Author Inteview with Dawn Crandall & Giveaway

UPDATE: This is for an eBook ONLY!!!

But that means it is open INTERNATIONALLY!!!

I was supposed to post a book review but due to family stuff happening and putting me behind, Dawn graciously agreed to do an interview. Be sure and read to the end because there is an opportunity to enter to win some prizes.

Share with us a little of your writing journey. (Did you always want to be a writer?)

Ever since I was in 4th grade, the idea of writing a book has appealed to me. I remember my teacher had us choose some contact paper for the "cover" and then bound papers together for us—I thought that was so cool!! And I couldn't wait to fill it with a story!! Don't ask me what I ever wrote in that little book, but I do know that from then on my favorite time in school was when we were supposed to write something. :) I never thought of "being a writer" until I was in high school and (finally!) came across the kinds of books that thrilled me to read—Rebeccaby Daphne du Maurier, Gone with the Windby Margaret Mitchell, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott... and then later in college, books by Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters. I'd made up some stories for my friends at the time and wrote out synopsis-like drafts, but nothing beyond that. At that time it was still just a dream of mine that I didn't know when I'd ever get around to actually being serious about. It wasn't until I married my husband in my late twenties and he found out the hidden secret of my heart... and believed in me 110% more than I'd ever believed in myself. He eventually had me quit working to focus on writing, and in 2010 I began writing “Amaryllis.” It was pretty clear to me that I was on the right track when I had two offers of agent representation after attending my first ACFW conference in 2011 and then continued to either semi-final or final in the Genesis Contest with all three of my manuscripts in 2012 and 2013 while my series was on submission. Whitaker House held on to my manuscript for a year a half before offering me the three book contract. 

Have you visited the places you set your story in? What’s the one place you would love to visit above all others?

I have visited a few of the “hypothetical” places in The Hesitant Heiress. There

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are some ruins near the Portland Head Lighthouse at Cape Elizabeth, Maine that inspired me to add that whole aspect of the story. I’ve been to Bar Harbor, Maine on Mount Desert Island twice and stayed at The Cleftstone Manor, which was once one of the glorious “summer cottages” built in the late nineteenth century. Acadia National Park is located on Mount Desert Island, and I had so much fun exploring the rocky coast that means so much to Amaryllis Brigham.

What do you think makes a good story?

My favorite books are ones that take readers on an emotional journey, as well as a physical one, with lots of twists and turns that make the characters uncomfortable enough to grow past the person they are at the beginning of the book.

Where is your favorite place to write?

I like to write at my desk in my study, usually with a very quiet house—which doesn’t happen much now that there’s a five month old in the house!

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night and just have to get up and write down a thought? If so, do you keep a tablet on your bedside table or go to the computer?

I do sometimes have things I think up while I get up in the morning to feed the baby. I usually type them up in the notes on my phone and then email them to myself later.

Do you talk to your characters? Keep story boards? Pictures?

I don’t usually talk to my characters myself, but I do make them talk to each other. J I’ll give them something interesting to say or think and let it go from there. It’s really fun, because I usually get something really good to put into a scene, or sometimes I get a whole new scene out of the process!

And I definitely have story boards! Way before Pinterest was around, I would do Google image searches and save photographs that fit into my story into files on my laptop. I do now have a Pinterst Board dedicated to The Hesitant Heiress here: http://www.pinterest.com/dawnwritesfirst/novel-1-the-hesitant-heiress-by-dawn-crandall-book

Do you have a favorite book? What about it makes it stand out from others?

My favorite books ever areJane Eyre, all of Jane Austen’s books, and Rececca by Daphne du Maurier.  But my favorite “modern” authors are Julie Lessman, Jody Hedlund, Elizabeth Camden and Lori Benton. I don’t think any of them write anywhere close to the same style that I do, but there is always something about their characters that feels deeper than characters in other books. None of them write first person like me, but I try very hard to write my characters as realistically as I possibly can, the way they do. I also like the way the plots of their stories go—I’ve never actually read a book on “How to Write a Book”, but from the very beginning, searched out books I loved and studied how they were constructed, and what it was about the characters exactly that made me love them so much.   

What’s the one food item you can’t live without?

Can my answer be dessert? Any and every kind of yummy sweet—cookies, pies, cakes… yeah, those are pretty much what I can’t live without food-wise. J

What’s in store for you next? Are you working on another book?

I’m finishing up the last revisions of book three of The Everstone Chronicles right now. After that, I’m free to work on whatever I like, but I haven’t decided what that will be. Here are the descriptions of the next two books in the series:

The Bound Heart[Book 2] releases this November! It's about Amaryllis's friend Meredyth Summercourt, from her first person POV as she struggles to choose between the two men in her life who want her. Lawry Hampton has loved her for years, and Vance Everstone, whom she’s thought she loved for just as long… one man who loves her in all the right ways, and the other who has a shameful grip on her from years past. 

The Captive Imposter [Book 3] releases next February! It follows Estella Everstone as she’s sent away from her family to live in anonymity as a lady’s companion at one her father’s mountain resorts. While there, she comes in close contact with Jay Crawford, an ex-love set on making her as uncomfortable as possible. While coming to terms with her lack of feelings for one man she’d thought she’d always love, she is simultaneously drawn to Dexter Blakeley, the one man she’s been forced to trust since setting foot in the hotel.   

Thanks so much for being here today, Dawn! I appreciate the time you took

from your busy schedule to answer these questions and share with my readers about your writing journey.

Okay Y'all...How about leaving an encouraging comment for a debut author and first time mom. If you do, Dawn is offering a copy of The Hesitant Heiress to one of my blog readers. Ends Sept 5th. eBook ONLY - OPEN INTERNATIONALLY!!!

: : :

THE FOLLOWING GIVEAWAYS HAVE ENDED- Plus, as part of the book launch, she is giving away a prize pack every weekend for the six weeks of the blog tour, and then one larger prize pack at the end. Each of YOU who comments on any post will be entered into the drawing for that specific week, and then also for the end of the tour Grand Prize–all of which will be announced on this blog. Many of the blogger's posting in the blog tour are also giving away a digital copy of The Hesitant Heiress.

 THE FIVE WEEKLY PRIZE PACKS: a $10 Amazon Gift Card, an eBook of The Hesitant Heiress, a mug with all three book covers and a moleskin journal!

 THE GRAND PRIZE (at the end of week six): a Kindle Fire, PLUS a $10 Amazon Gift Card, an eBook of The Hesitant Heiress, a mug with all three book covers and a moleskin journal!

Then...Just click on the link below to get a teaser and then hop on over to your favorite bookseller and grab a copy. This is a great book!

READ THE FIRST CHAPTER FREE!!! {link for free chapter photo ß} 

{About The Hesitant Heiress}

After being unjustly expelled from the Boston Conservatory of Music, Amaryllis Brigham sees her dreams of founding a music academy disappearing before her very eyes. Now the only way to achieve her goal comes with high stakes for someone set on avoiding men as much as possible: marry within the year to inherit her grandmother’s fortune. Amaryllis reluctantly takes part in her aunt’s society, intent on getting to the west coast on her own… and without a husband.

Despite her own misgivings, she soon finds herself falling in love with the most unlikely of men, Nathan Everstone, whose father not only had a part in her expulsion, but whose ominous presence has haunted her dreams for a decade since her mother’s tragic death. Nathan turns out to be much more than he seems and everything she never knew she wanted. But just as everything Amaryllis has recently hoped for comes to fruition, it all falls apart when she finds that the real culprit who has been managing her life isn't who she thought at all.

{About Dawn Crandall}

A graduate of Taylor University with a degree in Christian Education, and a former bookseller at Barnes & Noble, Dawn Crandall didn’t begin writing until 2010 when her husband found out about her long-buried dream of writing a book. Without a doubt about someday becoming traditionally published, he encouraged her to quit working in order to focus on writing The Hesitant Heiress. It didn’t take her long to realize that writing books was what she was made to do. Dawn is represented by Joyce Hart of Hartline Literary.

Apart from writing books, Dawn is also a first-time mom to a precious little boy (born March 2014) and also serves with her husband in a pre-marriage mentor program at their local church in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Dawn is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, secretary for the Indiana ACFW Chapter (Hoosier Ink), and associate member of the Great Lakes ACFW Chapter.

The Everstone Chronicles is Dawn’s first series with Whitaker House. All three books composing the series were semifinalists in ACFW’s prestigious Genesis Writing Contest, the third book going on to become a finalist in 2013. 

CONNECT WITH DAWN

Blog: www.dawncrandall.blogspot.com
Facebook: facebook.com/DawnCrandallWritesFirst 
Book Review Blog: APassionforPages.blogspot.com 
GoodReads: www.goodreads.com/dawn_crandall
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/dawnwritesfirst
Email: dawncrandallwritesfirst@gmail.com
Twitter: @dawnwritesfirst
Amazon: www.amazon.com/Dawn-Crandall