Visiting with Peggy Trotter
By G.N. Lewis
I had the pleasure of chatting with
Peggy Trotter, author of nine novels, plus one to be published soon, and she is
currently writing another.
Peggy married her college sweetheart
almost forty years ago. She considers her husband a jewel and says, “He cooks
better than me, cleans the house, and fixes various items. This man does everything
with the patience of Job, and the poor guy needs tolerance to put up with me.” The Trotter’s have two married children and four
grandchildren. Peggy says, “I call these four grandchildren my rays of sunshine,
and number five will soon be here.”
Peggy loves cats and she feeds five
and a half. Five are hers, but a stray tom stops by every day for food. She says, “My better half says, ‘No more
cats!’” Peggy laughs and admits she can’t
help feeding a little starving kitten if one shows up at her house.
A perfect day for her would be sitting
on the back porch of a beach house with her entire family gathered around, eating
cheesecake, and drinking Code Red.
Now for the interview.
Q. What other jobs have you held or
do you hold besides writing?
I taught for 25 years, mostly at
second grade. I have also worked in a library and at a non-profit that benefits
kids in foster care.
Q. When did you know you wanted to
write?
In first or second grade we had a
writing contest. It was so basic, just a quick story and you had to fold the
paper and make a cover on the front. The winners were hung on the window of the
local attorney’s office. I think I came in third, but I’ll never forget
standing there in front of that window, holding my Mom’s hand, and seeing my
“creation” published for the world to see. That was the very first seed planted
in my writing obsession.
Q. You write Christian Romance. What
was the inspiration for your genre?
I read romances in junior high and
high school and became fascinated. But the stories became less wholesome and
after becoming a Christian, I just didn’t want to read that type of novel. Then,
one day at the library, I discovered Christian Fiction! Since I’d always
dreamed of becoming a writer, it wasn’t long before I knew the genre I wanted
to write.
Q. How hard was it to find a
publisher?
Well, I found my first one through
word of mouth. I heard this small
publisher was accepting manuscripts so I sent in a proposal. But now, I
self-publish, which I love.
Q. What’s new with your writing?
Anything in progress?
I just released the second book of
the Up From the Miry Clay Series entitled Wild
Daisies Bloom. This series follows women who left their bawdy occupations
of being “soiled doves,” embraced a new life through Christ, and embarked on
finding their happily-ever-afters. Now, I’ll be finishing up their third one in
the series, Flawed Roses Flourish,
set to release later this year.
Q. Authors
need reviews. Do your readers respond with reviews for you? If so, what was the
best one you have ever had?
Getting reviews is
very difficult. As a matter of fact, there’s very little you can do to build
them up other than reminding readers how important they are to us as authors.
But I especially loved one review by a reader who claimed she didn’t get her
laundry done because she couldn’t put my book down, LOL. I’ve been there—so
enraptured by a book that everything stops until you finish it! Those are the books
you never forget.
Q. What is the most difficult thing about writing?
Hands down, marketing. I love the writing, love the work-at-home
thing, and tolerate editing, but marketing is this unknown nebula of trying to
get your book discovered by interested readers.
Q. Do any of your books contain events from your real
life?
Yes, some of my books contain actual occurrences from
my family life and even my husband’s family life. One book has a character, as
a child, being forced to lick a shoe. It really happened, but I won’t tell you
what family it came from, LOL. One Christmas scene was almost true to a T. A
couple of characters are loosely based on some friends and family members.
Q. Tell me about your latest book.
On Amazon
Wild
Daisies Bloom focuses on Tyne Ciders and her illegitimate
child, Daisy who is quite a handful but more a blessing in so many ways. Tyne,
(long I sound like in Clementyne, which is her full name) breaks free from the
saloon where she works and pretends to be a mail-order bride, hoping to hide
from her sordid and criminal past. In the long run, they become homeless, and she
must marry to provide a roof over their head. Just as she’s trying to figure
out her new husband, she’s arrested for murder. Here’s the blurb to tell you
more:
Tyne Ciders is a widowed, single mother. At least that’s her story
when she arrives in town as a mail-order bride. But when she learns the
arrangement was only a part of a newspaper scam, Tyne is stuck once again
without a cover for her sordid past. With no marriage in her future, no job,
and no money, she and her small daughter are forced to hole up in a nearby
barn—the very barn of the man who’d witnessed her appalling encounter with the
frightening old coot she’d thought to marry.
Agony is Zephaniah Rowley closest friend. He’s lost everything that
mattered to him. His wife, his children. Now, living as a hermit, every day is
a horrible cesspool of penance for his own selfishness and guilt. So when he
encounters a needy woman and her charming child on the dusty road, he makes a
quick bee-line to drop them off at the nearest boarding house. He can’t afford
to let his heart get involved. Or what’s left of it. Yet, he finds them living
penniless in his barn, and he rashly offers a permanent solution. One that will
change everything. For better or…for worse…
Visit Peggy at these links:
peggytrotter.com
peggytrotter.blogspot.com
diamondsinfiction.blogspot.com
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Peggy_Trotter
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/PeggyTrotterAuthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13778873.Peggy_Trotter
Amazon Author’s Profile Page: amazon.com/author/peggytrotter.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peggy_trotter_author/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/PeggyTrotterAuthor/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peggy-trotter-44a29b95/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13778873.Peggy_Trotter
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/peggy-trotter
Thanks, Peggy for visiting with me. Your book, Wild Daisies Bloom sounds fascinating, and I look forward to reading it. I'll leave a review!
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