IMOGEN'S CHANCE - Paula Vince - One Free Book

Readers, Paula Vince is one of my writing friends who live in Australia. I’ve featured Paula before, but it’s been a while. I’m thrilled to have her on the blog again.

Welcome back, Paula. Why do you write the kind of books you do?

They are the kind of books I’ve found I’ve learned most from. Although I love many genres, I live in the contemporary world and find the challenges experienced by characters in our fast-paced, media-driven times easy to relate to. I also like the opportunity to show that the twenty-first century can be as fun to live in as “the good old days.”

Besides when you came to know the Lord, what is the happiest day of your life?

Although giving birth to each of my three children is surely up there, I’ll choose another day. Before having them, I’d suffered several early miscarriages and was wondering if that situation would ever change. Although I was feeling quite sick, I remember the day an ultrasound technician said, “There’s a tiny baby here, and you can clearly see the heartbeat.” That little baby is now a young man aged 19, but I’ll never forget how happy and excited I was that day.

How has being published changed your life?

I think the biggest impact has been in my confidence level. It makes a world of difference to know that somebody has thought enough of my books to risk publishing them, and trusted that they would sell.

What are you reading right now?

It’s a new novel called, How Sweet the Sound by Amy K Sorell, set in the southern states of America, somewhere I’m very unfamiliar with.

What is your current work in progress?

I haven’t started a new story yet. I’ve only recently finished the polishing touches of Imogen’s Chance, so my head is still full of those characters and their plight. I do have a few unformed ideas beginning to float around.

What would be your dream vacation?

I’d love a tour to each of the sacred sites and wonders of the world. That way I’d be cheating a bit, by getting to see a lot of our planet in the one vacation.

How do you choose settings for each book?

I usually stick to my own local environment. I’ve lived in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia since I was a teenager, so I’m familiar enough with it that I can write more convincingly and effectively than if I had to research. It’s a great place for a setting, with an interesting history of battling pioneers, and a different beauty and colour for each season. If I ever do need to do a little research, it’s usually no more than a day’s drive away.

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

I’d choose an old High School English teacher of mine, who encouraged me to keep writing. He was a trendy and popular teacher, so I appreciated his efforts to single me out to praise my writing, as I was shy and unsure of myself. I’d love to show him my books and say thanks for old times.

What are your hobbies besides writing and reading?

I love bushwalking, cooking, and homeschooling.

What is your most difficult writing hurdle and how do you overcome it?

It’s probably dealing with the earliest feedback from friends and family. At that stage, I get anxious and read into their facial expressions messages which they aren’t trying to give. I overcome it by remembering that their tastes in reading material differ from mine, and they’re trying to help.

What advice would you give to a beginning author?

Don’t expect the first draft to be perfect. I think we have an automatic tendency to get discouraged at the outset, but the truth is that first drafts always need revisions, no matter how many books we’ve ever written. We need to get used to the idea that each project may take far more work than we expect.

Tell us about the featured book.

My heroine feels guilty and partly responsible for a couple of horrible events which happened when she was younger. One day she vows to return and fix things up if only she gets the chance. For Imogen, back-tracking means returning all the way from America to South Australia. She finds that one of her old friends, Asher, has a problem which seems impossible for her to help with. As he’s one of the people she feels most wary about facing again, she’s unsure how she should behave around him. And she dreads the possibility that her secrets will be exposed.

Imogen’s Chance blurb:

She has given herself a chance to fix her personal history. But will old mistakes bring up new emotions?

Imogen Browne longs to make up for past mistakes before she can move on. She quietly resolves to help the Dorazio family, whose lives she accidentally upset. Her biggest challenge is Asher, the one person who may never forgive her. And he is facing a crisis of his own. Imogen must tread very carefully, as trying to fix things may well make them shatter.

A sensitive story about misplaced loyalty, celebrating life and falling in love. Can family secrets, concealed with the best intentions, bear the light of day?

Please give us the first page of the book.

Ginny squirmed, turned her pillow over and sighed. The worst part of staying with the Dorazio family was being sent to bed by Mrs Dorazio—Aunt Marian—at nine o’clock, even though there was still a tinge of daylight visible through the chinks in the blind. Becky’s breathing was already even, and the usual few hours of boredom and homesickness stretched ahead of Ginny.­

Humping her back beneath the covers, she pressed her face into the pillow, trying to smother her thoughts. It never worked. They just got shaken up a little, and then jostled each other through her head. Her mind insisted on reviewing each day before she could sleep.

At least I might get to see The Twelve Dancing Princesses tomorrow. Seth Dorazio had offered to take Ginny and the twins to the movies, but they couldn’t agree on which to see. Seth had ripped a piece of shiny, gold construction cardboard into fifty tokens which he’d hidden all around the house, and the person who found the most would get to choose the movie.

So far, Ginny and Becky had pooled together their eighteen tokens while Asher had discovered twelve. Twenty tokens were still concealed but Aunt Marian had announced it was bedtime, and she never listened to protests. Ginny and Becky would have to find the others in the morning. They just had to. There was no way Ginny would sit through the silly movie Asher wanted to see, about racing cars and basketball players. She and Becky hadn’t thought of checking the back of the laundry cupboard yet. Or behind the dishwasher, or under the plastic thingy in the cutlery drawer….  

If I was Seth, where would I choose to hide tokens? That was a challenge, to imagine the way a cute fourteen-year-old boy would think.

Movement along the passage caught her eye.

How can readers find you on the internet?

Please visit my blog, www.justoccurred.blogspot.com

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paula-Vince/112910232067021

Twitter, @PaulaVince1

I also blog for www.internationalchristianfictionwriters.blogspot.com

www.australasianchristianwriters.blogspot.com

www.christianwritersdownunder.blogspot.com

Thank you, Paula, for sharing both the new book and your life with us today.

Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.
Imogen's Chance - Amazon
Imogen's Chance - Kindle

Christian Book Store

Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

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BEST FORGOTTEN - Paula Vince - Free Book

This is a new author to me. Welcome, Paula. Tell us how much of yourself you write into your characters.

I think I write in the parts of me that I prefer to keep hidden from the world – the occasionally cynical, frustrated and grouchy parts that would make eyebrows raise if I were to speak them straight out. When they come from some of my occasionally cynical, frustrated and grouchy characters instead of me, I get smiles instead. It feels far safer.

What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done?

I have a quirky habit of pretending to be right there with the characters when I’m reading fiction, seeing the whole story pass before me like a movie I’m watching. Then when I’ve finished the book I still daydream about the characters, inventing more scenes which the author never added. I was always embarrassed by my pointless habit but it is lots of fun.

When did you first discover that you were a writer?

When I was very small and my Primary School teacher would tell us to write a story my heart would leap with joy. Later, when I was 15 years old, an English teacher told me that I have a fascinating way with words. That was when I decided that I wanted to be a fiction writer more than anything else. Making people smile, laugh and cry has to be the best career choice in the world, I thought.

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

They must have an element of romance in them without being from the pure romance genre. I love books in which depth of character development and a fast-moving plot are evenly balanced. I have come across stories in which one of these elements is emphasized at the expense of the other and that makes me disappointed.

Although contemporary fiction is my chosen genre, I enjoy reading historical as well. Something with a dash of mystery or suspense makes me really happy.

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

I homeschool my three children which makes our lifestyle more relaxed and takes away that hectic school-schedule rush. We live in a beautiful, restful part of the world and I love walking, country drives and soaks in the bathtub.

How do you choose your characters’ names?

I love to use names which I wanted to call my children but couldn’t get my husband to agree on. Now that my family is complete, whenever I come across a beautiful name, I think, I’ll use it in one of my novels. Friends sometimes jump to wrong conclusions when they see books of baby names out on my table.

What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?

I’m proud of writing seven novels with very little encouragement, in a genre my country never even published until recently. Christian fiction is still at a pioneering stage in Australia.

If you were an animal, which one would you be, and why?

My daughter adores panda bears. All of South Australia is mad about them at the moment, as a pair was recently shipped from China to our Adelaide Zoo. They are exotic and cute at the same time; never hurry and look as if they are thinking about some droll joke. Yes, I’ll choose the panda.

What is your favorite food?

Crispy, honey chicken and rice followed a slice of light, melt-in-the-mouth cheesecake. I’m mixing up my countries of origin but never mind.

It sounds yummy to me right now. What is the problem with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it?

It was actually getting past the first few pages without crossing out sentences, getting discouraged and quitting. It was a great moment when I learned that the creative and judgmental sides of our brains were never meant to work simultaneously. It is quite right to let our creative sides be messy and profuse before the editor in us takes over.

Actually, I have to edit as I go. Tell us about the featured book.

Best Forgotten is my brand new fiction title. I’ve tried to weave together elements of mystery, suspense and redemption in a way I’ve never done before.

A young accident victim wakes up in hospital and can’t remember who he is. He finds that not only does he have nothing in common with his family but he develops an aversion to the person he used to be. He just can’t understand or relate to the way he used to behave or the choices he made. The more he learns about himself, the more puzzled and upset he feels.

He finds out that his best friend has disappeared without a trace on the night of his own accident. The more he tries to investigate, the more likely it appears that he was involved in something really shady. And he’s afraid that something bad is after him. So he’s torn between wanting to find out and being terrified that he’ll have to face horrible consequences when he does.

I’ve been fascinated by the relationship between our thinking patterns and what we make of our lives. How much is a person’s personality shaped by their sum of experiences? To what extent do the thoughts we choose make us into the people we are? Do the small, apparently random choices we make during our daily lives have the impact to come back when least expected and influence the rest of our lives?

When readers find out the mystery, hopefully they’ll say, “Oh wow, I never saw that one coming!”

Please give us the first page of the book.

His eyes blurred with tears, Reverend Barney Wills drove along the steep winding road. The rugged cliff loomed dark ahead and a tatter of cloud obscured the pale moon. His bedside vigil had gone on much longer than expected. It was after midnight.

He was thinking of Maud’s last words and planning how he would break the news of her death to his parishioners when a figure shot out of the scrub and barreled onto the road in front of him. Barney had a transient image of a wraith-like form in dark clothes with wild dark hair flying everywhere. The apparition wheeled around to face the headlights. Its pallid face was petrified. As he slammed his foot on the brake, the thought flashed through Barney’s mind that this might be the Grim Reaper.

When he thought it over later, he was ashamed of his jumble of impressions born of superstition and horror stories. Barney thought he’d left those hang-ups behind in his youth. Perhaps in this case they were wishful thinking. Bowling down a vampire or zombie was preferable to the unthinkable concept of seriously hurting a human being. But his front bumper-bar hurtled the figure off its feet, lifted it high onto his bonnet and pitched it onto the road. Tyres screeching, Barney jerked his steering-wheel as the car careered into the roadside scrub.

His hands shook violently; he took three attempts to open his door. His quivering knees were almost too weak to take him to the prostrate figure. He sank to the ground, staring at the white, unconscious face. A trail of blood gleamed on the pale chin. The teeth had bitten deep into the flesh of the lower lip.

Oh God, what have I done?

Wow! I can't wait to read it. How can readers find you on the Internet?

My website is http://www.appleleafbooks.com/
My blog is http://www.appleleafblog.blogspot.com/
My books are also available from Amazon.com and I have a Face Book fan page.

Thank you, Paula, for spending this time with us.
 
Readers, here's a link to the book. By using it when you order, you help support this blog.



Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 6 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.


If you’re reading this on Feedblitz, Facebook, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link.

http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com/