Welcome back, Allison. Why do you write the kind of books you do?
I love the act of creating a sort of alternate
reality—creating characters who are allowed to live outside of the normal, kind
of hum-drum lives most of us live. I like exploding the ordinary bits of a
life, taking just a short section of time—a week, a few months, a few years—and
exploring the impact.
Besides when you came to know the Lord, what is the happiest
day in your life?
This is going to sound so cheesy, but it was one perfect day
at DisneyWorld with my family. Everybody was
getting along, it wasn’t too hot, the lines weren’t too long—it was a trip we’d
been planning for a couple of years, and it was absolutely perfect.
How has being published changed your life?
For one thing, I quit my full-time teaching job, which has
made me so much more available as a wife and mother. That’s the best! Another
change is simple the number of people in my life—at all levels. I’ve actually
always been not exactly shy, but reserved—perfectly happy with either my own
company, or a carefully chosen small circle of friends. Now, I’ve met so many
people—some actually in person! It’s an odd thing to me that strangers would
want to know me, know about me. I’ve learned to be a lot more open.
What are you reading right now?
On my e-reader, I’m reading The Invisible Wall by Harry Bernstein. In the car (I’m in a season
of road-trips) I’m listening to The
Murderer’s Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers. My next book-book is Crossing Oceans by Gina Holmes Waters.
Next up is World War Z, a
zombie-apocalypse novel, and Five Women,
a 1960’s Rona Jaffe classic. I have a wide range of interests…
What is your current work in progress?
I’m working on the first in a three-book series set in the
1920’s—all three about young women who, in the course of their life, in some
way encounter the first mega-church-building female evangelist Aimee Semple
McPhereson.
Can't wait to read those stories. We must have them on the blog. What would be your dream vacation?
Seriously…I’m such a simple girl. It would be a full week at
Disney World, three days alone with hubby, then fly the kids in. I know there’s
an entire actual world out there, so I guess my second choice would be Ireland
How do you choose your settings for each book?
I usually start with a character…then that character’s
story…then I have to figure out what would be the most logical place for it to
happen. Sometimes, though, the setting is, well, set. Like, I couldn’t write
about the early Mormon church without going to Salt Lake City , Utah Cleveland
If you could spend an evening with one person who is
currently alive, who would it be and why?
That’s hard, because too often people are nothing like what
you think they would be. But, assuming it’s with my husband’s blessing, I would
love to have dinner with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. I just think he’s
hilarious, and brilliant.
What are your hobbies, besides writing and reading?
This is where I have to confess to watching a lot of TV.
Like, a lot. But, quality stuff, with the occasional foray into “America
What is your most difficult writing obstacle, and how do you
overcome it?
Procrastination, insane optimism, the lure of the new idea,
the overestimation of my abilities, the hours in a day—wait, just one? It’s always
poor planning, meaning, poor scheduling of my time, and poorly sticking to the
schedule I set for myself. I’ve yet to overcome it, but I’m quick to recognize
God’s grace as He throws me a rope every time a deadline comes around the
corner!
What advice would you give to a beginning author?
Get a degree in marketing. J Seriously, writing a
book is such a small percentage of living the career of a writer. On the
writing side, though, I’d say to study, really study, the craft, with the
attitude that you have a lot to learn, because we ALL do!
Tell us about the featured book.
Forsaking All Others is the highly-anticipated (and I have the
emails to prove it) sequel to For Time
and Eternity. Camilla Fox, the heroine in both books, is a woman caught up
in the early Mormon church through her whirl-wind marriage to the handsome
Nathan Fox. In the first book, we see Nathan bring a second wife into their
home, and Camilla’s determination to free herself from that church’s grip. She
only begins her journey in the final chapters of For Time and Eternity. In Forsaking All Others, we see her
bring it to completion, though not exactly in the way that she envisioned.
How can readers find you on the Internet?
My website is www.allisonpittman.com,
and I also have an author page on facebook.Thank you, Allison, for sharing with us today.
Readers, here's a link to the book. By using it when you order, you help support this blog. Forsaking All Others (Sister Wife)
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