Laurie Wood Interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.
A. I live in central Canada and write inspirational edgy romantic suspense. I’m also a military wife who’s raised two wonderful special needs children to adulthood. When I’m not writing, I can be found at my spinning wheel, knitting, or hanging out with my dogs in the garden. In what I call “my other life” I was a police officer before I got married and afterwards I ran an overnight crisis shelter for street kids.

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.
A. I always wrote stories and articles in school and won some contests, but my life dictated that I had to get a job early to support myself. Even once I was a police officer, I dreamed of writing, but the job consumed my life. I was quite harassed and bullied on the police force. It wasn’t easy being one of the first women on the job. I started writing in earnest when my children were in elementary school and I stayed home to raise them.

Q: Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?
A: I participated in #FaithPitch in February 2018 and got several requests for my debut novel. They got weeded down to an offer from Anaiah Press, and they published Northern Deception (Heroes of the Tundra Book1) in December 2018. Northern Hearts, a Christmas novella in the same series, came out last December in 2019.

It came Third in the Novella category of the Faith, Hope & Love Readers Awards last year. That was a huge highlight. I’d placed in contests as an unpublished writer, like the Daphne, the Jasmine, and the TARA, but this was my first one as a published author.

Then this December Anaiah Press released Book 2, Northern Protector, in my Heroes of the Tundra series.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release, NORTHERN PROTECTOR?
A: Here’s the back-cover blurb:

Constable Ben Koper is still healing from the polar bear attack that almost killed him. Nine months after it happened, he returns to Churchill, Manitoba, a changed man—scarred more than just physically. PTSD is his new shadow, haunting his every step, and he can’t seem to kick the pain meds he shouldn’t need anymore. He’s determined to prove, to himself and his colleagues, that he’s still up to his job. Failure isn’t an option.
ER nurse Joy Gallagher spent the entire last winter texting with a healing Constable Koper. What started as friendly concern from this single mother has grown into full-fledged romantic feelings, and she’s eager to level up their friendship and introduce him to the idyllic comfort of small-town life. Until a teenager is murdered at a summer party. The crime is strikingly similar to the cold case murder of Joy’s foster sister, stirring old trauma Joy has never fully dealt with.
When another victim is snatched in town, Ben and Joy must confront their own demons, and join forces to track down an elusive killer. The race to rescue the next victim before it’s too late will test Ben and Joy to their limits. Can they survive their encounter with this heinous killer, or will the past destroy them.?

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for NORTHERN PROTECTOR?
A: In the first book, Northern Deception, Ben Koper is the best friend of the hero Lukas Tanner. I knew when I wrote that book that Ben would be my next hero. (The Christmas novella was a surprise project my publisher asked me to do so those characters are set in the same “world” but I hadn’t planned on them).

I knew he’d be dealing with PTSD from being mauled by a polar bear and when I went up to Churchill, Manitoba to do research for the second book because it takes place in the summer, I met a woman who’d survived a polar bear mauling herself. She didn’t give me many details in person, but I did read about her ordeal from newspaper articles from the time of the attack. It was obvious that even though she’d returned to Churchill and started up two businesses there and lived there full time, the attack still affected her deeply.

I also wanted this book to be more of a police procedural, given that Ben is an officer and it made sense that he’d be dealing with some crime. So, I gave him a cold case murder and a present-day murder to deal with, along with his PTSD and painkiller addiction. The poor guy has a lot going on! And, of course, he falls in love, so there’s a love story as well.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?
A: I hope readers remember a great slow burn love story, but also that if you need help for a mental health or addiction issue, it’s all right to ask for help. There’s no shame in it; in fact, there’s a great deal of strength in realizing when you need to ask for help–first from God and then from the professional people He’ll bring into your life. We’re not made to “go it alone” in life. We’re made for community.

Q: What inspires you to write?
A. I love telling stories. I have more stories in me than I’ll ever have time to write down. I think I’ve finally lived long enough that I’ve experienced the best and worst life has to offer, and I finally have something worth saying. The themes of redemption and second chances run through all my books, even the unpublished ones. I return to them again and again.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?
A. I have two books I’m working on right now and one’s a departure from my usual fare and I’m having fun writing in another genre. And the other book I’m hoping to develop into another series.

Q: When you’re not writing, what do you like to do?
A. I’m an avid knitter and spinner and always have a couple of projects on the go. I usually am knitting a couple pair of socks and at least one shawl, as I get bored easily. And I have two spinning wheels, so there’s always something different on each wheel. And we’re getting a new puppy between Christmas and New Year’s so my dog training skills will be put to good use again. I can’t wait to surprise our two kiddos with the puppy!