Margaret Daley Interview

LW: Did you have a mentor or writing group that helped you out when you first started writing, or did you learn your craft mostly on your own?
MD: I was a part of a group of writers who met once a week and critiqued each other’s work. I learned a lot from these writers.

LW: What can we expect to see from you during 2007?
MD: Below is a short list of books released or set to be released so far in 2007:

Heart of the Amazon – January 2007
So Dark the Night – March 2007
Once Upon a Family – April 2007
Vanished – May 2007
Buried Secrets – October 2007
Heart of the Family – December 2007

LW: How many words or pages do you write in a day? In a week? How do you maintain your pace and keep from getting distracted by other things?
MD: I try to write about 20-30 pages a week. I am a very focused person so I usually don’t have a problem. I don’t like deadlines hanging over my head so I work hard to take care of them.

LW: How do you juggle your writing career, family and day job?
MD: Sometimes I don’t do a good job. But usually I give whatever I’m doing my all when I’m doing it. So if I’m teaching, my students have my undivided attention. If I’m home and writing, that is what I focus totally on. And thankfully I have a great husband who supports me and understands when I’m under a deadline.

LW: In Heart of the Amazon, Slader struggled with guilt over his wife’s death. In the end, God’s love (and Kate’s!) overcame his guilt. What is the biggest thing you have had to overcome (this can be in your writing career or in life)? Who or what helped you through it?
MD: My mother’s illness and death was probably the hardest thing I’ve had to deal with. My mother who was such a wonderful woman who had a deep faith in the Lord had Alzheimer’s and to watch her slowly disappear as the person I had known all my life was very difficult. She was a highly intelligent woman who was the head of nursing at a hospital, and she ended up not even being able to do the simplest things for herself. My faith and family are what helped me deal with the situation.

LW :You write both contemporary romance and romantic suspense. Do you have a favorite genre to write? Why?
MD: I like both of these types of books, but if I had to pick one it would have to be romantic suspense. I love reading adventures, suspense stories and mysteries. Getting to put it into my own stories is a treat.

LW: Do you have any advice for writers who are just starting out?
MD: Don’t give up on your dream. I’ve been writing for twenty-seven years. I sold twenty books, then went through a seven-year dry spell where I didn’t sell at all. If I had given up, I would never have discovered what I think I’m meant to do: write inspirational stories. God is so awesome! I love proclaiming His love and mercy to the world.
That doesn’t mean rejections are easy. I still get them even after fifty books and they are still as difficult as my first one years ago. I have to remind myself the Lord has other plans for me and I have to be patience and see what they are.

Margaret Daley is an award winning, multi-published author with over fifty books to her credit. She is writing for Steeple Hill Love Inspired and Love Inspired Suspense. This year she has seven books coming out, four Love Inspired Suspense, two Love Inspired, and one Classic Love Inspired.
Margaret has been writing for twenty-seven years and has written for Dell, Kensington and Silhouette. In 2000 she sold her first inspirational romance to Harlequin’s Steeple Hill and hasn’t looked back. She has found an area where she can combine her family related stories with her love of suspense and mysteries.
When she isn’t writing she is teaching high school students with learning disabilities. She has a wonderful, real hero, her husband Mike and they have one son. She loves to travel, read, especially adventures and suspense books, and going to lunch with her friends.
You can contact her at Mdaley50@aol.com. You can visit her web site at http://www.margaretdaley.com to read excerpts from her latest books and sign her guest book for a chance to win an autographed book. She also has a blog at http://margaretdaleyblogspot.com.