Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Welcome Sandy Ardoin!





 WRITE PATHWAY WELCOMES SANDY ARDOIN







Ann:  Hello Sandy, and welcome to Write Pathway where writers and editors meet. We are thrilled to have you with us today.

Let’s begin today with a little information about you; then we’ll merge into thoughts about your book. Are you a native Carolina girl?

Sandy:  Ah, Carolina Girls … love that song. No, I was born in Indiana and moved to Texas when I was sixteen. I’ve been in North Carolina for the past (almost) 19 years.

Ann:  What would you do with your life if you didn't write?

Sandy:  Clean house. J I’d probably also roam the streets looking for antique shops to prowl through. I’d do more gardening.

Ann:  If you were a style of music, what style would you be?

Sandy:  Country. More specifically, Country-Pop—a little bit country and a little bit rock ’n roll. Not too wild, but definitely not citified.

Ann:  Who inspired in you a love for books?

Sandy:  Dick and Jane. I still remember reading those and getting caught up in the stories of Spot and the pony (maybe because I wanted a pony so badly myself).

After that, it was Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House books (my historical side). Then I graduated to gothic mysteries—Jane Eyre, Rebecca—and then more contemporary romantic mysteries from people like Phyllis Whitney and Mary Higgins Clark.

I don’t come from a family of big readers, so I’m not sure where I picked up my love for reading.

Ann:  How many books have you published? Do you also write other things—articles? short stories? Etc.

Sandy:  The Yuletide Angel is my first published book—a Christmas novella. My first novel (a follow-up to the novella) releases in January of 2016. It’s working title is A Reluctant Melody.

I’ve been publishing since 1986—short pieces like cards, posters, devotions, short stories. In June, my short story “Ellie’s Escape” appeared in Splickety Prime. It was exciting to be in the same issue as Jerry Jenkins.

Ann:  Well, congratulations on getting in Splickety Prime with Jerry Jenkins.  

We all know that publishing is an arduous process and often takes many rejections before we get published. How many rejections did you get before you published a book?

Sandy:  Book rejections? More than I care to remember. Before The Yuletide Angel, my agent submitted three other books—two of them multiple times. Between those three, I’d say I’ve racked up at least twenty rejections.

Ann:  Which character in your present release, The Yuletide Angel, do you find most interesting?

Sandy:  That’s a tough one. I love my hero’s character. Hugh is really sweet and protective. He looks beneath the surface. My heroine, Violet, starts out shy and withdrawn, but she has an inner grit that I like in a female character.

Ann:  Tell us a little about your book.

Sandy: The Yuletide Angel is Christian historical romance set in 1890. Here’s the back cover blurb:

It's Christmastime in 1890s Meadowmead, and someone is venturing out at night to leave packages at the homes of the needy. Dubbed The Yuletide Angel, no one knows the identity of this mysterious benefactor. 

No one, except Hugh Barnes, a confirmed bachelor who finds himself drawn to the outwardly shy but inwardly bold Violet Madison, a young woman who risks her safety to help others. 

When Violet confesses her fear of eviction from her childhood home, Hugh longs to rescue her. His good intentions are thwarted, however, when Hugh's estranged brother shows up in town ... and in Violet's company. 

But Violet faces an even bigger threat. A phantom figure lurks in the shadows, prepared to clip the wings of The Yuletide Angel.

Ann:  The Yuletide Angel sounds like my kind of book. I look forward to reading it. Got it on my Christmas list.

Would you share a favorite Scripture verse or passage of Scripture that means a lot to you?

Sandy:  I have several, including Jeremiah 29:11, but I really like Isaiah 55:8-9.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Those words remind me of the awesomeness of God and that He is in control. I can’t do anything, think anything, plan anything that equals what He can do or who He is.

Ann:  Is there anything else you’d like to say?

Sandy:  Thanks so much for having me here, Ann. I’ve enjoyed answering your questions and introducing your readers to Hugh Barnes and Violet Madison, the main characters of The Yuletide Angel

Ann:  Thank you for sharing your debut novella with us, Sandy. We hope when the next book comes out, you'll revisit us here at Write Pathway.