*Patti, please tell us a little about you.
In 1955, I was born in the back seat of a Buick and have been kinda discombobulated ever since! Changing grade schools every year until junior high didn’t help, but it did begin my friendship with books, which could take me away from loneliness and boredom with the turn of a page. Baylor University gifted me with a solid education and a loving husband. Our new family did a bit of moving around ourselves and finally plopped down in Normal, Illinois, where we raised two incredible kids. After careers in teaching and court reporting, the Still, Small Voice asked me to write.
*What was the best gift you have ever received?
Salvation through grace by faith in Jesus. What a friend He is!
*What other books have you written, either published or not?
Bayou Secrets (tentative title), which will be released by Kregel in April of 2009.
*What did you do to celebrate selling your novel?
First I called some peeps and screeched into the phone. Then we reserved a special table at our favorite Thai restaurant, feasted on pad Thai and papaya salad and some things I don’t know the English words for, then clinked glasses with a few toasts.
*Please tell us a little about An Irishwoman’s Tale.
A shattered cup. Cheap tea. Bitter voices asking what’s to be done with the little eejit. Mary, a headstrong Irishwoman, won’t face the haunting memories—until her daughter’s crisis and a chatty new Southerner, propel her back to County Clare. As Mary unearths ghastly secrets, God reveals a way for her to bury a dysfunctional past.
*In your novel, Mary struggles with wanting friends. Who was your best friend growing up? What is one of your fondest memories together?
Books were my best friends until high school, when a gregarious girl named Melanie blew into my life. I crammed sleepovers, girl gossip, and midnight pizzas from her Italian family’s restaurant into four memorable years. Now Mary, the Irishwoman, is my best friend.
In 1955, I was born in the back seat of a Buick and have been kinda discombobulated ever since! Changing grade schools every year until junior high didn’t help, but it did begin my friendship with books, which could take me away from loneliness and boredom with the turn of a page. Baylor University gifted me with a solid education and a loving husband. Our new family did a bit of moving around ourselves and finally plopped down in Normal, Illinois, where we raised two incredible kids. After careers in teaching and court reporting, the Still, Small Voice asked me to write.
*What was the best gift you have ever received?
Salvation through grace by faith in Jesus. What a friend He is!
*What other books have you written, either published or not?
Bayou Secrets (tentative title), which will be released by Kregel in April of 2009.
*What did you do to celebrate selling your novel?
First I called some peeps and screeched into the phone. Then we reserved a special table at our favorite Thai restaurant, feasted on pad Thai and papaya salad and some things I don’t know the English words for, then clinked glasses with a few toasts.
*Please tell us a little about An Irishwoman’s Tale.
A shattered cup. Cheap tea. Bitter voices asking what’s to be done with the little eejit. Mary, a headstrong Irishwoman, won’t face the haunting memories—until her daughter’s crisis and a chatty new Southerner, propel her back to County Clare. As Mary unearths ghastly secrets, God reveals a way for her to bury a dysfunctional past.
*In your novel, Mary struggles with wanting friends. Who was your best friend growing up? What is one of your fondest memories together?
Books were my best friends until high school, when a gregarious girl named Melanie blew into my life. I crammed sleepovers, girl gossip, and midnight pizzas from her Italian family’s restaurant into four memorable years. Now Mary, the Irishwoman, is my best friend.
*What do you enjoy most about writing Christian fiction?
Collecting fragments of real-life stories and shaping them into a book that echoes Biblical themes. Every time I think of forgiveness, I think of Mary (The Irishwoman) enduring blow after emotional blow from not one, but two dysfunctional families and finding a way to extend grace.
*What would you like readers to take away from An Irishwoman’s Tale?
Romans 8:28: God can work good in the lives of those who love Him, who call on His name, even if their life has crumbled into tiny pieces.
*Okay. For a little fun, if you were a candy bar, what would you be? Why?
A dark chocolate Dove bar with almonds. Creamy and sassy and nutty all at once.
*Tell us about your favorite Animal. Flower.
A loyal dog. A creamy magnolia bursting with the sweet scent of the South.
*If money was not an issue, where in all of the world would you want to travel to? I want to go to Ireland and have for quite sometime especially Limerick where my mother’s family is from.
Well, Donna, you and I might be seatmates on an Aer Lingus flight! I’d head back to County Clare, then meander up the coast to the Wild Connemara, taking time to visit the Aran Isles. A close second is the moveable feast of Italy.
*Do you have any advice for novice or aspiring writers?
Apply the parable of the talents to writing and then proceed with joy somehow juxtaposed with fear and trembling as you will one day account to the Audience of One about your scribblings on paper.
*Can you tell us what you are working on now?
The first novel of a new series entitled, “Spanning Seas and Secrets.” My Name is Sheba begins in the rollicking 1940s New Orleans French Quarter and concludes in a Thai jail.
*I am so happy that you were able to visit with us. Do you have any last parting words? Where can readers find you?
Me, too. Sensational questions, Donna!
My last advice? Don’t stop writing! You have important stories to tell.
Visit me often at http://www.pattilacy.com/. While you’re there, check out the monthly contest.
Blessings to all.
1 comment:
I really want to read An Irishwoman's Tale. Thank you for the lovely interview. I especially liked the author's advice to aspiring writers - "Apply the parable of the talents to writing" how true to God's word! If we all thought like that we would actually make something of our lives!
Blessings,
Lucie
LucieInCA [at] aol [dot] com
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