Eight Questions (a blog hop!)

Today, I'm participating in my first-ever blog hop, invited by Jordyn Redwood, author of medical suspense novels. If you're an author (published or not) and would like to participate, leave me a comment with your e-mail address and I'll link to you here. Your post must be set for Jan 10, 2013.

It's simple: answer these questions about your current WIP.

1. What is the working title of your book?

Do No Harm

 

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

I made a commitment to myself early in 2012 to to finally do something I've dreamed about since childhood: write a novel. Since I have a fulltime day job that takes up way too much of my time, I decided to use things I had some personal experience with, while purposefully making it not be a book about me. So I started from some church conflicts that I experienced when we first moved to Texas from up north, and built from there.

 

3. What genre does your book fall under?

 

4. What's the synopsis of your book?

Do No Harm is the story of a disgraced Seattle obstetrician whose efforts to fit into her new Texas home are stymied by family conflicts, cultural differences, church politics, and ghosts from her past.

 

5. Will our book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I hope to have it traditionally published, but I'm a first-time novelist and have no agent yet. I do have dreams of someday signing with a particular agent who I've admired for about 25 years. At the 2012 ACFW conference in Dallas I was fortunate to meet her briefly, and after reading my opening pages she asked me to send her the manuscript when it's completed. So I'm working hard to get it in shape to send to her, hopefully by the end of January. 

 

6. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I wrote the first words back in February 2012, although the idea's been floating around in the back of my mind for several years.

 

7. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

This one's tough for me. Perhaps Need You Now by Beth Wiseman, or maybe The Church Ladies by Lisa Samson.

 

8. What else about your book might pique a reader's interest?

If you've ever been hurt by “church people,” you might find this book interesting.  

Jordyn– thanks so much for allowing me to participate in this parade.