INTERVIEWS WITH REVELL CHRISTMAS BLOG TOUR AUTHORS!

REVELL CHRISTMAS BLOG TOUR
AUTHOR INTERVIEWS

MEET MELODY CARLSON, AUTHOR OF THE CHRISTMAS DOG:

Melody Carlson has worked a variety of jobs from preschool teacher to senior editor, but feels she found her calling when she began writing fifteen years ago. Now with around 200 books published and about 3.5 million books in print, she writes full time. She has two grown sons and one granddaughter and makes her home in Oregon with her husband of more than 30 years. For more information check out her website – www.melodycarlson.com

Welcome, Melody, to the Revell Christmas Blog Tour and Bingo's Author Interviews. It is so kind of you to take time to talk with me today about your writing and your new holiday book that is part of the tour, THE CHRISTMAS DOG! I understand that you have the following project underway that you are working on: LIMELIGHT (a women’s novel with Multnomah) to be released shortly after the Christmas Dog and ANYTHING BUT NORMAL (a YA novel with Revell releases in early 2010). And so with all that going on, I am sure you still love to read other's work. What have you just finished reading?

I just read a pre-published book the purpose of endorsing. I want to be supportive of other authors, but I also want to be honest. Unfortunately, I was unable to give an honest endorsement. That’s not easy. Before that, I read The Last Go Round by Ken Kesey. It was partially for research and entertainment.

What books would you say have made the biggest impression on you, especially starting out?

As a child I remember being hugely moved by The Diary of Anne Frank. I never really thought about this before, but I wonder if that influenced me to write my Diary of a Teenage Girl series. Although my contemporary stories hardly compare to what Anne Frank endured.

What gets you started on a new book? A character or story idea or….?

It’s usually a character, sometimes with a setting mixed in, and then I add a problem—and presto, like a magic formula, the story just unwinds.

What is something about you that you would want people to know about you that we probably don’t know?

Because I’m a fairly private person…that’s a hard question. But I guess I’d want people to know that I’m just like them…a person who dreams, works hard, has struggles, believes that God is still in control of the universe.

What is your best advice to anyone, including young people, who want to be writers?

First of all to allow yourself the freedom to just write, and to make mistakes in your writing, and to write badly…just write. Each time you write, you grow as a writer. Also you need to read—and read the kinds of books you aspire to write. And take in whatever is around you—not just as an observer, but as a participant too. Live life as fully as you’d like to write it. Then, of course, if you want to publish, you need to develop thick skin and persevere.

What is something you would like to share with us about writing your favorite genre in general?

It’s hard to pick only one favorite genre—that’s kind of like picking your favorite kid. The truth is my favorite genre/book is always the one I’m working on. I try to throw myself into whatever I’m writing, whether it’s a serious teen book, a romance, mystery, Christmas novella, or chic lit. And lately, in response to our depressed and stressed country, I’ve enjoyed writing more light hearted, uplifting, and encouraging books. And this year’s Christmas novella, The Christmas Dog, is about some people with challenges, but it ends with hope and good cheer.

Thanks to Melody Carlson and hopefully you will all get a chance to read her work, especially THE CHRISTMAS DOG over the holidays!

MEET DAN WALSH, AUTHOR OF THE UNFINISHED GIFT:

Dan Walsh's debut novel, The Unfinished Gift, was released on September 1st, published by Revell. It's already been selected by Crossings and Doubleday book clubs as a featured book for their members this Fall. RT Book Reviews magazine gave it 4.5 Stars and a Top Pick rating in the Inspirational category. His writing style has been compared to Richard Paul Evans, best-selling author of The Christmas Box. Dan has finished the sequel, The Homecoming, scheduled for release in June.

He has served as a pastor at the same church since 1985. He and his wife Cindi have been married 33 years and live in the Daytona Beach area.
You can visit his Web site at www.danwalshbooks.com or his blog at www.danwalshbooks.blogspot.com or his Facebook fan site: www.facebook.com/pages/Dan-Walsh/143541164701
Dan has just finished his third novel, The Deepest Waters, and has begun writing and researching novel number four (another Christmas story, this one set in 1980). Dan, you are a busy man and we are lucky you could take time to answer some review questions for my readers. Let's start with the reason we are all here and that is the love of reading. What have you just finished reading?

The Lost Mission by Athol Dickson, just released in September. A fascinating novel. It’s the third book of Dickson’s I’ve read, and the best so far. He writes suspense novels with mysteries weaved in, a little dose of X-Files, but from a Christian worldview. Just picked up The Christmas List by Richard Paul Evans.

What books would you say have made the biggest impression on you, especially starting out?

The historical fiction novels of Jeff Shaara or the thriller novels by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (especially the Agent Pendergast ones). Even though I write inspirational, historic fiction, I want the pages to turn fast. Reading page-turners helps keep this focus.

What gets you started on a new book? A character or story idea or….?

I’m a little mixed up here. For example, with my debut novel, The Unfinished Gift (the one out now)…the whole thing came to me over two days, like a movie playing in my head. I kept stopping and jotting things down, and there it was, the whole story, with all the characters in the book, almost exactly as I first saw them. When I finished, I didn’t intend to write a sequel. But I couldn’t stop. The characters were alive by then, and they had another story to tell (The Homecoming, coming out in June). But for my third novel (on contract but not published yet), the story came first, and it was an amazing story. It took me awhile to develop characters worthy of the tale. It’s finished now, and the characters are my good friends.

What is something about you that you would want people to know about you that we probably don’t know?

Like most authors, I love solitude, spending hours researching and writing and rewriting. But I also need and want regular doses of being with people. I like people. I love to laugh and make others laugh. I’m also perfectly happy when I’m the one others are laughing at (to a point).

What is your best advice to anyone, including young people, who want to be writers?

Most writers are creative, artistic people. What we crave most after writing something are compliments. When we say, “What do you think?” after someone reads something we write, they are supposed to say, “That was fascinating” or, “I loved it, give me some more.” That may occasionally happen right off the bat. But published authors will tell you, that reaction usually comes after a lot of corrective input and advice (advice we’ve listened to and followed). If all you crave are compliments, give up now, because you’ll never make it in this business. You have to recognize the need for quality feedback and input from others. It has to seen as normal and just as needful as all the creative and artistic impulses that fuel our passion to write in the first place.

What is something you would like to share with us about writing your favorite genre in general?

I write historical fiction, but my goal is to draw in even those readers who hated history in high school. I want to make the time period I’m writing about come alive, to put the reader right there. And I want to write stories that grab our hearts, that make us think while we’re being thoroughly entertained. I want my readers to be distracted, thinking about my characters in between each sitting. Better yet, I want to mess up their day, to where they’re altering their plans because they can’t put the book down. My goal is to write the kind of books I love to read.

Again, another fine interview and generous author to take time from his very busy schedule to answer some questions for us. Thank you, Dan!

BUNDLE GIVEAWAY
LATER TODAY, YOU WILL MEET
OUR THIRD AUTHOR AND BOOK
AND HAVE YOUR LAST CHANCE
TO ENTER FOR THE BIG GIVEAWAY!

BUT!!!
I AM SURE YOU NOTICED
THE SYMBOL UP ABOVE AND
HERE, SO YES, HERE IS A CHANCE
FOR ONE MORE ENTRY INTO
THE REVELL CHRISTMAS TOUR
BINGLE BELLS BOOK BUNDLE
GIVEAWAY!

RULES:

--U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY, SORRY
--NO P. O. BOXES, PLEASE
--ALL ENTRIES MUST CONTAIN
YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
--EACH COMMENT MUST BE MADE SEPARATELY
OR THEY WILL NOT COUNT
AS MORE THAN ONE ENTRY!

HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY: AFTER READING BOTH INTERVIEWS, CHOOSE ONE AUTHOR THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE ASKED A QUESTION OF. TELL WHICH AUTHOR IT IS AND WHAT WOULD YOUR QUESTION BE.

DEADLINE TO ENTER IS
6 PM, EST, DECEMBER 4



THAT WAS EASY!
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AUTHOR AND THIRD BOOK
IN JUST A LITTLE BIT LATER
TODAY...AND GOOD LUCK!