1.Who are you & where do you come from?
My husband would be the best person to answer that as he knows the real
me. A Sydneysider, I always wanted to be an artist so I studied art and
joined the family ceramics studio and enjoyed etching Australian flora
and fauna exclusively for Prouds in Sydney. I met my violinist husband
at a YFC meeting and he challenged me to use my gift for God. After our
marriage we attended Emmaus Bible College and then joined Dr Gene
Jeffries and American evangelist as his music team. We spent two years
in America and then answered the call to be involved in missions in
Australia. Each year in December, we minister throughout Thailand with a
Thai interpreter, Somchai Soothornturasuk. He arranges for us to use
our art and music in schools, prisons, orphanages, hospitals and
churches where we explain the real meaning of Christmas. During our many
years of travelling over countries in SE Asia, I began to write
seriously. Though looking back, I used to spin stories with my grandma
and I think the seeds were sown then.
2. Tell us about your writing. What do I write?
I love reading historicals. I also love the extensive research involved
in writing these. So my chosen genre is Historical Romance. I have had
two published by a Sydney publisher. My next was a trilogy: Signed
Sealed Delivered, The Tie That Binds, A Parcel of Promises were Indie
published.
3. Tell us about your program, what challenges you most and what helps you most?
As I also write and record radio programs with my husband, I'm always
challenged to find the time to write my novels.(I wish I had a maid and
a cook like those in my historicals!) However I can tune out even with
the TV on, because when I write, I am not in my room, not in my suburb
and not in my time. I read my Bible study and notes each morning and ask
the Lord to guide me in whatever I write as I want it to honour Him. My
Thesaurus helps me most of all when I am searching for just the right
word.
4. What are your writing goals?
I am now writing 3 synopses for a Book proposal of another series I have just completed under the series name:
Daughters of Resilience: Book 1. Speechless,
Breaking Miss Sophie's Silence, Book 2. Defenseless,
Miss Dengate's Deliverance, Book 3. Heartless,
Miss Kate's Great Expectations.(
I use US spelling.) The setting is the Edwardian Era. So my goal is to
find an agent who likes my work and who will find a publisher who in
turn will actually snap up my trilogy! Easy? Nooooo. I'd value your
prayers about this.
5. How does my faith impact my writing?
To answer this I'll share what I have written in my Book Proposal:
Resilience - a combination of perseverance
and hope - is a universal theme in my novels. When facing difficult
issues, today’s Christian woman can relate when facing hard decisions between
making a God honouring choice or whatever is expedient at the time.
I
truly want to share my faith in a practical way. Just as Jesus used
stories to illustrate a spiritual truth, so I really want my readers to
gain something that might help them in their own life.
Rita has learned her craft by making every mistake in the book! But
perseverance is the key. Besides reading fiction and nonfiction, read
plenty of books in the genre you write. Then write your heart out. Write
all your doubts and struggles into your characters. And have fun
creating your nasty antagonists.
If you feel the Lord has called you to write, just keep at it whatever
it is articles, scripts, Sunday school lessons, women's devotionals,
there's a need for all of these.
And never give up.
