Where do you get your
inspiration?
Great question! I get
inspiration everywhere – the news, facebook posts, sermons, radio
talk shows,
conversations. It’s always about a question, something that makes me
think…what if?
I got the story about
Izzy, (My Foolish Heart) the talk show host to the lovelorn from a
Brad Paisely song,
Online, about a guy who lives in his parent’s basement, but online
he’s awesome (because
he’s created that persona). I added to that the idea of falling in
love over the airwaves,
and whalla! Izzy’s story was germinated.
I got the idea for You
Don’t Know Me while sitting on a plane to Seattle. The woman next
to me was openly
agitated, and when I talked to her (during the food and beverage
service!), she told me
was flying to Seattle to put her daughter into the witness protection
program. Forever. The
daughter was 21. The questions surrounding that situation
birthed the story.
I got the idea for Take
a Chance on Me from an event that happened in our town – an
accident that killed a
well-regarded man. In the aftermath the town took sides for or
against the person who
hit him, and it birthed a slew of ideas about blame and
forgiveness.
I always look at the
idea and see if I can ask a big spiritual question about it, or touch an
emotional issue, or even
raise a social question. Then I start exploring the characters
interacting with the
question, and how they might find answers.
*****
During your
childhood/teenage years, who encouraged your love
for reading? For
writing?
I never had any
champions, but you know how it is as a writer – it’s in you and you can’t
escape it. I loved to go
to the library and pile up my backpack with books. They
represented new friends,
new adventures, and I spent most Saturdays plunked down in
the middle of the
library, turning pages. I started writing when I was fourteen – wrote my
first novel on a summer
vacation with my family, about a girl and her horse. It wasn’t until
I married and began
writing newsletters for our ministry that people began to really
encourage me to write,
but by then, I had the bug and was already penning novels that I
never thought would be
published. However, it was our supporters who pushed me to
send the novels in to
publishers. They believed in my books on the shelves long before I
did.
*****
If you were to cast the
movie based on your book, who would
you choose to play the
key roles?
Take a Chance on Me? I
have a key list of actors I used as prototypes:
John would be played by
Tom Selleck
Ingrid would be played
by Bonnie Hunt
Darek would be played by
(Thor) Chris Hemsworth
Ivy would be played by
Emma Stone
Jenson would be played
by Scott Speedman
Claire would be played
by (90210) Arielle Kibbel
******
What is one thing on
your "bucket list"?
I would like to learn
how to dance the Charleston and get better at the Lindy Hop.
Actually, I’d like to
take regular dance lessons and become a better all around ballroom
dancer.
What are your 5 favorite
things, excluding family?
Sitting on my back deck
on a warm summer day, reading.
Throwing a great party.
Exploring a new place
(esp. on vacation). Eg.
Dancing. All kinds.
Brainstorming stories!
******
How did you become a
writer? What inspires you to write? Who is
your favourite author
and why?
Writing was always
something I loved to do, so I think I was born with it in me. Words are
definitely my love
language, so I love a well crafted sentence or poem, a great story. It’s
how I communicate my
worship, and how I find understanding and work out my thoughts.
I’m inspired to write by
things that move me, things I want to explore, and great moments
of emotion – joy,
sorrow, fear, love. One of my favorite types of writing, however, is
travel writing. I like
to take a journal and go somewhere new and just sit and capture the
setting in words. It’s
better than a picture.
Rachel Hauck. I love her
stories, her depth, her words. I’m also a fan of Siri Mitchell, Dee
Henderson, Francine
Rivers, Ronie Kendig, Beth Vogt, Melissa Tagg, Lisa Jordan and
Dee Gist.
Which character do you
relate to most?
MaryAnn Wallace, the
character in the Great Christmas Bowl. But I’m also a lot like
Ingrid Christiansen.
*****
Laura Vernet Price
Hilton Why do you think Deep Haven scores a touchdown with your
readers?
I love the way you
phrased that question! I think it is the small town where everyone
knows your name, the
family connections, the beauty of the north shore, and the sense of
Mayberry or maybe
Mitford set in the north woods. I think reader like to escape with
people they know, and
learn more about their lives.
****
When did you decide that
you wanted to write?
I was always a writer,
but as I began to pen newsletters for my ministry family, and our
supporters, I realized I
loved to tell a great story. I thought maybe I’d try and write a short
story – so I wrote
Happily Ever After as a short story and sent it into a contest. It won,
and I began to wonder if
I could write for publication. I remember getting on my knees
and asking God if I
should be writing articles or short stories and he said, “Write Novels.”
I’d never written a
novel, but that’s where I felt God asking me to invest my energies. So I
began to research and
study the art and craft of fiction. I wrote four novels before I got
the first one published.
I’m still amazed at the fact I am published –what? Whoa!
How do you find time to
write with a family?
I am very focused. I
write, and I spent time with family, and I attend church. I don’t have a
lot of outside pursuits.
My social life is spent in the bleachers, watching sporting events,
or in the auditorium, at
play or band rehearsal. I show up to all my kids events – but I
admit, I don’t attend a
woman’s bible study or exercise class. Maybe someday, but until
the kids are grown,
that’s my priority.
***
Several of your stories
have been set in MN, are you from this area?
Yes! I grew up in
Minneapolis, and I now live on the north shore of Minnesota, in a little
town 30 miles from the
Canadian border called Grand Marais. Come and visit sometime!!
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