Interview with Cara Putman and a Giveaway!

Welcome to Readers Write to Know! I asked you, my readers, what questions they would ask their favorite authors if given the chance, and the authors visiting my blog answered them! It’s always fun to welcome a friend here. Cara Putman and I cross paths all year long at various writer events and I have enjoyed every conversation I’ve ever had with her. She is an amazing sister in Christ and I’m thrilled that she is my guest this week. She writes legal thrillers, and is giving away a copy of her latest release! Read on to see how you can enter to win.

Cara Putman is the award-winning author of more than thirty legal thrillers, historical romances, and romantic suspense novels. She has won or been a finalist for honors including the ACFW Book of the Year and the Christian Retailing’s BEST Award. Cara graduated high school at sixteen, college at twenty, completed her law degree at twenty-seven, and recently received her MBA. She is a practicing attorney, teaches undergraduate and graduate law courses at a Big Ten business school, and is a busy mom of four. She lives with her husband and children in Indiana.

Tell us about your latest release: She had long given up the desire to be loved. Now she only needed to be heard. Jaime Nichols went to law school to find the voice she never had as a child, and her determination to protect girls and women in the path of harm drives her in ways both spoken and unspoken. As Jaime, now a criminal defense attorney, prepares to press charges against someone who wronged her long ago, she must face not only her demons but also the unimaginable forces that protect the powerful man who tore her childhood apart.
Chandler Bolton, a retired veteran, is tasked with helping a young victim who must testify in court—and along with his therapy dog, Aslan, he’s up for the task. When he first meets Jaime, all brains, beauty, and brashness, he can’t help but be intrigued. As Chandler works to break through the wall Jaime has built around herself, the two of them discover that they may have more to offer one another than they ever could have guessed—and that together, they may be able to help this endangered child.
This thrilling installment of the Hidden Justice series explores the healing power of resolution and the weight of words given voice. And as Jaime pursues delayed justice of her own, she unearths eternal truths that will change the course of her life.

With all those characters in your head screaming to get out how do you write fast enough to get it all down? I’ve learned that when I’m in the flow, I can write a chapter in an hour and a half. That helps. But it’s about knowing my characters and having an idea of where they are going. Then I sit down and write what I see on the screen of my mind. Thanks to law school, I write pretty cleanly, so that also helps with speed.

How do you push past the fear of your writing being average and be bold enough to sell it to a publisher(or agent or audience if you self publish)? At a certain point, I recognize that the writing is as good as I can get it. Beyond that I need help and insight from editors and first readers. Understanding those concepts helps me to release it to the world.

What’s the first major news headline that you can remember and what do you remember? The first that I truly remember is getting up EARLY to watch Princess Diana marry Prince Charles. Maybe that’s where my love of romance started. I was seven, but I remember my mom waking my sister and I up so we could watch the ceremony. Her dress was so much; it was every little girl’s Cinderella dream.

What inspired you to start writing, or did you always want to write? I love writing. It’s part of who I am and has been a dream and need of mine since I was thirteen. Ideas come from all over, and it keeps me fresh. One of the things I love about writing is that I can always work to become a better writer. And I can always keep my eyes open for new ideas. Now, it’s part of my DNA.

How did you determine whether to self-publish or seek a traditional publisher? When I started writing in 2005, self-publishing was still nascent other than vanity presses. I knew I wanted to pursue traditional publishing because there was so much I didn’t know about publishing, that I really wanted the partnership of working with a publisher. I’ve learned a lot from my editors at various houses. I also appreciate having marketing help. They have access to avenues I don’t, and together we can cover more ground to get the word out about my books. Now I’m what I would call hybrid. I re-release my older books on my own. In fact I’m turning many of my WWII novels into audiobooks this year. It’s exciting and daunting, because so many of the pieces my publishers cover, now I get to do: covers, editing (yes, I reedit even though these books have been thoroughly edited as well as marketing).

Here is where you can find Cara online:

Website: http://www.CaraPutman.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/Cara.Putman
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Cara_Putman
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caraputman/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caracputman/
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/cara-putman
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/939004.Cara_C_Putman

Cara is giving away a copy of Delayed Justice to a reader! See below how you can enter to win:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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6 comments

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    • Lisa Stillman on April 10, 2019 at 14:35
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    I love that there is a therapy dog named Aslan in the book!

    • bn100 on April 10, 2019 at 19:38
    • Reply

    different sounding

    • Deanna Jennings on April 11, 2019 at 00:49
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    Your new book sounds really interesting! I also love historical fiction taking place during WWII so I am going to have to check out those books as well. Thanks for a great interview!

    • Paula Dye on April 11, 2019 at 09:15
    • Reply

    Sounds like a wonderful story!

  1. Love to hear your news Cara! And anything audio book makes me 1 happy reader

    • Xia Lee on April 14, 2019 at 01:07
    • Reply

    Fingers crossed

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