Ask the Author: Mary Andersen
Answered Questions (9)
Mary Andersen
It will be out sometime this year. That's the closest date I can give you at the moment. The cover is done and I'm over 3/4 of the way through writing it. Then there's all the rounds of editing and all that. I apologize for keeping everyone waiting for so much longer than I ever intended. Life's been rather hectic.
Mary Andersen
I'm so glad to hear that you loved them! Thank you! Yes, I'm still planning to release #3 in 2015, hopefully this fall.
Mary Andersen
Hi, Doreen! I'm so glad you enjoyed the first two! I don't have a definite date for the release of #3. It's going to be a while yet because it's turned out to be much more difficult to write than the others, and because I have a lot of irons in the fire right now so my writing time is very limited. Thank you for your patience. As you said, I don't want to rush it or cut corners. I'm still hoping for sometime in 2015, but that's the best estimate I can give at this point. If you'd like a sneak peek, you can sign up for my newsletter at http://mary-andersen.blogspot.com/sea.... Doing so will give you access to a link to an excerpt from #3. Thank you for contacting me! Have a wonderful day!
Mary Andersen
What inspires me the most to write is thinking about my characters. I become so invested and engaged in their lives. To me, they are so real that it is as if they actually lived and breathed. Telling their stories and bringing them to life so that my readers can come to know them as I do, is a pure joy. It is very fulfilling to get feedback indicating that my readers feel like they are there, right in the middle of what is going on, and that they can feel what the characters feel. When I get comments like these... "Ugh! I almost threw my phone while I was reading your book, because I thought Joe was going to die! I hated you so much in that moment!" or "I broke down in tears while reading your book at the coffee shop. People looked at my strangely, but I couldn't help it." ... it makes me so happy, because that's what I want. I want my readers to feel things when they read my novels, and to become emotionally engaged in the lives of my characters. If that has been accomplished, then I have done my job as an author.
Mary Andersen
Ugh! You would have to bring that up! LOL. A lot of what I have written so far has flowed quite easily, but I recently had a bout of the dreaded writers' block. For a while, I let it get the best of me, but I finally realized that I had to make a conscious effort to push through it. I did two things to combat it. Firstly, I allowed a very select few people to read what I had written so far, and encouraged them to give feedback. Sometimes, when I get tunnel vision like that, I just need another perspective or two to get me back on track. After that, I set a goal of writing a certain number of pages each day. Forcing myself to keep going, even when I felt like I was repeatedly hitting a brick wall, really helped me to get over that hump and get the story flowing again.
Mary Andersen
I can't narrow it down to just one thing. Feeling successful as a writer of historical fiction, for me, is two-fold. First of all, I am an avid genealogist and I have a great amount of respect and admiration for those who have gone before us. They deserve to remembered, their joys along with their sorrows. I love to breath life into the past and help my readers to feel like they can escape into a long ago era and live among those people. Equal to that, in my list of favorite things about being a writer, is hearing how my stories have touched peoples' lives. My readers make those endless hours of work worthwhile. They are the heart and soul of why I do what I do.
Mary Andersen
My advice to aspiring writers is to believe in yourself and never, ever give up! During times of discouragement, writers' block and so forth, always believe in your abilities and your potential! You have something of worth to contribute! Naturally, there will be some criticism along the way. Even the most famous, renowned authors have been through that, so don't let it get you down. Use whatever you can from it to make your work better. As for any comments that are not constructive, cast them aside and move forward. If you want something bad enough, and you work hard and persevere, you can accomplish your goal!
Mary Andersen
I am currently writing the third book in the SOULS OF INDENTURE series, which follows the life of one of John Clark's indentured servants, Nathaniel. As is customary in my books, some past characters will also be intertwined into the plot so that you can see what they are up to.
Mary Andersen
In A TRUSTING HEART, I wanted to show the darker side of the indentured servant industry. Not all were so fortunate as to have a kindly man purchase their contract. There was a great deal of violence that many indentured servants had to suffer through, and those horrific experiences would have left physical and emotional scars.
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Mar 24, 2016 01:35PM