AUTHOR TRISH PERRY

Welcome, Trish Perry. I'm glad you could stop by and answer some questions. Hopefully, my readers will learn a little bit about you.

Tell us about yourself.

The Lord got a hold of my heart 20 years ago (wow, I should be a much better person than I am, after all that time!). I’ve been seriously pursuing a writing career for about 12 years, and, although I’ve published a few short pieces with the secular market, I only write Christian fiction now. The Lord blessed me with two amazing kids, a dear son-in-law, and a grandson who constantly makes me laugh. Before I started writing, I worked at Washington, D. C. law firms, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and as a stockbroker. I decided to go back to college, and as I completed a degree in psychology, I realized I enjoyed writing more than counseling. So here I am!

Tell us about your latest book and how you came to write it.

My latest book is called Too Good to Be True (March 2007, Harvest House Publishers). It’s a stand-alone book, but it is also the sequel to my first published novel, The Guy I’m Not Dating. Neither of those books depends upon the storyline of the other. Actually, I wrote Too Good first, but we flipped their release dates, which required a bit of manipulation of the plot sequences on my part.

Too Good to Be True is about Ren Young, a twenty-something elementary schoolteacher whose nonbelieving husband left her and divorced her a year ago. We join her on the one-year anniversary of the divorce, which is also the day she hears about the collapse of the adoption process she and her husband started when married. One more item of emotional distress hits her as she shops at her local Wal-Mart, and she faints, smack in the middle of the boys' department. Among those who come to her aid is Truman Sayers, a kind, young labor-and-delivery nurse. Eventually a romance blossoms between Ren and Tru, but much gets in their way, not the least of which are their meddlesome mothers. Ren struggles with her fear of losing at love again, with her inability to trust the Lord completely, and with questions about whether this almost-perfect young man is too good to be true.

I wrote Ren’s story because I felt led to write humor, and I love romantic comedy and chick lit. A news story about adoption triggered an idea for me, and many of the other aspects of the book simply fell into place from that starting point. Once I fully created the characters of Ren and Tru—along with their mothers and siblings—plotting the book happened rather smoothly. I think Ren’s story is fun, but it also addresses some rather serious life issues, like divorce, adoption, infertility, and honoring one’s parents.

What's next in your writing?

I’d like eventually to write a third book in this non-series series, especially since I keep hearing comments of interest from readers about two particular characters in the first two books. But for now, I’m putting together a completely different novel idea for my publisher, and also a five-book series proposal. Everything’s up in the air right now, and I’m just leaning on the Lord’s timing and guidance.

How--and why did you start writing Christian fiction?

I could tell the Lord was drawing me to write a novel, and the first idea he gave me just happened to be a spiritual warfare story. There was no way I could honestly write a spiritual warfare story and only have the heroine turn to a generic God, so Christian fiction it was! By the time I finished that manuscript, I knew it was all coming from Him and that He wanted me giving back by using the gift of writing to honor His kingdom. That spiritual warfare manuscript is doing time on my office floor, but it gave me much experience and guidance about what His will was.

As to the “how,” I took writing courses, read enough books on writing to know I’d never not need to keep learning, joined a local writers’ group, joined several writers’ organizations (the best of which is American Christian Fiction Writers), and prayed my patootie off. He put all of that together and blessed me with a couple of writing contracts. It’s all up to Him and always has been.

Any other comments?

Me? Have other comments? Well, good grief, girl, I’m a writer; how much time do you have? Here we go:

Three positive comments:
Your site, Kristy, is fun and makes me want to go to the beach;
Today is gorgeous and hundreds of daffodils have bloomed outside my window;
God is in control!

Three negative comments:
There aren’t enough stalls in the ladies room;
There isn’t enough shelf space for Christian fiction in the bookstores;
I keep thinking I’m in control!

Thanks, Kristy, for your kind interview. I invite visitors to drop by my site and say hello or tell me what they think of my books www.trishperrybooks.com God bless!