Talkshow Thursday: Welcome Back, Amanda Cabot

Talkshow Thursday: 

Welcome Back, Amanda Cabot

I am very pleased to welcome back Amanda Cabot to my blog. I love her stories, and she is a fellow tea drinker! Grab your favorite hot beverage and meet this lovely author.

What is your favorite thing about being a writer?

There are actually two things that I love about being a writer. The first is being able to escape into a world that I’ve created. The second is having readers tell me that my stories touched their hearts and helped them through a difficult time in their lives. That’s worth more than the largest royalty check!

How did you learn how to write?

By reading. That may sound strange, but reading what would now be considered classics taught me how to structure a sentence and how to plot a book. It also instilled a lifelong love of books in me. As Thomas Jefferson famously said, “I cannot live without books.”

What does your writing space look like?

I have two desks. Does that sound strange? One is for handwriting, which is how I outline my

manuscripts and then edit them once they’ve been keyed into Word and printed. (Yes, I’m old-school and like to work with hard copy.) The second desk houses my computer. The highlight of the room is the wall in front of my monitor which has three shelves with framed covers of my books. Seeing them there provides me the inspiration I need when I’m in the middle of the first draft, my least favorite part of the whole writing process.

What was your inspiration for the story?

The Sisters of the Heart trilogy started because I was intrigued by the idea of three very different women living together and becoming as close as blood sisters. The year Sophia, Victoria, and Olivia spent in Europe forged their friendship and created ties that were only strengthened once they returned to the States.

What sort of research did you do for your story, and was there an exceptionally interesting tidbit you knew you had to include?

Since my heroine’s father is imprisoned for embezzlement, I needed to learn where he might have been incarcerated. That led me to Eastern State Penitentiary, which was considered the foremost example of “modern” correctional facilities. I was appalled by how far they took solitary confinement, even putting hoods over the prisoners’ heads when they left their cells so that they would not see another human being. That’s not my idea of enlightened punishment.

If you were to write a spin-off book about one of your secondary characters, which one would you choose and why?

What a great question. Although I hadn’t thought about a fourth book in the series, Charlene Scott deserves a chance at redemption. Who knows? Thanks to your asking the question, she just might get her own book.

What is your advice to fledgling writers?

Three things. First, read extensively in the genre you want to write. Secondly, attend writers’ conferences to hone your craft. Thirdly—and most importantly—never give up.

What is your next project?

The predictable answer would be the third of the Sisters of the Heart books, and I will be working on that soon, but since readers hated to leave Sweetwater Crossing, I’m going to give them another Sweetwater book. Although the majority of my books are set in the nineteenth century, Beyond the Melody takes place right after World War II. I’m having so much fun bringing that pivotal time in American history to life. Melody is scheduled for release in early July.

BOOK BLURB:

A woman whose life is in shambles. A man who’s fighting for his future. A decades-old mystery. Carr

Valley will never be the same.

Victoria Holton has it all, or so it seems: beauty, a doting father, betrothal to one of Philadelphia’s most eligible bachelors. But all that ends the day her father is imprisoned for embezzlement. Suddenly penniless and shunned because of her father’s crime, she flees to Carr Valley, hoping to find refuge with Sophia, her sister of the heart.

With her life upended, Victoria longs to find a new purpose, but what can she do? She wishes she could solve a decades-old mystery that’s haunting a newfound friend, but the only clue leads nowhere. Her attempts at housekeeping in Sophia’s hotel are laughable, and despite a number of would-be suitors, she has no intention of marrying. The only man who interests her is one she could never consider, for if there’s one thing Victoria knows, it’s that she is not meant to be a minister’s wife.

Pastor Peter Mulholland has never doubted his calling to the ministry … until now. Even though he can’t please everyone, he refuses to let the deacons’ demand that he marry determine his future. He knows the kind of wife they expect him to choose, and it’s not a woman like Victoria. Besides, what does he have to offer her? Perhaps his critics are right, and it’s time for him to leave Carr Valley.

But then a stranger arrives and the whispers begin.

Purchase link: https://amzn.to/4quiSr3

About Amanda:
From the age of seven, Amanda Cabot dreamed of becoming a published author, but it was only when she set herself the goal of selling a book by her thirtieth birthday that the dream came true. A former director of Information Technology, Amanda has written everything from technical books and articles for IT professionals to mysteries for teenagers and romances for all ages. She is now the bestselling author of more than forty novels and a variety of novellas. Her books have been honored with starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal and have been finalists for the ACFW Carol Award, the HOLT Medallion, and the Booksellers’ Best. For her, a day is incomplete unless it includes books and at least one pot of tea.

Social Media Links
www.amandacabot.com
https://www.facebook.com/amanda.j.cabot
http://amandajoycabot.blogspot.com/

Photo credits:

Author photo and book image: Courtesy Amanda Cabot

Jail Cell: Pixabay/Ichigo121212