Author Interview ~ Sharon Dunn

Sharon Dunn is the author of the Ruby Talyor Mysteries series. The second book in the series Sassy Cinderella and the Valiant Vigilante was voted Book of the Year by American Christian Fiction Writers. In between carting children to activities and making pets out of dust bunnies, she has penned a new series due to be released in early 2007 called the Bargain Hunters Mysteries. Learn more about Sharon and her books at http://www.sharondunnbooks.com .





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


In February of 2007 my new series Bargain Hunters mysteries comes out with Multnomah. The first book in the series is titled Death of a Garage Sale Newbie. It’s about four women bonded by the need to clip coupons and be first in line at doorbuster sales. When one of the members is found dead after a morning of garage saling, it is up to the other three to figure out whodunit.

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 was pregnant with my oldest son when I went to my first writer’s group meeting. He is fifteen now. I started out doing shorter things articles, skits, plays (and had two more babies). It is hard to measure how long it took to get that first contract. I worked on the book that eventually became Romance Rustlers and Thunderbird Thieves on and off for maybe three or four years. Once it was finished, I think it took over two years to sell.

In the meantime, I finished two other novels which are stuck in a drawer and never to see the light of day. One was a historical and the other was a Christmas romance. In an effort to sell a book, I tried on these different writing personalities and finally realized what I did best was right humorous mysteries. Some of the writing in the books that didn’t sell was very imitative of what I thought would sell, not my true voice. I am glad that the first novel that sold was who I really am as a novelist.


Do you still experience self-doubts regarding your work?

It never goes away, that self-doubt thing. I turned in my last book and I thought “this is the worst thing I have ever written. What did I think I was doing calling myself a writer.” Turned out my editor thought it was just fine, but I was sure it was the one that would sink my career. My thinking can get so unrealistic sometimes.

The thing that helps me combat that self-doubt is to separate the writer from the writing. When I was doing theater, I had to accept that sometimes I would have an off night or a bad performance, or a role that I couldn’t make work. That didn’t make me a bad actress. Likewise, with my writing, sometimes I will write something and think that it is just terrible, but I have to know that at the core of my being even if I write something that needs lots of polish or should be filed and forgotten, I am still a good writer.

What mistakes have you made while seeking publication?

Placing too much of my identity and self worth in selling a book. My first book almost sold a couple of times and then got turned down. During that time of waiting, I kept saying I was okay if it didn’t sell, but my body betrayed me. I developed a skin condition that I am sure was connected with the stress of waiting. I really wanted that book to sell. My esteem and value was wrapped up in succeeding. As a Christian my value ought to come from being loved by Christ, right? It was a real wake up call spiritually. Having ridden the emotional roller coaster several times, I think I deal with the waiting and the rejection with much more maturity. The cool thing about this business is that there is great opportunity for spiritual growth.

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

Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy career. Sorry Bette Davis, I took poetic license with her line. It is a very up and down business. One minute you are the bell of the ball and the next you can’t get a date to save your life. Just because I have a contract now, doesn’t mean I will in three years.

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

I don’t think I ever got bad advice, I have been fortunate. I think though that like most people, I didn’t understand what it meant to be a working writer. It is rare to become an overnight sensation with the release of a first novel. It happens, but it is rare. You build your audience over time and with each book. The problem is that we only hear about the big money deals and overnight successes, so everyone thinks that is the norm for the business. In fact, just plugging away, focusing on making the book I am working on the best it can be, going on to the next book and taking care of your readers is how you build a career.

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

Did I mention that a writing career is a bumpy ride. I wasn’t delusional, I knew I wasn’t going to be putting in a pool and hiring a maid with my first book contract. If you talk to any writer who is established, they will have war stories to share. Dry spells when they couldn’t sell anything, years of learning to write without seeing any fruit and the number of books they had to of books they had to write before one sold.

What I wish I would have known was that once I accepted that there is very little you as the writer are in control of in the publishing biz, it is a lot easier to function. I am in control of how good my book is and of how much promotion I do. Even if I do tons of promotion, that doesn’t mean my book will be a bestseller. I am not in control of my publisher getting bought out, or of a magazine I write for going out of business or even if my book goes out of print. All I can do is write the best book I can.

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

Twice now, God has taken me on the same journey. Once, before I sold my first Ruby Taylor and again before I got the contract for the Bargain Hunters Mysteries. Both times, I was without a contract and crying out to God, “Why can’t I sell this book? I thought you wanted me to write.”

Both times, I had to come to a place of contentment separate from having a book contract. Both times, I had to decide that yes God does want me to use my talents to write, but right now I need to be a student of the novel. I need to go back to the drawing board and study story structure and character development etc. I am a slow learner, God had to teach me the same lesson twice. In the future, there may be another dry spell. I’m not going to stop writing. I could spend a lifetime studying the novel and learning how to write a better one.

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

Francine Rivers Redeeming Love is at the top of my list. I cut my teeth for mysteries on Agatha Christie and Sue Grafton is one of my all time favorite mainstream authors. I mostly read Christian fiction now, because there is so much good stuff out there. I love Lisa Samson’s The Living End and The Church Ladies, Brandilyn Collins’ suspense and Kristin Billerbeck’s chick lit. There are some new writers whose first books are really promising: Virginia Smith’s, Just as I am, Sharon Hinck’s, Secret Life of Becky Miller and Hope Lyda’s, Hip to be Square.

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

It wasn’t something that was published. I was asked to share at my father’s funeral. Because of his alcoholism and the brokenness that resulted, my relationship with my father had not been close. The first draft of the eulogy was filled with my bitterness. My husband read it and said that I couldn’t share that kind of thing at a funeral. I wanted to be honest, but also needed to be kind. After some thinking and journaling, I was able to see and share the gifts my father had given me despite his brokenness. The writing impacted my family and I understood the cathartic power of the written word. Much of my bitterness fell away and I was able to work on forgiving my father.

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

That it is a biz. That means that sometimes a less than wonderful book with solid promotion might sell better than a great book with minimal promotion. I am a bit leery of books that are over promoted, the ones that are touted as being the next great thing. I tend to shy away from those books because my expectation get so puffed up, I am disappointed when I do read the book. I love it when I take a chance on a book that I have never heard of because the cover or back cover blurb intrigues me and I find out that it is wonderful. It’s like treasure hunting.

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

I have three kids and work part time at the university so every day is a little different. Ideally, I try to get the writing done in the morning especially the hard mental stuff like pumping out rough draft. I can rewrite or deal with other writing related stuff later in the day. I found that I can do two and half to three hours of solid hard thinking writing and then my productivity tends to fall off and pretty soon I am spending more time staring out the window than with my fingers on the keyboard. If I do have to write longer hours, I take breaks, throw in a load laundry, make some phone calls, eat lunch on the porch with the sun on my face, or if it summer, I take the kids to park. If the schedule is super packed, it is far better for me to get up at 4 or 5 in the morning than to tell myself that will get things done at night. My brain is mental mush after about seven.

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

I love the way Lisa Samson develops and describes characters. Her writing is seamless. As a writer, I am harder and harder to impress because I know story structure, I can predict the dark moment the plot twist the character arc. So when writer or a film maker surprises me, I pay attention. Napoleon Dynamite was one of those movies. People told me it was a fun movie but had no plot. That is not true, the structure is there but you get so swept away by the uniqueness the lack of slickness of the story and truth and humor of the characters that you don’t see the story structure. The movies of M. Night Shyamalan do the same thing for me.

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

I am chasing after the perfect story, a story that isn’t labeled Christian or mainstream but that has a message that points right at the gospel without being preachy. Les Miserables is the finest example of that. If I could right something that good, I would be one happy camper.

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

I do have my moments. When I see how messy my house is because I have a deadline, I think maybe I should just quit and be a real Christian wife. I always talk myself out of that because I am so nourished by the writing. To succeed as a writer, you have to give up a lot. I have a very minimal social life, my family, my ladies Bible study, lunch or coffee with a friend once in a while.


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

I love the conferences, retreats, critique groups and online discussions. Connecting with other writers is a delight. Also, I love the emails I get from readers. Those mean so much. I will never get tired of someone saying that my book made them laugh or cry. I like getting my cup of coffee and sitting down to write, working and reworking a section like a potter works with clay until it sparkles. Sometimes I will find the exact right phrase or metaphor and I know it is unique. That is such a victory.

The only part of writing that cause anxiety is when I have to start a book and I wonder if there is even a novel in my idea. So much doubt. I worry that I will start writing and the plot will fall of the edge of the earth on page sixty. My big challenge in those early stages is to get the first three chapters sketched out and to feel confident that I have started the story in the right place. The anxiety lets up a little bit after that.

Okay, the thing that I hate most about writing…the promotional photo. I have this vision of how I want look, intelligent but approachable. I see the photo and I think “who is that fat woman with the bad haircut and why does she look like she has been sucking on lemons?” Maybe I should find a stand in.

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

When I go to conferences, I make myself go to those workshops on promotion. It’s not my favorite thing. I love the workshops about story structure and character development. It’s easy for me to get overwhelmed by all the possibilities for promotion. I could spend more time promoting than writing. What I came to realize was that all those ideas I hear in workshops and read in writing magazines are just suggestions. I need to pick and choose the ideas that fit my personality a time restrictions. I am not a flamboyant person, nor am I a party planner. I take any promotional opportunity that is offered to me from my publisher and others. I do the basics: a book signing, notifying local radio, television, and newspaper. And I remind myself of that often repeated advice that the best promotion I can do is write a solid book that I am proud of.

Parting words?

Publication, being on the bestseller list, long lines at a book signing all that is the dessert of writing, don’t fall in love with it. You can live without dessert. You must fall in love with being alone in a room with your hands on the keyboard creating a world and people that didn’t exist until you turned on your computer. That solitary activity is the meat and potatoes of writing.