I'm thrilled to introduce debut author Lynnette Endicott to my blog today to tell us about her new book, More than a Job, and to tell us about her unexpected journey to becoming a published author.
When she loses the job that was her full existence, Paige Hamilton learns that there are other more important things in life - including love. Can Joshua draw her away from her anger at his company and into his arms?
Tell
us about yourself.
I have been writing all my life, was first
published at 14. I have lived in
Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska and now Fresno, California. My husband of 37 years
and I have a married daughter and son-in-law who live nearby, and although we'd
never had pets before, today have one therapy dog, one adopted cockatiel that
landed on our back patio last summer, and two rescue cats. The grandpuppy
visits often and we also enjoy a grandkitty.
Tell
us about your new book?
More Than A Job is the story of Paige
Hamilton, a woman who loses the job she'd poured herself into, which was
working with people with developmental disabilities at home. As a result she
has to find a way to start over. When she does she meets Joshua Robinson,
because she finally has room in her life for more than work. It is one of a
series of three starting over stories. The next one, Return of Joy, releases in
October.
What
inspired this story?
So many people are finding themselves out
of work, and if work is all that defines them it is devastating. I think
Paige's story gives us another way to survive that kind of crisis.
Is
there an underlying theme?
Sometimes we have to lose something in our
lives so that there is room for what God has intended for us.
What's
your favorite scene/character?
I enjoy Paige. She is feisty, and bounds
back from her job loss to live a life that is much better suited for her.
What
do you hope readers take away from reading your book?
If you trust in God's working in your life
you will find that you can survive and thrive after an unexpected loss.
How
did you get started as a writer?
I was chosen in a Freshman class to write
the story of our visit to a federal prison. I got excerpts from the other
students, wrote the summary, and it was published in a national youth magazine.
(The teacher from the workshop was the publisher and editor in chief, so that
helped. As time went on they published 10 more stories or articles I'd
written.)
Do
you have any particular method to your writing, any quirks that help you along
in the creative process?
It really helps me get work done to
schedule writing time. Sometimes I discard pieces that don't fit well because I
was writing by appointment - but even those sometimes find their way to another
story. The writing challenges of 70,000 words in a month or 50,000 in a week,
work well for me.
What
are some of your favorite books?
I read all kinds of things - always have -
so it is hard to name a favorite. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the
Dragonriders of Pern series, the Chronicles of Narnia are some that pop into my
mind.
What
genre(s) do you write and what draws you to this genre?
They say you should write what you read,
and since More Than a Job and the other two books in the Starting Over series
are contemporary romance and I just listed favorites that are speculative
fiction, that may seem odd. I am also working on a series of speculative
fiction through time with Tami Dee. The first book in that series is scheduled
for release August 21.
What was
your journey to publication like?
In the beginning I wasn't really driven to
publish. I fell into it as a teenager
because other people encouraged me. As an adult I didn't stop writing - I
joined critique groups and a local writing group and continued to write and
edit. I wasn't thinking about that next step, though. I hadn't ever pitched a
book, but when one of my critique partners of yore, Tami Dee, said she'd like
me to get the books she'd read to her editor, I polished More Than a Job and
Return of Joy in a week and had them on the editor's desk. When she gave me
contracts for both I decided, hey, maybe I did want to be published! It has
been great fun to hear from old friends who have read my book and are sending their
reviews my way.
What's up
next for you?
The first of the Time After Time series,
Animal Instinct, will be released August 21 and the second book in the Starting
Over series, Return of Joy, will be released October 15.
What might
surprise readers about you?
In my spare time (hmm) I am a management
consultant and I assist non-profits in the disability services world in
identifying areas for improving and planning and implementing the changes
needed. Sometimes this is a half a day project, and other times it takes as
long as a year at another site. And everything in between.
What do
you think of the ebook explosion, pros and cons, and what do you think will
happen with print books?
If you are a Star Trek fan you know that
one thing Captain Kirk and Captain Picard had (or will have, since they are in
the future?) in common is their love of the old-fashioned printed page. They
are nostalgic about reading printed books. We are so early in the eBook
explosion that I'm not sure yet how we will feel in 50 years or so about our
paper books. I know that pragmatically I can carry more books when I travel, my
eReader doesn't hurt to hold (arthritis in my thumbs) and that next book is
just a quick download away. As a result I read more, always have reading with
me. I think we may keep print books for nostalgia but not for real reading in
the future.
Three favorite things: movie, place and food?
Movie: While You Were Sleeping, or the
Notebook, or the Harry Potter series or the Lord of the Rings series or the
Chronicles of Narnia. I can't decide.
Favorite place - day to day, my garden. For
a trip to a city, either San Francisco or Vancouver, BC.
Food: Crisp Jonathon apples (which we can't
get in California), a nice piece of wild salmon from the grill, or maybe Thai
food depending on my mood.
When a high school writing assignment was published, when I was 14, I was hooked and have been writing for fun and in the context of work ever since. I have lived in Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas and most recently in California. I have a husband, a daughter and son-in-law, a dog and two cats. My hobbies include collecting castles, reading, and volunteering with my certified therapy dog as a reading tutor at a local library.
http://www.lynetteendicott.blogspot.com/
http://www.lynetteendicott.com/
http://twitter.com/#!/lynetteendicott
Purchase Lynnette's book at:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Desert Breeze
