Karen Ball Interview

Interview with Karen Ball by Lacy J. Williams

Q: What is your favorite Scripture verse, and why?

A: I have two, actually. One is Psalm 4:8: “I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, maketh me dwell in safety.” As you can tell from the King James version, this was a verse I held onto when I was a kid. I had horrible nightmares-the byproduct of an overactive imagination-but when I found this verse, I printed it out and taped it to my ceiling over my bed. The words of peace and protection were the last thing I saw at night as I drifted off to sleep, and at long last my sleep was peaceful.

Nowdays, my favorite verse is Habakkuk 2:3: “Slowly, steadily, surely the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day.” I came across this verse years ago when Don and I were in a crisis. We knew God was calling us to something, but it seemed the entire universe conspired to keep us from following that call. I was a close to despair as I’ve ever been, and then God showed me this verse. I’ve held fast to it ever since. In fact, it’s on my license plate: Hab 2-3! Opens a lot of doors for discussion about trusting God’s promises no matter what.

Q: It seems there are dogs or other animals in many of your works. Do you have special pets in your life? How do they inspire your writing?

A: Oh my gosh! Where do I start? My folks were great about letting us have pets when we grew up, so animals have been an integral part of my life for as long as I can remember. Over the years I’ve had guinea pigs, a chipmunks, a golden mantle ground squirrel, a goldfish, a parakeet, two rats, and, of course, dogs. I’ve had so many wonderful dogs-an Irish setter named Blaze, a beautiful mutt named Tawney, a Siberian husky named Sasha? and I had ferrets for a number of years, too. They’re such fun! But Siberians consider ferrets moving hors d’oeuvres, so when our last ferret died at the ripe old age of 10 (they usually live 7-9 years), my hubby made me promise no more. We’d been through too many close calls, and since we knew we’d always have Siberians, it just didn’t seem smart to have ferrets any long. Now our pets are a 14-year-old Siberian husky named Bo, a 4 year old Aussie-terrier mix named Dakota, and a 3 month old Siberian pup named Dasha. In addition, my dad lives with us with his 95-lb German shepherd and my brother lives with us with his geriatric miniature poodle and two cats from the bad place. And they all inspire me with their antics, affection, and heart. They remind me not to miss the wonder in life, and that sometimes the best thing you can do for someone is just to sit with them and cuddle.

Q: I read in another interview that What Lies Within took you longer to write than you anticipated. What lessons did you learn from writing this book? Did the book end up where you thought it would, or take a different path than you originally intended?

A: I learned that I needed to get back to writing for the love of writing, not to meet a deadline. And that if I’ll just get myself in a chair, with fingers on keyboard, God will equip me to fulfill the task He’s given. I don’t need to worry and fret. I just need to write. And yes, it ended up where I thought it would.

Q: Did you have a mentor or someone who pushed you to write when you first started out? How did this person influence your career?

A: I had a host of them. All the authors I’d been working with for years as an editor were prodding me to write. Francine Rivers, Gilbert Morris, and Angie Hunt were the most emphatic. They influenced me not just by their encouragement, but by their dedication to God and to their craft.

Q: How has being an editor affected your writing? Are there things you do/don’t do differently because you are an editor?

A: Good questions, but I’m not exactly certain. I think writing is writing, whether you’re an editor or not. It’s a completely different function than editing. I may do better with some of the typical bugaboos most writers wrestle, such as POV or telling rather than showing, but overall I don’t think being an editor changes my writing. If anything, being a writer informs and improves my editing!

Q: What is the hardest part of writing a book? The most rewarding?

A: Getting it written! Sitting in the chair and staying there until I’ve done the word count I’m supposed to do for the day. The most rewarding is hearing from my readers.

Q: Are you a plotter or a seat-of-the-pants writer? Why? Has your writing style changed over the years?

A: I used to be straight seat-of-the-pants, but on the last few books I’ve put together an outline of sorts. But I write whichever scene won’t leave me alone, and if the characters decide to part ways with my outline, that’s fine. So I’m a bit of both.

Q: When you find yourself staring at the blank screen and stuck, what do you do?

A: Go outside and play with the dogs. Listen to music. Take a nap. Go for a drive. Go watch TV. Anything to get myself away from writing for awhile and let my brain recharge.

Q: Have you always wanted to write suspense?

A: No. This was a new thing for me, as was writing a series. I’d written romance, romantic adventure, adventure, and contemporary/issue-oriented stories before the Family Honor series. It was my editor’s idea for me to write a series, and to think about making it suspense. Now that I’ve tried it, I love it! I thin, suspense is my home.

Q: Your tagline from your website is “rugged faith, radiant God.” How did you come up with it? What does it mean to you personally?

A: Actually, I didn’t come up with it! It was the brilliant brainstorm of Kelli Standish, my webpage designer. She’s very familiar with me and my books, and when she did the redesign for my website in November of ’07, she put the tag line on the new site. I loved it! Because it speaks right to the heart of not just my books, but my life. Faith in God gets tested every day, in a multitude of ways, and that’s a good thing. Because through testing, faith grows up. It’s no longer a pie-in-the sky belief in some fairy-tale God, but a true, grounded, rugged certainty that God is who He says He is. No matter what. And regardless of what we face, what challenges us or tests us, nothing changes Him. He’s still the same loving, all-powerful, ever-present, RADIANT God, who loves us without restraint.