Wow, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve been on here! Life happened in a major way last August in the form of a serious car accident involving all 5 of us Wens. None of us were seriously hurt, but dealing with the physical, mental, emotional, and legal aftermath of the crash ate up my entire fall, Pac-Man style. I’m not certain how often I’ll post to this site, but I will still try to do regular author interviews!
And to welcome back that aspect of my online life is my fellow split-time author, Sarah Monzon! If you’ve not read Sarah’s books, you’re missing out; she has a delightful split-time series you won’t want to miss! In fact, I’m offering a giveaway of that whole series in my next author newsletter! I’ll have details on that at the end of the post, but for right now, I’d love for you to meet Sarah! Here’s her official bio:
A Carol award finalist and Selah award winner, Sarah Monzon is a stay-at-home mom who makes up imaginary friends to have adult conversations with (otherwise known as writing novels). As a navy chaplain’s wife, she resides wherever the military happens to station her family and enjoys exploring the beauty of the world around her.
Welcome to the blog, Sarah!
Thank you! It’s fabulous to be here!
First question: what inspired you to start writing?
I’ve thought about this question a lot and I think I’d have to say the answer is early encouragement from teachers. I remember way back in first grade having one of my short stories—it was about a talking pen if you were curious—selected to be printed in the school’s yearly young author anthology. I had a story selected every year for as long as I attended that school. That encouragement, having teachers believe in me, helped give me a footing to continue to make up stories and write them down for the rest of my life.
What does your writing routine look like, if you have one? What obstacles or challenges do you face in making time to write?
Oh man, my writing time has evolved constantly since I started publishing. I started with a preschooler and a newborn so writing time was mad sprints during nap times. Now I have a third grader and a kindergartener so I write in the mornings after I drop them off at school and before I have to clean up the house so it doesn’t look like two tornadoes live there.
How did God guide you to independent publishing? What’s been your favorite aspect of being an indie author? What has been the most challenging?
He didn’t so much as guide as shove while I kicked and screamed. *Blushes* I hate to admit it, but I had a negative outlook on indie publishing at the beginning. But God always knows what’s best, and this was no exception. Indie publishing has been a good fit for me and my family, especially with younger children and a husband who transitioned careers. I don’t have the stress of an extraneous deadline looming and can work at my (and my family’s!) own pace. One of the most challenging aspects to indie publishing is that you’re one small fish in a sea of other fish. It’s hard to get your book noticed without the backing of a large publishing house.
What is one thing you’ve learned you wish you could go back and tell your younger Writer Self?
Don’t be a Leah. What I mean is, don’t base your worth or talent or anything else on book performance and reader acceptance. Don’t produce a book, release it, and think to yourself, “Will they love me now?” It’s not a good place to be.
What do you do when you’re not writing?
Probably doing laundry or grocery shopping or cleaning the house. But if you mean for fun, then I’m definitely READING!
If you could have coffee/tea/gratuitous amounts of carbs with any author(s), living or dead, who would you choose? What would you talk about?
Toni Shiloh. We’ve been friends and critique partners for a while now but she lives on the east coast and I live on the west so we’ve only actually met one time. Mostly we just send silly gifs to each other over messenger. I’d love to hang out with her and hug her neck.
How can we pray for you?
A lot of life changes right and things up in the air. You could pray that my family always remembers that God is in control.
A much-needed reminder for all of us!
And now for that super-cool giveaway I was telling you about! One lucky subscriber to my author newsletter will win the complete set of Sarah Monzon’s four-book Carrington Family series! Dive deep with Trent, Summer, and 17th-century Spanish heroine Isabella in book 1, experience healing with Michael, Jack, and WWII pilot Alice in book 2, explore food trucks and newfound freedom with Adam, Olivia, and Winnie in book 3, and wrap up the series beautifully with soccer star Seth, theology student Amber, and Reformation-era princess Christyne in book 4! If you’re already a subscriber, you’re automatically entered! If you’re not, simply click back to my homepage and enter your info on the form there. The newsletter will hit your inboxes next Wednesday, January 29, and the winner will be announced inside!