Fay Lamb's "A Dozen Apologies" interview & giveaway (digital copy)

Hey All! Please join me in welcoming Fay Lamb to my blog. She's here to share a little about herself with us and her book (along with several other authors), A Dozen Apologies. (digital copy to give away)


Congratulations goes to LINDA

Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m a native fifth-generation Floridian. I was born and raised in the town in which I still reside, but I escape as often as I can to the mountains of Western North Carolina.

I’m active in the Central Florida chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers. In fact, I was their first president. I’ve just been elected secretary.

I am an acquisition editor with a well-known Christian publisher, and I write Christian romance and romantic suspense, and dabble a little in non-fiction books about the craft of writing. My current releases are Stalking Willow and Better than Revenge, the first two novels in my romantic suspense series, Amazing Grace, and Charisse, the first novel in the Ties that Bind contemporary romance series. The second book in the series, Libby, will release soon. My non-fiction title is: The Art of Characterization: How to Use the Elements of Storytelling to Connect Readers to an Unforgettable Cast.

Oh, and I can’t forget my favorite collaborations: three Write Integrity Press novellas: The Christmas Tree Treasure Hunt, A Ruby Christmas, and our soon to be released, A Dozen Apologies.

Why do you write the kind of books you do?                                                           

I have to admit that early in my career, when I was studying the craft, you could not have gotten me to admit that I wrote romance for the sake of romance. Not me. I wrote women’s fiction with a little romance, suspense with a little romance, maybe even a comedy with a little romance, but never just romance.

Then it occurred to me that whether we’re willing to admit it or not, romance draws us in. Even in the most conflict-ridden war-torn adventure, the promise of romance makes the story all that much sweeter. When I finally realized that, I decided I would write romance with suspense, romance with a bit of comedy, and well, romance with romance.

I write Christian romantic suspense and romance because I believe that God has given me the talent and the desire to write. If He has gifted me, then I need to use that gift for Him. Sometimes the message is for someone seeking to know Him. Other times, the story is written because I’ve faced some issues, and I know that if I faced them, others have, too. My desire is to show readers the love of Christ through the trials of my characters, who may or may not be living life the way they should. I also want to spread the word that God is always in the details. I love to infuse a little humor into my stories, no matter the genre, because God’s sense of humor is a favorite of His attributes for me, second only to His love.

Besides writing, what are some of your favorite hobbies?

I love to tat. In case you’re like I was when I visited a quilting show and saw this sweet ninety-four year old woman sharing this lost art, tatting is a form of lace made with double knots and picots (a fancy word for a loop left in the design). I have never been able to crochet or to knit, but the dear older woman I mentioned above invested a lot of her time and effort in making sure that I didn’t give up until I’d learn this art so that I could pass it along. So far, I’ve kept it to myself, but I am willing to teach.

I also collect salt and pepper shakers. I’m somewhere around five hundred pairs now, and would you believe I still pour my salt from a Morton’s box, and my pepper is out of a McCormick tin? I wouldn’t have even noticed except my mother-in-law points it out every time we invite her to dinner.

Have you always wanted to be a writer?

Always and forever. Cliché, I know, but it is the truth. I can’t imagine a time in my life when storytelling wasn’t a part of it. I’m very thankful that an overactive imagination always had a place to shine, whether it was with impromptu plays for the neighborhood kids or writing page after page of stories during my teenage years. I have the bad handwriting to prove it.

What advice would you give to a beginning writer?

If you’ve seen me answer this question before, you’ll know that I change it quite often. So much good advice for beginning writers has been offered by other writers. I believe I most often tell new writers not to give up. Let me tweak that advice a little bit. Sometimes the writing life can get overwhelming. An author isn’t finding success (and we all define success differently) fast enough, or maybe they’ve been successful, but life is moving too fast for a writer to catch up. An author (published or unpublished) may feel that their calling has changed. Then my advice is to step off the merry-go-round. The truth is, most writers are born to write. It’s something they must do. If, after a writer steps off the merry-go-round, he or she doesn’t feel the urge to get back on, maybe the Lord has other plans, and other wonderful adventures planned for the moment.

What book are you currently working on?

Oh, boy. I’m currently working on several projects. My characters in my upcoming third novel in The Amazing Grace series, entitled Everybody’s Broken, have finally come out of the shadows and we are into the heart of their story now. At the same time, I’m working on my next title in The Ties that Bind series, Hope, and I’m editing the first book in my Serenity Key series. That title is Storms in Serenity.

Please tell us a little about your book.

A Dozen Apologies isn’t my book alone. Eleven wonderful authors heeded the call. Together we brought to life our hapless heroine, Mara Adkins, a promising fashion designer, who has fallen off the ladder of success, and can’t seem to get up.

In college, Mara and her sorority sisters played an ugly game, and Mara was usually the winner. She’d date men she considered geeks, win their confidence, and then she’d dump them publicly. When Mara begins work for a prestigious clothing designer in New York, she gets her comeuppance. Her boyfriend steals her designs and wins a coveted position. He fires her, and she returns in shame to her home in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where life for others has changed for the better.

Mara’s parents, always seemingly one step from a divorce, have rediscovered their love for each other, but more importantly they have placed Christ in the center of that love. The changes Mara sees in their lives cause her to seek Christ. Mara’s heart is pierced by her actions toward the twelve men she’d wronged in college, and she sets out to apologize to each of them. A girl with that many amends to make, though, needs money for travel, and Mara finds more ways to lose a job that she ever thought possible.

Mara stumbles, bumbles, and humbles her way toward employment and toward possible reconciliation with the twelve men she humiliated to find that God truly does look upon the heart, and that He has chosen the heart of one of the men for her to have and to hold.

Chapters of A Dozen Apologies have been shared since January 20 and will run through February 5. If you haven’t read them yet, be sure to start here: http://writeintegrity.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-dozen-apologies-chapter-one.html

Starting February 5, our readers will have a chance to decide the ending for the book by voting for their favorite hero. The winning hero is the one who will win Mara’s heart.

Then on February 14^th—Valentine’s Day, the book will be offered live on Kindle, and readers will learn the identity of the hero who stole Mara’s heart.

We’ll be sharing all kinds of blog posts and interviews, and the authors truly hope that you will join us on our adventures. In fact, Mara has her own FB page. Feel free to friend her there: https://www.facebook.com/mara.adkins.35?fref=ts and be sure to see what we’re up to with our You Know Your Job is Odd When … page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/OurOddJobs/

How can readers find you on the Internet?

I’m all over the place, and I love to meet new friends. Here are some links:

http://faylamb.com (Fay’s website and blog: On the Ledge)

http://facebook.com/fay.lamb (personal FB page)

http://facebook.com/AuthorFay (Fay’s fan page)

http://twitter.com/FayLamb (Fay’s Twitter address)

http://faylamb.com/innersource/ (Inner Source Blog)

http://tacticaleditor.faylamb.com/ and http://facebook.com/TacticalEd

http://faylamb.com/ontheledge/on-the-ledge/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1482814.Fay_Lamb I did say I’m all over the place, right? 

Thanks, Fay, for being a guest on my blog.

Drawing will be held March, 8