Welcome to Readers Write to Know! I asked you, my readers, what questions they would ask their favorite authors if given the chance. This week, I am so pleased to introduce to you Sherri Wilson Johnson. As I went through the interview, I completely fell in love with her. I spent many years in Georgia and it is one of my favorite states in the United States. I am also in total awe of a woman who can homeschool AND write three books. Knowing that soon I will be homeschooling my own children, it’s encouraging to meet a woman who was able to still write. Please enjoy her interview as much as I did — and make sure you visit the Rafflecopter at the end of the post Sherri is giving away a book!
Tell us a little bit about yourself. Thanks for having me on your blog today! I live in Georgia with my family and favorite pet, Posey, a Chihuahua. I’m a Christian Romance writer and a speaker. I’m also a former homeschooling mom. I love to read (mainly romances), take trips to the beach, ride roller coasters, hang with friends and family, and hope to one day live in a little cabin in the woods with my husband. Our big dream is to take a road trip in a teardrop camper and explore Route 66!
Tell us about your current release. To Laugh Once More is a Victorian Inspirational Romance set in Georgia in 1895. It is the sequel to my debut novel, To Dance Once More, but is a stand-alone book.
The War may be over, but the battles still rage.
A dissatisfied wife. A misunderstood husband. Three tragedies will alter their path forever. Will their choices tear them apart, or will they allow them To Laugh Once More?
Three years after her marriage to Hamilton, former debutante Lydia Barrington Scarbrough is dissatisfied with life. She has yet to have children, and she spends most of her days sitting in a circle of women chatting about homemaking. She thought life would be more than what it’s turned out to be. Hamilton travels on business and never takes her with him. What’s a lonely wife to do when she has no children to raise? She longs for adventure and romance, and really, she longs for the fulfillment of her purpose in life. A purpose beyond being a wife and raising children.
Lydia faces a series of hardships that stretch her faith beyond capacity. Leaving her childhood home in Florida for Georgia proves to be more difficult than she ever imagined, and her marriage may not survive the trials. Lydia’s own personal battles drive a wedge between them. What will it take to make Hamilton attempt to save their marriage and draw Lydia back to him?
As Lydia strives to etch out a place for herself in a new world full of unfamiliar prejudice and attempts to overcome her private battles, she must help Hamilton understand her deepest longings and learn the true meaning of joy. Will she surrender her will in order to find her purpose? Will her future hold a happier marriage, motherhood, and a calling greater than she could ever have imagined?
If you knew ahead of time your book would benefit only one person on their spiritual journey, would you still write it? Yes, I believe so. Writing has always been such a part of me and it’s never been about being rich and famous. I’m too much of a realist for that kind of dreaming, haha! So I suppose what’s always made me happy is the thought that one day someone would read my story and be inspired by or changed by it.
Who was your first Screen/Musical Crush? Kevin Bacon in the original Footloose!
What is your personal, most effective way to get past writer’s block? I usually switch my focus to something else for a while. I catch up on my social media, I read, I do housework or cook, I go somewhere. I do not sit and stare at a blinking cursor. The blinking cursor is not my friend. It stares at me and teases me and says, “You’ve got nothing, right? You don’t know what to say. You should just give up.” So, yeah, I move away from that thing and concentrate on something else for a while.
What is your personal, most effective way to get past writer’s block? I usually switch my focus to something else for a while. I catch up on my social media, I read, I do housework or cook, I go somewhere. I do not sit and stare at a blinking cursor. The blinking cursor is not my friend. It stares at me and teases me and says, “You’ve got nothing, right? You don’t know what to say. You should just give up.” So, yeah, I move away from that thing and concentrate on something else for a while.
Do you have your plotline and character development already laid out before you begin writing a book, or do they develop as you write? I am a heavy plotter. I like to know where I’m going before I start out on each crazy new journey. But I’m also flexible and adventurous and love for my characters to surprise me. So if something unplanned needs to happen to move the plot along, I go with it.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers? Don’t get discouraged! Keep writing. Keep submitting proposals. Continue to study the craft of writing. Be prepared for a story to be meant for the Indie route instead of traditional publication. It can sneak up on you.
Do you write your books for your own enjoyment or more for what you think people would want to read? I write the story that haunts me until I let it have its way. I pray that each one will find a home in someone’s heart, but the writing happens because I’m bursting with story.
What is one thing that you “never saw yourself doing” and either do it now or have done? I never saw myself homeschooling. I thought once both of my kids were old enough to be in school I would write full time. I pictured myself sitting at my computer pumping out one bestseller after another, rolling in the royalty checks…hold on. I’m laughing too hard right now at my ridiculousness! Anyway, one day, God made it very clear to me that the path He had for me was to be a writer but that I would homeschool my children as well. For fourteen years, I homeschooled them until they both graduated. I also wrote three novels during that time. My first one debuted the same year my youngest graduated.
About the Author: Sherri Wilson Johnson is an Inspirational Romance novelist, a speaker, and a former homeschooling mom who’d rather have laugh lines under her eyes than worry lines across her forehead. She lives in Georgia with her husband, her two children and her Chihuahua, Posey. Her favorite thing to do when she’s not with her family is to curl up with a good book or work on her current work-in-progress. She loves to dream of visiting romantic places and is passionate about the Lord, motherhood, homeschooling, and writing. Sherri is the author of To Dance Once More, Song of the Meadowlark, and To Laugh Once More. She is a columnist with Habits for a Happy Home and Choose NOW Ministries.
Find Sherri’s new release online:
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You can find Sherri Wilson Johnson on the web and on social media at the following places!
Amazon Page
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Choose NOW column
Habits for a Happy Home column
Pinterest
Goodreads
The Book Club Network
Be sure to enter to win an EBOOK of To Laugh once more right here :
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Oh man. I am in tears right now. There was a message in there I needed to hear. I am so overwhelmed with work AND homeschooling right now. Sometimes you just need to hear that someone else made it through.
The book sounds really interesting. It’s a different storyline and I love that.
Oh, and Route 66? Definitely on my future road trip list.
Heather M recently posted…Sweet and Spicy Road Trip Snack Mix
Heather, I am so glad my interview touched you! You will make it through homeschooling. I promise!! Yes, Route 66 is something I truly hope we can do very soon!
This book sounds amazing! I am another busy homeschooling mama who needs more hours in the day.
Becca, thanks for stopping by! Much success with your homeschooling!
I loved the interview. I am looking forward to reading this book. I just discovered this blog, I will be back! Thanx for the giveaway!
Thanks Jennifer! I’m glad you found this great blog and that my book interests you. 🙂
Sherri Wilson Johnson recently posted…Like a ‘Possum in an Open Cage: Christians Living in Fear by Hannah Conway #giveaway
With 19 years of homeschooling behind me, I am so thankful for all of the memories made with my 4 kids!
Looking forward to reading one of Sherri’s books!
19 years?! Wow! that’s awesome, Tracy. Congratulations!
Sherri Wilson Johnson recently posted…Like a ‘Possum in an Open Cage: Christians Living in Fear by Hannah Conway #giveaway