Author Interview ~ Leisha Kelly

Leisha Kelly is the author of four best-selling historical fiction books, including Julia's Hope, Emma's Gift, Katie's Dream, and Rorey's Secret. She is also the author of Tahn and Return to Alastair. She has served many years on her local library board, continuing to bring good reads and educational opportunities to her community. Once a waitress, café manager, tutor, and EMT, Leisha is now a busy novelist and speaker who is active in the ministries of her church. She lives with her family in Clayton, Illinois.

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


We are in the editing stages for my third “Tahn” book, to be called “The Scarlet Trefoil”. That book will be released by January, 2007. And I have just completed the next in the “Wortham” stories, entitled “Sarah’s Promise”, due out in August of 2007.

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?

I’ve actually been writing since I was a kid, but I didn’t get brave enough to try to sell one of my novel ideas until just a few years ago with my husband’s encouragement. My first attempts on my own were completely fruitless, and I soon decided I was starting with the wrong story. I tried again with a completely different manuscript (I always have more than one going), and that story netted the interest of an agent. But he sold another of my stories first.

When Fleming H. Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, asked for “Julia’s Hope”, I had only the first three or four chapters completed. I learned about it over the phone and I was excited, of course. Speechless, maybe. But I was also thinking, “Oh, man - now I have to hurry up and finish this thing and it had better be good”. So it was some degree of pressure right from the start.

Do you still have self-doubts about your writing?

Absolutely. With every single story. Frequently, and most of the way through, I am thinking: “is this really working?” But oh, it is joyous to get caught up in a scene, or to come to the end of a manuscript with a sense of satisfaction, knowing that the whole thing does indeed work, at least for me.

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

Yes. Confession time. This year. Recently. I have been tired, with a lot of outside things to handle, and I bit off quite a lot in the way of deadlines this year. Three manuscripts to my publisher. I have two in editing or revising stages now, and one more to finish (a Christmas novella which I feel pretty good about). So I believe with the help of the good Lord, I’ll manage all three deadlines all right. But still, I don’t plan to do that again any time soon.

We homeschool, so I have the kids and lesson plans to think about. And just one story is enough pressure all by itself. Especially when I am always thinking that my readers will expect each book to be as good as or better than the last. I think I’m my own worst critic and such a perfectionist. I find that I have to take each individual story before the Lord to get my own head in the right perspective and focus before I can finish.

And this year I’ve found myself thinking, “wouldn’t life be easier if I was doing nothing but homeschooling and church activities for awhile?” But even in that thought, I find myself looking forward to having the time to “play” with stories I don’t have a deadline for. So I guess I wouldn’t really quit at all, just slow down a little.

What mistakes did you make while seeking a publisher or agent?

I think I didn’t ask enough questions. Maybe I still don’t.

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

Believe in what you’re doing. Trust your heart. Write regularly and find somebody who can understand why you need to.

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

Forget novels. It’s practically impossible to break into that world.

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

Business details that keep me away from actual writing time. Maybe that’s one reason I don’t ask more questions.

What are a few of your favorite books?

I have so many favorites. In His Steps by Charles Sheldon, Pilgrim’s Progress, by John Bunyan. I read and enjoy so many books, so many different authors and styles, that this is a difficult question for me.

I think it is pretty amazing the way J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings) can draw you into a story and make you forget someone sat down and made it up. And Leif Enger illustrated to me what “the willing suspension of disbelief” really means by writing scenes in Peace like a River that, though incredible, seem perfectly natural.

Early in my writing life, Janette Oke’s The Gown of Spanish Lace was memorable for me because she didn’t hesitate to portray a male hero from “the wrong side of the tracks” and his pathway toward redemption. Jan Karon’s story about the Mitford wedding amazed me because the whole book was just about that one thing, just the wedding. And yet it was so totally entertaining and uplifting with such outstanding characters.

Kathleen Morgan’s Daughter of Joy made me cry (in a good way). And there are so many other books I have loved; some old like Silas Marner, or written for youth like My Side of the Mountain or Where the Lilies Bloom. As well as more contemporary names like Beverly Lewis, Frank Peretti, Lori Wick, and Terri Blackstock, just to name a few.

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

Both of my series, taken as a whole. The Tahn story, with all three books, is something of an epic I absolutely had to tell. A good vs. evil, perilous romp from deadly darkness to the all abiding light of God’s mercy and love.

And the Worthams. As I work on the sixth book following the same family of characters, their lives continue to touch me and others. People say these are characters they can relate to, like their grandparents or their mother, or great aunt Bess. In life situations that could have happened just down the road from where you live. I’m a little proud of that because people find them so believable. And lovable.

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

Proverbs 3:5 & 6. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.”
Those words have spoken to me over and over in my writing career so far.

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

I’m not sure there is such a thing. As my answer to the next question will show, my days do not pan out alike. But usually, since most of the year is school year, my regular days run something like this: wake, read scripture with a little quiet time, start kids on their “first thing in the morning” list. Then breakfast and a morning school routine, lunch, another quiet time, and more school.

Kids are usually on their own projects by 2 p.m. at which time I work and their dad takes over many things they might need attention with, including taking them to scout meetings, Tae Kwon Do, piano lessons, and such. I try to work till supper, then spend some time with the family again, before getting back to work for an hour or more (sometimes too many more) before I go to bed.

Sometimes I can also work in the morning when they are working independently, and sometimes I need a quiet separation with the Lord so much that I go and spend my quiet time alone in our church at a time I know no one else will be there. Those have been some precious and important moments for me.

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

A variable one depending on what I’m working on. If I am writing a rough draft for which I have a deadline, I like to cover five pages or more, and I can sometimes turn out several times more. But if I am immersed in editing and revision, I may not be writing any new stuff at all. And if school or other business of life requires my extensive attention for some reason, like if I’m teaching a co-op class, dealing with extended family, or whatever else, I’m doing well to produce a page a day of new material. I have spurts too. Days when it’s time to attend to other business, and other days when I do almost nothing but write till I’m practically stiff from sitting at the computer so long.

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

I guess a little of both. My first impulse is to say SOTP, because so often I just sit and let the story roll out the way it will, surprising even me sometimes. But I do loosely plot a story in advance, not with a formal outline, but with what I call a scene progression – my list of the significant things that need to happen before the story’s end in roughly the order in which I expect them to occur. I add to that and change it frequently, and delete the parts I’ve already completed until I can draw the story to a close.

What author do you especially admire and why?

This might seem a little strange, but I think of Laura Ingalls Wilder quickly, because she wrote such fun and informative stories which are enjoyed by virtually any age group, from pre-schoolers cuddled in a lap being read to, all the way to adult. That kind of appeal is pretty amazing. But there are many other admirable authors I could name. On my list are always John Bunyan (Pilgrim’s Progress), who wrote a timeless classic in the face of great obstacles. And C.S. Lewis who had amazing versatility and powerful messages for young and old (The Chronicles of Narnia, The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity, etc.).

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

I guess my favorite thing about writing is the process itself, the story taking shape and growing till I know it really works, and then the satisfaction of a finished product. But I also love the interaction with readers, especially when they tell me some meaning that one of my books has had for them. Then I feel truly blessed, that God has touched me to touch somebody else, and I want more of that.

And if I have to declare a least favorite part, it would be business. Any of those necessary details that follow along with writing, but aren’t really writing.

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

My favorite is definitely meeting and speaking to readers at book signings and such. That has been a lot more fun than I expected. I expect to continue to do quite a bit of that. But I really don’t do a great deal of marketing compared to some people I’ve heard of. It would be hard to do a lot more and still meet my obligations and have time for family, etc.

Do you have any parting words of advice?

Don’t buy the idea that chance has you on this world and there’s no real meaning to any of it. Baloney. God put each and every one of us here for a reason. We each have a purpose. You may not know what yours is yet, but seek and you will find. We all are called to serve in some capacity and part of that for me is writing stories which honor Him.

It may be completely different for you. Perhaps you make and share cookies, write cheerful office memos, brighten someone’s day at a nursing home, or teach a five-year-old to tie his shoelaces. Realize how important you are to the people around you and be the greatest blessing you know how to be every day. You’ll find yourself blessed at the same time.