Sara Blackard Interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.
A. Thank you, Susan. I’m very excited to have the opportunity to be here. I live in a little community in the Alaskan interior called Tok. We live in an off-grid home we’ve been slowly (sometimes excruciatingly) building over the last five years. Thankfully, we have expanded from the 15 ft by 40 ft space. That got a little tight with the seven of us. I homeschool my five kids ages 14 to 3. Ironically, we also own the school bus business here and just got North America’s northernmost electric school bus. Even though the winters are long and cold, getting down into the -50s and 60s, we love living in Alaska.

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
A. I always wrote stories and poems growing up. I filled an untold number of notebooks. I never really considered being a writer professionally, even though I ended up with a BA in Creative Writing. After 5 years and no degree, I had to pick. Since I loved writing and had a lot of English credits, I figured it was the degree for me. Writing got put on the back burner as my family grew. I’d started several novels, but never finished. Then God gave me stories of a family in Colorado, and a workshop at a homeschool convention challenged me to make goals that were completely my own (hard for a homeschool mom to do). After that, the stories burned hot in my mind and had to be written. My first series, Vestige in Time, grew from that.

Q: Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?
A. When I began researching publishing, I quickly realized I wanted to self-publish. My husband and I are entrepreneurs, and I loved the idea of having a call in my own writing career. (Us Alaskans have a bit of independent spirits in us.) I also knew I wanted to do everything right. So, I hired an editor and cover designer, researched how to get my books published, and when I still had questions, took classes. In December of 2019, I published my first book Vestige of Hope, then published eight more in 2020.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release Discovering Rafe?
A: Discovering Rafe is the fifth book in my Stryker Security Force series. This series follows a group of men and women who were in the Army together and are now doing private security. Rafe is the jokester of the group, the one quick to pull a prank or compile a video from embarrassing moments caught on their security feeds. Yet, when his best friend’s sister finds herself in trouble, all thoughts of joking gets pushed aside. It’s a story about two people who have to find peace with themselves, their past, and with God all while danger stalks.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for Discovering Rafe?
A: I started with a question: What would someone do if they wanted to hide their inability to forgive something they had to do? What would push them to face that unforgiveness? Rafe’s story comes from that. While in the Army, he had to do something he thinks he can never escape. He does a pretty good job convincing everyone he’s fine, until Piper. She’s been in love with him for years, her big brother’s best friend … the unattainable and completely out of her league, Rafe Malone. What would happen if he couldn’t escape the one person who can tell he’s hiding? From there, the story grew.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?
A: That nothing is unforgivable and that your dreams are important, no matter how small and insignificant you think they are.

Q: What inspires you to write?
A. My kids. I’ve always told my kids they could do anything they set their mind to but then wasn’t doing the one thing I had always dreamed of doing. I want to write and shoot for my dreams to give my kids the permission to shoot for theirs. To not embrace these stories God puts in my heart wouldn’t be a good example for them to follow.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?
A. I’m finishing up the last book in this series, Honoring Lena. When widower Marshall Rand gets threats to his son’s life, Lena is hired as a bodyguard posing as a nanny.

Q: When you’re not writing what do you like to do?
A. When I’m not writing, I’m hanging out with my family. With seven of us, we usually find something fun to do like hunting Alaskan game, exploring Alaskan wilderness, or binging on Mandalorian with a cup of cocoa.