Month: May 2012

Ms. Pratola,

  thank you so much for being willing to be interviewed on my blog!

    What led you to write The Covering?

God. I mean He didn’t issue an order, LOL, just put the desire there and somehow it led to the importance of intercessory prayer and then to Tessa and Gunnar.

   When you started writing The Covering, did you plan out the twists and turns or were you as surprised as the reader as the novel unfolded?

Neither and both. I didn’t consciously plan everything out but once I started, things just naturally fell into place. It’s a gift from God when that happens.

    Gunnar is a very intense character with a heavy past, what or who was your inspiration for him?

I’ve never personally met anyone like Gunnar =-)  But people like him are everywhere – damaged to the point that they don’t see their own worth. I think he’s representative of folks who are broken and just trying to make their way through. Some are angry at people, at God and at life, and some of them are afraid to hope there’s anything better, and don’t think they’re worthy of it if there is.

    In The Covering, Tessa leaves her job as a lawyer and pursues opening a B&B, what led you to choose this new career?

Two things: 1) write what you know, LOL. I’ve been a housewife (is that still an accepted term?) for 26 years so I know about cleaning, remodeling, etc.  2) Tessa’s a nurturer and loves to take care of people so an inn seemed logical to me.

   If there is one thing you want your readers to take away from The Covering, what would it be?

That God isn’t mad at them. If you have issues (and who doesn’t?) He wants to help. He’s always waiting for us to reach out no matter what we’ve done, are doing, or ever will do. Jesus paid it all so we don’t have to. We are worthy because He is worthy. Too preachy? Sorry, it’s all I’ve got, lol.

  Do you have anything new that we can look forward to?

I’ve just finished book one of a series (as yet untitled). I’m really excited to get it out there. I’m also working on many other projects.

 Again, thank you, Ms. Pratola! My review can be found here: https://remaininhislove.com/2012/05/09/dana-pratolas-the-covering-7/

Ms.Wade,

Thank you so much for willing to be interviewed on my newly minted blog.

Sure!  Thank you for having me.

I’m so excited!

What inspired you to write My Stubborn Heart?  First, the Lord’s urging.  Seven years after I’d ‘retired’ from my career as an author, I sensed Him calling me to write again, this time for Him and His glory.   I thought, “Really Lord?!?  I’m a full time mom with three kids and a house I already can’t keep clean!”  He assured me that I had heard Him correctly and that I could do it (with His help).  Just that suddenly, I wanted to sit down at my computer and fill pages.  I longed to write.  I loved the time I spent working on my manuscript. 

The story told within the pages of My Stubborn Heart sprang from a single inspiration — Matt Jarreau.  I imagined a man swallowed by grief after the death of his wife.  I imagined him leaving his career as a professional athlete.  I imagined him returning to his small hometown to hide from life.

Was there someone or something that made you think of the character of Matt Jarreau?  Yes.  I knew from the outset that I wanted to write a book about healing.  That goal led me to the idea of a wounded hero.  I didn’t want my hero’s wounds to be physical, only emotional.  Which in turn led me to the idea of a hockey player.  I was fascinated by the idea of a man tough enough on the outside to flourish in the brutal and competitive sport of hockey and yet so tender-hearted on the inside that the loss of his wife would devastate him to his core.  It interested me – that juxtaposition.

Throughout the novel, I admired Kate’s boldness and outgoing personality, when you started writing this book, did you know she would turn out this way?  Yep!  Once I had Matt clear in my mind, I thought to myself, “What kind of woman does this guy need?”  I knew Kate would have to be very persistent, funny, warm, and confident in order to reach Matt. 

Kate doesn’t meet Matt until she’s 31, when you chose her age were you writing from experience or just creativity?  Creativity.  God introduced me to my husband when I was in college, so I married young.  However, plenty of my friends and one of my sisters waited until later to marry.  I learned from their experiences as they waited on God for the one. 

Also, an author simply must have the ability to sink into the hearts and minds of her characters.  By God’s grace, I’m able to do that with all my heroes, heroines, and secondary characters.  I had no problem ‘becoming’ Kate, putting myself in her shoes, getting in sync with her feelings about her singlehood.

So one of my favorite people in the book was Morty. I appreciated his willingness to do what it takes to get what he wants. What was the inspiration behind him?  Both sets of my grandparents were married more than fifty years.  My parents and my husband’s parents have been married more than forty.  I’m deeply inspired by loves that last a lifetime and also by loves shared by couples who find each another during their golden years.  It’s one thing to see two teenagers in love.  That’s lovely!  But to see two seventy somethings in love?  There’s a wonderful depth to that relationship, a sweetness.  Those qualities inspired me to write Morty’s story.

If there was one thing you would want your readers to take away from your novel, it would be….  How about three things?  🙂  I’d like for them to take away the reassurance that God hasn’t forgotten His lost ones.  That He hears and answers ours prayers.  And that He has the power to heal even the most broken of hearts.

Thank you Ms. Wade! My review can be found here:https://remaininhislove.com/2012/05/03/becky-wades-my-stubborn-heart/