Suzanne Woods Fisher's Blog, page 24

12 Days of Giveaways: Day 1: Patricia Bradley

The Year Santa Brought a Doll

When I was a kid, every year about the middle of October, a wonderful item arrived in our mailbox—the Sears and Roebuck Toy Catalog. The first day my parents made my sister and me draw straws to see who got to look through it first.

I think my sister had an inside track since she almost always got the short straw and if she didn’t, because I was the older sister, I was just supposed to let her go first anyway. I never knew who made up that rule.

Some years I offered to do her chores if she’d let me look through it first. Any year she drew the short straw I offered to trade. She’s the one who sometimes agreed to our deal. But oh, was it worth it.

Do you know how many pages of cap pistols there were in the catalog? I still remember—there were eight. Eight wonderful pages of Roy Roger or Gene Autry toy cap pistols that I could image strapped to my side. I read every word of every page and dreamed of riding my stick horse, ready to catch the bad guys with my toy guns. I may have spent a few hours dreaming of practicing my fast draw, as well. It didn’t matter that I was eight years old and getting too big to ride an imaginary horse.

Of course, this was during an innocent age where toy pistols were just that—toys. The age of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Gene Autry, the Lone Ranger…the time of Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. I think it was a much simpler time, but I digress.

My sister, on the other hand, went straight for the dolls and dollhouses. And tea sets. Girly things. She wasn’t the tomboy I was. And somehow my mother got it in her head that I was missing out on something. I was eight years old and had never asked for nor received a doll for Christmas.

This particular year she pointed to a dainty, red-haired little doll in a cute little dress. “Wouldn’t you like a doll, like this one?”

“Sure, but did you see the Roy Rogers cap guns with the leather holster?” I could already feel them strapped around my waist.

One set came with an extra—a shiny tin badge. That’s the set I fixated on. We were always play acting and this time I could be the sheriff, and my sister and the other kids in the neighborhood could be the bank robbers. It would be so much fun to track them down and bring them to justice.

I marked every day off the calendar with a red crayon. Christmas Eve I barely slept, and at 4:30 Christmas morning, I woke my sister, knowing we wouldn’t get in trouble if the favored child was the one who woke our parents up at that time of the morning.

Minutes later we crept down the hall. “What if Santa hasn’t come?” she asked.

“He’s been here,” I assured her. I’d already been up an hour earlier and peeped in the living room and had seen my sister’s tricycle. Our parents must have heard us because they met us before we made it to the living room.

“What are you two doing up so early?” Our dad asked with a wink. “Never mind, go see what Santa brought you.”

We tore into the room, and I frantically searched for the flat box I knew my cap guns would be in. No flat box. But there was a rather large rectangular box with my name on it. Maybe Santa brought me a double set! Or maybe there was a pair of cowboy boots in the box! I tore into it and…lifted out the doll with curly red hair.

“Do you like it?” Mama asked.

I looked up into her face, and even at eight years old I knew I couldn’t say anything other than I loved it. Somehow I managed to make my mama think it was what I’d always wanted. And maybe that’s why later that afternoon, God blessed me with another present from my godparents.

Yep, a deluxe set of Roy Rogers cap pistols with real leather holsters. By the way, those toy pistols—they are probably responsible for me becoming a romantic suspense/mystery writer. But that’s a story for another time.

More about Justice Buried:

In an effort to get her security consulting business off the ground, Kelsey Allen has been spending a lot of time up in the air, rappelling down buildings and climbing through windows to show business owners their vulnerabilities to thieves. When she is hired to pose as a conservator at the Pink Palace Museum in order to test their security weaknesses after some artifacts go missing, she’s ecstatic. But when her investigative focus turns from theft to murder, Kelsey knows she’s out of her league—and possibly in the cross hairs. When blast-from-the-past Detective Brad Hollister is called in to investigate, Kelsey may find that he’s the biggest security threat yet . . . to her heart.

Crackling with romantic tension and laced with intrigue, this suspenseful story from award-winning author Patricia Bradley will keep readers guessing—and looking over their shoulders.

Purchase a copy of Justice Buried:

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Winner of an Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award in Suspense, Patricia Bradley lives in North Mississippi with her rescue kitty, Suzy, and loves to write suspense with a twist of romance. Her Logan Point and Memphis Cold Case Novels are available at all on-line retailers and major bookstores. JUSTICE BURIED, the second book in the Memphis Cold Case Novels released September 5, 2017.

Be sure to connect with Patricia every Tuesday on her blog where she poses a Mystery Question for you to solve!

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Unexpected Similarities | Angela Correll

Enter below for a chance to win Plainview set of 4 basket and the first two books in the May Hollow series! 

Faith, family, food and farm are themes that resonate with me in my small-town Kentucky life, and for many across rural America. So when I discovered these things were just as important to villagers in the Tuscan countryside, I was overjoyed to settle there for the writing of my second and third books, Guarded and Granted.

I had fallen in love with Italy when my husband and I honeymooned there, and we returned several times to explore different parts of the country, including the Adriatic coastline, down to the heel of the boot in Apulia, then over the arch of Basilicata and into the toe of Calabria. We’ve circled Sicily once and visited twice the Sicilian eastern shore near Mount Etna.

When it came time to write Guarded, I wanted to dig into an Italian character who held the keys to a family mystery, so I searched for just the right place where my husband and I could stay for a couple of weeks while I wrote. Scouring a rental website, I found an old stone apartment for rent inside the medieval walls. I remember the agent calling me to double-check my expectations. “It’s off the tourist path and it’s a quiet little village. Are you sure?” she asked. “It’s sounds perfect,” I said.

For two weeks, I stayed in this ancient hilltop village and wrote the entire last half of the book, living and breathing the Tuscan life as the Italian characters took on a life of their own on my laptop. I would get up around 6 a.m. to write, drinking a seemingly endless amount of rich Italian coffee, and by noon, I was finished for the day and ready to explore. We fell in love with the area and have returned annually since then.

For Granted, I ended up writing about one-third of the book in the same apartment, and again, being there made everything seem more real and inspirational. We’ve started picking up Italian habits and even some of the language. Nowadays, we bypass Rome and head straight up the autostrada to the rural landscape we know and love so well, the same kind of landscape that keeps our hearts drawn to our Kentucky farm.

Join me on a journey through the May Hollow Trilogy if you like. We’ll have a little humor, mystery, and romance while we experience the joys of faith, family, food and farm. Ciao!

See some of the inspiration behind @Angela_Correll’s May Hollow Trilogy + enter to win a Granted…
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More about Granted: 

Former international flight attendant Annie Taylor is embracing her country roots and racing toward a future with her sustainable farmer fiancé,  but wedding plans are complicated by her new job, a mysterious ex-boyfriend, and a narcissistic father.

Meanwhile, Annie’s old-fashioned grandma, Beulah, is facing a shake-up in the last place she ever thought she would—home. A crisis on May Hollow Road follows a friend’s betrayal, challenging Beulah’s forgiving nature. An unwelcome diet, a new houseguest, and a possible overseas trip will all stretch her spirit—if she lets it.

Granted takes readers from the comforts of the Kentucky countryside to old-world Tuscany with a cast of memorable characters. Granted follows Grounded and Guarded in the May Hollow Trilogy.

Purchase a copy of Granted:

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More about Angela Correll: 

Angela Correll is the author of Grounded, Guarded, and Granted. She lives on a farm near Stanford, Kentucky with her husband, Jess. Angela’s novels are Amazon bestsellers and have been adapted to the stage for sold-out audiences at the Pioneer Playhouse, Kentucky’s oldest outdoor theater. When she’s not writing, Angela oversees several businesses in downtown Stanford, including Kentucky Soaps & Such, a goat milk soap factory and retail shop; Wilderness Road Guest Houses & Rooms, historically renovated homes and guest rooms available for nightly rental; and the Bluebird Café, a farm-to-table restaurant, with Executive Chef William Hawkins. Angela has a bachelor’s degree in communication from Georgetown College and a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Kentucky. She loves canning vegetables from her garden, exploring the Tuscan countryside, and spending time with her family.

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Enter to win a gift basket (shown below) + a copy of both Grounded and Guarded!

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Coffee Break

Each Thanksgiving, I think back on this story of my dad. He was sliding into mid-to-late stages of Alzheimer’s disease. AD is a terrible way to die, long and wearying. But one thing I did learn through the experience: a sense of humor is a gift that makes much of life bearable!

Blessings to you on Thanksgiving Day. Remember to find the funny moments!

***

A few years ago, my cousin Bill brought my folks over on Thanksgiving Day. It was the first time Dad didn’t recognize me. Usually I can see recognition in his eyes, but not on that day.

The day before Thanksgiving, I had spent considerable time hunting for the ingredients for creamed onions—Dad’s favorite dish on Thanksgiving. Food was still a pleasure for Dad. You know what stores are like the day before Thanksgiving . . . crowded. This year, I decided to make them from scratch. And everyone loved them! My sister said they were the best creamed onions she’d ever had.

As I spooned a big helping of creamed onions onto Dad’s plate, he shook his head vehemently.

“Dad, I worked so hard on these! Are you telling me you don’t want any?”

“No!” he said. “Don’t like ’em.”

Sigh. You have to laugh!

Here’s the recipe I used for Dad’s creamed onions:

Prepare steamed onions (I used a bag of frozen pearl onions and followed directions to steam them).

Make one cup white sauce. (Melt two tablespooons butter. Add 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons flour and blend over low heat for 3-5 minutes. Stir in 1 cup of milk slowly. It will thicken and smooth out. Season to taste.)

Cover onions with white sauce and cook for one minute. Add 1/4 cup chopped parsley, a dash of cloves, 1/4 teaspoon paprika. Enjoy!

                                                                                        photo credit: deelish.com

Author Spotlight with Shawn Smucker

Scroll down for a chance to win a copy of Sawn Smucker’s book, The Day the Angels Fell. Winner will be announced in the next Author Spotlight feature. Congratulations to winner of last Author Spotlight of Lady Jayne Disappears, Betti Mace! Please e-mail your mailing address to my assistant Christen (christenkrumm@gmail.com).

Shawn Smucker will capture readers’ imaginations with this masterfully written debut novel that combines elements of mystery and magical realism.

It was the summer of storms, strays, and strangers. The summer that lightning struck the big oak tree in the front yard. The summer his mother died in a tragic accident.

Twelve-year-old Samuel Chambers would do anything to turn back time. Prompted by three strange carnival fortune-tellers and the surfacing of his mysterious and reclusive neighbor, Samuel begins his search for the Tree of Life—the only thing that could possibly bring his mother back. His quest to defeat death entangles him and his best friend, Abra, in an ancient conflict and forces Samuel to grapple with an unwelcome question: could it be possible that death is a gift?

Haunting and hypnotic, The Day the Angels Fell is a story that explores the difficult questions of life in a voice that is fresh, friendly, and unafraid. With this powerful novel, Shawn Smucker has carved out a spot for himself in the tradition of authors Madeleine L’Engle and Lois Lowry.

What part of the country do you consider home?

I grew up in Lancaster, PA, the same place my ancestors have lived for 13 generations. I feel very much part of the land and the people here. Seems everywhere I turn, I run into a distant cousin.

Currently, how big (or small) is your household?

Our household currently includes my wife Maile, our six children, and me. Our oldest is 14, getting ready to go to high school next year, and our youngest, Poppy Lynne, is one year old. It’s usually a bit of a circus, but it’s a life I love.

What do you do when you’re not writing?

I feel like I’m writing all the time! Besides writing fiction, I make a living co-writing and ghostwriting memoirs and autobiographies, as well as doing a little editing and consulting on the side, so I almost always have two or three projects going. But when I’m not writing, I’m probably driving one of the kids to practice, or sneaking in a date night with my wife, or reading, or trying to get some sleep.

Is there any habit or hobby you have that might surprise readers?

Between writing and reading, both of which are my favorite pastimes, most of my time is spoken for. I did take a stab at painting landscapes, and I think someday when the kids are grown and out of the house, I’d like to spend more time doing that.

You’ve just turned in your manuscript, and your editor won’t return it with revisions for at least a week or two. Where would you go for a vacation?

Somewhere in the mountains. No other place comes close. Sitting on a porch, looking out into the woods or at distant peaks, hiking and startling (and being startled by) animals going about their day: these are the kinds of activities that bring me life and help me remember how to breathe slowly again.

What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?

Vanilla. I don’t know that I have anything else to say about that. I’m sure it tells you a lot about me.

Are you a dog or a cat person? What does that tell us about you?

Although we don’t have a dog, I am definitely a dog person. This probably tells you that I require vocal and prolific affirmation. The last thing I need in my life, alongside tough critics and rewrites, is a cat playing hard to get.

What was your favorite childhood book? What made it so beloved?

That is such an impossible question! A Wrinkle in Time, The Hobbit, The Sugar Creek Gang, Hardy Boys, Black Stallion, The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia. There are just so many. I guess if I had to choose one, I’d have to go with the one I read over and over more than any others, and that would be The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. That was also the book that introduced me, at the youngest possible age, to the wonders of the novel.

How many unfinished book ideas or manuscripts do you currently have?

I have two more books under contract (besides The Day the Angels Fell and its sequel, The Edge of Over There). I have a few other books I’ve started, and a few more ideas, but I don’t like to think too much about a story until I’m ready to start putting pen to paper.

What’s your favorite movie? Favorite TV show?

My favorite movie is the Michael Mann movie, Heat. The way he juxtaposes the two main characters in dark and light is amazing, and the multiple storylines always fascinated me.

My favorite TV show?

Well, my wife and I usually turn to TV for comic relief, so I’d have to say Friends, Seinfeld, or The Office. It would be a tie between those three.

If you were casting yourself in a movie, which actor or actress would you pick? Why?

I would say Martin Freeman. I loved his work in Sherlock and The Hobbit. I think he’d be able to play my laid-back personality well, although I’m hard-pressed to come up with what the movie would be about!

Order The Day the Angels Fell here:

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Shawn Smucker lives with his wife and six children in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The Day the Angels Fell is his first novel. You can find him online at www.shawnsmucker.com, where you can also sign up for his newsletter.

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Photo Caption Contest: Waiting for your Wit

GREAT comments last week! So hard to pick just one caption–but alas, I must. Michelle Morrison is last week’s winner. Michelle, email me with your address and I’ll pop a book in the mail to you.

Can you stand another wild turkey picture? I took this just the other day, while on a dog walk. It’s interesting to observe the turkeys as they poke around the ground for bugs and worms and seeds. There’s always one turkey at high alert, like the one below, posted to watch for danger. Scary things like me, walking up the hill with my two dogs. Have fun trying to come up with a caption…and enjoy Thanksgiving with your family and loved ones!

Author Spotlight with Joanna Davidson Politano

Scroll down for a chance to win a copy of Joanna davidson Politano’s book, Lady Jayne Disappears. Winner will be announced in the next Author Spotlight feature. Congratulations to winner of last Author Spotlight of Vanishing Point, Deana Dick! Please e-mail your mailing address to my assistant Christen (christenkrumm@gmail.com).

Author Joanna Davidson Politano’s engaging novel, Lady Jayne Disappears, will delight readers with its highly original plot, lush setting, vibrant characters, and reluctant romance. When Aurelie Harcourt’s father dies in debtor’s prison, he leaves her with just two things: his famous pen name, Nathaniel Droll, and his wealthy family, who want very little to do with her. As Aurelie struggles to adjust to her father’s family and learn the rules of society, she relishes in his parting gift—the beginning of his last story. The story she always wanted to hear about her mother’s mysterious disappearance from the home where she now lives. To complete the novel, she must keep her identity as Nathaniel Droll hidden while searching for clues from her relatives and one enigmatic houseguest. Lynhurst Manor is a house built on secrets. Can the arrival of Aurelie Harcourt reveal them all?

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?



I love Jesus and I love my family, and I fit writing in between when I can. We live way back in the woods, which is a huge change from the city/suburbs where I grew up, but I love it so much. I’m learning how to be a country girl! I’d rather listen than talk and my favorite part of any day is hearing stories.

Do you have a day job as well? If so, what is it?



I have a day-and-night job as a mom, and I love it even on the hardest days. My littles are one and three, and my job currently consists of climbing trees, playing in mud, running through the woods, and generally having great adventures. Before this job, I worked in a small nonfiction publishing house and as a medical writer in the pharmaceutical industry.

When did you start writing your first book?



I started working on my debut novel as a fun project when my first baby was taking long naps in the afternoon. I had no intention of publishing this one, but it worked out that way! The first novel I ever wrote came about from a family story that just grabbed me and wouldn’t leave me alone until I put it on the page. After hearing rumors about my great-grandparents and hints of one man having two families at the same time, I pulled marriage, death, and birth certificates to verify this hidden story and record it. Of course, that pulled me into storytelling and fiction, starting me on the path to writing novels.

How did you choose the genre you write in? Or did the genre choose you?



I write historical fiction because I’ve consumed so much literature in this area that it feels natural to me. I tried to be a history major for a little while in college (but switched to writing soon after) because I love stories from the past so much. Research is fun for me, as is untangling a story with a vintage backdrop.



Does writing energize you or exhaust you?



BOTH! You know how a good run or exercise session totally exhausts you… but it makes you stronger? Tht’s how writing is for me. I pour so much into it, stand up from my chair feeling drained, but then go on to live more deeply, thoughtfully, and full of freshness and creativity that would simply be dormant without writing.

Do you believe in writer’s block?



Oh sure, but just like in a maze, where a block in front of you means it’s time to turn and walk a different direction. Writer’s block can be super discouraging until you realize it’s an opportunity for something fresh and unexpected on your journey. It’s also the point in which God has the best opportunity to completely redirect my story as we work together toward the finished product.

Do you create an outline before you begin? Do you have the end in mind, or do you just wait and see where the story takes you?



No outline, really. But I do have about 50,000 words of notes! God tends to give me pieces of the story in random order, so I’m constantly jotting notes into a tabbed system—I have pages on each character, research, lines I want to use somewhere, and lots and lots of plot points I might or might not use. I sometimes know the end, but sometimes what I know about the ending turns out to be wrong, too. I very much love when I have the ending wrong because it makes the entire story less guessable for the reader since the author didn’t have it figured out from page one!

What kind of research do you do? How long do you spend researching before beginning a book?



I aim for a combination of types of research. My favorite is personal conversations. I talk to people who explain, in their own words, the history of a place or people, how something works, the stories behind a setting, or just their personal experiences that then filter into my characters. I’m also a huge fan of Google books, which provides public domain material for free. Rather than learning about the Victorian era from modern scholars and their observations on a past culture, I dearly enjoy reading fiction and non-fiction that was written in that time. I’ve read farming guides, family histories, and serial novels written by the people who lived and worked where my characters’ lives would have played out.

Are you part of a community of authors? If so, how has it helped you?



Oh yes, and I’m extremely grateful for it. I’m part of ACFW, and within that huge organization I’ve joined several groups of like-minded writers and bookish people where I have found some of my best friends. They’ve helped me hone my writing and make connections, but more than that they’ve given me a great example of integrating their walk with God and their art. I’ve found many kindred spirits there, and we write together as well as simply “doing life” together.

Order a copy of Lady Jayne Disappears:

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Joanna Davidson Politano freelances for a small nonfiction publisher but spends much of her time spinning tales that capture the colorful, exquisite details in ordinary lives. Her manuscript for Lady Jayne Disappears was a finalist for several contests, including the 2016 Genesis Award from ACFW, and won the OCW Cascade Award and the Maggie Award for Excellence. She is always on the hunt for random acts of kindness, people willing to share their deepest secrets with a stranger, and hidden stashes of sweets. She lives with her husband and their two babies in a house in the woods near Lake Michigan and shares stories that move her at www.jdpstories.com.

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Photo Caption Contest: Waiting for your Wit

Last week’s caption winner is Nancy Leubke, for her “Mowing for your health.” It was a tough choice because there were a lot of “Amish Riding Lawnmower” comments…and that is FUNNY, too! You’re all so good at this! Nancy, email me and I’ll pop a book in the mail to you.

Here’s this week’s oh-so-timely photo (took it myself…just down the street):

Coffee Break

How are you handling this week’s news?

Sunday’s news of the Texas church shooting has left my heart heavy…for so many reasons. Sorrow and sadness for that community, wondering about the effect on all our churches.

One friend told me that this incidence shook her faith in God. Where was God? she asked. Why couldn’t He stop it from happening?

There’s no easy answers or solutions to these kinds of horrific events, but it seems as if the Evildoer gets “a pass” while God gets the blame for not intervening. There is real evil in this world, active and vigorous.

As real and aggressive as evil is, it is not equal to the goodness of God. Every single person in that Texas church on Sunday morning mattered deeply to God, and their deaths did not go unnoticed. “Precious in His sight is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15).

These terrible news stories seem to be coming so frequently that one friend said he feels numb. Rather than let our faith wobble, this is the time to lean heavily on it.

Is God sovereign overall all? All things? If so, that belief changes everything. A sense of security in an increasingly dangerous world, a hope and peace for a heavenly future. “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19).

There’s a note in my NIV study Bible under this verse: “Like an anchor holding a ship safely in position, our hope in Christ guarantees our safety. Whereas the ship’s anchor goes down to the ocean bed, the Christian’s anchor goes up into the true, heavenly sanctuary, where he is moored to God himself.”

This life on earth, as beautiful and awful as it can be, is not the end of our story.

So how are you doing this week? I’d really like to know how you’re processing the news. Please share your thoughts in a comment–it helps us all.

Coffee Break

I played an intense tennis match last week. It was one of those matches where, even in the warm-up, I knew we were in trouble. Our opponents looked like they were half our age (that’s putting it nicely) and super buffed. As in, they play soccer in their spare time.

In no time at all, my partner and I lost the first set, 1-6. My partner was flustered by how hard our opponents hit (and they did send bullets at us). We both made tons of errors in our nervousness. That, and quite frankly, they were just better than us.

In the second set, we were quickly down 0-3.

But then something happened. We played very deliberately, looking for every possible weakness, and made less unforced errors. The opponents–who had seemed like brick walls of confidence–started to crumble. I could see it in the toughest player–she kept missing her first serve.  Amazingly, we won the second set 6-4. And then we won the tie-break.

Which means we won the match! Even though the opponents were better players than us.

I lose in tennis a lot. Quite a lot. I’m pretty conditioned to losing, enough that it doesn’t bother me the way it bothers most players, but I always try to learn something or improve on something in a match.

That was my mindset during the match. We were not going to give up. Our opponents could make us better players. Win or lose.

Failure is a better teacher than success, if you’re willing to accept its lessons.

What about you? What valuable life lessons have you learned through failure (not around it!)?

 

 

Author Spotlight with Lisa Harris

Scroll down for a chance to win a copy of Lisa Harris’s book, Vanishing Point. Winner will be announced in the next Author Spotlight feature. Congratulations to winner of last Author Spotlight of These Healing Hills, Becky Smith! Please e-mail your mailing address to my assistant Christen (christenkrumm@gmail.com).

Bestselling and award-winning author Lisa Harris unveils an unforgettable story of a case that has haunted the public and law enforcement for more than a decade.

During Garrett Addison’s first week on the job as a criminal investigator for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, his team is called out to a murder scene of a young girl. She’s just one in a string of disappearances with a single thing in common—a Polaroid photo of each victim left behind at the crime scene.

The FBI is pulled into the case to help, and Garrett finds himself working with Special Agent Jordan Lambert, the woman he once loved. When yet another girl dies, Garrett blames himself and believes he doesn’t have what it takes to be an agent. What he’ll discover is that, while he may be done with the killer, the killer is not done with him—or Jordan.

Fans of the NIKKI BOYD FILES will thrill to finally discover what actually happened to Nikki’s sister, Sarah. New readers will become instant fans after devouring this chilling tale.

Can you tell us about your newest release? Is it part of a series or a stand-alone?

When I finished the Nikki Boyd Series, my publisher came to me and ask me to write a follow up novel. For those of you who have read this series, you know that Nikki’s sister had been abducted ten years ago by the Angel Abductor. Vanishing Point is a story about what really happened to Sarah as well as what I think will be a very satisfying wrap up to the series.

Is anything or anyone in this book based on real-life experiences?

Thankfully, no!

Who was your favorite character in this story, and why?

I really loved writing Jordan’s character. She’s both strong and vulnerable, passionate and a truth-seeker. I also was able to give her a unique background with her mother being from Brazil—a place where our family lived—which was fun for me. Jordan’s very focused which means she’s great at her job, but because of this focus on her career, she once walked away from the only person who ever had a hold on her heart.

Compared to your other books, was this one easy to complete or challenging? Any idea why?

I found this book extremely hard to write, in fact much harder than most if not all of my other books for two reasons. One, it was about a serial killer, and I hate books about serial killers. I actually avoid them. But in order to write this story, it had to be about what really happened to Sarah and the Angel Abductor, so the subject was sometimes really hard to write. The other thing that made it hard was the timeline. Normally my books take place over a very short period of time, but this story takes place over the span of a decade. To keep the action moving, each section of the book does take place over a couple of very intense days, but it was definitely a challenge. I also had to use tons of notes because I had to follow the timeline of the already published first three books in the series which sometimes set some pretty stiff perimeters.

What was the hardest scene in this book to write? What made it difficult?

I don’t want to give anything away, but writing from the POV of one of the victims turned out to be extremely tough and emotional.

What did you (or your editors) edit out of this book?

There really was very little—thankfully—that was edited out of this story.

What’s the most difficult thing about writing from the point of view of the opposite sex?

Making it realistic. I have a lot of men who read my books and thankfully they seem to really enjoy them. But I have had comments in the past from a couple men who have noted that the man’s POV wasn’t realistic. All I can do is write the best that I can, have my hubby read through it, then put it out there. ☺

 

Order a copy of Vanishing Point here:

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Lisa Harris is a bestselling author, a Christy Award winner, and the winner of the Best Inspirational Suspense Novel for 2011 and 2015 from Romantic Times for her novels Blood Covenant and Vendetta. The author of more than thirty books, including Vendetta, Missing, Pursued, and the SOUTHERN CRIMES series, Harris and her family have spent fourteen years living as missionaries in southern Africa.

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