Elizabeth Goddard Interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.
A. I’m a seventh generation Texan, wife to a pastor and potter (from Montana) and mother to four—three sons and one daughter. I’ve traveled all over the country and lived in six states and now make my home in Washington.

Q: As a child or teenager, did you ever dream of being an author?
A. I was always an avid reader and loved to write even at a young age. I attempted my first romance novel at 14 using a typewriter—yeah, I’m that old. I don’t think that it was so much about the dream of being an author as it was about me having stories inside of me that needed a way out.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release Present Danger?
A. USFS Special Agent Terra Connors runs into her old flame, Detective Jack Tanner and together they must solve a murder connected to archeological trafficking.

Q: Where did the idea for this story come from?
A. I set my story in southwest Montana in the Rockies, and knew I wanted to feature a US Forest Service special agent. After brainstorming with a USFS Special Agent in Charge, I learned that my heroine couldn’t investigate murder, but she could investigate archaeological crimes. Throw in a murder and it was the perfect way to bring in my hero detective.

Q: Tell us a little about your main character and how you developed him/her.
A. As mentioned my heroine, Terra Connors is a special agent. She has big shoes to fill in that her mother was a forest ranger killed on a SAR (search and rescue) mission. She gave her life to save others and was well-respected. Terra struggles to live up to her mother’s legacy—after all, she would have to give her life to save someone else to live up to her mother, or at least that’s what she believes.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?
A. Authors are never working on just one book at a time. While I’m promoting Present Danger, I’m also finishing up edits for book two, Deadly Target and writing book three (untitled). There’s never a dull moment in a writer’s life.

Q: Where do you escape for some quiet time?
A. Quiet time? What’s that? Honestly I don’t find much quiet time with my family dynamics, but I can certainly escape between the pages of a great book.

Q: What would you be doing if you weren’t writing?
A. I would do something creative, whether music or art, but I love creation in all its forms, especially writing. ?

Q: What one thing have you always wanted to do but couldn’t afford to do?
A. I’d love to travel to Scotland and stay in a castle or Tuscany and stay in a villa.

Q: I’m an avid gardener and have to ask what kind of flower you would be and why?
A. A blue bonnet. I’ll always be a Texan. ?