After the series releases, I’m looking to pitch Wild Heart
Books on an adventure-competition series resembling a Regency version of The
Apprentice, The Amazing Race, and Wife Swap (but more like a life
swap to keep it Christian-based). Otherwise, I’m entertaining a British deportation
series where wrongfully charged heroes are transported to Australia and find redemption
within a penal colony, or a Windward Island Series to match my prior Leeward Island
Series. My creative juices are flowing! I love writing and am so blessed to have
the opportunity. God is good.
Yes, He is. What conferences will you be attending this
year? Will you be a speaker at any of them? I’m looking to attend ACFW’s
conference in New Orleans and the Just Read Rendezvous conference, where readers
meet writers in St. Louis. I don’t plan to speak, but I hope to either moderate
or be on a panel at the Just Read Rendezvous conference as I did last year.
If you were in charge of planning the panel discussion at a writing conference, what topic would the panel cover, and who would you ask to be on the panel, and why? With my psychology background, I love characterization. I would hold a panel on how authors determine their character’s personality and use the traits to develop and push the plot, especially when the characteristics may be opposite their own (i.e., an introverted, detail-oriented author who writes about a flighty, extroverted heroine). Also, I’d ask them how birth order plays a role in the characters’ personalities and interactions, especially in sibling series and romantic relationships. Some authors who have done this well that I would love to interview on the panel would be Kristi Ann Hunter, Blossom Turner, Misty Beller, and Robin Patchen.
How important is it to you to be active in writing
organizations? Connections are vital to being an author. We are an isolated
bunch who sit alone in front of a computer. It’s essential to be part of
writing organizations and critique groups. I’ve been a member of ACFW for ten
years, and the people I’ve met through their conferences and the Northeast
Chapter are why I’m published today. Friendships and networking have been
invaluable. In the beginning, I soaked up how to improve my writing, but now I
lean on my writer friends for encouragement, strategy, marketing tips, and when
I get stuck in a plot hole. Writing is an “always be learning” process.
That is so true. After 40 years in the business, I’m
still learning. Where in the community or your church do you volunteer? I’ve
been a greeter at church for twenty years and ran the team for five years. Even
though I’m introverted, I believe my unease in new situations allowed God to
instill in me a heart to want new guests to feel welcome and at ease. I tell my
team you never know how long a mother has prayed for her child to walk through
these church doors, and we get to be like the prodigal son’s father waiting
with wide-open arms to welcome them home.
I have also been an active member and leader of small groups
for over twenty years. My husband and I currently help co-lead a marriage group
where we’re the advanced couple (a nice way of saying we’re comparatively old),
having now been married twenty-four years. We have a passion for helping couples
succeed in marriage.
Who are the five people who have made the most impact on your life, and how?
My husband, John, has loved me through my faults, drawn me out of my shell, talked me off cliffs, and given me three wonderful boys.
My parents, who have also been my biggest cheerleaders, have
taught me to work hard and be independent.
My friend and spiritual mother, Lynn Jamros, took my husband
and me under her wing when we were baby Christians. She encouraged, challenged,
and loved on me as a Jesus with skin on.
Pastor and Stacy Frye are my pastors, leaders, and friends.
They’ve taught, inspired, and believed in me.
If you could write the inscription on your tombstone,
what would it be?
Servant of Jesus
Devoted wife
Mother of Christ-following men
who carry on the charge.
Tell us about the featured book. A Summer on Bellevue
Avenue is the sixth installment of the Romance in the Gilded Age
Resorts Series written by various Wild Heart Books authors. It was my first
dive into America’s Gilded Age, and I loved it.
Wealthy heiress Amanda Mae Klein is set to marry the man she
loves, Wesley Jansen—the only person she trusts to help ease her anxiety among
the social climbers of high society. Then the daughter of a union boss falls
down a flight of stairs at Wesley’s oil company’s office in the middle of the
night…and the woman claims Wesley pushed her.
Seeking solace from the growing scandal, Amanda flees to the mansion-dotted
seaside of Newport. Wesley follows and sets about disproving the rumors while
winning back Amanda’s trust. But soon, Amanda finds not only her social status
but her life at risk. As grievous events pit the two against each other, will
their love find a way to survive?
Please share the first page with us.
New York, New York
June 7, 1895
A scream and tumbling sound woke Wesley Astor Jansen. He
jolted upright from his desk and swiped at the paper that stuck to his cheek.
Had he dreamed the noise? Who else was here?
He tilted his ear up and listened, but in the office of Jansen
and Sons Oil and Energy Engineering, not even the janitorial staff stirred. The
oil lamp on the corner of his desk burned low. He flicked open his gold pocket
watch and held it near the sputtering light.
Quarter after three in the morning. He snapped the lid shut
and tucked the timepiece back into his suit pocket.
His copy of the signed marriage agreement he’d struggled for
the better part of an hour to read though lay scattered across his desk. He
gathered the pages into a pile and turned to file them in his side drawer.
Odd. The drawer stood open. Had he left it that way?
He slid the papers into the first folder, then closed and
locked the compartment. It was late. He should head home. Light sparkled off
the remaining bubbles still bursting in his half-finished champagne glass. He
brought the glass over to the sideboard for the staff to clear.
It had been a solitary victory celebration after obtaining
Mr. Klein’s blessing to marry his daughter—a hard-won feat. Mr. Klein’s ruthless
business and social dealings sought one-sided advantages, but Wesley, too,
could be relentless. A financial investment closed the deal with Klein &
Co. manufacturing their line of motor cars with Jansen and Sons’ unique grade
of gasoline. They both signed, and the only stipulation was for Wesley’s money
to be returned if Amanda declined his offer of marriage.
Paying for his bride didn’t sit well with Wesley. If Amanda
discovered what her father asked of him and the dollar amount, she’d be
horrified. In the end, he’d have paid even more because he loved Amanda, and a
Jansen-Klein business alliance would profit them both.
Grander festivities would take place tomorrow evening after
he proposed and Amanda accepted.
Wesley yawned and ran his hand down his face. He’d been
having some dream.
Where can my readers find you on the Internet?
https://www.wildheartbooks.org/lorri-dudley.html
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lorri-dudley
Thank you for sharing A Summer on Bellevue Avenue with
my blog readers and me. I’ve always loved reading your books.
Readers,
here’s a link to the book.
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Sounds like a great story! Cherie J from Florida.
ReplyDeleteA novel that sounds captivating and set during The Gilded Age which interests me greatly. anne in NM.
ReplyDeleteSounds so good!
ReplyDeleteAbigail in VA
Lorri Dudley is a great author! I'm excited to read this new book! It sounds very intriguing!
ReplyDeleteAlison from MI
Enter me in your awesome giveaway!!
ReplyDeleteNichols SC.
Those first page blurbs get me every time! Would love to read this!
ReplyDeletePam in OH