I saw this tag several months ago and thought it looked fun. It’s taken a while, but I am finally able to get it posted. I hope you enjoy it!

• Who are your favorite authors, and do they influence your writing?

Isabella Alden. Yes, she has had a huge influence on my writing both style and content. Her books were some of the very first I remember reading where Christianity wasn’t just tacked on as though the writer forgot to put it in until the last minute. It wasn’t preachy and in your face, nor was it so watered down that you couldn’t find it. It was there, real, strong, true, and yet such a part of the story, that you couldn’t take out the Christianity without taking out the whole book.

• Why do you write?

I write because I must. I have to write. If I didn’t, I’m afraid I would go mad, for the stories in my head push so hard to get out that I get tired. Really though, I write because God has given me a passion for writing. It’s a passion I’ve never experienced with any other thing I have done, though I love doing many things. I write because there is a need for true, pure stories that honor our Lord and don’t defile the reader.

• Is writing something you (would) do for a living, or is it just a hobby? 

Yes, it is my job. I write for a living. Not a very good living yet, but I’m working on it. I’m afraid if it was just a hobby, I wouldn’t have written or published so many books. 🙂

• Do you enjoy reading the same genres that you enjoy writing?  Why or why not?

Absolutely! It’s so much easier to write stories about things you already know about. If I don’t like a genre, there is no way I would write a story in it because I wouldn’t want to read it myself.

• If you could use one GIF to describe your writerly self, what would it be?

I dislike most GIFs and so I don’t know of any. 🙂

• How do you deal with writers’ block?

That is a good question. Unfortunately, I don’t have a really good answer. I do all sorts of things when I am facing writer’s block. Sometimes I force myself to write one sentence of each story I have started, sometimes I lay on my bed with my feet on the ceiling, pray, contemplate my stories or re-read what I already have written. Other times I’ll play the piano for a bit, reward myself with permission to go read if I write a hundred words or something. But there have also been times where I feel like my brain has died, taken a vacation or gone on strike. I can’t get one thing written. Even if the story is in my head. That’s when I close my notebooks, put my writing things away and just admit that I need a break. Thankfully that rarely happens.

• How do you feel about writing explicit content (e.g. “curse words” or suggestive content) in books for young people?  Why?

If I don’t want to read it, I won’t write it. And I certainly feel that “curse words” and suggestive content should NOT be in books for young people. The Bible has a strong warning about putting stumbling blocks before those who are weaker.

• Have you written books for adults before/after writing for young readers?  What’s the transition between genres like?

Most of my books are appropriate for readers of nearly any age. Perhaps because I don’t write a lot of the things (romance, suggestive content, graphic descriptions of sin and evil) normally considered “adult” there has never been much difference between my YA/MG stories and my more “adult level books.

• What do you think of self-publishing versus traditional publishing?  If you’ve only published traditionally, would you ever self-publish?  And if you’re a self-published author, would you ever go the traditional route? 

I am self-published, and I don’t have any interest in going the traditional route. I have a friend who is traditionally published and we’ve talked a lot about the difference between the two routes, and I know that my stories would never make the “cut” for the traditional publishing houses. A few examples of why now. 🙂

1.) I will often have multiple characters whose names start with the same letter.

2.) I don’t work well under pressure or with deadlines.

3.) I know they would want to do major editing of my stories and I would either have to comply or not publish the book.

4.) I wouldn’t be able to self-publish anything without permission from my publishing house.

And I could go on, but I won’t. 🙂 And I didn’t even mention the money difference, the travel, the rights, the fact that I wouldn’t have the final say on things like cover and titles.

• What’s one question you’ve been dying to ask other MG/YA writers?

Ummmm. I can’t think of a thing.

If you have enjoyed this post, let me know. And if you are a MY/YA author, I’d love to read your answers. Either post your answers in a comment or on your blog and leave me the link. I promise to go read it. 🙂

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