Author Interview ~ Leigh Bale

Award-winning author Leigh Bale writes contemporary inspirational romance. Her works have won and finaled in numerous contests including the Duel on the Delta, the Orange Rose, and the Finally A Bride. In 2006, she won the prestigious Golden Heart Contest sponsored by Romance Writers of America for best Inspirational. A member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, Leigh also belongs to various chapters of RWA, including the Faith, Hope and Love Chapter. She resides in Nevada with her husband and a Siamese fighting fish named Oscar. She has two children and one unbelievably smart grandchild, and she firmly believes there is more to life than the happy jingle of slot machines and bright casino lights. Visit her website at www.LeighBale.com

What new book or project would you like to tell us about?

I am delighted to announce that I have a new contemporary Inspirational coming out from Steeple Hill Love Inspired. The book won the prestigious Golden Heart Contest for best Inspirational for 2006 and is a poignant story of faith and healing, both the physical body as well as the heart and spirit. The title will be THE HEALING PLACE and it is scheduled for an October 2007 release.

Tell us about your publishing journey. How long had you been writing before you got a contract? How did you find out and what went through your mind?

Oh, boy! Have you got an hour? Truly my journey has been long and difficult. I wrote my first book on a typewriter in 1981, the year I married my husband. (Yeah, and we’re still going strong! ) I had no outline, no writing plan, no idea what I was doing. I just started writing out of boredom. We were poor college students and had only one car, so I was stranded at my place of employment all day long. I took my brown bag and sat in the office during the lunch hour and got this crazy idea for a book. I’d always been telling stories since I was a child, but this was my first attempt at a full-length novel. That book will never see the light of day, it’s so horrible, but it was so pleasurable to write and the finished product convinced me I could do it again.

Over the years, I continued to write historicals and my skill level increased. I finally discovered Romance Writers of America, joined a local chapter, got involved in a critique group, and started winning contests. It wasn’t until I’d written my first contemporary that I sold, though. When I stopped writing historicals, my “writing voice” changed. The effect was delightful.

In March 2006, my book finaled in the Golden Heart Contest. Later, I received a call from RWA stating that one of my final judges had requested the full manuscript. I was in Europe with my husband and daughter to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, specifically in the town of York, England, when I asked my husband to call our son back in the U.S. just to check in. (Okay, I confess I really wanted to know how our little granddaughter was doing. ) He checked his voicemail and told me my then-agent had called and said she had an offer and I had better call her back. It took me twenty minutes before I believed him. I tried to call the agent back, but I got her voicemail. It was agony waiting two more hours for her to call. She laughed and said it served me right because she had been trying to reach me for two days!!! Melissa Endlich of Steeple Hill had been the final judge in the Golden Heart Contest who requested the full manuscript and she bought my book! A month later, the book won the Golden Heart and, needless to say, I was swinging from Cloud Nine!

Do you still have self-doubts about your writing?

More so than ever. Now that I’ve succeeded in selling, I have the dreaded “can I do it a second time?” syndrome. But, I know the skill level is within me. I just need to pull it out, put my fanny in the chair, strap my muse next to me with duct tape, and force her to write. I’ll provide the fingers for typing.

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

Yesterday. Not kidding. Seriously. Even with selling, you have good and bad days and ask yourself if it is worth it. Writing is such a solitary, thankless job. Rejection, professional jealousy, poor critique partners, bad agents, ignoring other activities that could possibly give you more positive reinforcement, all make for a lot of sludge every writer has to wade through. I remember once a multi-published friend told me that, after writing and serving deadlines for some time, she no longer enjoyed the process. In fact, she had come to hate writing! Gasp!

She decided then that if she stopped writing, it wasn’t that she had “quit” writing, but rather she had “finished” her writing. Many people never “finish” writing and keep going until they die. Others write and publish numerous times before they “finish” their writing. Some “finish” for awhile, leave it, and then return later on in life. It is a process of growth and learning. Each of us needs to dig deep inside and put aside all the other voices in our heads and decide what is best for us and our family. What will make us happiest.

I always ask myself, “If I quit writing now, will I regret it in five years and feel that I was not “finished” with it?”

If the answer to this question is a resounding “Yes!” then I keep on writing and find ways to work around the yuck stuff. Endurance is a virtue in this field.


What’s the best writing advice you’ve heard?

Write. Until your fingers are nubs. When you reach the bone, use your toes. (Okay, yes, you can tell I’m a serious writer and have been doing this a loooong time, right?)

The only way you can get to the point that you are writing really strong fiction is by writing. Your great website, your writing memberships, your contest wins, and your critique partners, cannot sell your book if it’s no good. And no matter what your writer friends are doing or what others say, they aren’t there with you during the lonely hours when you’re putting your story down in black and white. There are just you and your computer or typewriter. So, remember to be true to yourself and learn to shut out the other voices of doubt and professional jealousy or other negative things around you. And write.

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

The worst piece of writing advice I ever heard was that entering writing contests is a waste of time. If you keep contests in perspective, they can really work for you.

I sold off of the Golden Heart Contest. I had logged a lot of finals and wins in other writing contests, that helped me learn where my story flaws were. From that advice, I was able to strengthen my books. I loved entering contests that provide feedback from the judges.

Now, a word of caution: Some judges are horrible. Some don’t know what they’re doing. Some have never even written a book themselves and really have no idea what writing a complete book entails. Good writers make the craft look easy, so judges who haven’t tried it themselves really don’t fully understand good skills when they see them. The just go off of whether they like a book or not. In my opinion, this is poor judging. What one person likes, another might hate, but when you judge in a contest, you should put your personal preferences aside. So, yeah, judging isn’t always fair.

You also don’t want to be writing so much for the first 3 chapters of your book to enter contests that you ignore the rest of your book. Take all this in stride and learn what to throw out and what to pay attention to. Be honest with yourself. If your writing is junk, throw it out and do it better. Come on! I know you can do it.

An editor won’t ignore the sagging middle and weak ending of your book. They’ll just reject it. So, keep contests in perspective. But if you know the final judge is going to be an editor or agent you’d love to be involved with, then hit it and hit it hard. You can be nice and still be rabidly competitive. Then, after you send off your contest entry, focus on the rest of the book so it isn’t junk and it’s ready when that editor you’d love to sell to requests the full book.

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

Professional jealousy. Period.

What do you wish you’d known early in your career that might have saved you some time and/or frustration in writing? In publishing?

In writing, I wish I had sought out help from other experienced authors years earlier. I was always too shy to ask others if they would critique with me. I thought I had nothing to offer, and I realize I probably didn’t early on. But this industry is a “pay it forward” industry. It’s like age. There’s always someone older or younger than you are. Well, there’s always someone more experienced and someone less experienced than you are. So, try to jump in with both feet, seek out help, and then turn around and help someone else in return. But if you don’t ask, you’ll end up floundering around on your own when you could have someone mentor you a bit and you wouldn’t have to learn everything the hard way, like I did. Boy, do I ever regret not asking for help earlier on.

In publishing, I wish I had switched from writing Historicals over to Contemporary earlier. All these years I loved writing and reading Historicals so much, I just couldn’t see that I didn’t have as strong a voice for it as I did with Contemporaries. I was too stubborn and my academic background is in history. So, it took me way too long to get over that niche I had chosen for myself.

My advice is that, if you’re in a rut and what you’re doing is not working, try switching to something else just to see if you like the results. If you don’t, you can always go back. But it may open up a freshness to your “voice” and also open some doors. Jayne Krentz suggested this during an RWA Pro-Retreat at a National Conference a couple of years ago, and that’s when I grudgingly tried it out and voila! It worked for me. I am still amazed at the difference.

Was there ever a difficult set back that you went through in your writing career?

I do have a very personal experience I would rather not share. Yes, we all have those traumatic situations we’d rather not relive.

I can say that I had an agent whom I worked so well with and over a two-year period, I sent her six books and she didn’t sell them for me. I was SO exhausted and discouraged. Then, my daughter who was seven years old at the time was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. I quit writing for about four years while we worked to save her life. It was one of those times when I had to “finish” writing for a time, because I was too drained physically and emotionally to do any more writing for awhile and I had come to hate it by then, and I also needed to put my own desires on hold in order to help my child.

That was ten years ago. Now, my daughter still has health issues we are dealing with, but she is currently the top child in the world for survivorship of her type of brain tumor. Unfortunately, the year of chemo has taken its toll on her liver and she has some other serious problems. But it isn’t so overwhelming that I can’t still write. But I learned that NOTHING should take precedence over family. Nothing!

What are a few of your favorite books?

Wow! So many books, so little time. I am a voracious reader and could never name even just a few of my favorite books. My stack of “to be read” books is enormous and my husband rolls his eyes every time I buy another one. I guess I’m planning early for retirement.

I love mysteries, suspense, and truly romantic historicals and inspirationals. I have enough reality in my own life that I crave happy endings just because that’s the way I think life should be.

Currently, I’m reading In His Eyes by Gail Gaymer Martin.

What work have you done that you’re especially proud of and why?

My first sale was a real push for me. Because of the topic, it cut deep into my heart and I often felt as though I was pulling some of the words up through my tonsils.

Also, because of my own personal values, I have tried to avoid writing a lot of sex in my books. In today’s market, that’s tough because so many readers want Historicals with lots of sex in them. I didn’t have it in my books and I think that hurt me as far as selling was concerned.

When I wrote my first Contemporary Inspirational, all of a sudden I was thrown into a world where I had to find a way to fill the pages of my story with an enthralling tale without using sex as filler. Other writers may be different in this, but for me, it pushed me hard to expand my skill as a writer and really delve deeper into the characters of my story. I had to rely on their internal angst to carry the scenes, not physical acrobatics that would not be appropriate for the type of book I was writing. It was an epiphany for me to discover that I could do it successfully without having a sagging middle. No matter what, I will always be grateful for the opportunity to expand myself as a writer because of this book.

Do you have a scripture or quote that has spoken to you lately in regards to your writing?

Psalms 3 has brought me great comfort over the years, wherein David cries unto the Lord. I find a bit of humor in these verses, yet I believe David was entirely serious when he said, “Lord, how are they increased that trouble me! Many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.”

In my darkest moments, I have known that some people think I am utterly lost in God, and yet I know God lives and loves me. I have felt him in my life, always there, guiding and directing every facet of the road I travel, in spite of my failings.

Can you give us a look into a typical day for you?

Well, I’m a middle-aged grandmother who happens to still be taking college classes, so life is one thrill after another. (Or you could just call me a zoo keeper. ) I still have one teenager at home, so I have laundry, cooking, taxi driving, cleaning, church lessons to prepare, and a yard to tend. I am driven, so I spend the bulk of my day writing, planning, outlining, and dealing with the business end of my chosen profession. I have oodles of homework, classes to attend, and lots of doctor office visits because I have a daughter with some serious health issues constantly hanging over our heads.

When I feel overwhelmed by my life, I remember my mother teaching me to sew. If I was overly tired and making a mess out of my project, she would say, “It’s time to put it away now and come back to it later, or you’ll just mess it up and have to pick it all out later on.”

I’ve learned that this lesson applies to everything in my life. Sometimes, if I’m making an absolute mess out of something, it’s often because I’m exhausted and grumpy and I just need to put it away and rest and come back to it later on.

Try this sometime when you think you never want to write again. Put it away and come back to it tomorrow. You’ll feel better after you’ve been away from it for awhile. (Just don’t put it away so much that you don’t ever write your book!)

Do you have a word or page goal you set for each day?

No, but I do shoot for 25 pages per week. Sometimes I write 50 pages in a week, sometimes I write 6 pages.

With my personal life, I’m doing the best I can. I remember that if I don’t write, I have nothing to submit for publication. But I also do not have the luxury of telling my daughter to take care of herself, even though she is a teenager. For me, the focus is to never, ever quit writing once I’ve started a new project. Somehow, the pages get written. Later in life, things will undoubtedly change and I’ll have more time to myself. But I refuse to feel guilty because I cherish the moments I spend with my granddaughter, children and husband. When it’s my time to go, that’s what I’ll care about the most and I want no regrets.

Are you an SOTP (seat of the pants) writer or a plotter?

Both. I’ve written books I’ve really plotted out and planned, and I’ve written books that I only knew some basic scenes, goal, motivation and conflict for. My first book was a mixture. I didn’t know what the ending should be until it came time for me to deal with it, other than the fact that I wanted it to be a recognition that we are stronger in our relationships when we unite to face the problems life throws are ways than we are apart.

What author do you especially admire and why?

Why, Nora Roberts, of course. Good, bad, or indifferent, that girl has “been there” and it must be a lonely road for her to walk at times. Who does she trust? How many mistakes has she made along the way? Did she ever feel like quitting? Did she ever have a bad agent, or a cruel critique partner? I’ll bet she did. And somehow, she prevailed and continued to write. What an icon. Truthfully, I’ve only read one of her books, but I respect her work ethic and accomplishments.

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

My least favorite part is the business end of the industry, when we have to put aside our emotions, be professional, and act like an intelligent, knowledgeable author. I’d rather hide in my office writing and never face anyone except my family. Unfortunately, that isn’t realistic, so I shower, get dressed and face the day with a smile on my face.

My favorite part is researching a new project, and then revising a new project after the hard labor of putting the book down in black and white is completed. I love cleaning up books after they’re finished because now I can shuffle and move scenes and “see” how to make the story stronger.

How much marketing do you do? What's your favorite part of marketing?

I am self-taught in HTML and Dreamweaver and learned to design and maintain my own website. That was a major victory for me and I’m very proud of it.

Currently, I’m building a data base of people who are interested in hearing about my projects and receiving my newsletter. If anyone out there is interested, I’d love to include you. To sign up, just go to my website at: www.LeighBale.com

I actively send out Press Releases on what I have going on to newspapers, and I print business cards and book marks and am working to submit advanced reader copies (ARC’s) for reviews of my book by reputable reviewers.

Because I lived the research for my book THE HEALING PLACE, I love to give motivational talks and enjoy the opportunity to work with Make-A-Wish on talk shows and in various interviews.

My favorite part of marketing is meeting all the wonderful people out there who are genuinely interested in the core message of my stories. It is a pleasure to touch someone else’s life for good.

Do you have any parting words of advice?

See above where I talked about putting your work away when you’re making a mess out of it, and also my words about writing until your fingers are nubs.

Get mule stubborn and tough-skinned. Really tough-skinned. That doesn’t mean you should be mean or cruel or vindictive.

Don’t quit unless you are absolutely certain you can feel satisfied that you are “finished” writing. And set goals for yourself. Write them down. Written goals always seem more real and concrete, even if they are simple. Planning how to meet your goals gives you a roadmap to follow. You don’t have to show it to anyone, so shoot high. It’s just for you. Remember, “If you build it, they will come.” Build your roadmap and write the best book possible, and it will sell eventually. Only you can decide when you are “finished” writing. Until then, you never have to stop.