I have mentioned Rebekah before and shared a few of her books, several of which are on my Recommended Books page.
I have read five of Rebekah's books and I have one or two more waiting in my Kindle :)
My favorite of her works so far has been Gift From the Storm. I highly recommend this book.
One cold, dark evening a young stranger appears outside the Morgan home with two small children. Injured and on the verge of complete exhaustion, she will only say that her name is “Amy.” Where did she come from? Who is she? And what has she been through? Dr. Justin Morgan and his family look for answers as they struggle to minister life and health to the needy ones in their midst. |
Hi Lauren,
Thanks for inviting me over. I’m a homeschool graduate, an aunt to six energetic, fun-loving nieces and nephews, an author of ten books and counting, a writing teacher, a hand quilter and an extremely outgoing person. I’m the youngest in my family with a married older brother and an older sister. My home is in the southwest corner of the Show-Me state where I’ve lived nearly all my life. One of my favorite pastimes is reading. If I had a chance, I’d read new books every week. And I dream of traveling to every state in the country someday.
How did you get started into writing?
Well, that’s a question I’ve often wondered about myself. It was not when I was young. In fact, I hated writing assignments during school! (Though I did enjoy making up stories to tell to my best friends or acting out.) I suppose what really got me interested in writing was after my graduation when some younger friends and I started writing “pretend” letters to each other like we lived during the early days of America. I’ve always loved history so that was fun. It wasn’t until I had written with several girls (each during a different era) that I realized just how much fun writing could be. But it wasn’t until almost four years after my graduation that my mom encouraged me to try writing a book. And it wasn’t until 6 years later that my first book “Home Fires of the Great War” was published. I’ll never forget that day.
From that time on, I’ve been hooked. I can’t get enough stories written. J
What inspired the Triple Creek series?
This is a hard question to answer. I’m not exactly sure what inspired it. Perhaps it was my love of western life (I’m a city girl who dreams of living on a ranch some day.), my interest in three characters I created for an assignment, or perhaps it was something else. Whatever it was, I did not plan on writing a series when I started. I was only going to write one book. But it was too long, so it was going to be two. Then a friend asked, “Are you going to write three books since it is the Triple Creek Ranch?” Now I’m writing Book 5 with thoughts of Book 6 teasing my brain.
What is the question you get asked the most in regards to being an author?
The most often asked question is, “When is the next book coming out?” J
But another common one is “How and where do you get your ideas for so many books?”
My answer? Everywhere. Sometimes they just come to me. Other times I’ll have a thought about something and then I start playing the “what if” game and an entirely new situation appears. My readers have been a great help in my series with giving me any ideas they have, suggestions, things they want to know about different characters or just telling me things that they have done. It’s been a lot of fun. There have even been times when I woke up in the mornings and realized that the dream I just had would make an interesting idea. And what is even more fun is when a real life situation comes across your path and you just know you have to put it in your book. (I have found, however, that some people tend to think the real life stories are “too unreal” to have happen in a story.)
What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
There are several things I would tell a new or aspiring author.
•Always remember that your writing is to glorify God. Never write anything even if you don’t plan to publish it, that you would be ashamed to let your family or Jesus Christ read.
•Write about what you know. I’ve seen so many young writers jump into writing with some great ideas, only they really don’t know anything about them. Start with things you know! If you don’t know about what you want to write about, research! You have to be willing to work.
•Make sure the ones who edit your work aren’t going to just say, “Oh, this is so wonderful!” You are going to need constructive criticism. Be open to take it. But that doesn’t mean you have to try to please everyone. J
•And finally, enjoy what you do. Yes, sometimes writing is hard work, but if you don’t have a passion for what you do, your stories will be missing a vital part. Also, don’t expect it to all be easy. There is a quote on my blog which I like because it is so true, only I didn’t realize just how true until I had published a few books and was really writing. “Only amateurs say that they write for their own amusement. Writing is not an amusing occupation. It is a combination of ditch-digging, mountain-climbing, treadmill and childbirth. Writing may be interesting, absorbing, exhilarating, racking, relieving. But amusing? Never!”
~Edna Ferber
What type of marketing/advertising have you done that you felt was the most successful for you?
When it comes to marketing/advertising my books, I’m not so good. I would much rather spend my time writing a new story than promoting myself and my works. But, I have learned some things which have been helpful. Since I am self-published, I can set my prices and I have found that using the FREE promotion or even the count-down promotion for my kindle books has been a help. Also word of mouth is invaluable. But I have to keep reminding myself that it takes time. Most people have to see something over and over before they really think about buying it. That is true with books too.
What other books have you written?
It’s funny that you should ask me that right now. I can’t believe how many books I actually have published! Maybe I’m making up for not writing stories when I was young. J
•Home Fires of the Great War (A story about home life during WWI)
•The Unexpected Request (A western)
•Pirates of Rocky Crag Bay and Other Stories (Short stories for children)
•Lower Lights and Other Stories (Short stories for teens and up)
•Triple Creek Ranch books 1-4
•The Graham Quartet and the Mysterious Strangers (Mystery book for any age)
•Gift from the Storm (My newest book)
Do you have any works in progress you'd like to share with us?
Currently I am working on writing Triple Creek Ranch – 5. Right now it has no title other than book five, but I hope it will be published by fall of this year. And who knows when I’ll start a new story. J I always like having more than one story going on at once. Perhaps it will be Triple Creek Ranch book 6, or another Graham Quartet book or something completely new and different. Stay tuned.
Where can people connect with you online?
They can visit my blog at www.rsreadingroom.blogspot.com . I’m always happy to have a new reader come by. I update my blog every Friday morning, so stop by and take a look. They can also find me on Goodreads.
Thanks for letting me come and share with you and your readers, Lauren. I’ve enjoyed it.
Take a moment and visit Rebekah's blog. I enjoy reading the weekly installments she posts of some of her stories.