Head of the Class with Patricia Lee

Good morning class, ahem, readers! Today we are meeting with Christian author, Patricia Lee, and her book Kite on the Wind, the third book of the Mended Hearts Series. The heroine in this novel is a teacher who—well, you'll get to read the blurb below. There may be a quiz. (wink) I've had the privilege to meet this fine author at a writer's conference and am eager to introduce you to. . .Patricia Lee.

PT: I always want to ground my readers, so let's launch into your background and why you write.

PL: I have had a fascination with words and what they can do since I wrote my first short paragraph at the age of six. I don’t remember the content of my story, but my teacher became excited at what I’d done. “Obviously,” I thought, “words made people happy.” The teacher gave me a Psalm 23 bookmark and her written words on the back: “Keep writing, Patty.” In acknowledgement of my teacher’s influence on my life, I have dedicated my newest release, A Kite on the Wind, to the woman.

I have written as a stringer for a local newspaper during my middle and high school years representing the school's news to the community. I received my B.A. in Journalism from the University of Oregon, then went on to work as a tabloid newspaper editor at a local church.

After I married, I began my freelancing career and sold to various publications, including Expecting, Moody Monthly, and Power for Living. More recently I have published in two anthologies, Cup of Comfort Bible Promises and Heavenly Company, as well as featured articles in Focus on the Family's Clubhouse magazine. An Anchor On Her Heart, my debut novel, released in July, 2017. Love Calls Her Home, the second in the Mended Hearts series, released March 1, 2018. The third novel, A Kite on the Wind released October 1.

I live with my husband and a handful of furry friends in the Pacific Northwest. We have two grown children.

PT: Wow! That is a brand-spanking new novel! Readers, you might want to add that to your notes to look up later. (Link below.) Now, I love conferences, personally. And I loved meeting you at one a few years back. How do you think writing conferences help authors? 

PL: I attended Mount Hermon Christian Writer’s Conference in 1982 and received encouragement from the editors there, but I wasn’t ready to write fiction. I joined Oregon Christian Writers and met with a critique group. I sold several magazine articles during that time.

 My husband and I began our family a year later and I homeschooled my children. In 2009 I went back to Mount Hermon with a manuscript in hand and a determination to write. I connected with several editors and other writers. Shortly after that I joined American Christian Fiction Writers and spent the next four years traveling to writer’s conferences. I learned something new at each one and made many more contacts. After traveling to Dallas, St. Louis, Indianapolis, San Jose and Seattle, I decided to concentrate on one conference a year and chose the OCW summer conference in Portland, Oregon which was near my home. Airports can be tiresome.

Conferences are important to a writer’s growth. They not only expand your numbers of professional contacts, they bring new perspectives to your writing ability and improve your craft.

PT: Tell us a little about A Kite on the Wind.

(Click here to buy!)

PL: Left waiting at the altar, Claire Simpson has buried her past and moved on, carving out a life for herself as a teacher on the Oregon coast. When her former fiancé appears, he threatens to unravel the peaceful independence she has worked so hard to achieve after their relationship failed.  Though Claire believes she has forgiven him, she discovers forgetting him is not as easy as it seems.

Montgomery Chandler has moved to NOAA headquarters in Newport, Oregon to make new, happier memories for his children after his wife died of a lingering illness. Their home in Seattle held nothing but the whispers of their earlier lives. Starting over will help all of them heal, but Monty is resolved not to risk love again. 

When the handsome widower enrolls his hurting children at the school where Claire teaches, her determination to remain uninvolved vanishes at the whim of a snowstorm. This family needs her expertise. Can she help them without losing her heart?

PT: How did you conceptualize the Mended Hearts Series and what is the theme of each book?

PL: I believe people in all walks of life carry hurts, scars, and secrets from past experiences—baggage that clouds their thinking and drags them down in their present life. But with God’s overwhelming love and persistence, they can overcome their past mistakes and broken feelings and move forward to healthier and happier futures. Mended Hearts addresses this through the vehicle of story.

In An Anchor on Her Heart, McKenna Nichols struggles to believe in her marriage, a relationship that has been challenged by the introduction of a disabled child. Her husband  works away from home and has used his job as a reason to be gone, rather than facing the realities of rearing his daughter. Though she is tempted by the attentions of a stranger, McKenna believes God ordained marriage and she clings to the hope that God will make things right in the end.

In Love Calls Her Home, Lissa Frye has vowed not to put a man through the trauma her father faced when her mother developed and died from ovarian cancer. When her sister tests positive for the gene, Lissa must face her fears and make the decision whether to keep her vow and break off the relationship with her love interest, or take a chance on love.

In A Kite on the Wind, Claire Simpson must learn that forgiveness doesn’t just come from the head, to be real the heart needs to be involved as well.  That is the greater challenge.

PT: Tell us about your travels/favorite dishes/pets/recipes. #prettymuchanythingyoulove.

PL: My husband and I love the Oregon coast. We have camped there with our family and spent several anniversaries traveling Hwy. 101.  The settings in my books reflect that love of the  Pacific.

I like to cook, and finding a new recipe and tweaking it to fit my family is a pastime my husband appreciates. He loves anything Italian or Mexican so I have perfected my garlic enchiladas, and often make lasagna from scratch for him. I have several cookbooks with recipes from past generations in them and have wowed my family with broiled coconut oatmeal cake and a chocolate chip torte that I only make for Christmas. 

We’ve had a menagerie of pets at various times. Cats rule here. We’ve also had tropical fish, rabbits, and urban chickens.

PT: Do you have a favorite Bible verse that is your guiding mantra right now?

PL: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze”. Isaiah 43:2

PT: Give 5 things fast about Patricia Lee that have little to do with writing.

PL: 

1. I’m a pianist (who should practice more)

2. When I graduated from college and worked as an editor for my church’s publications, I sang with the Voice of Calvary Singers for about three years.

3. I won a set of copper bottomed Revere Ware cooking pans for submitting a recipe I’d tweaked in a contest. I also won a refrigerator when my husband and I bought our first house and couldn’t afford the appliance. That was a God gift.

4. I grow dahlias. My husband and I share a love for the flowers and have often had as many as thirty varieties and colors in our summer garden.

5. I am allergic to avocado.

PT: Tell us what goal you’re working toward right now in terms of writing.

PL: I grew up with stories of the adventures of my great-great grandfather who crossed the plains in 1847 to prove up a donation land claim in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. When I began writing I wrestled with an urge to write a fictionalized account of his adventures and to discover more about his wife, of whom I knew little. I’m now realizing that dream. The story will be a time slip where the twenty-first century heroine discovers her ancestor’s past. 

Well, you heard it here first! Now, check your notes and prepare for a pop quiz. No, wait. That's not right. Book giveaway! Yes, that's what we always line up after a great interview like this! Patricia is giving away an eBook of A Kite on the Wind. Please leave your email below to be entered into our weekly giveaway! 

Thanks for being with us today, Patricia. If you'd like to find her on the web, you can go to: www.authorpatricialee.net.