. I’m sure a few thousand Hail Mary’s would be very comforting right about now.
Terran K- Did you write “Terran” to be my opposite by plan or accident. I mean who wouldn’t blast some music while on the way to work?
I’m a morning person though so…. maybe other “Normal” people wouldn’t do that?
But Terran isn’t opposed to blasting music per se… he just wants to know what the gal is enjoying. As for opposites… it wasn’t deliberate. I have a hard time picturing you as a pudgy teddy bear of a guy. Something just doesn’t sit right. I do think you both have a similar sense of humor, but I didn’t realize that until the other day.
Terran K- will/have you ever written a book about a kung-fu gecko? also would you write said book?
I think a Kung-Fu Gecko is on the horizon. I’ve tentatively named it, “Gecko from the Get Go.”
Tia (JoAnn in WV)- I Love Willow’s book. Are you planning on editing any big parts out?
Yes. The California section will either be removed entirely (my preference) or severely edited/rewritten to be less of a drone. I wholeheartedly agree with Terran that those parts are just horrible.
Tia (JoAnn in WV)-Is there any special reason why Bertha is a midwife? Or is that the only female job available?
Well, two reasons, really. The first is that this is how she appeared when she first showed up in the book. I’d assumed that Dove was a scrounger… an orphan that lived by the skin of her teeth in the caves… but then there Bertha was, taking care of the little girl that she didn’t even want around. I think she made herself a midwife because it explains her willingness to protect Dove even when she doesn’t want to. It’s like a doctor who performs life saving procedures on a murderer. He does it because he’s compelled to save life when he can.
Tia (JoAnn in WV)- Did/does Aunt Fran ever become a Christian?
Alas, I do not know. Thus far, she has not, but if anyone can get through to her, it’ll be Nolan. Grace and Craig have been “brainwashed” by their father, don’tcha know. Nolan is the son of highly successful Winston Barnes of Barnes and Finch and his mother was “one of those Fillmores.” She’ll listen to someone from that walk of life where she won’t to her “misled family.”
Tia (JoAnn in WV)- Does Noble Pursuits have a sequel coming?
Well, Grace is in several other books, but as to a deliberate sequel, I do not know. Last week, I would have said no, but I had this idea the other day, and I’m terribly afraid I might not be able to prevent it from being written.
Tia (JoAnn in WV)- In all of the books you have started. How many were written because of one of your characters “demanding” their own book?
Well, let’s see. For sure, Dead Limb Walking. It’s a story about April from Thirty Days Hath… and Mismatched is about Allison. Christine also gets her own story. That book really spawned several books, didn’t it? Discovering Hope spawned Captured and Kirky. Argosy Junction will likely tell Carrie’s story, but I’m not sure. I like the idea of telling the story of the break from her family when they “became apostate” from the heart of a girl who just wants to serve her Lord and can’t see the damage. However, so many of my stories are so interconnected, that it isn’t funny. USUALLY, however, a new story begins, and then I find them getting to know people from the other books.
Tia (JoAnn in WV)- Do Ryder, Tavish and Cade have compatible enough personalities that they could ever meet and become friends?
I think Cade and Tavish could, most definitely. Ryder would be more of an older brother since he’s about six or seven years older. I could see him taking the boys on a camp-out on Willow’s farm. I’ll have to think about that.
Tia (JoAnn in WV)-Can you draw/make your own fabric like Willow does?
Funny you should ask that! I bought stencils to do that very thing. I was planning to give either the fabric or something made from it away as a gift.
Tia (JoAnn in WV)- Does someone “find out” Doves secret, or does She tell it herself?
Yes. Don’t you hate that answer? I’ll only say that the reader will not learn until Philip does, and that will be when Dove “reveals” herself. Thanks to my eldest daughter’s filthy mind, that now sounds obscene rather than the “unveiling” (which also sounds terrible now) that I mean it to be. Anyway, that being said, her secret is known to others before that point, but not advertised.
Tia (JoAnn in WV)- What are your personal thoughts about Chuck Majors? Amusing? Disgusting? Etc.
I have a confession. Creating Chuck Majors was very cathartic to me. You see, once upon a long time ago, when I was pregnant with Challice, Kevin introduced me to a guy at church who had been gone for a couple of months. That man looked at me, at my ringless hand, at my belly, and then said, “So, are you going to make this kid legitimate?” Kevin’s fist went up to punch him, and I was mortified. So, Chuck was introduced in the book, Introductions, when he does the same thing to Ami. The way Nolan Burke responds was also very cathartic. Then he just started showing up anywhere I wanted a little comic relief. The guy is good at that. In real life, a man like that would get an earful from me now. In a book, he’s just one of those guys you love to hate… and then eventually he seems to become a little loveable on his own. Cheri was good for him. So was Willow.
Tia (JoAnn in WV)- Do you have a mental picture of ALL of your characters?
Yes, and for the record, Chuck Majors looks NOTHING like the “real” Chuck. I can tell you what each one looks like, how their voice sounds, if they scratch their nose with the side of their finger or their fingernail, and what you’d never catch them wearing or saying.
Tia (JoAnn in WV)- If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? Why?
This question changes depending on the day it’s asked and why it’s asked. Right now, I’d say I would want to go to a tropical island with a four star hotel, and almost no one around. I’d want it to be just me and Kevin and lots of cycling paths to keep him happy for part of the time. I’d like to go because I’m weary. I need to be refreshed. I also would often say to Missouri. I’d like to see my parents. I love them and miss them so much it hurts much of the time. I’d love to get on a plane, fly to Tulsa, rent a car, and drive into Noel, knock on the door, and just hug both of them until I dropped. Anyone who knows me, knows that it’s big if I want to hug anyone. Then I’d like to sit in the living room, relax on the couch, close my eyes, and listen to my dad play the guitar until I fell asleep. However, I will confess, that the answer I most often give is India. I want to go to India, see the beauty of it, and be shielded from the horrifying poverty. I want to be the tourist that so disgusts Lalita in Bride and Prejudice that wants the fake India experience. I’ve wanted to go ever since writing Discovering Hope. I fell in love with India while writing that book.
Tia (JoAnn in WV)- What is one of the most frequently asked questions about your books? I
think the most frequently asked question is how I come up with these things. Snort. I’m always trying to come up with a brilliant response, but the truth is, I don’t know. They just appear in my brain and I write. I often feel more like the transcrptionist for fictional people who want memoirs. (2016 update: Yeah, that’s not AS true anymore. I don’t know how true it was then either. I think that’s how it felt, but as I’ve gotten to understand myself and the process more, I now realize how much is percolating under the surface. It’s not all conscious but when I think about it, I realize I’ve been pondering for ages. I didn’t know that back then.)
Tia (JoAnn in WV)- Have you ever deliberately made a character personifying a specific friend/enemy?
Um, Chuck, for sure.
Tia (JoAnn in WV)- If you could have one of your characters over for dinner, who would you choose?
Alexa Hartfield. I think she’d be so much fun.
Tia (JoAnn in WV)- Have you ever met another Chautona? Nope. As far as I know, there were only livestock versions of me. Shetona (respelled to fit the ranch’s “S” series) who was grand champion heifer of SW Missouri in 1985 and Chautona the goat… I try not to read into those.
Boy those kids asked some wonky questions back then, eh?
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