Hi, guys! V. Joy Palmer here! Since we are all friends here, you guys can call me Joy. ;-) And one of my favorite things to do is talk with my friends at coffee shops before heading to the bookstores. Yes, plural. After all, books and yummy drinks are the perfect combination! So consider this our virtual coffee shop. I'll wait a second for you to get your warm drink and a fuzzy blanket before we chat with today's guest. <3
Today we are going to pry into the private life of CHAT with award-winning and best-selling author Sarah Hamaker!
Award-winning and best-selling author Sarah Hamaker loves writing books “where the hero and heroine fall in love while running for their lives.” She’s written romantic suspense novels and nonfiction books, as well as stories in Chicken Soup for the Soul volumes. As a writers coach, her heart is encouraging writers. Her podcast, “The Romantic Side of Suspense,” can be found wherever you listen to podcasts.
Connect with Sarah on her website, newsletter, Facebook, Book Bub, Goodreads, and Amazon Author Page!
Interview ~
This may be the most important question I ask -- no pressure or anything, LOL!
*drum roll*
What are you drinking in our virtual coffee house? Coffee? Tea? Hot chocolate? Something else altogether?
Hot tea all the way! I love a good cuppa of black tea. Some of my favorite blends of black tea are Earl Grey Supreme, cranberry black, blueberry black, and Scottish Afternoon. Add a little sugar and a splash of cream—the perfect drink for writing.
Tea is so comforting! If you could order anything in the world to eat (we can dream, can't we?), what would it be?
This is a hard one for me because I’m not a huge foodie—I’m more like my late father in that he ate to live, not lived to eat (not that I don’t like to eat, just not super picky about what I’m eating). But if I could order anything in the world, it would be a juicy cheeseburger made with grassfed beef and cooked medium rare with crispy, lightly breaded onion rings on the side.
Yum! Where is your favorite place to write, and why is that your favorite place?
My office because I have a comfortable chair, a split keyboard and large monitor. I can also shut the door if I need a little peace and quiet. But I do my best thinking there.
Awesome space! Do you have an odd habit that is only explained by your bookish, writer tendencies? Safe space. ;-)
I have a reader’s vocabulary. At least, that’s my mother’s explanation for the fact that I have trouble pronouncing (and spelling, if we’re being honest) some words. I wasn’t taught phonics as a child and always read above my grade level, so I’d pronounce things in my head and usually that was not how those words are actually pronounced. Even today, I’ll substitute a “smaller” word for the “bigger” one in my head because I’m not sure how to correctly say it.
I can definitely relate. What inspired you to write Justice Denied?
The story. It’s always the story that needs to get out of my head and onto the page. In Justice Denied, which is book two in my Seeking Justice series, I wanted to give the hero, Seth Whitman, his own story because I liked him as a side character in Justice Delayed, book one. Seth needed to find his own happily-ever-after and was the perfect complement to my heroine, Jetta Ainsely.
Everyone, check out Justice Denied! What led you to write in this genre?
I love weaving the romance around the suspense part of the story, probably because I read way too many mysteries as a kid and teenager. I started with the Happy Hollisters and Nancy Drew, then graduated to Agatha Christie and other gothic mystery writers. Frankly, I doubt I could write anything without the dash of mystery and suspense!
How fun! What message do you hope to convey to your readers?
That our God is a God of second chances and redemption. All of my main characters are believers and it’s important to me to have them live out their lives as authentically as possible on the page so that readers can see how faith in action in sometimes hard circumstances looks like.
That's awesome! Can you tell us a little about your next project(s)?
Right now, I’m finishing the rough draft to a short novel for a collection next summer, then I’ll move on to editing the first book in a new series featuring 911 dispatchers as the heroines. Like my husband says, I’ve always got something on my writing plate.
Exciting stories are coming! Do you have a favorite Bible verse or story that inspires you on a soul level?
One of my favorite verses is Psalms 37:4, which says “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” All too often we focus on the latter part of this verse about how God will give us the desires of our hearts rather than the vital first part about delighting ourselves in the Lord. When we focus on the former part, our desires and God’s will align, and God’s desires for us will be what our hearts desire too.
Well put! What are you currently reading? Inquiring minds -- mine! -- want to know. ;-)
I’m currently reading Honor, book three in the Long Hot Summer Christian Romantic Suspense collection. I enjoy anthologies and these short novels are a great way to sample many different authors.
Anthologies are so much fun! Thanks for answering all of my prying questions, Sarah!
See you next time, and God bless you guys!!!
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