Welcome, Shawna. I've read all your books, enjoyed them and would recommend them. But some readers may not know about you or your books. So let's remedy that.
Tell us a little about yourself? Hi
Tina, and thank you for having me. Well, I'd like to think I'm a wife and
mother above all else, and I certainly try to be, but there's a lot that makes
up me. I'm a writer. I write about the things I'm passionate about, which
always includes a message of Grace. I love my critters. We live on a ranch so I
have plenty, and room for more. I work as an editor for two publishers and as
Social Media Specialist for The Wordsmith Journal magazine. I also enjoy designing
jewelry, rock hounding and hiking.
Tell us about your writing journey? I
had never considered becoming a writer until close to a decade ago when over
the Thanksgiving holidays I had a dream. It was just a really fascinating dream
with people I felt like I immediately knew. For about six months I thought
about it nonstop, trying to fill in gaps and work out certain details.
Eventually it became too big to keep straight in my head so I began to write.
Initially this was just to satisfy my own curiosity, but over time it turned
into a love for the characters and their journey and eventually writing itself.
I completed an entire book without any
study of the craft. It was dreadful, maybe not the bones, but certainly the
technique. For about five years I toyed with this story, putting it away, and
then pulling it out and trying to make it better -- still without any teaching,
so it was one bad draft after another.
One day I just felt it was time. I
became determined to learn and make it into something publishable. The result
was my first two novels: No Other and In all Things.
Do you put
yourself into your books/characters? Oh
yeah! Even if I don't mean to. Characters come from the writer, and though we
go out of our way to research and understand our character's persona and
situation, it still gets interpreted through our senses.
I
do have a couple of characters however that I have felt more of me in than
most. Mine would be Jakob from No Other and In All Things. Yeah, he's a dude,
but according to hubby I think like a guy, so maybe that's why I can identify
with him. My other character is Pennye in The Good Fight. There are some
personal issues with her that came directly from my own experience. The
analogy, 'An elephant can paint its ear and flap them in a flowered meadow but
still not be a butterfly," was something I once said in reference to
myself. I'm older now though, and have come to realize that the above statement
may be true, BUT elephants are quite marvelous, just in a different way.
Are there things you put off doing because you
dread them? Umm... yeah... Right now I have a sink full of dishes waiting for me. Oh
joy.
What's your favorite
time of year? WINTER! Cold, ice cube, bone-chilling winter. Bundle
me up and let me hike through three feet of snow! Unfortunately we live in an
area that only gets a few inches at a time, if that, but I'll take it. It beats
the humidity and non-seasons from when we lived in Houston, TX. (No offense to
Houston. Winter is just my thing). I adore Christmas, and nothing says
Christmas time like a blanket of snow.
How important is
faith in your books? It's everything!
Faith gives me direction and I don't think I could write a story without it.
The story simply wouldn't be there.
What is your
favorite book you’ve written and why? In All
Things. I had a discussion with a reader about this book today. She'd written
to say she loved it but I had scared her for a bit with a certain scenario with
Meri. I told her I know I did, but I didn't do it for the thrill. Meri's character
had to come to terms with some serious issues from her past that had been
driving her actions. For a struggle to be real there has to be the threat of
making the wrong choice, so I took it to the edge with Meri. But that was part
of the beauty of the story to me. To see how things could have fallen apart,
but instead were restored. The book is a continuation from No Other, so to me
it completes Jakob and Meri's story. These two characters are very dear to me,
and writing those final words in that story and having everything fall into
place was a great feeling of satisfaction to me as an author. I hope readers
feel the same way.
What is your
writing schedule like? Used to write
nightly and all was fairly calm. Now it's like, "Oh crud! I gotta deadline
approaching. Kids, Hubby, fend for yourselves!"
What distracts you from writing the easiest?
Stuff!
Actually, pressure. It's hard to write under pressure, so I find myself looking
to do other things, like waste time on Facebook, browsing Overstock.com without
buying anything, checking my sales ranking on Amazon, etc. Of course this is
completely counterproductive because it just adds pressure by decreasing
productivity. Blah!
Tell us a little about your new book. Well,
I have three I'd like to talk about. No Other, In All Things and The Good Fight
are three books in a series I didn't intend to write. No Other and In All
Things are books inspired from my dream that began this whole writing journey.
The Good Fight came later when readers asked me to tell a story about Roger,
Jakob's rival turned ally (sort of) in No Other. No Other has recently released
in print, and it begins the story of Jakob and Meri -- two young people from
very different backgrounds who are struggling to get back to life as normal at
the close of WWII. In All Things picks up with their journey ten years into
their marriage, when some things have gone very right, and others very wrong.
The Good Fight, my latest release,
visits Roger a decade after No Other. He's redefined his life after letting go
of a life-long pursuit and placed his value in human integrity instead of
social status, which sounds good on the surface. But without compassion,
integrity can be a cold and harsh thing. In this story Roger meets Pennye, a
woman who challenges his view on everything, and forces him to see people. It
really is a beautiful tale, if I may say so. I know I'm a little biased. The
end is my favorite because Jakob and roger come full circle to not being
reluctant allies, but being true, life-long friends. It's not easy though. Oh
goodness, I hope I didn't just give too much away. You'll still like it! I
promise!
All three books are available as
digital copies.
What are you
working on right now? Right now I'm
working on a sequel to my Depression Era historical Orphaned Hearts. This is
another "My readers made me write it story" but I'm not complaining.
I'm quite happy to revisit Sadie, David and Caleb. In this story Caleb is grown
up. Instead of saving Caleb by finding him a home, this story is about Caleb saving
his home by saving the town. It's a romance, of course, and we learn very early
on that it was a good thing in Orphaned Hearts that the Sheldons backed out of
adopting Caleb when Elizabeth Sheldon learned she was pregnant. She gave birth
to a baby girl. Hmm...
Sounds awesome, and sometimes readers know what the next story should be. Look forward to reading it.
Thank you, Shawna.
Learn more about Shawna, take a closer look at her books;
Book links:
In All Things:
Also
available at B&N, Christianbook.com, Kobo and Sony Reader Store
