Interview with Sally Bradley and a giveaway!

I'm so excited to welcome author Sally Bradley to the Diamond Mine today. I recently read her novel Kept, and loved it! Make sure you leave a comment to enter to win your very own copy of this amazing novel. And with this amazing cover, how can you not be intrigued?


Sally, can you tell the readers a little about yourself. Where are you from?
I always say Chicago since I grew up in the suburbs. My family and I live in the Kansas City area now, but Chicago is still home, and despite the insane taxes, traffic, and politics, we love going back.


When did you first fall in love with writing?
I remember wanting to write as young as nine. I think I wrote my first story then, something about toys that came alive at night. Really original stuff. :)


I love your tagline-- Big-city fiction with real issues and real hope. It seems like big cities are a little neglected in fiction right now as there are lots of stories set in small towns. How important do you think setting is when writing a novel?
Up until this book, setting wasn't a huge deal to me. But with this story, setting really played a significant role. It affected everything--my characters' choices, the plot, the climax. There isn't anything that isn't affected by the setting. My heroine's whole plot is based on how she feels about the setting. So now... yes, setting is very important to me and can really take a story and bring it to life that much more.


Is Kept the first book you wrote?
No, it's the third adult novel I've written, my seventh overall. The first five will never see daylight. :)


I have a couple of those myself. :) But then, as a writer, you have other stories you just know were meant to be published. How/why did you decide to Indie publish?
I'd been praying about it for a couple years, and the CBA doors were firmly shut. Kept just wasn't the safe read that CBA seems to want right now. But I believed completely in the story--in the quality of it and the need for it--so I made the decision to take all the risk myself, and I'm so not regretting that. I'll definitely continue to publish this way until God makes it clear to do otherwise.


What advice do you have for new writers?
Read quality fiction only. As you grow as a writer, you'll notice things other writers are doing incorrectly or poorly. Stop reading them and try new writers who write exceptionally. You'll pick up a lot of technique that way. Plus it's more fun!


That's great advice! I think writers should always make time to read. Do you have any other projects in the works?
Sort of. I'm debating which of three ideas is next. I'd love to do a few sequels to Kept, but I don't have a solid story down yet. But writing begins again next month, so I better figure that out soon!

Read on to see what Kept is all about, then make sure to leave a comment for Sally to be entered to win a copy of her book. Make sure you leave an email or some contact information to be notified of your win.

Kept
"Gutsy and fast-paced."—Laura Frantz, author of Love's Reckoning

"One of the most surprising and best books I’ve read this year."—MaryLu Tyndall, best-selling author of Legacy of the King's Pirates series

Life has taught Miska Tomlinson that there are no honorable men. Her womanizing brothers, her absentee father, and Mark, the married baseball player who claims to love her—all have proven undependable. But Miska has life under control. She runs her editing business from her luxury condo, stays fit with daily jogs along Chicago's lakefront, and in her free time blogs anonymously about life as a kept woman.

Enter new neighbor Dillan Foster. Between his unexpected friendship and her father's sudden reappearance, Miska loses control of her orderly life. Her relationship with Mark deteriorates, and Miska can't help comparing him to Dillan. His religious views are so foreign, yet the way he treats her is something she's longed for. But Dillan discovers exactly who she is and what she has done. Too late she finds herself longing for a man who is determined to never look her way again.

When her blog receives unexpected national press, Miska realizes that her anonymity was an illusion. Caught in a scandal about to break across the nation, Miska wonders if the God Dillan talks about would bother with a woman like her—a woman who's gone too far and done too much.

Sally Bradley writes big-city fiction with real issues and real hope. A Chicagoan since age five, she now lives in the Kansas City area with her family, but they still get back to Chicago once in a while for important things—like good pizza and a White Sox game. Fiction has been her passion since childhood, and she’s thrilled now to be writing books that not only entertain, but point back to Christ. Kept is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo.