Elusive Hope Giveaway and MaryLu Tyndall interview!!

Wowy-kazowy!! How lucky are we?! I feel so blessed to have MaryLu Tyndall with us today! Her latest book ELUSIVE HOPE is to die for. All you need to do is eat a cup of Death By Chocolate ice cream while you read this book, and you'll be dead for sure--in a good way! *wink, giggle*

If you haven't already read my review, you can find it here. And, I recommend you stop everything and do that now, then come back and finish the interview. Don't worry, we'll wait for you.

(Cue elevator music...)

Back? OK, let's begin!

Heeeeeeeeer's the interview!

Hi MaryLu! First, your hero and heroine are each very feisty and strong willed, yet they each have something very heavy they carry inside. How do you come up with such in-depth characters and what's your secret for bringing them to life?


I really believe that a writer has to have gone through a lot of their own personal trials in order to create characters who have deep internal flaws and struggle to overcome them. I often asked God why He gave me such a difficult childhood and then why did he give me such a LONG leash when I reached adulthood?  Thank God He finally yanked on that leash or I'd be over the cliff right now.  Yet, now that I'm an author, I see some purpose in all the pain. I am able to relate to many of the struggles I put my characters through. I suppose that's why, to many of my readers, my characters seem so real and end up becoming more like friends than fictional people.   Plus, I'm pretty feisty and strong-willed myself!  Just ask my husband. :-)

When you write, are there a lot of scenes that never make it to the book? Do you keep those scenes to use later or do you scrap them?  


It depends on the book. Some books I've kept every scene, others definitely needed some trimming here and there.  If I had to cut a scene in order to lower word count (which I often have to do because I'm rather verbose!) or because  it doesn't further the plot of the story, etc, and NOT because it's terrible writing, then I usually keep it. If I just didn't like the scene or thought it was poorly written, I scrap it. I don't want it turning up later after I'm dead in some English professor's class as an example of how not to write. LOL

What's your favorite part about seeing your book get published? 


There are so many different phases about the process that I love. One of my favorite parts is getting a first glimpse of the cover!  The cover is normally the first visual of my characters and story, the first resurrection from the pages into reality. If I have a video book trailer made, I also love watching it for the first time!   I guess my next favorite part is holding the book in my hands. It never seems real until you get those first copies in the mail. But my favorite part of all is getting emails from readers who write to tell me how the book impacted them, how it made them think differently, or brought them closer to God. Those emails are the best! And they give me the impetus to keep moving forward in this crazy business.

LOVE that insight, don't you, ladies?! Thank you VERY much, MaryLu--its such a thrill to get to know more about you, your characters and what its like to publish a book.

And the moment you've all been waiting for--the GIVEAWAY!! (The crowd is on their feet, erupting in cheers!) MaryLu has graciously offered to giveaway a copy of ELUSIVE HOPE, so if you would like to be entered, make sure you follow this blog and/or my FB page and leave a comment below with your email  address. IE: historicalchristianreview (at) gmail (dot) com

I'd love to know what your favorite Tyndall book is. Hands down, mine is ELUSIVE HOPE.

God bless you all and Happy Reading!