A Cup of Tea with Rachel Fordham

Welcome back, friends!! I'm so glad you've come for a cup of tea (or coffee) and a chance to meet Rachel Fordham! As always, I have a pot of hot tea and platter of fresh scones with jam and clotted cream to offer you. Go ahead and curl up in a wingback chair or if you want to get fancy, I have a couple beautiful antique Victorian chairs and a settee. 

I had the blessing of meeting Rachel Fordham in person at the last ACFW conference and couldn't wait to interview her for the blog. 

Rachel Fordham is the author of The Hope of Azure Springs. She started writing when her children began begging her for stories at night. She'd pull a book from the shelf, but they'd insist she make one up. Finally, she paired her love of good stories with her love of writing and hasn't stopped since. She lives with her husband and children on an island in the state of Washington.

You can connect with her on Facebook at facebook.com/rachelfordhamfans or her website rachelfordham.com.

 

Thanks so much for joining me here today, Rachel! I am so honored to have you. So let's dive in!

Crystal: What are you reading right now?

Rachel: I just picked up Jane Kirkpatrick’s latest but haven’t started yet. Soon…I hope!

Crystal: What do you like to do when you aren’t reading or writing?

Rachel: I have six kids and we foster so sometimes we have seven. I spend a lot of time at sporting events and church activities for my kids. As a family we love playing board games, going to the beach or working on our yard. We also love taking road trips together.

Crystal: What was the best advice someone ever gave you about writing, life, or anything that strikes your fancy?

Rachel: One thing I always think of when I feel like my plot seems unbelievable is that you can make any character do anything you want as long as you give them a reason why. Often going back and giving them better cause for their actions solves my believability problems.

Rachel has a new book releasing soon called Yours Truly, Thomas. So let's talk about that for a minute. 

Yours Truly, Thomas

For three years, Penny Ercanbeck has been opening other people's mail. Dead ends are a reality for clerks at the Dead Letter Office. Still she dreams of something more--a bit of intrigue, a taste of romance, or at least a touch less loneliness. When a letter from a brokenhearted man to his one true love falls into her hands, Penny seizes this chance to do something heroic. It becomes her mission to place this lost letter into the hands of its intended recipient.

Thomas left his former life with no intention of ending up in Azure Springs, Iowa. He certainly didn't expect a happy ending after what he had done. All he wanted to do was run and never look back. In a moment of desperation, he began to write, never really expecting a reply.

When Penny's undertaking leads her to the intriguing man who touched her soul with his words, everything grows more complicated. She wants to find the rightful owner of the letter and yet she finds herself caring--perhaps too much--for the one who wrote it.

Crystal: Who was the most challenging character to create? What made them so difficult?

Rachel: Eliza Howell is a secondary character in Yours Truly, Thomas. She has a lot going on in her life but doesn’t get a ton of page time so trying to give readers a real sense of her was a struggle. I wanted them to sympathize with her and root for her without having her storyline take over. It was tricky but in the end, I think it came together.

Crystal: Which character was the most fun to create? What makes them fun?

Rachel: Margaret Anders runs a boarding house in Azure Springs and is a dominant secondary character. I LOVE writing her because she’s full of wisdom but delivers her speeches in quirky ways. It’s fun pretending like I have a lot of answers!

Crystal: What was some of your favorite research you discovered while preparing for Yours Truly, Thomas?

Rachel: Researching the dead letter office was so much fun! I had a really hard time not including more details and trivia about the office. I loved reading about the random things that came through the mail, the skills the employees possessed to be able to redirect so much mail (can you imagine all that research with no internet) and I loved reading tidbits about the real-life employees.

You can check out Yours Truly, Thomas at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Christianbooks.com, or your favorite retailer. (I highly recommend you pre-order your copy!)

Those who leave a comment with their email address will be entered to win a copy of Rachel's first book, Hope of Azure Springs. There must be at least five different commenters for the giveaway. Comments will close June 5th at 11:59 pm EST.