And our Sue's Clues Mystery Author is:

So, there I was, about to interview my first inspirational author. What do you ask one? Are there things you shouldn't ask? Things you should? I tortured myself with these questions for a couple of days and finally gave it up. I just waited for questions to come to me, whenever or wherever, and wrote them down. True, many of the questions never made it past the scrap of paper they were on. Trust me when I say that would have been the case regardless—they were just terrible interview questions.

Funny thing I learned—I pretty much asked the same things I would ask any author. Except that I felt it was okay to ask about faith. That's one thing I usually don't touch on since it can be a touchy topic for people.

Another thing I learned—Deeanne Gist was, like many "regular authors", a pleasure to interview. She has a great sense of humor, loves her family and, while she is obviously comfortable in her faith, she isn't pushy about it.

I was very glad of that because I really enjoyed her debut novel, A BRIDE MOST BEGRUDGING. It's nice when the author is who you would like from a book you enjoyed.

I tend to be a little hesitant picking up the inspirational novel. Like some readers, I want a good read that doesn't make me feel guilty I missed going to church last Sunday. Deeanne's novel didn't shy away from God and His teachings, as many people interpret them, but it didn't pound away at them. In fact, her faith was incorporated into the novel quite naturally.

It made me realize that not a few novels we read are not categorized as "Inspirational" but have strong religious thread, if for no other reason, because of the time period.

I hope you take the time to visit her website, http://deeannegist.com/, and read her novel.

Thank you, Deeanne!

1. Do you consciously work your faith into your novels or is it something that 'just happens'?

It usually just happens. That’s one of the things I love so much about writing for a Christian publishing house. In the secular market, there is a limit to how much spirituality the author can incorporate into her books. When I was targeting that market, I always found myself having to suppress the Spirit when He showed up in a scene. Not so in the CBA. And I love the freedom of moving the spotlight onto Him whenever He makes a “special appearance” in my novels.

2. I visited your website and enjoyed your scrapbook. You have beautiful kids. How close in age are they? Not more than a year or two apart, I'd say.

Thank you. We had four kids in four years. And, yes, they were planned. (We were youngsters ourselves and thought that when a baby turned one-year-old that it would be a child. By the time we realized we were mistaken, we had two kids already and another on the way!)

The kids are now ages 19, 18, 16, & 15. We have one college student, one new high school graduate and two still attending high school.

3. Also, they look like they are very close in general. But I'm sure they have their moments. It can't be easy with two girls and two boys as teenagers under one roof.

For the most part, they all get along quite well. The dynamics of their relationships change from year-to-year as they grow and mature. The ones that were particularly close might drift apart only to then draw closer to a sibling that heretofore they merely tolerated.

The older they get, the more I see their relationships develop into something that will last long after they’ve left home. That’s been really heartwarming.

4. I read A BRIDE MOST BEGRUDGING and thought it was very good and unique. I felt that the storyline for the time period was refreshing. How did you come up with the idea for it?

Thank you. I have always been fascinated with intriguing historical tidbits I run across. I read an article about England wanting to establish the Virginia Colony, but the men refused to stay in America without women.

To research this further, I went to our local genealogy library, pulled the Virginia 1644 book and started flipping through it. There was an account of a woman who had gone on a ship to say good bye to a loved one who was being transported to America for indentured servitude. The captain grabbed her, threw her in the hole, shipped her over and sold her as a bride. That’s when I thought, “what if” and took it from there. And, so far, that’s where my ideas have come from. Some little bitty nugget in history that intrigues me and I say to myself “what if” and then create a story around it.

5. Bethany House is known for publishing authors who are very strong in their faith. I'm assuming this is the case for you. Has it always been that way? If not, what changed for you?

I was introduced to Christ at the same time I learned about Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. One by one, the imaginary entities fell to the wayside, making way for the One and Only. I committed my life to Him at the age of 9 while eating a bowl of Fruit Loops. (Which is still my favorite cereal!) My faith has been an important part of everything I do ever since.

6. You have a new novel being released in June, THE MEASURE OF A LADY. Can you tell us about it?

When gold was discovered in California, the newspapers reported that you could go to a stream, pick out about ten thousand dollars worth of gold and return home. So, men left their families in the east and swarmed to California. Once they found out that it was going to take more than a couple of days to mine their gold, they settled in as best they could.

It wasn’t long before those ol’ boys were having themselves a pretty wild and rowdy time. The heroine of LADY is one of the first “respectable” women to reach San Francisco’s shores. She single-handedly tries to civilize the town and has a wee bit of trouble.

7. What are your plans for the future? Do you plan on continuing with historicals?

The next three books (2007, 2008 & 2009) are all slated to be historicals. After that, we’ve not made any decisions on content one way or the other.

8. I could tell that you did your research for ABMB. It was interesting there was a law forbidding men to have more than one woman in their home, or purchasing the servitude of more than one, due to the female to male ratio during that time period. How did you learn of this?

It was more a law of supply and demand, than an official law. There was no way those men would put up with one man having more than one woman. Even the younger sisters of the colonists married very, very young.

9. I also noticed you traveled to Virginia and Maryland to do some firsthand research. The pictures were great - especially the huge tree with the roots. Tell us about that trip.

Thank you. That was a really special time. My mom went with me and we put about 1200 miles on our rent car as we traveled from one end of Virginia to the other. I was so impressed with how well Virginia has preserved their history. It allowed me to see first hand things that you’d normally only be able to read about--much of which I incorporated into my novel.

In Maryland, we found a working historical tobacco farm. Visitors were given a tour of their tobacco fields, tobacco barns and manors by actors in 17th century costumes. I learned a lot there--including how to worm a field and what happened to youngsters who didn’t find all the worms.

10. What does your family think about their author - wife/mother? Do they read the finished product?

Funny how those who are the closest to us give us such unexpected reactions to the milestones in our lives. When I received my very first copy of Bride in the mail, I immediately showed it to my beloved family members. Here's what they had to say at the time:

• Husband (age 45): "Well, I guess I'll have to read it now." (He was serious.) :-)
• Daughter (age 18): "It's so big! Wow." She gives me a hug. "Congratulations, Mom. Good job. That's awesome."
• Son (age 17): "That's a horrible picture of you. Did they pick it out?"
• Daughter (age 15): "Your book came! Your book came! Wow! That's so totally cool! Are you, like, so excited?" (She reads up through the end of chapter one.) "So, like, thanks for leaving me out of the Acknowledgements. I'm seeing how it is. You thank the husband. You thank the parents. You mention the kids with the dogs. It's always been my dream to be dedicated. So, like, will you dedicate the next one to me? Jesus won't mind."
• Son (age 14): "350 pages. Sheesh." And the refrain to all that was: "What's for dinner???"  

11. Have you always wanted to be a novelist?

With four kids under the age of four, I retired early from teaching to be a stay at home mom. In order to bring in some extra income, I freelanced as a journalist. For fun, though, I read romance.

With a great deal of naiveté, I thought I’d just sit down and write a novel. The manuscript was, of course, horrible (though I didn’t know it at the time), but I still learned a lot getting from the prologue to the epilogue. After several rejections, I joined Romance Writer’s of America, read how-to books, went to conferences, listened to speakers, listened to tapes, joined critique groups and entered contests. I shelved the manuscript I had thrown together and started BRIDE.

Meanwhile, my journalism career had taken off and I also had a line of parenting products in the works. So, BRIDE sat in my drawer collecting dust for several years. In 2004 I saw an article about trends in CBA fiction. One of the industry professionals interviewed was David Long, an editor from Bethany House. I contacted him and sent him a copy of BRIDE. A few weeks later he invited me to be a part of the Bethany House family. 

12. What do you like to do in your free time? If you have any after writing and four kids to take care of!

I love to read, of course. I also enjoy scrapbooking, doing puzzles and watching movies. As a family, we enjoy water sports and snow sports. I’m a spectator, though. They like “extreme” sports (aka going straight down the mountain, while I zigzag down). On one particular ski trip, I spent 4 out of 5 days in the ER patching up the husband and kids. After that, I hung up my skis and told them I’d shop then meet them for lunch at the top of the mountain (or in the ER, as the case may be).

When we’re on the lake, though, I can watch all their fun from a comfy seat in the boat. (Though sometimes I have to cover my eyes because they scare me.) I also love warm weather. So, I like our summer vacations the best. We just bought some property on a lake in South Carolina that we hope to retire on in about 10 to 15 years. We’re really excited about that.