Author Interview ~ Brenda Coulter

Brenda Coulter started writing an inspirational romance novel the same afternoon she finished reading one for the first time. Hopelessly addicted from that first hour, she had a complete manuscript and an interested publisher less than a year later. Although that book went on to win both a HOLT Medallion and a Romantic Times BOOKclub Reviewers' Choice Award, it took three rejected manuscripts before Brenda figured out what she had done right the first time and did it again, resulting in a second sale to Steeple Hill Books.

Married for more than thirty years, Brenda and her husband, a mild-mannered architect, have two otherwise charming sons who torment their parents by interspersing requests for college money with harrowing tales of their latest daring adventures.

Plug time. What book or project is coming out or has come out that you’d like to tell us about?

My second book, the inspirational romance A Family Forever, is a March release from Steeple Hill Love Inspired.

Tell us about your journey to publication. How long had you been writing before you got the call you had a contract, how you heard and what went through your head.

I started writing on a lark, five years ago, and sold the first manuscript I completed. You can read about that experience in detail on this page of my website: http://brendacoulter.com/BrendaCoulterDiary.htm

Do you still experience self-doubts regarding your work?

I don't spend a lot of time wondering whether others will think my writing is "good." My reader-self likes some romance novels and not others, and there really is no accounting for taste. The only thing I ever really wonder about is whether my editor will like what I send her. I don't write proposals, but send her complete manuscripts, and she doesn't always want to buy them.

What’s the best advice you’ve heard on writing/publication?

I don't seek writing advice. Neither do I read the instruction booklets when I buy a new microwave or a computer. It's just more fun to figure things out on my own. Yes, I have made some spectacular messes, but they're my messes, so I file those experiences under "self-expression." How-to-write books and workshops don't tempt me because they make writing seem like a paint-by-numbers activity, and I chafe at being told that 17 must always be yellow.

About the only way I pick up writing tips is by osmosis, so it's a very handy thing that I read so much—and so widely.

What’s the worst piece of writing advice you’ve heard?

"Write what you know." That has always struck me as the silliest writing rule ever, so I made a joke about it in my second book, in which the hero writes a weekly newspaper column explaining to men how women's brains work:

Tucker shoved his glasses back
on and stared at his empty screen. "Write what you know," his creative writing
instructors had always insisted, but Tucker had blithely disregarded that advice
and written about women. And succeeded spectacularly.

What’s something you wish you’d known earlier that might have saved you some time/frustration in the publishing business?

I just started writing five years ago, so I haven't had enough time to really screw up. I can't think of anything I'd do differently. The publishing business is deliciously weird, and I'm able to accept that things aren't always going to go my way (or even make sense), so I've been happy.

Do you have a scripture or quote that has been speaking to you lately?

Years ago, I came upon a sundial in a thyme garden. The message inscribed on the little brass ornament hit me hard: I count only the sunny hours. That reminds me, of course, of Philippians 4:8:

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. (KJV)

Surely, if we crowd our brains with all that good stuff, we'll have little room left for holding grudges and other ugly thoughts.

Is there a particularly difficult set back that you’ve gone through in your writing career you are willing to share?

After selling my first book and being hailed by my friends as some kind of prodigy, I was disappointed when the Steeple Hill editors didn't want the second, third, or fourth manuscripts I sent to them. I kept writing because I love to write. Publication is not the cake for me; it's the icing. Yes, I do like icing on my cake. But I don't require it.

What are a few of your favorite books? (Not written by you.)

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen. I have to say that because I'm a romance writer and that's one of the major tenets of our belief system. If you're a romance writer and don't accord Dear Jane the honor she so richly deserves, I predict a genre change is in your future.

Quick Service, P. G. Wodehouse. The guy was a comic genius, and I am continually dismayed that so few Americans get his humor.

The Country of the Pointed Firs, Sarah Orne Jewett. Not quite a novel, more a series of vignettes, but very fine reading on a summer afternoon.

If your authorial self was a character from The Wizard of Oz, which one would you be and why?

That's one of my husband's favorite movies, but I never cared for it, not even in my feckless youth. So my hunk o' burnin' love can't resist giving a good elbow to my ribs whenever we hear a reference to it. Out of sheer perversity, I included a reference in my first book, Finding Hope (see page 18). I put another in A Family Forever, but now I can't remember what or where it is. It might have ended up on the cutting-room floor. If anyone finds it, please let me know.

Are you still waiting for me to answer the question? I can't. I despise The Wizard of Oz.

What piece of writing have you done that you’re particularly proud of and why?

When I finished Finding Hope, I read it from beginning to end in one sitting and was blown away by how much I enjoyed it. I believe that my second novel, A Family Forever, is actually a better book, but for some reason I haven't been able to disconnect from it and look at it through the eyes of a reader. So I'm going to say I'm proudest of my first book, because I could pick it up right now and get excited by the story and the characters all over again.

Do you have a pet peeve having to do with this biz?

It's a common misconception, particularly among writers, that every Christian who writes "Christian" books is engaged in a ministry. I have not been called (so far) to write romance novels. I do it for fun. My books are "Christian" because that's my worldview and I couldn't write them any other way.

In a sense, everything a Christian does for others—as when a woman does her family's laundry or a man acts as a church usher or a teenager cuts her vacationing neighbor's grass for free—is a ministry. But when it comes to my writing, I am not sacrificing my time or anything else for your sake. I write romance because it's fun. If you get instruction or encouragement out of my little stories, I'm thrilled. But that is entirely the Lord's doing, so please don't thank me for my ministry of writing.

Can you give us a view into a typical day of your writing life?

There's no such thing as a typical day. I keep very strange hours. I might get up at 4 a.m. or I might go to bed at that time. I don't require a lot of sleep, and I don't need it at regular times. And whether I'm tinkering with my website, working on revisions for my editor, catching up on reader e-mail or doing my taxes, I can either flit from one project to another or fall into a groove and become so absorbed in a single activity that I'll keep at it for hours and not realize that any time has passed. (Yes, I have ADD. How did you guess?)

If you could choose to have one strength of another writer, what would it be and from whom?

I admire many writers for various reasons, but it's my own strengths and weaknesses that make my writing my writing. This is who I am as a writer, warts and all, and I am very comfortable in this skin.

Do you have a dream for the future of your writing, something you would love to accomplish?

I'm one of the few writers I know who has no ambition to make the bestseller lists or write a "breakout" novel or snag a top agent or try a new genre or whatever else. Plain and simple, I like what I'm doing and I just hope God allows me to keep on doing it.

Was there ever a time in your writing career you thought of quitting?

No. I can't imagine ever wanting to quit. But it's not like I've been doing this a long time; I just started writing five years ago.

What is your favorite and least favorite part of being a writer?

I like everything about this business; the solitude, the revising and rewriting, even designing and maintaining my own website and figuring my own taxes. I never have to push myself to go into my office and work; on the contrary, I tend to resent anything that pulls me away from my office. I love all aspects of being a writer.

How much marketing do you do? Any advice in this area?

I love the internet and I do all of my promoting here. I'd much rather do this kind of interview, for instance, than schedule a signing at my local bookstore. Some authors eat that stuff up, but I don't want to be anybody's star-for-an-afternoon. Especially as that would mean wearing lipstick. If Oprah's producers messed up and phoned me instead of Ann or Catherine Coulter and begged me to appear on the show, I would say no. Honest. I'll stick with the internet, thanks.

Thanks for giving me this opportunity to plug my new book.