"Recently I caught up with Tamera Alexander" - DiAnn

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:

Q. How long have you been involved in your particular career?

I wrote my first novel in 1999, on a whim. I never thought anything would come of it. My bachelor’s degree is in business (management and marketing), and I worked in that field for twenty-plus years in various positions. I quit my “day job” in 2003 to give writing a real go, and have been writing full time ever since.

Q. What prompted your decision to become a writer?

I first considered writing a novel in 1999, as mentioned above. But I need to go back a bit further to really get to the “seed” of where all this started for me. In 1995, my mother-in-law, Claudette Harris Alexander, shared a book with me, one she thought I would really enjoy. I was busy and let time go by without reading it. She asked me again if I’d read it. Several times. I said no, but that I would. The best laid plans… Very unexpectedly, Claudette died that same year from a brain aneurysm. Weeks passed, and as I was cleaning bookshelves downstairs, I happened across that little volume and immediately sat down and read it. Claudette was right! I felt an immediate connection with the thread of hope woven through that gentle love story—Love Comes Softly, by Janette Oke, originally published by Bethany House Publishers in 1979. That sent me searching for more inspirational fiction published not only by Bethany House, but elsewhere in the Christian Booksellers Association market (CBA). I devoured the stories, and developed a real affinity for historical fiction. A few years later my husband and I were driving back to Colorado from Texas late one night. I finished a novel, turned to him and said (only joking at the time), “I think I could write one of those.” Without blinking, he said, “Well, do it.” Competitive at heart, I nodded and said, “Okay.” My first novel made it to the review board at Bethany House Publishers in 2001, after which I received a very nice rejection letter. That novel WAS safely tucked away in my desk drawer until Women of Faith fiction (Thomas Nelson) approached my agent, Natasha Kern, months ago about writing a historical for them—the first historical for their fiction line. I wrote a fresh proposal for The Inheritance (my very first novel), incorporating all I’d learned in the past few years while also correcting the problems in that original manuscript. I turn in The Inheritance next month and Thomas Nelson will release it in March 2009.

Q. What aspects of your work do you enjoy the most?

Having written! When the book is done, all revisions made, and I’m holding that first “hot off the press” copy in my hands. Oh, that’s a wonderful feeling. The next best thing is typing “THE END” on a first draft.

Q. What are the most challenging problems for writers?

I can only speak for myself, but it’s discipline. Discipline to write a set word count everyday. Discipline to keep at it when “the muse” isn’t particularly generous that day. Along with the discipline of writing even when you don’t feel like it, comes the discipline of exercising each day, after those long hours of sitting (not good for the hips!). Then the discipline to “turn off the story” (or at least mute it) when you’re with family and friends. Again, sometimes easier to do than others, especially when I’m on deadline. Like now!

Q. What motivates you?

Deadlines. Reader letters. Needing to pay bills. Reader letters. My editor asking if the book will be delivered on time.

Q. For what achievement would you like to be remembered?

I most would like to be remembered for having made a difference in people’s lives. In the end, people are what matter. Not achievements, not awards, not accolades, not print runs, not bestseller lists. But people.

Q. Are there things you haven’t accomplished yet that you still would like to accomplish?

It’s not so much an accomplishment as a “want to.” Does that still count? If yes, then I’d love to spend the night in all the castles in Europe. Not on the same night, of course.

Q. If you were not involved in your present work, what would you most likely be doing?

If I weren’t writing, then I’d love to be editing.

Q. What is an average workday like for you?

In a perfect world, I get up at 6:00, get ready, do breakfast, etc… I’m at my computer no later than 8:00. Answer emails, then turn email OFF and write until noon. At noon, I eat a lunch of yogurt and a lean piece of chicken, run two miles, then back at my laptop by 1:30 to write until 4:30. In the real world, every day is different. But I do try to follow the above routine in some form. Unless I’m on deadline, then I write for up to 15 or 16 hours per day. And survive on DOTS, Peanut M&Ms, and Diet Dr. Pepper.

Q. Do you travel much?

I enjoy teaching at conferences, speaking at events, and traveling with my husband on an occasional business trip (in which we tack on a couple of days for ourselves), but my travel schedule for 2009-2011 is pretty limited due to my writing schedule. I DO love to travel though!

Q. What type of reading do you like?

Right now I’m reading Leif Enger’s So Brave, Young and Handsome, and Mosaic: Pieces of My Life So Far by Amy Grant. I recently finished Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks, Between Sundays by Karen Kingsbury, and The Perfect Life by Robin Lee Hatcher. I read a wide variety of genres, both in the ABA and CBA.

Q. What do you do when you need to get away from it all?

I love going for walks. And to movies. With friends, but also alone. I’m very comfortable with that. I love reading, of course, and enjoy visiting historical landmarks, museums, antebellum homes (my current passion), and cemeteries. I love walking through cemeteries. The idea for Remembered came to me as my husband and I strolled the three-hundred-year pathways in Cemetery Montmartre in Paris, France.

Q. Do you belong to any professional associations?

I’m a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and RWA (Romance Writers of America). You can find out more about ACFW at www.americanchristianfictionwriters.com, and RWA at www.rwanational.org. And here’s a shameless plug for ACFW’s upcoming conference— ACFW is a professional writers organization dedicated to equipping authors in the craft of writing Christian fiction. Their affordable annual membership offers online classes, critique groups, and an annual conference that’s the best fiction conference in the industry. The knowledge I’ve gained through my affiliation with ACFW, along with the relationships I’ve made there with other writers, have made all the difference!

Hope to see you there in September!