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Friday, May 18, 2012



Today I have the honor of hosting one of my good friends, Lena Dooley. If you’re not familiar with Lena’s work, here’s her bio:

Award-winning author, Lena Nelson Dooley, has more than 690,000 books in print.
In addition to her writing, Lena is a frequent speaker at women’s groups, writers groups, and at both regional and national conferences. She has spoken in six states and internationally. She is also one of the co-hosts of the Gate Beautiful blog radio show.
Lena has an active web presence on Shoutlife, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Linkedin and with her internationally connected blog where she interviews other authors and promotes their books.


Lena is giving away her brand new book, Mary’s Blessing, so please leave a comment at the end of this interview and on Sunday evening we’ll draw a winner.


AND NOW FOR MY INTERVIEW WITH LENA!

1.      What genre do you write in? (Historical, contemporary, romance, etc.)

I have written both historical and contemporary books in several genres, but all of them have a romantic thread woven through. Right now, I’ve finished one three-book historical series, and I’m starting writing another contracted historical series for the same publisher.

2.      How does your faith affect your daily life?

Faith is an integral part of my life. I’ve walked with the Lord so long, that to remove Him from my daily life would require major surgery, which would be life-threatening.

3.      What message do you hope to convey to readers, either in this latest book or in all your books?

The last four books I’ve written have had a strong thread of unmerited forgiveness, and learning to trust God in all things woven through the stories.

4.      Do you believe there is evil in the world and, if you do, how do you portray it in your novels (or do you portray evil in your novels?

Yes, there are all forms of evil in our world, and if some of them appear in my story, I try to make them realistic without being offensive in the way I write it. I want reader to feel safe about reading my stories.

5.      Did you ever have a memorable book-signing? (Sad, humorous, or awesome?) If so, please share it.

I’ve had a couple of wonderful book signings at Mardel’s for a Book Release party for a novel. I’ll have the one for Mary’s Blessing there as well. One thing I’m going to do with this book is to have a signing at Chan’s Mongolian Grill. One of the characters is the book is named for Tony Chan the proprietor, and he wants to have a book signing there. I think it will be fun and interesting.

6.      How do you deal with rejection letters or an irate reader?

Rejection is part of a writer’s life. I learned years ago to trust the Lord with the sales of my manuscripts. If I receive a rejection, I know He didn’t want that publisher to publish it, because he had other people He wanted to read the story that publisher wouldn’t reach.

About irate readers, I will answer their emails or messages and agree with them, because it’s a valid opinion. I won’t please everyone all the time. I sometimes ask the reader how they would change the book. I try to make a friend, even though we don’t agree about my book.

7.      What’s next for you as an author? Any books in the hopper?

As I said before, I’m starting a new series, and I’m excited about it. This is my Restored Hearts series about people whose hearts have been broken in some way.


I totally agree with your last statement, Lena. I wrote a book about that very thing called Broken Things. The updated version is available as a Kindle download on amazon.com.

Thank you so much for being my guest today, Lena! I’ve watched your career take off from your first Barbour novellas to your trade fiction for Charisma House. (Oh, and by the way, Lena and I both write for the Realms Authors’ Blog called Just theWrite Charisma. Stop by and take a read some time.)

 
And remember, Readers, Lena is giving away a copy of her brand new book Mary's Blessing. Be sure to leave a comment and your name will be entered into the drawing.

Until next time, keep those pages turning!

19 comments:

Andrea said...

Lena, I'd LOVE to win a copy of your latest book. I've decided to throw my hat into the ring too because lately the number of comments has been down. That's OK -- it increases my chances to win. LOL

Thanks for being a guest on my blog!
~AKB

Joanne Sher said...

I would NOT want Andrea to be the only person on the list (just wanna reduce your chances, my friend LOL). Enjoyed Lena's LFY in Golden, and would love to win another by her. Great interview!

Lena Nelson Dooley said...

Andrea, thank you for featuring me on your blog. I'd love to have you win the book.

But I'd be just as happy to send it to any of your readers as well.

Joanne, thanks for your comments, too.

Wendy Newcomb said...

I drool every time I see this cover and read about the story, lol, do you get the hint that I really want this book, haha.

wfnren(at)aol(dot)com

Lena Nelson Dooley said...

SPECIAL NOTE:

My publisher has offered to offer a copy of Maggie's Journey as well, so the winner will receive both books in the series that have been published so far.

Christina Rich said...

Definitely add me into the ring. I love reading books on unmerited forgiveness. And I'm an historical junkie. ;)

JoAnne Bennett said...

Andrea, I enjoyed reading your interview with Lena. I love her positive attitude about life.

rubynreba said...

I've been wanting to read this! Thanks for the chance.
pbclark(at)netins(dot)net

Wendy said...

Fantastic Interview!
I would love to read one of your books.
Thank you for the chance.
Many blessings to you and yours.
Wendy
Wdesirees(at)yahoo(dot)com

Judy said...

Wow Maggie's Journey and Mary's Blessings! Great giveaway!

I really enjoyed the interview.

Please enter me! Thanks!

Blessings
Judy
sweetpea.judy(at)yahoo(dot)com

Teresa Clark said...

Please add me to the list of grateful, forgiving followers. Thank You for being an inspiration to us all!
Teresa

misskallie2000 said...

Hi Lena, I have had both Maggie's Journey and Mary's Blessing on my wish list for a while. I am looking forward to reading more of your books. I love romance stories and have read many of them over the last 50 yrs. Thanks for the opportunity to enter this giveaway.

misskallie2000 at yahoo dot com

Sharon said...

Loved "Maggie's Journey" and looking forward to reading the other sisters stories. So if I am fortunate to win the book, please send Maggie's story to someone else.

Thanks for the interview and the give away.
Sharon
smoore at tcq dot net

pol said...

Hi Lena, great interview thanks for sharing, I love to read your books and to win not one but two means I am here with bells-on....pick me.
Thanks Paula O(kyflo130@yahoo.com)

Lena Nelson Dooley said...

Wow! I was away from home much of the day yesterday. So many people came by to visit. So good to see you here.

Christina, JoAnne, Rubynreba, Wendy, Judy, Teresa, MissKallie, Sharon, Pol,
Thank you, everyone, for the wonderful comments. I love avid readers.

Debra Ullrick said...

Hi Andrea. Hi Lena!

I love what you said about making a friend of someone who doesn't care about your book. It took me a long time not to take it personal when people don't like a story of mine. I'm learning it's all subjective. Some will like it, some won't. And that's okay.

Great interview.

Please add my name to the drawing.

Debra Ullrick
christianromancewriter [at] gmail [dot] com

Thank you.

jude urbanski said...

Lena and Andrea,
Liked this post and, Lena, your choices of subject matter and plots are inspiring.

Please add my name to the drawing! Thanks.

urbanski4u@aol.com

Andrea said...

The winner is LUCKY NUMBER 13!
So, Deb Ulrich, please email me your snail mail address and we'll make sure Lena's TWO books in this brand new series of hers are mailed out to you.
DEAR READERS, please come back soon for another interview with today's CBA's authors.

AKB

Faith Hope and Cherrytea said...

absolutely love this review and intro to Lena's newest writing! sorry to have missed it -
no end date posted ); ..