Avalon Books - Author! Author!


	Read some interviews from past editions:
		Zelda Benjamin April, 2008
		Shirley Marks December, 2007
		Donna Wright December, 2007
		Carolyn Brown August, 2007
		Roni Denholtz June, 2007
		Tara Randel April, 2007
		Sydell Voeller February, 2007
		Sheila Robins December, 2006
		Ann Holt October, 2006
		Cynthia Danielewski July, 2006
		Jane McBride Choate March, 2006
		Kathryn Meyer Griffith January, 2006
		Mel Taylor November, 2005
		Kathleen Fuller September, 2005
		Tracey J. Lyons July, 2005
		Ludima Gus Burton May, 2005
		Holly Jacobs March, 2005
		Kathryn Quick November, 2004
		Cheri Jetton September, 2004
		Heather S. Webber July, 2004
		Karl Fieldhouse May, 2004
		Shelley Galloway March, 2004
		Ilsa Mayr January, 2004
		Kathy Carmichael November, 2003
		Dorothy P. O'Neill July, 2003
		Joani Ascher May, 2003
		Patricia DeGroot March, 2003
		Nancy J. Parra January, 2003
		Barbara Meyers November, 2002
		Christine Bush September, 2002
		Debby Mayne July, 2002
		Jean C. Gordon May, 2002
		Charles E. Friend March, 2002
		Norma Seely January, 2002
		Glen Ebisch November, 2001
		Gina Cresse September, 2001
		John Paxson July, 2001
		Terri Alcock May, 2001
		Clifford Blair March, 2001
		Amanda Harte January, 2001
		Kent Conwell November, 2000
		Carolyn Brown September, 2000
		Annette Mahon July, 2000
		Marjorie McGinley May, 2000
		Jack Lewis March, 2000
		Amanda Harte January, 2000
		Joyce and Jim Lavene November, 1999
	Return to the current Author! Author! interview:
		S.J. Stewart April, 2008


Author! Author!: January, 2005
Click on images to learn more about these books. An Interview with Sandra D. Bricker


What inspires you to write?
	I suppose every writer feels that they have something interesting or witty or funny or inspiring to say, and writing it down is our way of expressing it and sharing it with the world. So what inspires me? There is a call on my heart that is just inescapable. While other people turn to painting or sculpting or design to express their inner voice, mine yearns to find its way to paper by way of a keyboard. And when I’m doing that, it doesn’t feel as if I have any other choice.
Where do you get ideas for plots?
	I’m asked that a lot, and the question always makes me chuckle. I trip over ideas and characters and scenarios everywhere I go. At the pet supply store, at the grocery, at the movies, in line for the ATM, and I’ve been doing it since I was a kid. I’ll see someone for just an instant, and my brain starts mapping out their story. That person over there looks so lonely; I’ll bet something has happened to them. Perhaps the loss of a loved one or a pending breakup. And then it’s like going to the races: And we’re off! Before I know it, I have a whole storyline about them in my head and, in those twelve seconds while they were in my line of sight, I’ve come to know them intimately. Well. My version of them, anyway.
What’s the hardest part of writing?
	I’d love to give you an artsy kind of answer, like, “Oh, it’s the solitude of it all” or “those intricate plot developments.” But the truth is, for me, the hardest part of writing is the rejection. As a publicist, I always used to tell my actor clients that they really needed to be tough and take rejection impersonally and be strong, realizing that they just weren’t right for the part, blah blah blah. But writing is a very personal thing. Each of those characters and storylines and plot twists are little pieces of the writer (no matter how much they’ll deny it if you ask them!). And when an editor comes back and says this character is unrelatable, or that storyline implausible, it’s a little slice of the writer that they’re denying. Some authors handle that far better than I do, and I hope to be more like them when I grow up. For now, though, I’m working to build up a sort of callous for it. I’m not there yet.
How do you develop your characters?
	I usually invite them over for tea or out for dinner. Of course, I’m speaking metaphorically, so don’t call the guys with the white coats just yet ... but I’ve gotten to know many of my characters better by just sitting down and watching them for a while. Seeing how they react to life, in comparison to my own reactions. For instance, Victoria Townsend (from WISH I WEREN’T HERE) doesn’t look a thing like me, but from the first chapter I realized that her responses were more like mine than any other character I’d written before her. On the other hand, Raine Sheridan (from SINS OF THE PAST), although very much like me in some ways, was far more patient and brave than I would know how to be. And once you start seeing the subtle differences in them, they tend to sort of develop themselves from there.
How did you start writing?
	My mom used to love to tell the story of how I ran into the living room on a Sunday afternoon while I was learning how to string my cursive letters together and declared to my father, “Daddy, look! I wrote my name! ... I’m going to be a great writer when I grow up!” It wasn’t long after that, she would always remind me, when she knew how prophetic those words were. I wrote my first short story in the 6th grade and was published in the local newspaper in 11th. It’s a great joy to me that she was able to see my first published book before Mom passed away.
When do you find time to write?
	That’s a good question, and I don’t really have a great answer for it. I work a full-time job as a mortgage counselor and have just spent the last year of my life fighting my way through uterine and ovarian cancer. But even at that, I continued to write. Like I said, it’s a “calling” that just can’t seem to be denied. Some mornings, I’ll wake up very early with the overwhelming desire to spend some time with my characters, and I’ll write for a couple of hours before work. I’ve written a few pages on my lunch break, or eat my dinner at the computer in my office at home. I don’t really think it’s a matter of finding time to write; it’s more like finding time for the rest of your life between chapters.
Do you have any advice for aspiring writers? Or for anyone wanting to submit to Avalon?
	Two words: DO IT. Like anything else you really want to do, the words don’t find their way to the page without you. There are a lot of folks out there with great story ideas who never put them down on paper. They spend time going to workshops and meeting other writers; they think about what they’re going to write, and they talk about writing, and they really do mean well when they become very serious and stone-faced so that you believe that it’s truly their passion. But like the Biblical principle “by their fruits, you will know them,” with writers it becomes “by their pages, you will know them.” A writer writes. And if not, well ... ! So if you’re aspiring, sit yourself down and do it! And then send it to Avalon. They’re a fantastic publisher, especially for writers just starting out.
What can you tell us about your latest book for Avalon?
	WISH I WEREN’T HERE is a romantic comedy about a very unlikely pair. Vic is a tough city girl, and Drew is her antithesis in every way ... and I had a blast writing their story! The reviews have been really great, calling it “laugh out loud funny” and a love story that’s even “better than chocolate.” I really hope my readers enjoy it as much as I loved writing it, and I’d be thrilled to hear from them when they do. You can find me via my website at www.SandraDBricker.com, and I look forward to hearing from Avalon readers!