Interviews
Angel's Den Interview with Kim Ford
Interview with Kim Ford at Window to my World Blog
Angel’s Den is Jamie’s fifth historical novel, and it deals with the dark subject of spousal abuse. The setting is the early 1800′s and Emma Daring has embarked upon a nightmare. Let’s talk with Jamie about Emma’s story!
Emma Daring – when you chose her name, was it purposeful that her last name was daring? Allegorical perhaps? Curious.
Have you seen the Disney movie, 101 Dalmatians? For some reason I thought of Mr. and Mrs. Darling from that movie when thinking of Emma’s parents and that lead to Mr. and Mrs. Daring. The fact that it turned out allegorical was a serendipitous gift from the Lord. I love it when He does that!
One of Lewis & Clark’s journals provide a rather unexpected launching pad for Emma’s journey west with her husband. Where on earth was this idea born and why did you choose this as the vehicle with which to create Emma’s “cage”?
Historical research! It’s like digging for treasure and there is always so much treasure to unearth in what really happened in the past. I discovered that there really is, to this day, a missing journal from the Lewis and Clark expedition. I imagined that those journals had become very valuable (nowadays they would have become instant best-sellers!) and the men who made the journey were celebrities. That led me to imagining just how far some people might go to get their hands on such a prize. Emma’s husband could easily want it and Luke could value it, giving all of them a link to each other. I didn’t realize how important it would turn out to be at first, but when it came full circle . . . that was cool!
The amethyst/pearl necklace is a gift from Eric to Emma, but one that represents beauty to one and ugliness to the other. The feeling of “deserving” love, gifts ect..seems to be a prominent feeling on both sides of an abusive relationship. The abused feels undeserving of love/beauty and the abuser feels that the object of their desire deserves only the best. Can you explain this? Or what/how you discovered this?
Angel's Den Interview with A Pen for Your Thoughts
An interview with Shirley Kiger Connolly at her blog – A Pen For Your Thoughts
. It’s very satisfying work and I am so thankful!Interview for Love's First Light with Cara Putman
Jamie, Love’s First Light is another dramatic addition to your books. How did you land on France as a setting?
I have always been interested in France and its history, but it was a friend of mine who told me about Carcassonne and the castle there (who can resist a medieval castle?) that really sparked my curiosity. After doing some research I decided that the French Revolution was too compelling to pass up. The aristocrats were the “bad guys” during those years and I thought it would be so interesting to make my hero a brilliant scientist/aristocrat on the run from the guillotine.
What research challenges did setting the book during the French Revolution present?
Many! This book was a real challenge that I didn’t anticipate until it was too late to do anything but trudge forward. The complexities of the political upheaval (monarchy, church and revolutionist – all corrupt) were daunting to wrap my mind around. I tried to stay historically accurate in depicting the actions and motivations of the players in the French Revolution. I also researched the geography of Paris and Carcassonne, the science and technology of that time period, and all those little details from how they baked bread to what sort of herbs an apothecary would have used. And the science of the time! I read and reread material on light, color, mathematics, astronomy, biographies on the scientific leaders of that day. I remember looking at my husband at various points and wailing, “I’ve reread this paragraph four times and I still don’t understand what it means!” Then I would call my neighbor who is a chemist and beg for help.
Were you able to visit France? If not, how did you get the details so clearly established in your mind to be able to paint the picture for the reader?
Interview with LifeWay
What was it like writing it?
It was really exciting and a little scary to tackle novel writing. I just dove in, leaning on inspiration and the gut instincts that came from reading so many romance novels. But most of all, I had this overwhelming feeling of satisfaction. It’s that feeling of doing what you were created to do. I felt like I had found God’s purpose for my life and that feeling was absolutely thrilling. What compelled you to write it?I had been reading romance novels since I was fourteen. I remember the first one I ever read, “The Flame and the Flower” by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. I was sad to hear that she recently passed away. But her work will live on and she is so good that I was hooked. I’m sure I must have read hundreds of romances since that first one, but when my oldest son was about three, I felt like the Lord was asking me to loosen my grip on them. So I decided to give them up and start reading Christian romances. The switch was rough for me. I couldn’t relate to the saintly characters, and ended up dissatisfied with the genre. So I decided to write my own. The kind of story I would want to read. What did you learn through the process about yourself, writing, and even new revelations from the Lord?The first thing I learned was how much I love to write. I would have this thrilling feeling rise to my throat whenever I walked into the library to do research. And I learned that I was the kind of person who stuck with it, even when I was floundering with the plot or the character development. I just kept going until all 110,000 words were finished.On the more personal side, I think novel writing for me is kind of like journaling for other people. I worked through my own issues by creating characters that struggled with them. Sometimes I didn’t even know this was happening until I’d written it out, then God would gently nudge me to examine myself. The really cool thing is how God directed my writing so that my characters changed and healed. God showed me His soverenty through story.
Tell us about Elizabeth. How would you describe her?
Elizabeth was born into the world full of all the potential that God created her to be. But it doesn’t take long for sin to nearly destroy her. She is torn from her mother at an early age and this leaves a gaping hole inside her that she copes with by becoming fiercely independent and not trusting anyone. You know, before any of us hear about Christ and the Cross and God and his love, I think we all do this, try to make it on our own. What choice we do have?What issues does she struggle with and have you ever struggled with those issues?Elizabeth struggles with trust. She has to go on this journey of discovering this man who shows her love and God’s love and then getting that healing from her childhood before she can really accept that there is a God who loves her and before she can love Noah back. Yes! I have struggled with trust issues. I was always one of those super sensitive children and any time people failed me, I felt it deeply. A few years ago I did Beth Moore’s Breaking Free and that, along with living out these issues with my characters has really helped me get free of some of that. Now I try to take any hurts and run to my Father’s lap with them, so that they can be healed by Him before they have a chance to turn into bitterness or anger. I’m not always successful but I praise God that I’ve grown in this area.
Who is Noah and what does he represent?
Interview with PastTimes Blog
Favorite PASTimes Interview Questions
Tell us a little about your road to publication.
I started my first novel when my eldest son was four (he’s seventeen now!). It was pretty bad, a meandering plot of scenes from my favorite novels strung together like mismatched beads on a necklace. But it was a crash course in novel writing, and I was so proud to have finished it, all 120,000 words! Knowing that it wasn’t good enough to try to publish, I began my second novel. Snow Angel was born on a frosty night in an old farmhouse in Fishers, Indiana, where the cold floor gave me plenty of motivation for the snow scene. After the first chapter, I knew I had something special. A couple of years later, armed with my jewel, I sat out to get it published.
And so began some of the hardest years of waiting that I have yet endured. When I look back on it, I can hardly believe all the crazy things that happened. (I feel the need to insert a graph or table, some timeline or something to explain it all:). I began my search by doing the conference thing, meeting with editors and learning the submission process, studying the publishing houses and markets for romance novels. Then I sent out several query letters to both ABA and CBA publishing houses. It took months and sometimes years to hear back, but each one was a rejection letter. I wasn’t sure what to do next, so just kept researching and waiting.
Interview with CBD for the Duchess & the Dragon
How did you come up with the concept for The Duchess and the Dragon?
When I first started writing this story I thought Drake was an aristocrat like all the other aristocrats in romance novels: proud, powerful, devastatingly attractive, waiting for that one woman to tame him. But as the story progressed, God showed me who he really was. I became fascinated by the concept of being born with everything the world could give, born in royalty, and then have it all taken away. God showed me Moses. Moses was brought up in one of the most powerful and wealthy households of the known world. He was Pharaoh’s grandson. He had been trained to think and act like royalty. I can imagine him a very confident and proud man. Then, one day, he discovered he wasn’t who he thought he was. He was one of the Hebrew people, one of the slaves. Can you imagine the guilt? Each time he sat at that sumptuous table, knowing he no longer belonged there. Each time his family treated him as a prince, he knew, in his heart, that he was not. After the murder, Moses lost so much more than his place in society . . . he lost his identity. He went from being a prince to being a shepherd. It took God forty years to break him down in the wilderness – forty years to break and then build him back up into the man he was destined to be. The Moses that fled Egypt was very different from the man who found the burning bush. Then God told him to be a hero. And Moses, so broken now, said he couldn’t speak. But God insisted that he could. So now, afraid and humbled, Moses had to go back and do a miracle – save his people, a people he didn’t really know. I think he was terrified. He remembered that old way of life and those people. And he knew being a princesses’ son would not be enough to accomplish this mission. He was fully dependent on God. And that was exactly where God wanted him. Drake is like Moses. He was born into a world that said power and wealth were his due. And, like Moses, he had to lose everything, his known identity, before he could find his true identity and purpose in Christ.
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Interview with Rel's Reviews
Writing
Why Christian fiction?
Well, it all started when I was a young mother with two small boys at home. I had been reading romance novels since I was fourteen and had picked them back up. After a time, I felt God asking me to loosen my grip. I didn’t want to, it was hard, but I did, switching to an occasional Christian romance. They were sweet stories, but I longed for epic tales like Gone With the Wind, Jane Eyre, Rebecca, Les Miserable, etc. but had read them over and over. So, on a whim really, I decided to try my hand at writing the kind of romance that I wanted to read. I didn’t really care (and didn’t even understand) the marketability of something that wouldn’t exactly fit into the general vs. Christian market, I didn’t know such a book wouldn’t – for years – fit into any publisher’s niche. I just wrote what I wanted to read.
The other answer I can see so clearly now is that my parents implanted the Word of God in me so strongly that it was and is a part of who I am. “Train up a child in the way they should go, and when they are old, they will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6) That training poured out effortlessly as I began writing. I am so thankful for my Christian upbringing.
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Interview with Novel Journey
Tell us about your journey to publication. How long had you been writing before you got the call you had a contract, how you heard and what went through your head.
I started my first novel when my eldest son was five (he’s 16 now!). It was pretty bad, a meandering plot of scenes from my favorite novels strung together like mismatched beads on a necklace. But it was a crash course in novel writing, and I was so proud to have finished it, all 120,000 words! Knowing that it wasn’t good enough to try to publish, I began my second novel. Snow Angel was born on a frosty night in an old farmhouse in Fishers, Indiana, where the cold floor gave me plenty of motivation for the snow scene. After the first chapter, I knew I had something good, something special. A couple of years later, armed with my jewel, I sat out to get it published.
Interview with fellow RITA Nominee Kelly Parra
Hello RITA Nominee, Jamie! Thanks so much for chatting with me. Could you please tell us a little about your writing background and how you made your RITA nominated “Best First Book” sale ?
Jamie: Like many writers, I loved stories and writing as a child. I was the quintessential “book worm” reading every chance I could get – propped up on the window sill as I washed dishes (yes, by hand:), while babysitting, on the bus, during class (with my romance novel hidden behind the pages of an algebra book), etc. I wrote poems and songs and in my diary for years. And I read. I read everything I could get my hands on – especially historical romance.
Years past and I found myself the stay-at-home of two little boys. I had been reading historical romance for so long that I was a little bored and wanted something different. I read and reread the classics. Then I tried the “Christian romances” but was disappointed in the too saintly characters. (This was twelve years ago – they’re much better now!) One night, I was at the computer. It was dark and late and I could feel the cold coming up through the wooden floorboards (we lived in an old farmhouse at the time). I remember thinking – Alaska, blizzard, young woman fighting for her life. Then I just started typing. Three chapters later I felt a thrill of discovery. This was what I wanted to do with my life! Snow Angel was born that night, but more, my love for novel writing was discovered as well.
Finding a publisher for my manuscript was another long journey! Eight years of studying the publishing industry and the craft of writing, lots of roller-coaster ups and downs and near misses. (You can read the long version of this story here). When B&H called and said they wanted to publish my book, well, it was one of the best days of my life. Two three-book deals later and I can hardly believe all that has happened since.
What a great journey, Jamie! Readers and writers often like to get a behind the scenes peek of an author’s writing routine. It would be great if you could please share your typical writing day schedule.
Jamie: As more and more deadlines loom, I am beginning to be better organized with my time. But the truth is I’m not a morning person. I like to write late at night, in the dark, with my headphones on.
Please tell us about your RITA nominated debut novel and what we can expect from your characters.
Jamie: Elizabeth is a woman who has had everyone and every experience fail her. In that, she has learned how to “make it on her own.” When Noah meets her, she doesn’t even recognize her need for love. She has so thoroughly buried her needs and desires that when they surface, she is terrified and runs away. Noah is the man who can tear down the walls around her heart – with patience and persistence and sacrificial love. He’s the one who won’t give up. He simply loves her with his whole heart and more, with his actions. What follows is the tale of a hard-won heart. But one he willingly gives up everything to call his own.
How did it feel to receive the RITA finalist call?
Jamie: Well, at first I thought it was a telemarketer, so I wasn’t exactly exuberant when I answered the phone. As I realized what she was saying, that Snow Angel, this book I had tried to get published for eight long years, had poured my heart and my life into, was up for a RITA . . . I began shaking. I thanked her, gushing and squeaking my shock. I hung up the phone. I stared at the phone – still shaking. A RITA!?! Then I called everyone in my family and told them the news. I think my hands were shaking for well over an hour after that and I could not sit down!
I can feel your excitement through your words, Jamie! What’s up next? Do you have another project in the works? If so, please tell us about it.
Jamie: In April 2008, my second novel, The Duchess and the Dragon came out. I love the hero in that book – Drake Weston, the Duke of Northumberland. Tall, dark and drop-dead gorgeous, he would make anyone question their upbringing as he does to the sweet Quaker girl, Serena. Then in January 2009, Wind Dancer will come out. This is a story close to my heart as it is set in Vincennes, Indiana, my hometown, during the George Rogers Clark days of the American Revolution. I will have a book trailer for Wind Dancer up on my website How did you get started in this business? Have you always wanted to own a bookstore? I actually got started right out of college. I had no plans originallof opening a store, but I was already designing my own line of Christian greeting cards and stationery . I was trying to market my products and I drove by a little shop in Greenwood, Indiana that was open. I thought to myself that it would be a great way for people to see my artwork. So, at first, I only sold my own products and artwork. I was there for a year, then I moved to a larger location and slowly started selling other items. We were at that location for 2 years, then I decided to move the store closer to home in Franklin, Indiana. It was then that the store really started to grow. I had a plan in place for what I wanted. I felt led to start selling more books and more Christian based items. We started adding bibles and curriculum. We are now a full service Christian book store. The funny thing is that I don’t have much time any more to design any of my greeting cards or stationery anymore, but I feel that the Lord has led me to what He wants me to do. I love it! What is your favorite part of being a Christian bookstore owner? Least favorite? My favorite part is meeting all of the wonderful people. I love talking to everyone and I have made so many friends. I have learned so much from people just walking in off the street. When I sit here and think of all the wonderful people I have met, I am so blessed. I also love the opportunity to get to work closely with my family on making decisions for products, displays, and things like that. Not sure what I would do without my family! In what ways do you feel your store is serving the community? Any stories you would like to share?An Interview with Bookstore Owner Kira Brant
I thought it would be fun to hear from a Christian bookstore owner so I asked Kira Brant of Kira’s Cottage in Franklin, Indiana to give us a peak into her world. Thanks, Kira!
My least favorite part is the money part of it. I don’t like the stress of paying bills!
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