Interview with Lyn Cote 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’m excited to have Lyn Cote as my guest! Lyn not only was one of the first Love Inspired authors, she was also one of the early indie Christian romance authors! Her new release looks like such a great story, and she’s giving away all of the books in that series to one of you! Read on to see how you can enter to win.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.  I am a grandmother and live in a cottage on a lake in the northwoods of Wisconsin. I’ve been married nearly 50 years to my husband who is my total opposite. I was one of the first Love Inspired Romance authors. My first book debuted in 1998.

Tell us about your current release. My new book Ellie’s Forever Family is the third in my latest series, titled “New Neighbor Lane.” The three books are connected by three homes being built by Habitat for Humanity volunteers.

Small town Hope, WI, is happy to welcome Habitat for Humanity volunteers building homes on its newest street, New Neighbor Lane. But each family helping build their new house, needs more than a structure to live in. Past hurts, such as financial hardship, abandonment, loss of family members or painful divorce have left them hurting and doubting God’s love for them. But God isn’t finished with them. He has plans for them, plans to prosper them and not to harm, plans to give them hope and a future.

If you knew ahead of time your book would benefit only one person on their spiritual journey, would you still write it? Of course! And the funny thing is that often readers “find” messages in my books that I didn’t know I’d included. So God uses books in many different ways to touch readers hearts and minds. It’s not my doing!

What’s the first major news headline that you can remember and what do you remember? (ie. Moon Walk, Watergate, Pope being shot) I think it’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington.

What is your personal, most effective way to get past writer’s block? I really never get this. The only times it has been difficult for me to write was in the midst of some family crisis. Then my mind feels like my brains have fallen out. I still keep writing but the clean-up later is daunting. And grueling!

How did you determine whether to self-publish or seek a traditional publisher? I’ve done both. I have written for five different houses and I was an early adopter of the digital revolution. I put my first indie title up in 2011. It was my very first novel, the one publishers rejected because I didn’t follow what their marketing department said was “saleable.” It and the subsequent books in the 4 book series are now selling quite well on Amazon—thank you very much. (I’m speaking of Journey to Victory, Book 1 in my “The American Journey”. A family saga, a young nation’s story~) I’m still a hybrid because Love Inspired continues to release some of my titles (which is fine by me! I like being on the shelves in Walmart.) But I am writing new books and I’m going to start doing paperbacks too, not just digital ebooks.

How did you make the initial step into writing your first novel. What were some of your major roadblocks and how did you overcome them? Well, my husband was working full time driving around Chicago and Milwaukee fixing hospital lab equipment while finishing his Bachelor’s in night school an hours drive away. I had a 4 year old and a 14 month old and was pretty much a single mom. I decided it was time to start my first novel (again Journey to Victory) So I literally carried around a clipboard and when my son paused, I would quick write a few sentences. And then we were off again!

I hired a high school girl to come over two evenings a week. She brought MacDonald’s Happy Meals for the kids. They ate supper, played a little then she got them ready for bed and then did her homework. While this was going on, I went to the library to do my historical research (This was BEFORE the internet. Yes, I am a dinosaur!)

Here is where you can find Lyn online:

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Website: https://www.booksbylyncote.com/

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Twitter: twitter.com/LynCoteWriter

Lyn is giving away her entire New Neighbor Lane series to a reader! See below how you can enter to win:

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