Guest Blog

Linda Shenton Matchett is an author, speaker and history geek. A native of Baltimore, Md., she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry and has lived in historic places all her life. She is a volunteer docent at the Wright Museum of WWII.

When do you find time to write?
Linda: I’m a very structured person, so I schedule my writing time to ensure it happens. I’m an early riser, so am usually at my desk by 5:30 or 6 a.m. at the latest. Sunday mornings before church are dedicated to my blogging and other social media writing. Weekdays mornings are used to write my books. My favorite day is Wednesday. I don’t have to be at work until 1 p.m., so I have hours to write!

How do you research ways to kill someone for your books?
Linda: Research is one of my favorite aspects of writing, and I’ve been lucky to stumble on several excellent resources. A co-worker is a former NH State police officer, and he has been incredibly helpful. In addition, The Great Courses is a video educational company that offers several forensics courses I’ve purchased. The teacher is Professor Elizabeth Murray of Mount St. Joseph University, and she has graciously answered lots of questions for me. As a member of Sisters in Crime, I’ve been able to tap into a number of subject matter experts. My brother is in the medical field and has been a huge help also.

Where do you get the inspiration for your plots?
Linda: Everywhere! Seriously, I have a folder where I stuff ideas. Inspiration has come from Bible stories, newspaper and magazine articles, books or movies that I think should have been done differently, historic events, brainstorming sessions with my husband, and overheard conversations—you can’t believe what people talk about in public!

What is one of your favorite ways to connect with readers?
Linda: My absolute favorite way to connect with readers is through Facebook parties. I’m an extrovert and love to socialize, so the opportunity to meet people from all over the world and talk about everything from books to childhood memories is wonderful. FB parties have also been a great way to discover new authors, so my TBR continues to grow!

Current book: Murder of Convenience
Geneva Alexander joins the USO to escape the engagement her parents have arranged for her, and winds up as the suspect for her betrothed’s murder.

Connect w/Linda
Website: www.LindaShentonMatchett.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/LindaShentonMatchettAuthor
Twitter: www.twitter.com/lindasmatchett
Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+LindaMatchett
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/lindasmatchett

Ada Belle Brownell is the author of nine books. She loves inspirational historical suspense. When she plots, it’s all about putting challenges and disaster into the lives of fictional characters, and it sometimes hurts her as well. She wept three times over one section of Love’s Delicate Blossom.

What’s the hardest part of writing romantic suspense?
Ada: Creating the complications and then getting the characters out of them.

When do you find time to write?
Ada: Early morning, and late afternoon. Sometimes in the evening.

What is your favorite spot for reading or reflecting on your current work-in-progress?
Ada: During the night when I can’t sleep.

How do you connect with your characters?
Ada: When I throw people into a situation, their personalities and characteristics usually develop on the spot, whether it’s fear, humor, romance or ingenuity.

Why do you like writing romantic suspense?
Ada: I like books where the main character has a worthy purpose against severe conflict.

What’s the weirdest way someone has died or been killed in your novels?
Ada: A sweet 12-year-old boy with Down Syndrome was killed by an asylum patient. My editor almost didn’t forgive me for that one. In the early 1900s, Down Syndrome patients were held in the same wards as insane adults.

What did you want to be as a child and did that dream come true?
Ada: I wanted to be a secretary. I had been a youth leader, then my husband’s job required moving to Thompson, Utah, population 98, with four bars and no church, The fire of the Holy Spirit still burned in me to reach the lost, especially, youth, so I began writing articles for youth magazines and expanded. I sold an article to David C. Cook’s leadership magazine for $35 when that much money was significant. I advertised my accordion, bought an electric typewriter, and enrolled in a writing course. The instructor suggested I write for newspapers to give me experience with words, and I became a correspondent for The Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction, Colo. Then when we moved, I worked for The Herald Democrat in Leadville, Colo, then another move and was hired by The Pueblo Chieftain. I took out 20 years in the middle of my career to raise our five wonderful children.

I sold my first full articles to Christian publications in my teens, and never stopped the freelance writing, even when I had a “real job.”

How do you ensure your books are accurate?
Ada: I don’t claim that my books are true historicals. My characters never existed and many that I patterned them after were dead before I began writing. I do base many events and some characters on real people from my family. Love’s Delicate Blossom is wrapped around my parents’ romance, but I’m the youngest of eight children and I wasn’t there when they were young. I’m old and experienced now and saw much of what is in my historicals. Mama told me many romantic things about how they fell in love, and they had complications galore.

Yet, my characters are involved in many things, and some of those require extensive research. I received a great comment from a reader: “Your book set a tone and world from your grandmother’s time, the historical elements are what readers read the genre for.”

What has been most rewarding about writing romantic suspense?
Ada: A great story, and substance! A straight romance can’t hold my attention. Something else has to be happening. All my books make we want to know what will happen next and I can’t wait to write it and find out.

Current book: Love’s Delicate Blossom
Schoolteacher Ritah Irene O’Casey must decide between two suitors while protecting an orphan girl.

Connect W/Ada
Amazon Ada Brownell author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06
Book Fun Network: http://www.bookfun.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/AdaBrownellWritingMinistries
Twitter: @adabrownell

Google https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AdaBrownell/posts

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1654534.Ada_Brownell
Blog: http://inkfromanearthenvessel.blogspot.com

Author Virginia Vaughan was a lover of books from a young age, devouring tales of romance, danger and love. She soon started writing them herself. Her current release, Deadly Christmas Duty, is her ninth book for Love Inspired Suspense and the second in her Covert Operatives series.

What’s the hardest part of writing romantic suspense?
Virginia: I love keeping the identity of the villain a secret until the end, but sometimes walking that fine line between planting clues and giving away the villain can be tricky.

What’s your go-to when you need a pick-me-up to keep writing?
Virginia: Writing is hard work and sometimes the words just don’t want to come. When the words dry up that way, my go-to defense is to read. It always helps get my creative juices flowing.

Where do you get the inspiration for your plots?
Virginia: I get inspiration for my stories from a variety of sources. I love true crime books and podcasts, but I also get ideas through reading, movies, and keeping up with crime stories on the news.

What does your family think of your writing romantic suspense?
Virginia: It has become sort of a running joke in my family because I’m always on the lookout for interesting and different ways to kill people or bury bodies. Now, whenever they see something that I could use in one of my stories, they’re quick to point it out.

Current book: Deadly Christmas Duty
Prosecutor and single mom Melinda Steel thought her nightmare ended when her abusive husband died, but now someone wants her dead by Christmas.

Connect w/Virginia
Website: www.virginiavaughanonline.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ginvaughanbooks.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/gin_vaughan
Instagram: www.instagram.com/virginiavaughanauthor
Bookbub: www.bookbub.com/profile/virginia-vaughan
Email newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dtFeVP

Anne Baxter Campbell is a multi-published author of Christian books which contain abundant romance in the pages of historical conundrums. She’s a mom and grandma active in church and community as well as a writer of blogs and books.

Have you ever regretted killing off a character? Why?
Anne: Yes. Loukas (the one I figured would become the beloved physician, Luke, in the following novel) went and got himself into a fight with pirates, even though his friends told him to stay inside. He was a physician, not a fighter. I had a future planned for him, and he totally blew it.

What does your family think of your writing romantic suspense?
Anne: Truthfully? Well, it’s a mixed bag. My step-daughter, my daughter and my granddaughter love it. My two sons? Well, at best they be like, “Congrats, Mom. When’s supper?”

What is one of your favorite ways to connect with readers?
Anne: Mostly through Facebook. Readers often friend me or follow my FB page. Lots of fun exchanges that way! Also love to meet them face-to-face at signings, hopefully not so busy there’s no time to learn a bit about them.

What is absolutely essential for you to write?
Anne: Quiet, prayer, research docs and books handy, a picture in my head of each character, a mental outline of what’s going to happen, and my puppy by my side.

Current book: Blessed by Time
A woman grieving for her dead daughter disappears. Her husband searches for her, but the police think he is the culprit.

Connect W/Anne
Website: www.pewperspective.blogspot.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anne.Baxter.Campbell
Twitter: @Anne_Baxter_C
Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/102103606462368261426
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annebaxter