Elizabeth Goddard Interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.

A:  Thanks for the interview! I feel like I’m kind of boring. All I do is write. Ha! I can’t really say I’m the home schooling mom of four children anymore. My daughter is twenty-five. My oldest son is attending the local university. My middle son is graduating high school this year, and my youngest is attending school. My husband is pastor of a small church in Michigan and I spend most of my time writing romance.

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

A:  I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I think I’ve always been a writer on the inside. I just needed to hone the craft. I needed direction. I wrote my first romance when I was fourteen, but didn’t finish it. I wasn’t sure how to do it. Back then, I used an old typewriter. I’m giving away my age here. I took a few distance learning courses via Writer’s Digest (before the Internet!) It wasn’t until I resigned my corporate America job to stay home with my first child that I decided to actually pursue publication. That was in 2001.

Q: What do you write and why this genre?

A:  I currently write romantic suspense. Why this genre? Well, there has to be romance, otherwise, what’s the point? Ha! At least that’s my way of looking at it, and then that romance needs some action, tension and life-threatening situations to move things along I’ve always loved romantic suspense, so writing the genre comes naturally.

Q: Do you base your characters on people you know or are they totally made up?

A: Totally made up. That said, I’m sure people I know or have met—small parts of them—will sneak into the characters.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release Thread of Revenge?

A: Thread of Revenge is the first book in my new Coldwater Bay Intrigue series set along the Washington Coast—a region of the country I love. The series focuses on the Strand siblings—Sadie is a marine biologist. Jonna is a former ICE agent turned storm-watching inn proprietor, Cora is a marine archaeologist and explores shipwrecks, and Quinn is a DEA agent.

In Thread of Revenge, my hero, Gage Sessions, is CGIS, a Coast Guard investigator—you know like NCIS only Coast Guard. He was a lot of fun to write. Sadie, a marine biologist, comes home from a research trip to try to find out who murdered her best friend. Someone is trying to kill her to keep her from finding the truth. Gage is investigating several murders as they relate to the Coast Guard so he and Sadie work together. Their investigation takes them places they couldn’t have imagined. Likewise, researching for this story took me places I wasn’t sure I wanted to go-it’s a dark and scary world out there! But most importantly, these two characters have a lot of chemistry together so the romance and the suspense work well together.  I hope you’ll pick up a copy of the book.

Q: Where did the idea for this story come from?

A:  My ideas always start with setting. Beautiful, amazing settings always inspire me. I also love the sciences, and in fact wanted to be a marine biologist. I love all things ocean, and especially love the rocky amazing Pacific Northwest coast. My editor and I talked about a few of my ideas and she was the one to suggest a Coast Guard hero. I found a “Coastie” who is also a writer who assisted me with the details, and he also helped me to name the Coast Guard cutter in the story—the USCGC Kraken. This particular cutter is always named after sea creatures, and as of the writing of this story, there wasn’t a “Kraken” yet!

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?

A:  Oh, you would have to ask. So many things at once. As of this interview, I just turned in the second book in the Coldwater Bay Intrigue series—Stormy Haven. This is Jonna’s story. I’m getting ready to polish my first book in a romantic suspense series for Revell set in Wyoming. Then it’s on to the next book. You know the drill. J

Q: Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.

A:  I’m a completely boring person. Is that a surprise? No? Hmm. Well, one, my office is cluttered. It’s the only way I can think straight. Two, I need a lot of sleep to function. I’m talking ten hours at least. I don’t know why—maybe all the writing drains my brain? And three, besides wanting to be a marine biologist, I had also considered working for Nasa. Briefly I considered being an astronaut. Oh, to be young again and dream big dreams.

Q: Milk or dark chocolate? Coffee or tea?

A:  Both. Both. 🙂

Q: Favorite TV show or shows?

A:  I loved Stranger Things season one and two.