Kaye Dacus and I met online years ago during the early years of American Christian Fiction Writers, back when it was still known as American Christian Romance Writers. Both of us were still waiting and hoping to see publication at that time. I have not yet had the pleasure of reading Kaye’s work, but hope to change that someday soon.

Kaye Dacus is the author of contemporary and historical romances with Barbour Publishing and Harvest House Publishers. She holds a Master of Arts in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, is a former Vice President of American Christian Fiction Writers, and currently serves as President of Middle Tennessee Christian Writers. She loves action movies and British costume dramas; and when she’s not writing, she enjoys knitting scarves and “lap blankets” (she’s a master of the straight-line knit and purl stitches!). Kaye lives in Nashville, Tennessee; and even though she writes romance novels, she is not afraid to admit that she’s never been kissed.

Kaye’s latest upcoming February 2010 release is:

A Case for Love: (Book 3 of the Brides of Bonneterre series)

Welcome back to Bonneterre, Louisiana, for the delightful conclusion to the Brides of Bonneterre series.

The Alaine Delacroix that all of Bonneterre knows is the carefully polished image she puts forth every day on her noontime news-magazine program. When her parents’ home and small business is threatened by the biggest corporation in town, Alaine is forced to choose between her image and fighting for the life her family has built.

Lawyer Forbes Guidry is used to making things go his way. But when he’s asked to take on a pro bono case for a colleague, he’ll learn that he can’t control everything—including his feelings for his new client: Alaine Delacroix.

Alaine’s only option to help her family is hiring Forbes, but can she bring herself to trust the handsome, disarmingly charming lawyer? And will Forbes Guidry be able to make a case for love before losing his job and family? Can both trust that God will present a solution before it’s too late?

A Case for Love is available from these online bookstores:

Amazon
CBD
Barnes & Noble

When and how did you know that you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve heard a lot of people say they started writing stories when they were in elementary school. When I was that young, I wasn’t a writer—I hated writing, as a matter of fact. I made up plenty of stories, but they were acted out with my Barbie dolls or in my imagination as I played outside—other people, other places, other times all came alive in my mind’s-eye; and I didn’t mind playing by myself. In fact, I rather preferred it because I didn’t have to explain to anyone else what I was envisioning and try to get them to play along the way the story went in my head.

As an adolescent, I started to read voraciously. My fancy turned to romance novels; and by the age of twelve, I was reading one or two historical romance novels a week—mostly YA, but some adult fiction in there, too. These books grew in me not only a love for history, but a love for storytelling because they inspired me to write. I wasn’t content with a kiss and a happily-ever-after ending. I wanted to know what happened the next day, the next year, the next decade. So the first writing I ever did was around fourteen years old when I started writing “sequels” to my favorite books. This, then, inspired me to start putting some of those stories that were always running through my head down on paper.

That experience—realizing I could put words down on paper and express the stories that I’d always had within me—opened a flood-gate; and for the last two decades, I’ve never stopped writing.

Can you share with me some of the highlights of your writing journey – something particularly memorable or humorous?

After attending my first writing conference in 2001, I started a manuscript as an experiment to see if I could write something from beginning to end (I’d never finished anything before, even though I’d written more than 200,000 words on one “story” and bits and pieces of dozens more). At Christmas that year, I was about halfway through the manuscript. It was rough, and I knew it; but for the first time in my life, I decided to let someone read what I was writing (outside of school assignments, of course). So I printed out two copies of what I had completed so far and put it in nice notebooks for my mother and my grandmother as part of their Christmas presents. I was at my parents’ home for Christmas that year, and Mom started reading it immediately. After a couple of hours, she looked up at me and said, “I’d better not get to the end of this and find out it isn’t finished.” It wasn’t of course. I ended up e-mailing each chapter as I finished it to both my mom and grandmother, which is where my love of writing “hook” chapter endings came from—because I wanted them e-mailing me after each chapter, frantic to find out what happened next.

Tell me a bit about what you write now and what you hope/plan to write in the future. Do you have a favorite genre?

If I said my favorite genre was anything but romance, it would be pretty obvious I’m lying. I’ve tried to come up with ideas for women’s fiction, small-town fiction, or something else, but somehow, everything includes at least one romantic storyline. Historical romance is definitely a little harder to write than contemporary, but I’m so blessed to have been published in both right out of the starting gate. So, as far as I can see down the road, I’ll be writing stories with strong romantic themes (i.e., romance novels).

Do you consider your writing the work God has given you to do for a lifetime or for a season of your life? If you could pursue anything else, what would it be?

Maybe it’s because I grew up the daughter of an Army officer—which meant we lived with the possibility we might be in a different city/state/country the next year—but I never assume anything is “for a lifetime” (except family, of course). I like setting goals for three to five years down the road, but beyond that, I leave it up to God to show me where I’m supposed to go. To borrow an idea from E. L. Doctorow, life is a lot like driving down a wooded road at night: you can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.

The only other thing I could imagine myself doing full-time, if I felt God was telling me to put writing aside, would be to teach writing (composition, professional writing, creative writing), grammar, and/or editing at a community college or small four-year college.

Are there people in your life who encouraged you, who are responsible for you becoming a published author?

There are many people who’ve influenced and encouraged me in my life, but the main ones are my parents. My mom has told me many times over the past few years that, even though I felt like I was hiding what I considered to be an abnormal behavior (my writing) when I was a child, they knew I was doing it and they tried to do what they could to encourage it. The first writing how-to books I have are some that they gave me. I also had a wonderful creative writing teacher my senior year of high school who encouraged me to pursue it further. The wonderful people in the original ACRW (now ACFW) taught me about the industry and were there to celebrate with me as I made my first wobbly steps into being a writer—such as finishing my first manuscript and entering my first contest. My first two crit partners, Cindy Woodsmall and Marci Burke, helped me start applying the writing rules and guidelines I was learning. My faculty mentors in grad school broke me of all my bad habits and helped me find my true voice as a writer. And my agent, Chip MacGregor, who took a calculated risk on me when he signed me as an unpublished author when he was just getting his agency off the ground.

As much as we talk about how writing is a solitary profession, if one wants to do more than just sit in a closet and write stuff that’s never going to see the light of day, it takes a whole lot of people!

Can you share one struggle that entered your life as a result of writing and how God helped you to overcome it?

One of my main struggles, now that writing is my primary occupation, is the tendency to become too isolated. Because I live alone and work from home, there have been weeks when I haven’t seen or spoken to anyone for six days—until I go to church on Sunday. Sometimes, I have to take a break and go walk around one of the local malls just to remind myself I’m part of the human race!

Building friendships, creating my own community, is something that I’ve been working on for the past few months, through finding a new church and starting to get involved there, to reaching out and rebuilding/renewing relationships I’ve allowed to wither. As an introvert, it’s so easy for me to retreat and be that hermit, but I know that’s not the life God has called me to. So I keep looking for the opportunities He wants to give me to be a contributing member of a growing and vibrant community.

Likewise, is there a particular joy in this writing business/ministry that God has used to remind you that He is, in fact, using your words to His glory?

Last spring, after Stand-In Groom had been out for a few months, I received an e-mail from a reader that humbled me and showed me just how little understanding I had of the impact one’s writing can have. She wrote: “I fell in love with your work in Stand in Groom. I am from Louisiana and would love to visit Bonneterre. I tried so hard to figure out what city it was based on. I now live in South Dakota and you took me home. God also used your book to help me realize that I had not totally healed from hurricane Katrina and started that process for me. Thank you so much for being used by God to write this book.”

I can’t lay any claim to that praise. That is all God’s doing.

Thanks Kaye! I totally agree – and isn’t God amazing? I’m glad God opened these doors for you and is using your work to touch the lives of readers.

Coming: July 2010: Ransome’s Crossing (Book 2 of the Ransome Trilogy): Disguised as a midshipman to get to her secret fiancé in Jamaica, Charlotte Ransome discovers that losing her heart to Lieutenant Ned Cochrane is not the greatest danger she’ll face on this Atlantic crossing.

Currently available:

Stand-In Groom and Menu for Romance, books 1 and 2 of the Brides of Bonneterre series. Follow the lives and loves of a southern wedding planner and some of her fun-loving—but meddlesome cousins. The Brides of Bonneterre series is filled with fun, food, family—and lots of romance!

Ransome’s Honor, book 1 of The Ransome Trilogy. July 1814. The war with France is over, but the battle of hearts has just begun in this romantic adventure that combines the wit, romance, and social commentary of Jane Austen with the sea-faring adventure of Horatio Hornblower.

Beginning in 2010:

The Matchmakers, a new contemporary romance series. Every grandmother wants to see her grandchildren happy, especially when it comes to their love lives. Join five active senior ladies—and one gentleman—who take a great interest in the lives and loves of their single grandchildren and become The Matchmakers. Love Remains (August 2010), The Art of Romance (May 2011), Turnabout’s Fair Play (December 2011).

Thanks Kaye for joining us this month on Spotlight!