Name
of Author: Karen Baney
Name of Books: Prescott Pioneers Series: A Dream
Unfolding, A Heart Renewed, A Life Restored, A Hope Revealed
Contemporary
novel: Nickels
Twitter account, blog and link to where someone can
purchase your books:
Twitter:
@karen_baney
Amazon Author Page: http://amazon.com/author/karenbaney
Barnes & Noble: Barnes & Noble
I see you write Contemporary Romance. How do you write it to be relevant and stay true to God?
In
my novel Nickels, I follow the life of a broken-hearted young woman, Niki
Turner. As she struggles to deal with her painful past, she is reunited with
Kyle who made her life difficult in High School. Now, eight years later as she
is forced to work with him on a project for her work, she starts to see how he
has changed from the teen she knew. He is kind and patient and nice to
her.
For
this novel, I kept the characters realistic. Change is slow in real life and so
it is with my characters, whether in a contemporary novel or a historical.
Sometimes it can be challenging to write relevant modern characters, but I just
keep God involved in the process. A lot of prayer goes into each of my
novels.
What inspired you to write Christian
historical?
I
grew up reading Christian historical novels by Janette Oke and Tracie Peterson.
Both of these women’s books were inspirational to me as a teen and
20-something. So, when I felt the tug on my heart to begin writing, it seemed a
natural place to land. I also love history, so that makes the research for my
novels a double joy!
I see writing has had some trending topics on twitter.
What are your take on them and which ones have you participated
in?
I
loosely follow #pubwrite, #pubtips, #selfpub and #amwriting. It’s more as I
have time, which is difficult with a full time job and my own writing and
marketing efforts. But, sometimes I’ve come across a few gems of info on these
hash tags.
If you could have any of your characters meet a
character from another book/movie/TV show who and why?
I
would love to have Will Colter (from all 4 Prescott Pioneers Books) meet the
John Wayne version of Rooster Cogburn. For some reason, I think Will could
handle the cantankerous cowboy just fine. It would certainly make life on
Colter Ranch interesting.
What advice do you have for other
writers?
Make
it a priority. I know so many writers don’t have the luxury of writing full
time. So, be creative and find ways to get some time to write. I send my
husband off with his friends on Saturdays so I get several hours in a quiet
house to write. Sometimes I squeeze in a scene or even a chapter in the
evenings after work. One of my friends likes to go to the library and write.
Find what works for you can keep at it. You were made to do this!
Which characters in your stories do you feel for and
why?
It’s
a toss up between Julia Colter in A Heart Renewed and Mary Colter in A Hope
Revealed. Both of these women suffered horribly from the same man. Yet they
persevered and came out the other side with hope and healing.
My
heart always goes out to anyone who has suffered abuse of any kind. It’s a hard
thing to get past, but God wants to help you.
Any regrets or things you'd like to change in your
books?
It’s
funny you ask that. In May I just finished re-editing and re-publishing the
entire Prescott Pioneers Series. I felt like there were some things that could
be improved, especially in the first book, so I made it a priority to do so.
The beauty of self publishing is that making changes is pretty easy. Just
upload the new version and away you go. The core part of the stories are the
same, I’ve just taken some of the feedback from readers and made a few things
better. Writing is such a learning process and I can see how much I’ve grown
between the first and fifth book.
Thanks
so much for hosting me today.
