Marta Perry Interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.
A. Thanks so much for inviting me to be with you today! I’ve been writing for publication for nearly thirty years, although the first ten years or so were devoted to short stories and articles. I’ve also been a Christian Education Director and occasional substitute teacher, but now I devote myself to writing full time. My husband and I celebrated 56 years of marriage this summer, and we’ve lived in the same Pennsylvania farmhouse for 50 of those years. We have three grown children and six beautiful grandkids, and we get together as often as possible. When I’m not writing or traveling I’m trying to keep up with the house and flowerbeds, canning, baking, and doing church work.

Q: What started you on your writing journey?
A. Like most writers, I’ve been making up stories in my head all my life, and I finally realized that what I really wanted to do was to write. I wrote short stories and articles, then eventually decided it was time to concentrate on the novels I loved. It took some time and some failures, but perseverance got me there in the end!

Q: What distracts you from writing the easiest?
A. I’m not usually distracted by external forces when I’m deep into a book, but sometimes the worries inside my head get in the way!

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release SOUND OF FEAR?
A. Sound of Fear is a romantic suspense built around a question that I’ve batted around from time to time. What would you do if you found out that you weren’t the person you thought you were? My heroine, Amanda Curtis, finds her world rocked by the discovery that the woman she’d always thought was her mother had never borne a child. Determined to know who she is, she follows the clues that lead to Echo Falls, a small town in Amish country, unlocking a secret that threatens her very life.

Q: Where did the idea for this story come from?
A. I jot down random story ideas that occur to me when I’m watching a movie or listening to people talk, and usually by the time I start working on one of them, I’ve forgotten where it came from! I do know that at least part of the source came from an incident in my childhood when a girl in my class announced that she had a sister she’d never known about. That certainly had all the fourth graders talking and wondering, although I suspect we never even approached the truth.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?
A. I’m writing the book that comes after SOUND OF FEAR in the Echo Falls series, SHATTERED SECRETS. It will be out next September.

Q: What kind of books do you enjoy reading?
A. I read all sorts of things, including non-fiction, but my favorites are cozy mysteries and romantic suspense. I’m devoted to some of the classic storytellers, like Mary Stewart and Phyllis Whitney!

Q: What is your favorite food?
A. I’m partial to bread of any kind and old-fashioned Pennsylvania Dutch cooking, the sort of food I grew up on. If I’m feeling out of sorts, there’s nothing like a meal of chicken and homemade noodles to make me happy.

Q: What makes you smile and/or laugh out loud?
A. My grandchildren, primarily. Now that they’re getting a little older they’re less likely to come out with those surprisingly hilarious things, but I still get a big smile just remembering some of the classics, like the time my granddaughter asked me if I’d known George Washington! I’m old, but not that old!

Q: If you were an animal, which one would you be, and why?
A. I’d probably be a cat, since I relate to animals that know their own minds!