Today I'm pleased to welcome Erica Vetsch to the 'Love of Story' Wednesday feature. Her new book, The Cactus Creek Challenge sounds really exciting. Here's her bio:
Erica Vetsch is
a transplanted Kansan now residing in Minnesota. She loves history and
romance, and is blessed to be able to combine the two by writing
historical romances. Whenever she’s not immersed in fictional
worlds, she’s the company bookkeeper for the family lumber business,
mother of two, wife to a man who is her total opposite and soul-mate,
and avid museum patron.
Hello, Erica. Can you tell your readers how you got started in writing?
I
think I was preparing much of my life to write stories. I was a
voracious reader, serial daydreamer, and lived a vivid inner life (One
that often got me in trouble with teachers and parents.) I would
continue stories from books I read, having adventures with the
characters, rewriting the endings of books if I didn’t like how the
author had done it. I loved words, how they looked, how they sounded,
how they felt on the tongue. However, it wasn’t until I was a
homeschooling mom that I started writing stories down. From the first
moment, I was addicted to the creation of story.
Cool. I didn't realize you homeschooled too. :) How do you get your story ideas?
Everywhere! I love visiting museums and reading history books. The world is full of interesting stories just waiting to be told.
I can relate to your love of history, Erica. Did you always want to be a writer?
Yes, but I didn’t know it. I lived stories and breathed stories, and eventually, I wrote them down.
Here's a short snippet about Erica's new book.
Anything he can do, I can do better. At
least that was what Cassie Bucknell thought before she pinned on Ben
Wilder’s badge and took to patrolling the streets of Cactus Creek,
Texas. Cassie has been in love with Ben since primer school, but Ben
treats her like a little sister. When they are picked to swap jobs for a
month as part of the annual Cactus Creek Challenge in their Texas
hometown, the schoolhouse is thrown into an uproar, the jail becomes a
temporary bank vault, and Cassie and Ben square off in a battle of wills
that becomes a battle for their hearts.
I’m
so excited about The Cactus Creek Challenge. It’s a fish-out-of-water
story that places a sheriff and a schoolteacher in the unenviable
position of swapping jobs for a month. I had so much fun writing the
chaos of the schoolroom (I am a former teacher, after all.) And Cassie,
the heroine, is so what-you-see-is-what-you-get. She can’t help but
speak her mind, and every emotion plays out on her face. She was
refreshing.
I love the cover and can't wait to personally read it. :) How long have you been writing?
I started writing for publication in 2005, and received my first contract in 2008.
So you've been at it for ten years now. What advice can you give to writers trying to break into the publishing world?
Be
tenacious. Be persistent. Be humble. Be patient. Don’t be in such a
hurry that you don’t take time to learn. Writing is as much an
occupation as an art, and it takes time to learn how to write
publishable fiction. Be willing to learn, study, take critiques, attend
conferences, meet people, take classes, etc.
Let's switch gears for a few minutes. If you could vacation anywhere, where would you go?
London, to the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Those two are on the Tippity-top of my bucket list.
They sound like fun. What’s your favorite animal and have you ever used one in your stories?
Horses, definitely. And writing cowboy books, I get to have lots of horses.
Gotta love a cowboy book. :) What’s something quirky about you that most people don’t know?
I love to watch cooking shows, but I don’t like to cook.
LOL. I'm not overly fond of cooking either, but I like to eat. What foods do you eat when writing to keep you going?
I drink copious amounts of iced tea in the summer and hot Earl Grey tea in the winter.
Ahh. A fellow tea drinker. If you have a day all to yourself how would you choose to spend it?
Visiting a history museum probably. I am a museum junkie.
I think I'm noticing a theme here. Chuckle. What are your hobbies?
Reading, crocheting, cross-stitching, and now quilting.
It sounds like we have similar interests. Could you share with your readers how you became a Christian?
I
was blessed to be raised in a Christian home, and all the teaching,
preaching, and prayers came together for me on a July day when I was 11.
That’s when Jesus became my Savior, and I’ve been trying (with varying
success) to follow Him ever since.
What spiritual truths do you desire to convey to your readers?
It is different with each book, but in every story there is the truth of the Sovereignty of God. God is in control.
Here's where you can touch base with Erica.
Thanks
again for stopping by, Erica. Next week Sandra Orchard will be here for
a visit. Don't forget to leave a comment this month to be entered in
the drawing for the following.
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