This month I'm talking with Kaye Dacus, author of A Case for Love. Kaye has graciously given
me a copy of her book and I'll pass it on to the winner of my drawing this
month.
JO:
Please tell us a little about yourself.
KAYE:
In 1996, I felt God calling me to move to
Nashville, and I've been here--and loving it--for the last fourteen years. Before
becoming self-employed in late 2008 (as a writer and freelance editor), I
worked most of my adult life in the newspaper/advertising industry before
moving into the book publishing industry as an editor. I'm a thirtysomething
single and my household is comprised of just me,
myself, and I--so I travel as often as possible to go visit the
rest of my family:
my parents, who have recently retired to my
dad's hometown of Hot Springs, Arkansas, and my grandmother and my sister and
her family who live in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
JO:
What do you enjoying doing when you're not writing?
KAYE:
In addition to writing, I'm also a freelance editor,
so for me to get away from "work" means getting away from the written word. But
because I love stories so much, I still want to experience them--which means I
turn to TV and movies for that fiction-fix. I dabble with a little bit of science-fiction/fantasy
(I'm a huge fan of the TV series LOST).
Oh, and then there's that little Food Network addiction I have. When I can drag
myself away from that stuff, I love traveling, getting together with friends
for coffee or lunch, swimming, cooking, and meeting up with as many writers as
I can, whether through Middle Tennessee Christian Writers, Music City Romance
Writers, or other new groups of writers that are forming here in Nashville.
JO:
Can you tell us any fun thing about you that might surprise our readers?
KAYE:
I shared this on my blog once, so some people may
know this, but it usually comes as a surprise to just about everyone. Back in
the early 1990s when I lived in the Washington DC area, I attended three Star Trek conventions. Yep, I'm a Trekker
(though less of one now than I was then).
JO: How
did you get involved in writing?
KAYE: As an
adolescent, I started to read voraciously. My fancy turned to romance novels
and by the age of twelve, I was reading one or two historical romance novels a
week--mostly YA (young adult), but some adult fiction in there, too. I wasn't
content with a kiss and a happily-ever-after ending. I wanted to know what
happened the next day, the next year, the next decade. So the first writing I
ever did was around fourteen years old when I started writing "sequels" to my
favorite books. This, then, inspired me to start putting some of those stories
that were always running through my head down on paper. That
experience--realizing I could put words down on paper and express the stories
that I'd always had within me--opened a flood-gate; and for the last two
decades, I've never stopped writing.
JO:
Where do you write? Do you have a dedicated office or a corner or nook in a
room?
KAYE:
Where I write depends on the time
of day and what else I have going on. I do the bulk of my writing on my
laptop--a very cute, 14", shiny purple Dell that I bought last fall--away
from my desk and main desktop computer. This can be at a coffee shop or, more
likely, sitting in the bed late at night. When I get stuck or feel like sitting
out on the sunny porch, I pull out my trusty spiral notebook and pen and write
longhand. Recently, one of my favorite places to write is in the car when I'm
on a roadtrip. Windows 7 has a great built-in voice recognition software and,
after a little training so it learned my voice and accent (sort of), I plug in
a microphone headset and "write" as I'm cruising down the interstate.
JO:
Please tell us about A Case for Love.
KAYE:
A
Case for Love
is the third book in the Brides of Bonneterre series. Forbes Guidry, the
controlling older cousin/brother seen in Stand-In Groom and Menu
for Romance (the first two books in this series), is back with his own
story of romance and intrigue. In A Case for Love, Forbes is faced with a dilemma: the woman he's in love with wants him
to help her sue his own parents' corporation to try to save her family's small
businesses. TV social-scene reporter Alaine Delacroix isn't sure she fully
trusts the disarmingly handsome and charming lawyer, but she can't deny she's
falling for him. Can Alaine and Forbes stand on faith and work together to make
a case for love?
I
like writing characters who represent a growing segment of the population that
seems to be increasingly left out in Christian circles: women in their
late-twenties, thirties, and early-forties who have never been married and who
want to be loved and accepted for who they are, not pigeon-holed into a
category, labeled, or, as happens most often, shoved to the side and
ignored/forgotten about by their churches, coworkers, or even friends and
family. I'm writing for them (me, actually) so we can hang on to the hope of
finding a well-adjusted, loving, marriage-minded Christian man out there
somewhere and having a "happily ever after" ending with him (with the optimism
that he may be closer than we realize).
JO: What takeaway
value do you hope readers receive after reading your novel?
KAYE: For me, one of the
most important themes of A Case for Love is that "keeping up
appearances" isn't what life is all about. Life is about getting past the
outward appearance and truly getting down to the heart and soul of a person.
That's something both Forbes and Alaine learn in this book, by facing the fact
that their lives, which appear "perfect" or "charmed" on the outside are
actually pretty dismal and lonely on the inside, because they've been trying to
direct and control everything themselves. It isn't until they start letting go
of that control and looking to God for direction that they begin to find a
sense of purpose--as well as romance.
JO: Where did you get the idea for A Case for Love?
KAYE: When I first wrote Stand-In
Groom, I needed a puppet-master character, one who knew the ins and
outs of the secret identity of the groom and had the authority to grant--or not
grant--George the right to reveal his true identity to Anne. That's when Anne's
cousin, Forbes Guidry first came to me. When Alaine Delacroix walked onto the
scene in Menu for Romance, it was in the role of the vixen--the woman who
was going to deliberately set out to come between Meredith and Major. But the
more scenes I put Alaine in, the more I realized that she was simply
misunderstood--and that she was someone who could give Forbes lots of grief. So
when Barbour (Publishing) asked for a proposal for the third book in the
series, I realized that by choosing Alaine as the heroine of the book, and by
coming up with a legal case that would involve both of them, I had the perfect
setup for what would become A Case for
Love.
JO: Did you do extensive research for this
book?
KAYE: I got to do what has
been, to date, my favorite research for a book thus far. After sending an
e-mail request to interview the host of the midday show on Nashville's CBS
affiliate (WTVF/NewsChannel 5), she invited me to visit the studio and shadow
her and her team while they broadcast the show. I had a blast! And I was able
to include so many little details in Alaine's work-life that I otherwise
wouldn't have even known about. I'm also blessed to know several people who are
lawyers who very generously answered my questions when I needed legal advice
and couldn't find the answers online.
JO: When did you sell your first book?
KAYE: I started seriously studying the craft of
writing with the intention of getting published in 2001 when I attended my
first writers' conference--Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference in
North Carolina. I turned thirty that year, so I set a five-year goal for
myself: that by the year I turned thirty-five (2006), I would be on the path to
publication. In 2006, I completed my master's degree in Writing Popular
Fiction, and my master's thesis, then entitled Happy Endings Inc., came in second place in the ACFW
(American Christian Fiction Writers) Genesis contest. I submitted it to two
agents. One rejected it, but Chip MacGregor signed me as a client a few months
afterward--thus fulfilling that five-year goal! In December 2007, Barbour
Publishing acquired the manuscript, which was renamed Stand-In Groom, and it
released in January 2009.
JO: How do you find time to write?
KAYE: I have the
unenviable blessing--though when a deadline is looming, it feels like a curse--of
being a "full-time" writer. I have to put "full-time" in quotation marks,
because even though I'm writing three books a year right now, I still have
month-to-month bills that have to be paid, and not even signing contracts for
nine books in eighteen months is enough to make ends meet. So I'm also a
three-quarter-time freelance editor, working with several publishing houses. I
usually do the editorial work during the day and write late at night--not only
am I more creative after 10 p.m., but there are almost no distractions after
that time, too.
JO:
What are you working on now?
KAYE:
I'm working on the pre-release
marketing for the second book of The Ransome Trilogy, Ransome's Crossing, which released today (June 1). In March, I
completed revisions on the first book in a new contemporary series, Love Remains--book 1 of The Matchmakers series, for Barbour
(August 2010), so I'll be working on galley edits and marketing plans for that
book soon. And I'm also writing the third book in The Ransome Trilogy, Ransome's Quest, which is due out next summer.
JO: What advice
would you give to writers just starting out?
KAYE: I always give
beginning authors the same advice I was given when I first started on the path
toward publication: above all else, GET YOUR FIRST DRAFT FINISHED. With each
manuscript we write, we're learning important lessons about the craft of
writing. With each manuscript we finish, we're learning more about ourselves
and what we can accomplish. And never, ever, ever forget that the most
important thing is your story. Don't let the pursuit of the "craft of writing"
become more important than your storytelling ability. Write from the heart;
don't worry about craft when you're composing. That's what the revision process
is for. Be true to your story and don't write it thinking about possible
publication. Write it for you, first and foremost.
JO: Please tell our readers where they can get A Case for Love.
KAYE: A Case for
Love
is available at all major booksellers--LifeWay, ChristianBook.com, Borders,
Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, Family Christian Stores, Books-A-Million,
etc.--as well as many local Christian booksellers. And if they don't have it in
stock, they can order it for you.
JO: Where can our
readers find you?
KAYE: I love connecting
with readers! You can find me online at http://kayedacus.com, http://www.facebook.com/kayedacus, and http://twitter.com/kayedacus.
Kaye, thank you
taking time from your busy schedule to talk with us for this interesting interview. And thank you for the copy of A Case for Love that I will share with
one of my readers.
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