BEYOND ALL MEASURE - Dorothy Love - Free Book

Tell us how much of yourself you write into your characters.

I write my own life questions, my own struggles into the lives of a few of my characters.

What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done?

I’ve been asked this question a lot lately and honestly I am not all that quirky. In seventh grade a friend and I went to see a movie starring the gorgeous red- haired Rhonda Fleming. We bought henna at the drugstore and dyed our hair red. That lasted until my dad got home from work and made me wash mine out.

When did you first discover that you were a writer?

A third grade teacher praised my first efforts and encouraged me to write. In high school, the journalism bug bit. I edited my high school paper, and my university paper and tried fiction many years later.

Tell us the range of the kinds of books you enjoy reading.

I love historical fiction. I read Southern writers of both literary and commercial fiction. As a writer of historical fiction, I read a lot of nonfiction for background research. I enjoy biographies and memoirs. I love almost anything except sci fi and horror.

How do you keep your sanity in our run, run, run world?

Some days I am not sure my sanity is intact. My husband and I both love the beach and we live about 2 and a half hours from the coast. A few days at the beach is very restorative----spiritually, emotionally, physically, creatively. I love my beach time.

How do you choose your characters’ names?

I read through old journals and diaries to find names appropriate for the time, and I try to choose names whose meanings have some connection to the character’s role in the story. In Beyond All Measure, my protag, Ada, needs a friend to rely on. I came across the name Mariah, which is a diminutive of Amariah, meaning, sent from God.

What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?

I finished my PhD in 28 months while working full time after the head of my doctoral committee said it could not be done. Passed my qualifying exams in research and statistics on the first try. Ditto for my second language requirement exams. Graduated with a nearly perfect GPA. That was a happy day for sure.  

What is your favorite food?

I love fresh seafood and anything from my mother’s summer garden. Okra, squash, peas, tomatoes, corn, and a pan of her amazing buttermilk cornbread. Plus the requisite gallon of iced tea---- and I’m a happy girl.

What is the problem with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it?

I came from a journalism background where the rules are to state the facts in descending order of importance. No adjectives allowed. I had to learn how to write description into a narrative. My first fiction teacher, Peggy Moss Felding, used write in green ink on my manuscripts, Give us more, more, more.

Tell us about the featured book.

BEYOND ALL MEASURE is set in Hickory Ridge, a fictional small town in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in the year 1871. Ada Wentworth, a young Bostonian who has lost her family, her fiancé and her fortune, arrives by train to take a job as a lady’s companion, but only until she can save enough money to open a millinery shop back east. But then she meets Texan Wyatt Caldwell, the handsome blue eyed owner of the local lumber mill. When their friendship turns to love, Ada must let go of her painful past in order to embrace God’s plans for her, and to trust Wyatt with her heart.

Please give us the first page of the book.

Holding tightly to her worn travel satchel, Ada Wentworth stepped through a cloud of billowing steam and scanned the rain-slicked railway platform, looking for the woman who had promised to meet her. Smartly-dressed travelers folded their black umbrellas and push through a knot of farm wives, mill workers, and station peddlers hawking candy and magazines. A line of buggies and wagons waited in the heat, the placid horses swishing their tails against a cloud of flies. A group of schoolboys jostled Ada roughly as they passed, their languid, high-pitched accents falling strangely on her ear. She pulled her handkerchief from her cuff and blotted her face, her gaze traveling from one person to the next. People a-plenty, but no red-haired woman carrying a white parasol. She skirted a mound of baggage and wound her way toward the agent’s office, trying to quell her growing apprehension. A steady stream of travelers flowed past her like water around a stone. A hard lump formed in her throat.

What on earth had she done?

How can readers find you on the Internet?

My website is www.DorothyLoveBooks.com. Visit me there, or click on the icon to find me on Facebook. 


Thank you, Dorothy, for this interesting peek into your life and work.



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