Welcome, Susan. Thank you for sharing your debut novel with us. Tell us how much of
yourself you write into your characters.
I don’t think very much, but when my siblings read it, they
said Jeanine talked like me.
What is the quirkiest
thing you have ever done?
Signing up to take homeschooling taekwondo classes with my
sons. It didn’t cost much to add me in and I felt guilty watching them exercise
while I sat on the sidelines. Seeing two other moms in the class motivated me
and I thought the forms looked elegant.
When did you first
discover that you were a writer?
In second grade. My teacher, Mrs. Calahamer, read my story
to the class and they applauded.
Tell us the range of
the kinds of books you enjoy reading.
Wow. It would be a much shorter list to say what I don’t
read. I enjoy the classics, speculative fiction, mysteries, children’s books,
Biblical fiction, and more. I like fiction that either affirms my faith and/or
challenges my mind. My favorite, not contemporary, authors are C.S. Lewis and
Dostoevsky. My current favorite authors are Stephen Lawhead and Bryan Davis.
How do you keep your
sanity in our run, run, run world?
Do I keep my sanity?
My family often questions that. However, I keep functioning by snuggling
into God’s lap every morning when I do my devotions, exercising regularly, and
reading avidly. In addition, I require music to operate on a daily basis. I can
write in the silence of early morning, but beyond that time I can’t think
creatively without music.
How do you choose
your characters’ names?
Sometimes, I name my characters after people I know. That’s
particularly true of minor characters. My main characters tend to get names I
like or ones that pop in my head when I’m dreaming.
What is the
accomplishment that you are most proud of?
Earning a black belt in taekwondo. Physical activity is not
something that comes naturally to me, so I really had to work for it.
If you were an
animal, which one would you be, and why?
My favorite housepets are cats; my favorite animals to watch
are horses. However, I don’t act like either. Behavior-wise, I think I’m rather
like the mice I had for pets as a child. I keep moving and go through every
obstacle until I’m exhausted. At that point, I lean in close to the others in
my “cage.”
What is your favorite
food?
That varies. I go in spurts with different things. Over the
summer, I adored roasted cauliflower. Right now, it’s a raw cranberry nut
salad. But my constants are fresh bread, baked potatoes, and homemade soup.
What is the problem
with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it?
When I started writing books, I wrote the way I wrote
plays—mostly dialogue and action. I had to remind myself to add in the texture
that makes it a story. I used a lot of test readers to help me determine where
to put it in based on questions they asked.
Tell us about the
featured book.
Jeanine is an Army wife and homeschooling mom of Justin and
Josie, who has grown comfortable and happy with her husband’s assignment in Georgia . When
she finds out that they will move, she digs in her heels and procrastinates. So
her husband, Captain James Talbott, picks out their new home in Gentle Springs.
It happens to be next to a Civil War cemetery. The “neighbors” intimidate Jeanine
even while James is there. But when he goes away for training and their lovable
bulldog Jelly finds a new corpse next to the tomb of the town hero, she needs
to overcome her fears. To that end, Justin and Josie use their God-given
abilities to help their mom find out why the treasure hunter was murdered.
Please give us the
first page of the book.
Homeschooling Can Be Murder
I blame it on soccer. (If I didn’t blame it on soccer, I’d
have to blame it on me, and I’m not ready to go there yet.) So, you must
understand that if it weren’t for soccer, James wouldn’t have picked out the
house on his own. If it weren’t for soccer, he wouldn’t have needed my proxy at
closing, and I could have avoided moving into our current home. If it weren’t
for soccer, I wouldn’t have found a fresh corpse in the middle of an ancient
graveyard. And if it weren’t for soccer, I would not currently be crawling
around in the mud with my kids looking for clues to a murder.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me tell you the whole story.
First, you need to understand that I’m an Army wife. James
has made the service a career, and I’m proud of him and what he does. But that
means every two to four years, we move. To give our kids some stability and to
pass on our beliefs, we decided to homeschool.
We are all J’s. When James and I met, he thought it was cute
that both our names started with the letter J; so after we married, he decided
that should be a trademark for our family. And it is, down to the dog. My name
is Jeanine, my ten-year-old son is Justin, and his eight-year-old sister is
Josie. Our dog? He’s a slobbering but loyal bulldog we named Jelly.
How can readers find
you on the Internet?
I’m on Facebook, LinkedIn and my website is www.sajlyttek.com .
Thank you, Susan, for spending this time with us today.
Readers, here’s a link to the book. By using it when you order, you help support this blog.
Homeschooling Can Be Murder
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