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Featured Author - Margaret Daley
Margaret's 2007 releases are:
- Heart of the Amazon, Love Inspired
Suspense, Jan 2007 - So Dark the Night, Love Inspired
Suspense, Mar 2007 - Once Upon a Family, Love Inspired, Apr
2007 - Vanished, Love Inspired Suspense, May
2007 - Classic Love Inspired (reissue of Sadie's
Hero and A Family for Keeps) Aug 2007 - Buried Secrets, Love Inspired Suspense,
Oct 2007 - Heart of the Family, Love Inspired, Dec
2007
Bio
Margaret is an award winning,
multi-published author with over
fifty books to her credit. She is
writing for Steeple Hill Love Inspired
and Love Inspired Suspense. This year
she has seven books coming out,
four Love Inspired Suspense, two
Love Inspired, and one Classic Love
Inspired.
Margaret has been writing for twenty-seven years and has written for Dell,
Kensington and Silhouette. In 2000 she sold her first inspirational romance to
Harlequin's Steeple Hill and hasn't looked back. She has found an area where she
can combine her family related stories with her love of suspense and mysteries.
When she isn't writing she is teaching high school students with learning
disabilities. She has a wonderful, real hero, her husband Mike and they have one
son. She loves to travel, read, especially adventures and suspense books, and going
to lunch with her friends.
You can contact her at Mdaley50@aol.com. You can visit her web site at
http://www.margaretdaley.com to read excerpts from her latest books and sign her
guest book for a chance to win an autographed book. She also has a blog at
http://margaretdaleyblogspot.com.
Margaret is an award winning,
multi-published author with over
fifty books to her credit. She is
writing for Steeple Hill Love Inspired
and Love Inspired Suspense. This year
she has seven books coming out,
four Love Inspired Suspense, two
Love Inspired, and one Classic Love
Inspired.
Margaret has been writing for twenty-seven years and has written for Dell,
Kensington and Silhouette. In 2000 she sold her first inspirational romance to
Harlequin's Steeple Hill and hasn't looked back. She has found an area where she
can combine her family related stories with her love of suspense and mysteries.
When she isn't writing she is teaching high school students with learning
disabilities. She has a wonderful, real hero, her husband Mike and they have one
son. She loves to travel, read, especially adventures and suspense books, and going
to lunch with her friends.
You can contact her at Mdaley50@aol.com. You can visit her web site at
http://www.margaretdaley.com to read excerpts from her latest books and sign her
guest book for a chance to win an autographed book. She also has a blog at
http://margaretdaleyblogspot.com.
Interview
LJW: When and why did you first begin writing inspirational romances?
MD: I wrote my first one in 2000 because God gave me a story I had to tell.
Faith was so much a part of this story. I couldn’t tell it well without the faith
element in it.
LJW: Did you have a mentor or writing group that helped you out when you
first started writing, or did you learn your craft mostly on your own?
MD: I was a part of a group of writers who met once a week and critiqued each other’s work. I
learned a lot from these writers.
LJW: How many words or pages do you write in a day? In a week? How do you maintain your pace
and keep from getting distracted by other things?
MD: I try to write about 20-30 pages a week. I am a very focused person so I usually don’t have a
problem. I don’t like deadlines hanging over my head so I work hard to take care of them.
LJW: How do you juggle your writing career, family and day job?
MD: Sometimes I don’t do a good job. But usually I give whatever I’m doing my all when I’m doing
it. So if I’m teaching, my students have my undivided attention. If I’m home and writing, that is
what I focus totally on. And thankfully I have a great husband who supports me and understands
when I’m under a deadline.
LJW: In Heart of the Amazon, Slader struggled with guilt over his wife’s death. In the end, God’s
love (and Kate’s!) overcame his guilt. What is the biggest thing you have had to overcome (this can
be in your writing career or in life)? Who or what helped you through it?
MD: My mother’s illness and death was probably the hardest thing I’ve had to deal with. My
mother who was such a wonderful woman who had a deep faith in the Lord had Alzheimer’s and
to watch her slowly disappear as the person I had known all my life was very difficult. She was a
highly intelligent woman who was the head of nursing at a hospital, and she ended up not even
being able to do the simplest things for herself. My faith and family are what helped me deal with
the situation.
LJW: You write both contemporary romance and romantic suspense. Do you have a favorite genre to
write? Why?
MD: I like both of these types of books, but if I had to pick one it would have to be romantic
suspense. I love reading adventures, suspense stories and mysteries. Getting to put it into my own
stories is a treat.
LJW: Do you have any advice for writers who are just starting out?
MD: Don’t give up on your dream. I’ve been writing for twenty-seven years. I sold twenty books,
then went through a seven-year dry spell where I didn’t sell at all. If I had given up, I would never
have discovered what I think I’m meant to do: write inspirational stories. God is so awesome! I love
proclaiming His love and mercy to the world.
That doesn’t mean rejections are easy. I still get them even after fifty books and they are still as
difficult as my first one years ago. I have to remind myself the Lord has other plans for me and I
have to be patience and see what they are.
LJW: When and why did you first begin writing inspirational romances?
MD: I wrote my first one in 2000 because God gave me a story I had to tell.
Faith was so much a part of this story. I couldn’t tell it well without the faith
element in it.
LJW: Did you have a mentor or writing group that helped you out when you
first started writing, or did you learn your craft mostly on your own?
MD: I was a part of a group of writers who met once a week and critiqued each other’s work. I
learned a lot from these writers.
LJW: How many words or pages do you write in a day? In a week? How do you maintain your pace
and keep from getting distracted by other things?
MD: I try to write about 20-30 pages a week. I am a very focused person so I usually don’t have a
problem. I don’t like deadlines hanging over my head so I work hard to take care of them.
LJW: How do you juggle your writing career, family and day job?
MD: Sometimes I don’t do a good job. But usually I give whatever I’m doing my all when I’m doing
it. So if I’m teaching, my students have my undivided attention. If I’m home and writing, that is
what I focus totally on. And thankfully I have a great husband who supports me and understands
when I’m under a deadline.
LJW: In Heart of the Amazon, Slader struggled with guilt over his wife’s death. In the end, God’s
love (and Kate’s!) overcame his guilt. What is the biggest thing you have had to overcome (this can
be in your writing career or in life)? Who or what helped you through it?
MD: My mother’s illness and death was probably the hardest thing I’ve had to deal with. My
mother who was such a wonderful woman who had a deep faith in the Lord had Alzheimer’s and
to watch her slowly disappear as the person I had known all my life was very difficult. She was a
highly intelligent woman who was the head of nursing at a hospital, and she ended up not even
being able to do the simplest things for herself. My faith and family are what helped me deal with
the situation.
LJW: You write both contemporary romance and romantic suspense. Do you have a favorite genre to
write? Why?
MD: I like both of these types of books, but if I had to pick one it would have to be romantic
suspense. I love reading adventures, suspense stories and mysteries. Getting to put it into my own
stories is a treat.
LJW: Do you have any advice for writers who are just starting out?
MD: Don’t give up on your dream. I’ve been writing for twenty-seven years. I sold twenty books,
then went through a seven-year dry spell where I didn’t sell at all. If I had given up, I would never
have discovered what I think I’m meant to do: write inspirational stories. God is so awesome! I love
proclaiming His love and mercy to the world.
That doesn’t mean rejections are easy. I still get them even after fifty books and they are still as
difficult as my first one years ago. I have to remind myself the Lord has other plans for me and I
have to be patience and see what they are.
Book Review - Heart of the Amazon
Straight-laced Kate Collier is determined to find her brother, rumored to be dead. Her journey
takes her into the Heart of the Amazon. She enlists the help of stubborn A.C. Slader, still
swamped in grief after a disaster left him without a family. When suspicious events start
happening around Kate, Slader finds himself rescuing her more than once.
Can the two polar opposites survive the dangers of the Amazon? Will they find love on their
search for Kate’s brother?
Margaret Daley has weaved an intriguing tale that you won’t be able to put down. Everything
about this book is great – the characters are real, the tension is palpable, her descriptions of the
Amazon will really pull you in until you feel like you are there.
On her blog, Margaret describes the book as “African Queen meets Romancing the Stone” and
that description really tells a lot. It is a great story and I highly recommend it.
Read an excerpt from Margaret's site.
You can read Armchair Interview's review of Heart of the Amazon by clicking here.
They also have a review of So Dark the Night here.
Straight-laced Kate Collier is determined to find her brother, rumored to be dead. Her journey
takes her into the Heart of the Amazon. She enlists the help of stubborn A.C. Slader, still
swamped in grief after a disaster left him without a family. When suspicious events start
happening around Kate, Slader finds himself rescuing her more than once.
Can the two polar opposites survive the dangers of the Amazon? Will they find love on their
search for Kate’s brother?
Margaret Daley has weaved an intriguing tale that you won’t be able to put down. Everything
about this book is great – the characters are real, the tension is palpable, her descriptions of the
Amazon will really pull you in until you feel like you are there.
On her blog, Margaret describes the book as “African Queen meets Romancing the Stone” and
that description really tells a lot. It is a great story and I highly recommend it.
Read an excerpt from Margaret's site.
You can read Armchair Interview's review of Heart of the Amazon by clicking here.
They also have a review of So Dark the Night here.
