|
Carol J. Post interview with Susan Sleeman
|
|
June 16, 2014
A. I’ve been writing since 1991 or 1992, but didn’t try my hand at novel writing until the latter part of the 1990s. My other careers have included court reporter, owner of a special events decorating company and property manager. Q: Do you write in only one genre and if so which one and why? If not, which ones and why? A: I currently write in one genre – inspirational romantic suspense. Love Inspired prefers authors to get well-established in one line before jumping to another. I’m currently working on my fifth book for them. I love writing for LI Suspense and plan to continue, but would like to eventually add Love Inspired or Heartwarming to what I’m doing. Q: How does your faith play into your writing? A. My faith plays a large role in what I write. I always try to avoid being “preachy,” but throughout my stories, my characters come to see their faults, learn from their past mistakes and grow. I usually have one character who is a Christian but struggles with some area of his/her life and another character who isn’t a Christian but finds the Lord throughout the course of the story. I don’t have any characters who have “arrived,” as far as their spiritual walk, because even in real life, none of us are perfect. Q: How do you choose your settings for your books? A. For my first series of books, I chose Polk County, Florida (central Florida). Since I live there, I figured it would be an easy place to start. The series I’m currently working on is set in Cedar Key. My husband and I discovered Cedar Key several years ago when we were sailing in the area and stopped for supplies. It seemed like such a neat place (“Old Florida” feel, super friendly people, artsy town). When I decided to do a series set on an island, Cedar Key seemed like the perfect place. It’s been a lot of fun doing research—every three months or so, my three critique partners and I rent a honeymoon cottage on the Gulf and plot, write, investigate and talk to people around town. Q: Do you base your characters on people you know or are they totally made up? A: Usually my characters are totally made up, although I sometimes take characteristics from people I know (such as someone’s fear of snakes or tendency to cry over touching commercials) and work it into a character’s personality. I have to admit, though, the heroine in my first book, Midnight Shadows, is enough like me that people who know me well have commented, “I kept picturing you the whole time I was reading.”
A: I’ll give you the book blurb – Tracking a serial killer in Harmony Grove turns personal for Detective Lexi Simmons when her cousin becomes a victim. It turns nearly impossible when she’s teamed up with Officer Alan White—the almost-fiancé whose heart she broke six years ago. Alan can’t understand how two people so right for each other didn’t end up together. But they have more pressing matters of the past to attend to: a vengeful killer and a decade-old incident on a college campus. Now Lexi fits the profile of the next name on the hit list. And Alan finds himself not only engaged in a fight for her love—but for her life. Q: Where did you get your inspiration for this story? A: When I was ready to start plotting this book, I was at my sister’s house in North Carolina for Christmas. All I knew at that point was I wanted a serial killer in the book. I asked my sister if she wanted to help me plot and she agreed. We kept bouncing ideas off each other, and in two to three hours, we had the entire story plotted. I haven’t plotted a book by myself since. Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story? A: Lexi experienced a lot of heartbreak in her life, with the death of her father, her best friend and finally her cousin. She blamed God for each of these events and allowed them to make her bitter. Through Alan’s example, she learned that we don’t live in a perfect world—heartaches will come—but God loves each of us, and if we allow Him to carry us through the hard times, we’ll come out better instead of bitter. Q: Tell us what you like about the main characters of this book. A: Lexi is a homicide detective. She is strong and determined, but her tenderness comes out in the way she cares for her difficult mother and can’t turn away a homeless animal. Alan is also in law enforcement. He’s honorable, compassionate and fiercely protective—a hero in every way. Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now? A. I’m currently working on a series of three books for LI Suspense set in Cedar Key. In Shattered Paradise, which will release next January, Allison Winchester discovers a mysterious paper in her deceased grandparents house and winds up in the center of danger and intrigue. I am now writing book two, where Meagan Berry fakes her own death to escape a psychotic fiancé and successfully flies under the radar until circumstances put her face on the 6:00 news. Q: If money were no object what vacation would you like to take and why? A. I used to think I wanted to do an African safari. Then somebody told me they have big spiders down there. So now I want to go to Europe. I’ve had friends do European tours and bring back the coolest pictures. There’s a lot of history there, and I’d love to see it for myself. Q: What is the craziest thing you have ever done? A. Shopped for my dress for my daughter’s wedding four hours before the ceremony. But it really couldn’t be helped. My son-in-law was in the Navy, and when he proposed, he had three weeks of leave time coming up in six weeks, with no more time off in the foreseeable future. My daughter asked if we could put together a formal wedding in six weeks. I said, “No problem.” I realized I might be in trouble after calling several bridal shops and having to cross “order bridesmaids dresses” off my list and replace with “make bridesmaids dresses.” But we managed to get everything done in the nick of time (including decorations and flowers), and I actually held it together until the father-daughter dance. Q: What is the scariest thing you have ever done? A. Lived four months at my grandmother’s house. Okay, that requires some explanation. When I was 13, my parents sold our house, and while my dad was building the next one (he was a general contractor), we all stayed at my grandmother’s place. We live in central Florida, where we have lots of bugs, snakes and spiders. Big spiders. Big, scary, hairy spiders. My grandmother didn’t believe in killing them (they eat roaches), so there were lots of them living inside the house. We saw them regularly, and I was convinced they were everywhere. Forty years later, I still occasionally have spider nightmares where I bolt upright in bed, frantically brushing them off my pillow. Q: Where can readers find you on the internet? A. On the web: www.caroljpost.com On facebook: caroljpost.author On Twitter: @caroljpost Q: Anything else you’d like to tell or share with us? A. I love sailing, Greek salad, my kids and grandkids, dates (the eating kind), cats and my husband, not necessarily in that order.
|
From medical secretary to court reporter to property manager to owner of a special events decorating company, Carol’s resume reads as if she doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up. But one thing that has remained constant through the years is her love for writing. She started as a child writing poetry for family and friends, then graduated to articles which made it into some religious and children’s publications. Several years ago (more than she’s willing to admit), she penned her first novel. In 2010, she decided to get serious about writing fiction for publication and joined Romance Writers of America and her local RWA chapter. In 2012, she got “the call.” Carol lives in sunshiny Central Florida with her husband of thirty-four years, who is her own real-life hero, and enjoys sailing, hiking, camping—almost anything outdoors. Her two grown daughters and grandkids live too far away for her liking, so she now pours all that nurturing into taking care of two fat and sassy cats and one highly spoiled dog.
Thank you for writing fiction we can share with our daughters and granddaughters! Looking forward to reading OUT FOR JUSTICE and see how Polk County works as the setting. Very cool.