Robin Patchen Interview

Q: How did you get your start writing fiction and what genre do you predominantly write in?
A. I was journalism major in college, and I always loved to write. Honestly, it never occurred to me to try my hand at fiction until I turned forty. My husband gave me a laptop for my birthday that year. I’d had a story in my head for years, and I thought, with the new laptop, I’d write it down, mostly to get it out of my head. Once I got started, I was hooked. I’d enjoyed writing newspaper articles and marketing copy, but writing fiction, I felt like, for the first time in my life, I’d found what I was born to do. It took me a few years to settle on romantic suspense as my predominant genre.

Q: What does your writing space look like?
A: When we inherited a sweet teenage girl this spring who had no place to live, I gave up my writing space. I’ve been working in my bedroom ever since. It works better than the kitchen counter, where I’d worked before that. (It’s hard to put up Writing: Do not disturb signs in the kitchen with a house full of people.)

Q: What part of a writing career do you find most difficult?
A. Book marketing is the most frustrating for me. Little I learned about marketing in college applies in the fiction industry, and it seems as soon as I learn something, it changes. I feel like I’m aiming at a moving target.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release Legacy Rejected?
A: Happy to! Legacy Rejected is the first in a new series. Like my previous two series, this book takes place in my fictional town of Nutfield, New Hampshire. As with the other books, there are some cameo appearances by characters from earlier stories, which I think is fun for the readers. Here’s the blurb:

She’s not giving up her home, no matter what threats come against her.

Realtor Ginny Lamont’s family has abandoned her, leaving her with nothing but a warning that she’s in danger. But Ginny’s built a home in New Hampshire. After a childhood of nomadic living, she’s not running again, certainly not because of some nameless, baseless threat.

Real estate developer Kade Powers is thrilled to go out with Nutfield’s beautiful new real estate agent. But the prowler they surprise after their first date offers a glimpse into Ginny’s past and the legacy of lies her parents left her with. She brings a mystery, one he’s determined to help her solve.

With Kade’s help, Ginny searches for the truth of her parents’ criminal activity while her enemies close in. When mobsters show up in her quaint New England town, will she find a way to bring them down, or will she lose the home—and the man—she’s come to love?

Q: What did you enjoy most about writing this book? Least?
A: I really liked getting to know the heroine, Ginny. She lives in New Hampshire and moved there from California, but she was born and lived the first few years of her life in Louisiana. I have family from that state, so it was fun writing a little about that part of the world. What I liked least… This was a hard book to plot. I sort of had an idea of what I wanted to happen, but I couldn’t quite figure out how to get there. It took serious brainstorming help from friends and even my husband, who helped me with some of the more criminal aspects of the story. (Who’d have guessed he knew so much about the criminal underworld? He claims he learned it all from watching Ozark.)

Q: What is the main theme or spiritual message of this book?
A: We are not valuable because of what we can do or because of the people who love us—or don’t love us. We are valuable because we were created in the image of God. He values us. Thus, we are valuable.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?
A. I’m about to finish up the second book in the Legacy series, Legacy Restored, and it’ll tell the story of Angelica Rossi (who is the little sister of Jack Rossi, the hero in the Beauty in Flight series). Thanks to the bad choices she’s been making for a decade, Angel has a choice between helping the cops put a bad guy in prison or going to prison herself. The hero in the story, Donovan Gilcreast, is one of my favorites. He’s a brooding artist who’s grieving his sister’s death and not about to let another woman he cares for get hurt. The book will release in October.

Q: If you could have dinner with 2 people, who would they be?
A. I think I’m supposed to come up with some really clever answers like Ghadi and Abraham Lincoln, but to be honest, at this moment, I’d choose to have dinner with my sister, Jennifer, and my oldest son, Nicholas. Jennifer lives in Utah, and I miss her terribly. She was supposed to visit this summer, but her plans were changed. Nick is a missionary, and I haven’t seen him since Christmas. As I type this, he’s on his way from Peru to Hawaii. He’ll be here for a visit in a few weeks, and I can’t wait!

Q: Do you have a favorite hobby?
A. My life is so busy right now that there’s little room for hobbies. Does sleeping count? Probably not. Reading, then, would be my choice. I love hiking, but I don’t get to do it much. And I love traveling, but there’s not a lot of time or money for that these days.

Q: What is the most rewarding thing you have ever done?
A. Raising children is at the top of that list. It’s been hard, challenging, terrifying, fun, and a million other things. But looking at these amazing adults and almost-adults who were once babies I held in my arms… I can think of nothing I could do on earth that would be so rewarding.