FOREVER MUSIC - Hope Toler Dougherty - One Free Book

Welcome back, Hope. God has really been moving in your writing life. What do you see on the horizon?

I hope I see more books in my future. I love the process of having an idea float into my mind, developing the idea, polishing it, and then sharing it with others.

Tell us a little about your family.

My husband and I live in North Carolina and have four grown children. Our oldest daughter lives in NYC and worked in fashion until Covid-19 hit. Now she’s sewing masks and looking for another job. Our second daughter taught elementary school, but now she’s set to study law in the fall. She wants to affect change in education policy. Our twin sons are First Lieutenants in the Army. One is stationed at Ft. Hood, and the other serves at the Texas/Mexico Border through October.

Has your writing changed your reading habits? If so, how?

I read more romance now than I ever have, and I try to read with a discerning/questioning eye. (How did she do that? Why did she use that scene?) I’m reading to learn instead of for entertainment only.

What are you working on right now?

Josie Daniels’ from Forever Music has three brothers. I have a few chapters written about one of them, but the words have stopped. I’m hoping to get back to the story this summer.

What outside interests do you have?

I love traveling, listening to live music, crocheting, cooking, playing the piano, and reading, and I serve on several church and community groups.

How do you choose your settings for each book?

For me, the setting comes from the plot. The characters usually come first, then the plot, then the setting. My last two books have been set in Charlotte, North Carolina, where my husband and I met. I suppose I get a lot of material from thinking about that time and place when we were young and dating.

If you could spend an evening with one historical person, who would it be and why?

I would love to spend an evening with Corrie Ten Boom. What an inspiring person! She endured incredible hardships in the concentration camps during WWII, but she overcame all bitterness, anger, disappointment, and grief and was able to forgive the people who imprisoned her. Even in the midst of hard-to-imagine cruelty, she looked to God to strengthen her and grow her faith. She’d be fascinating.

I’ve also been fascinated by her. What is the one thing you wish you had known before you started writing novels?

I wish I had known about the marketing and promotion involved and the business side to writing. I wish I would have paid more attention then and created a business plan.

What new lessons is the Lord teaching you right now?

He’s teaching me He is sovereign.

What are the three best things you can tell other authors to do to be successful?

Write every day. Read in your genre, in other genres, and writing craft books. Attend writing conferences for classes and to meet other writers. Bonus: PRAY.

Tell us about the featured book.

Forever Music highlights the current topic of emotional affairs. With the prevalence of social media, finding lost loves is sometimes a matter of clicking through a few websites. Hello emails can lead to flirty emails which can escalate to relationships.

The Josie Daniels and Ches Windham story uses quirky family support and humor to contrast a topic that can sometimes result in dark consequences even for Christians who seek God’s guidance but may not employ it.

Please give us the first page of the book.

Anticipation for the evening revved Josie Daniels’ heart rate as much as discovering original sales tags on a thrift store find. She surveyed the ballroom glittering with lights and flowers and people in sparkly dresses and suits. Three musicians played James Taylor’s “Carolina in My Mind” on a piano, guitar, and cello. Nice. In a couple of hours, the wait would be over, and she’d have a promise, if not a check, for thousands of dollars in her hand.

How many thousand remained a mystery.

Instead of a little black dress, she wore a little navy dress with a boat neck and a scoop back. Her ears featured dangly diamond earrings borrowed from her mom’s jewelry box, a twenty-fifth wedding anniversary gift from her dad.

 A tennis bracelet, graduate school graduation present from her grandmother, encircled her wrist. The ends of her hair curled exactly the way it did on a good hair day thanks to a quick shower after teaching her last class, so she left it down, framing her face.

Yep. She felt confident. She could hold her own in this room full of downtown Charlotte lawyers and bankers and business people. So, what if she found her dress on the clearance rack?

How can readers find you on the Internet?

I would love for readers to connect with me! I’m easy to find on social media through the links on my website   www.hopetolerdougherty.com .

Thank you, Hope, for sharing this new book with us. I can hardly wait to read it. I haven’t read one on that topic.

Readers, here’s a link to the book. It's on pre-order right now and will release on May 19.

Forever Music

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