Come on in and sit a spell with Rachel as she shares her answers on the Dregs.
Fiction character you would most like to be or most identify with and why?
RH: Maybe this is a kid thing, but I always identified with Laura Ingalls Wilder. Her life seemed so interesting, and at times very hard, but their family stayed close and endured. I love the romance of the prairie life.
If you could ask any person, living or dead, a random question -- what question would you ask of whom?
RH: I’d ask Solomon why he let himself be drawn away from God by his wives when he saw and knew the wisdom and power of God.
Some out there in writing land have strange rituals. Share yours.
RH: I started to say I don’t have any, but YIKES I do. I have to check all my emails, blogs and blog subscriptions. It’s a routine like those who get their coffee and read email in the morning before starting work.
Pick one…..Pink iguana, purple cow, periwinkle giraffe. Which one and why? Can be negative or positive.
RH: Periwinkle giraffe. I love periwinkle. And it would be cool to be as tall and as graceful as a giraffe.
Favorite turn of phrase or word picture, in literature or movie.
RH: Wow, this could become a book! I’ll pick two, though. I loved a line in Marian Keyes book, The Other Side of The Story. She’s writing about a character’s disappointment. This is my paraphrase. I can’t find the exact place in the book, I’ve looked! “It was like dying, seeing he transcendent beauty of the Divine and being told it’s not your time and you had to go back.”
I love the true concept of transcendent beauty of the Divine.
As for movies. I have several. From It’s A Wonderful Life. “We’ll wait for ya, baby.”
From Back To The Future. “This song’s in B, watch me for the changes and try to keep up.”
From Houseguest. “Good, fine and healthy. Baby, you it. BAM! Know what I’m saying?”
From my own writing.
Sweet Caroline, Mar ’08 Thomas Nelson. “Worse than dying? Never having lived.”
Lost In NashVegas, Nov ’06 Thomas Nelson. “How did the hounds of Freedom keep that bone buried?”
If you were assured of writing a best-seller, what genre would it be? Give us a sliver of information, a characteristic or glimpse of a scene.
RH: I’d write a best selling chick lit about a woman achieving her dreams. She’s overcome her jealousy of others to walk in the life God’s given her and learn to find her value in His love for her, not her success in the world.
Then, of course, all kinds of fun stuff happens to her. She meets the man of her dreams. Her rejected manuscript sells to a large NY publisher, and her divorced parents remarry. I don’t know. Something like that. Funny, of course, beautifully written.
What period of history intrigues you the most?
RH: Early 1900s. I love the Teddy Roosevelt era. Hey, maybe that will be my best seller.
What would you write if there were no rules or barriers? (epic novels about characters in the Bible, poetry, greeting cards, plays, movies, instruction manuals, etc.)
RH: If there were no barriers, screenplays (movies.) But I really do love writing fiction. Absolutely.
What makes you feel alive?
RH: Two hours of prayer and worship with others. Finishing a manuscript. Helping others with their writing. Holding a newly published book in my hands. Holding a baby. Kissing my nieces and nephews. Telling someone Jesus loves them, and they get it!
How does something worm its way into your heart? Through tears, truth, humor or other?
RH: Truth or humor. I’m not easily moved by emotion or plays on my emotion. I’m skeptical. I’m moved by truth, by people who genuinely work hard to overcome.
And I love to laugh.
Book, music, person, food you would take with you on a very long trip.
RH: I’d take my husband and a pile of books from family epics to chick lit. Diet Coke, fruit and chips. And the music of Misty Edwards, some ‘70s and ‘80s oldies but goodies. And country music playing on the radio.
Where would you most like to travel ----- moon, north pole, deep seas, deserted island, the holy land or back to a place from your childhood, somewhere else? – and why.
RH: Definitely NOT the moon. Space travel has no appeal to me. I think I’d like to travel to a childhood city or town, then out west. I love the west.
Favorite season and why?
RH: There is absolutely NOTHING like spring in Florida. I’ve traveled the world in all kinds of seasons. Spring in Florida is amazing.
Favorite book setting and why?
RH: I loved the Nashville setting of my NashVegas books. And the South Carolina lowcountry of the book I’m writing now.
Which compliment related to your writing has meant the most and why?
RH: Often people tell me how alive and real the characters seem. Many have said it feels like I’m writing directly to them. So, I love that the readers connect with the characters.
What criticism has cut the deepest and why?
RH: I had a review of my first novel, a category romance, and the person, not used to reading Christian fiction wrote, and I quote, “the writing sucked.” That was pretty harsh.
What would you do today if you knew you had only a week to live?
RH: Write that best seller, and fast!
What is your favorite word?
RH: Cake. Cake, cake, cake. Isn’t it an interesting word? Has such a weird sound.
What word annoys you more than any other?
RH: More of a phrase. “As well.” Seriously, can we ban it? No one says, “also” or “too” any more.
“We’re going the movies, as well.”
“It’s going to be rainy today, as well.”
Ack! It annoys me.
Superhero you most admire and why?
RH: I’m going with my own superhero, Jesus. No one, not even Superman, saved the world like this God/man did.
Super power you’d love to borrow for awhile?
RH: Jesus ability to love his enemies. While being nailed to a cross, He cried out, “Father, forgive them!”
I’d be like, “Father, do to them 10 times what they did to me!”
So, yeah, love!
Favorite chore
RH: I like doing dishes. It’s therapeutic for me.
Grammatical pet peeve…sound off.
RH: Too, many, commas. LOL
Societal pet peeve…sound off.
RH: So many live by their emotions. Make decisions by how they feel. While feelings and emotions are real and valid, they are not always fact or truth. Truth needs compassion. Compassion needs truth.
Unidentifiable antique, the scent of pipe tobacco and the drizzle of rain – make a scene.
RH: Rain splattered against the window. Pipe smoke rose from the tray on the light stand. In the corner, an old quilt covered a tall, misshaped object. Every now and then, it hissed.
Two middle-aged females talking animatedly. One wears a very short skirt, and she ought not to be……………. Give me a scene, dialogue, characterization, drama……
RH: Jane hooked her hand through the strap, fighting to stand upright on the train ride into the city.
“I tell you, he’s crazy, Suze. Hasn’t called me I a week.” Jane checks the faces around her. Thank goodness, no one she knows. Mam always said she talked too loud.
Suze leans her face close. “I told you. Dump him.”
Jane tugs at the hem of her skirt. “But I told you, I love him.”
“No you don’t.” Suze twist her lips. “You just think you do.”
About to answer, Jane yelps. A hand touched her leg. She whirls around and stares right into the moon crater eyes of the most handsome man she’s ever seen,
He grins. “Sorry, miss, I had to tug on your skirt. Your blue knickers were showing.”
Hope you enjoyed a little Rachel sass, Dregites!
Thanks again, Rachel!
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