I'm so excited about this year! There's a lot of fun things planned (big changes for me...which I will be announcing soon...) and TONS of FABULOUS books set to be released, so hold on to your feathered-hats, ladies, it's gonna be a BLAST!This month I'm thrilled to feature a great friend of mine, fellow blogger and author extraordinaire--Naomi Rawlings! I've just read and reviewed her latest book THE WYOMING HEIR (which releases today, by the way!) and I'm very excited to get to know her more, aren't you?
What a great way to start off the year!! Thank you so much for being with me this month, Naomi!!
First, tell us about you! Please include something fun/unique that we might not know. :)
I'm pretty boring, really. I live in northern Michigan, way way way northern Michigan, where we get really cold temperatures and lake effect snow to the tune of 200 inches a year. Everyone in my family likes to snowshoe--even my three year old, and my husband is a modern day backwoodsman. As I'm typing this, he's got a dozen or so animal pelts sitting in our shed and ready to take to the fur buyer when he comes through town next.
Have you always wanted to be a writer? At what point did you feel God calling you to do this?
No, I didn't always want to be a writer. In fact, I stumbled upon it rather by accident. I had an English degree and a small child I stayed home with. Plus I was bored and had exhausted all my friends supplies of romance novels, so one afternoon I sat down and decided to write one . . . Three years and four manuscripts later, I had my first contract.
As for God calling me to write, I know I'm in His will and doing what He wants at this point in my life, but I never had any divine God moment where God told me I HAD to write. It was more just a sense and desire God put into my spirit during the time I was first learning the craft.
Your books are gripping! How do you decide what you will write about?Ha! Not the usual way, I can tell you that much. I'm a bit of an oddball when it comes to writing and how I think about it. I usually decide to write a book because there's an underlying message I want to convey. I've done books about forgiveness, redemption, honesty, human value, and loving your enemies. This leads me to write stories set in rather unusual places like the French Revolution or Michigan's Upper Peninsula (where I live). The Wyoming Heir is a bit of exception in that I didn't start with a theme or message. This book I wrote because way back when I was trying to sell my first French novel, everyone was telling me I was ready to be published but no publisher wanted a French story. So I came up with a cowboy story that I thought might interest publishers and then decided on a theme from there. The theme ended up being about obedience.
What are FIVE of your favorite things-- doesn't have to be book related!
Oh, wow. I'm singing the Marie von Trapp song in my head after that question. :-) Okay, I'm going to answer assuming that God and family are already givens.
1. Books
2. Friends
3. Lake Superior
4. Snow
5. Hiking
What is your favorite Bible scripture and/or story?
1 Corinthians 15:10--"But by the grace of God, I am what I am . . ." I love this verse because it's a constant reminder that God created me just the way He wanted me, even with all my flaws and imperfections. And His grace will sustain me through the flaws and imperfections and trials.
How much fun! Thank you Naomi, for this great interview!
And ladies, it's not over yet. Naomi is doing a GIVEAWAY of her latest release THE WYOMING HEIR so if you want to be entered, be sure to comment below and leave your email addy!!
Hugs and Happy Reading to you all!!
