Interview with Julie Arduini 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! This week, I am happy to have Julie Arduini as my guest. I love learning about Julie’s heart for writing and for telling the stories God will have her to tell regardless of readership or money made. It resonates so well with me. Julie is offering a preview of her upcoming release – look for the link below – and is giving away a copy of her book You’re Brilliant! Read on to see how you can enter to win.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. I’m Julie Arduini (Are-due-we-knee) and I write contemporary romance. I’m from Upstate NY but have lived in Ohio for 16 years. I’ve been married to Tom for almost 25 years. Our son, Brian, is a senior at Kent State, and our daughter Hannah is a junior in high school. We also have older children who live in Wisconsin that I was blessed to enjoy when I married Tom. They are married with children, so we are grandparents. I love binge watching shows with Hannah and eating milk chocolate.

Tell us about your current release. Anchored Hearts is the first book in the Surrendering Hearts series.

Can two go-getters surrender their need to control and find a happily-ever-after?

Jordyn Bell Hart succeeds in everything she does. Her promotion to morning show co anchor blossoms her career in the same way her mother’s work did. Jordyn keeps tabs on her family and enjoys helping them grow. When life around Jordyn starts to change, can she surrender her desire to control?

Spencer Collins knows how to balance a busy life. He has his work as a reporter, his time caregiving for his grieving father, and looking out for his little brother. When he learns he’s the new co anchor of a morning show with Jordyn Hart, can he handle working with a celebrity who brings a lot of challenges to life on and off the set?

Read a FREE preview of Anchored Hearts by clicking HERE. Book 1 in Surrendering Hearts, a series about nationally celebrated sextuplets who each discover their own identity and find that special true love like their parents shared. https://dl.bookfunnel.com/sreqjn1tin

If you knew ahead of time your book would benefit only one person on their spiritual journey, would you still write it? Absolutely. I made a vow over a decade ago that I would write when God asks, what God asks. If He wanted me to write a book that only one person would be inspired by, it would be a joy to do. My heart isn’t in sales or awards. I write to encourage and hopefully see lives transformed for the better.

Do you feel pressured to compromise your standards in order to reach a larger audience or be more successful? I don’t by anyone I pay attention to. What I mean is my family supports me whether I made two cents or two million dollars. My friends are just as encouraging. What I have to reject are the lies of the true defeated one when I see an article or hear about an author who writes in a genre that mocks God and His ways, and they have a mass following. It’s frustrating to know people read those books and authors do so well with them, in a worldly sense. But I know where that comes from—the enemy dangling that in front of me. It doesn’t take long before I pray it away and get back to doing what I know what I was called to write.

Whats the first major news headline that you can remember and what do you remember? I remember being in the first grade and we voted for who we thought would win the presidency, Ford or Carter. I was only six, but when I heard Jimmy Carter won, I cried, because I voted for Ford. I was a little conservative before that was a thing, I guess!

Who was your first Screen/Musical Crush? It’s funny you ask because I was recently going through things after my mom’s passing and I found all our records. We’d asked what happened to them over the years and mom assured us they were gone. We found everything, including our favorite—Shaun Cassidy. My sister and I were certain he was going to marry one of us.

What is one thing that you “never saw yourself doing” and either do it now or have done? Writing is one thing. I had one story in me, Entrusted. I never thought about it as a series much less starting a new series, and publishing two other romances and co-authoring a series with Hannah. Another thing is I thought for sure I’d color my hair forever. My mom turned gray at 16 and was coloring her hair until the very end. My story was different. I started going gray at 25 and by 48, I was coloring every couple weeks and it wasn’t staying. It was a drain of time and money. I stopped coloring, and I am really okay being gray.

Do you remember where you were or what you were doing when you started this story? My sister and I were talking a few years ago about how no books exist in the fiction world that we were aware of about donor families. I told her I love the idea but I wouldn’t even know where to start, especially with a romance. I mulled it over and realized no one that I’m aware of has written a romance series based on multiples. I remember watching Ann Curry interview the McCaughey septuplets each year and loved watching them grow up. Then I wondered how would a family manage that were not just multiples, but stayed in the spotlight because of tragedy? That’s how Anchoring Hearts was born. Each book in the series features one of the Hart sextuplets.

Here is where you can find Julie online:

Facebook: http://facebook.com/JulieArduini

Facebook Author Page: http://facebook.com/JulieArduiniAuthor

MeWe: https://mewe.com/i/juliearduini

Twitter: http://twitter.com/JulieArduini

Parler: https://parler.com/profile/JulieArduini/posts

CloutHub: https://app.clouthub.com/private/6432f24f-c859-4cee-b45c-2f4fe72015e4

Gab: https://gab.com/JulieArduiniAuthor

Telegram: http://t.me/JulieArduini

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/JulieArduini

Instagram: http://instagram.com/JulieArduini

Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/JulieArduini

Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/JulieArduini

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/julie-arduini

Julie Arduini Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/321e32f02e17/juliearduininewsletter Receive FREE preview of Anchored Hearts: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/sreqjn1tin

Julie is giving away a copy of her book You’re Brilliant to a reader! See below how to enter to win: