Today, Love Lines from God welcomes Denise Weimer.
Denise,
welcome. Tell us when you decided to become a writer. In other words, what made
you actually sit down and write something?
My
parents were avid historians who took me to historical sites across the
Southeast when I was growing up. My active imagination would wonder who lived
in those beautiful old homes and charming towns. Around age eleven, I started
scribbling down stories about those people in spiral-bound notebooks. I’d read
them aloud to my mother, who encouraged me to keep writing.
Every
writer is eventually asked this question, but where do your ideas come from?
Most
of my story ideas come from the legend, lore, or unique history from around my
state: Georgia. I love to find a fascinating topic or event that most people
don’t know about and explore it in story form. For instance, most folks are
aware of the Amish, Shakers, and Quakers but are not familiar with the
Moravians. The story line of my latest release from Smitten Historical Romance,
The Witness Tree (The
Witness Tree on Amazon), starts with a marriage of convenience in
the Moravian town of 1805 Salem, North Carolina, and leads to a dangerous
assignment in Cherokee Territory.
What
is the hardest thing about the creative process of writing?
In the past, because I write from home and don’t have
my own office there, and because my husband and daughters have all been on
different schedules, the biggest challenge has been finding a solid chunk of uninterrupted
quiet time. The creative process, at least for me, requires reflection and
concentration. Mentally, you go to another place to find that flow.
If
you’re a Christian, what are the challenges you believe Christian writers face
now and in the future?
With a shrinking Christian market and fewer Christian
publishers accepting overt presentations of faith in novels, now is the time
for authors to learn how to better integrate faith elements into their stories.
We should look at it as not all a bad thing, but a challenge we can rise to.
Writing for entertainment alone is a worthy pursuit, but if you can share God’s
truths organically with those who need to hear them but might have never picked
up a “Christian” title, isn’t that why we’re here?
If
you would, please tell us what was the hardest thing about writing your last
book? How long does it typically take you to finish your books?
The amount of time it takes me to write a book varies
a good bit. I write both historical and contemporary romance (check out Fall
Flip on Amazon, a Hallmark-HGTV-style renovation romance released
last month with Candlelight Fiction). Bet you can guess which one is quicker.
For my first published series, The Georgia Gold
Series, I researched a full year before I ever started to write, then continued
researching during the nearly three years it took me to write all four books.
By contrast, the most recent book I wrote which is not published yet was a
historical in a setting and time period completely new to me. But by a gift of
God, I finished it in a blistering six weeks. And I believe it’s my best work
yet. The mixed-blood hero of that story is a child at the mission school in The Witness Tree.
And the hardest thing about The Witness Tree, my last published book? Definitely the challenge
of bringing two very different people groups together on the page in an
accurate and respectful manner. The Moravians and Cherokees had completely
different customs and could barely communicate when they started the school for
the children of the chiefs.
On
the flip side, what excites you the most about the creative process?
What author doesn’t love that moment when we’re in the
zone and the words are flowing, and we know we’re communicating deep emotion or
a truth of God that could impact someone for good?
Represented by
Hartline Literary Agency, Denise Weimer holds a journalism degree with a minor
in history from Asbury University. She is the Managing Editor of Smitten Historical
Romance and Heritage Beacon Historical Fiction (imprints of Lighthouse
Publishing of the Carolinas, now Iron Stream Media) and the author of The
Georgia Gold Series, The Restoration Trilogy, and a number of novellas,
including Across Three Autumns of
Barbour’s Colonial Backcountry Brides Collection. A wife and mother of two
daughters, she always pauses for coffee, chocolate, and old houses. Connect
with Denise here:
Thank you for hosting me, Martin!
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