From Diamond Miner to Debut Author: Welcome back, Abigail Wilson

You may recognize our guest this week. Abigail Wilson spent a stint here at the Diamond Mine interviewing authors. Now, with her debut novel in the hands of readers, she is back for her own interview!


SW: Welcome back to the Diamond Mine, Abigail, and congratulations on your debut release.

AW: Thank you, Suzie! I’m so glad to be here.


SW: Let's get to know Abigail a bit more.

Abigail Wilson combines her passion for Regency England with intrigue and adventure to pen historical mysteries with a heart. A Registered Nurse, chai tea addict, and mother of two crazy kids, Abigail fills her spare time hiking the National Parks, attending her daughter’s gymnastic meets, and curling up with a great book. In 2017, Abigail won WisRWA’s Fab Five contest and in 2016, ACFW’s First Impressions contest as well as placing as a 2017 finalist in the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense. She is a cum laude graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and currently lives in Dripping Springs, Texas, with her husband and children.

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

SW: OK, there are the basics, now it's time to get down to some smaller details. I always like to get started with a few “would you rather” questions as an introduction. So…

Would you rather be completely invisible for one day or be able to fly for one day?

AW: I would much rather be able to fly. What an amazing experience that would be to zoom over all the places I’d love to visit. I’m pretty sure being invisible would just get me into trouble.


SW: Oh, yes, flying around the world would definitely be better than eavesdropping. Would you rather always be 10 minutes late or always be 20 minutes early?

AW: 20 minutes early. To some extent, I tend to already do that now. I hate being late.


SW: Me too. Running late makes me feel like I'm running behind. This one is a tough one for authors: Would you rather live without the internet or live without AC and heat?

AW: If you only said AC, I’d have picked that in a heartbeat, but I absolutely hate being cold. So, I guess I’d say I would choose to live without the internet, but I’d have to spend my writing time at the university library for research.


SW: Good to hear you have a backup plan. You’d like to visit everyone one of our national parks. Of the ones you’ve seen already, which is/are your favorite(s)?

AW: This is seriously a tough question because they all have their unique characteristics that make them special national treasures—each an amazing creation from God. I’ve been to about 20 from Denali National Park in Alaska to Big Bend National Park in Texas. Glacier National Park, however, is just the prettiest place I’ve ever been. From hiking in the snow to swimming in a glacier-fed lake—all in the same park.  Redwood National Park would come in a close second. Towering, ancient trees are just awe-inspiring.

SW: This is a two part questions regarding your preferred hot beverage. As a chai tea connoisseur, do you drink coffee? And what is your go-to chai drink?

AW: I am not a coffee drinker; however, I do consume tons of hot tea with chai being my absolute favorite. If I could pick any variety of chai tea, I would recommend the regular one at the Coffee Bean and Tea leaf. So good!


SW: I'm not a coffee drinker either but chai tea is my go-to hot drink. What are you currently reading?

AW: I just finished an advanced copy of Sarah Ladd’s next book, The Governess of Penwythe Hall. LOVED it! Next up is Pepper Basham’s My Heart Belongs in the Blue Ridge. It looks so good!


SW: Tell us a little bit about your journey to publishing. What surprised you?

AW: So many things have been a surprise, but just how long and how much was involved in learning the craft of writing and later selling my story has been an eye opening experience. And now that I have gone through launching a book with a publisher as well, I am amazed at how many moving pieces had to come together to bring my book to the shelf, from marketing and editing to graphic design. It has all been an adventure.


SW: The author community is fantastic when it comes to encouragement and support of up and coming authors. Tell us about a few of the people who have cheered you along.

AW: What an awesome question.

Megan Besing has been my critique partner for some time, and this book would not have been the same without her writing wisdom. She’s been my biggest encourager and such a wonderful friend. Here we are at the Romance Writers of America Conference last summer.



Dawn Crandall and Rachel McMillan have also been fantastic supporters. They both took time out of their busy schedules to encourage, answer questions, and help promote. I’m just blown away by their kindness. 





SW: Love that! Megan and Dawn have both visited the Diamond Mine. Now I feel like I need to get Rachel here too! 

People have strong opinions about the first-person point of view. What drew you to writing a regency with this type of POV?

AW: I’ve always loved first person POV. I gravitate to books written this way, so I was shocked when I met with my agent at the ACFW conference and she told me first person historicals can be a difficult sell. She encouraged me to rethink my book at the time. This was before Dawn Crandall and so many other great historical writers had been published using first person POV. She suggested writing a suspense book instead. I’m pretty sure she meant contemporary suspense, but I ran with it. The last thing she said to me at the conference was to write what you love because that is what people will want to read, and that is just what I did.


SW: Well, it worked for your debut! What are you currently working on? What’s in store next for your readers?

AW: My next book will release on July 2, 2019 titled Midnight on the River Grey. I’m working on the galley edits now. It follows another member of the highwaymen in the area, who’s tragically been involved in the death of the heroine’s brother. Romance and mystery take center stage and with a feisty heroine I absolutely loved writing, I cannot wait to share this story with you all in July!

SW: Oh, sounds like another fabulous read! Can't wait! Thanks for spending time with us this week, Abigail! It’s been a pleasure having you back and we wish you all the best.

Thank you, Suzie! It was truly an honor to be on the Diamond Mine again.

About Shadow of Croft Towers

When Sybil Delafield’s coach to Croft Towers was robbed by highwaymen, she should have realized that her new position as companion to old Mrs. Chalcroft would be no ordinary job. Upon Sybil’s arrival, Mrs. Chalcroft sneaks into her room in the dark of night, imploring her to relay messages to town that are to stay hidden from the rest of the family. Who exactly is she working for and what do the messages contain?

When fellow passengers of the robbed coach are later murdered, Sybil’s hunt for the truth takes on a new urgency. The only person she can rely on is Mr. Sinclair, Mrs. Chalcroft’s godson, but under all his charms he too leads a double life. Sybil must decide if he is the one honest voice she can trust, or if he is simply using her for his own advances.

With murderers, smugglers, and spies on the loose, nothing—and no one—in Regency England is what they claim. Can Sybil even trust what she knows about herself?

Purchase: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Christianbook.com

Giveaway

Abigail Wilson is generously giving one of you a chance to win a print copy of In The Shadow of Croft Towers (US and Canada addresses only). 

Enter Here

Dawn Crandall Returns to the Mine

Earlier this year, Dawn Crandall visited with one of my Diamond Mine co-bloggers. Now she's back (sort of) to share about her newest book in the Everstone Chronicles. Keep reading to learn how you can win a copy of The Cautious Maiden.

About Dawn Crandall:

Dawn Crandall is an ACFW Carol Award-nominated author of the award winning series The Everstone Chronicles, which consists of four books: The Hesitant Heiress, The Bound Heart, The Captive Imposter and The Cautious Maiden.

Apart from writing, Dawn is also a mom of two little ones and serves with her husband in a premarital mentorship program at their local church in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

A graduate of Taylor University with a degree in Christian Education and a former bookseller at Barnes & Noble, Dawn Crandall didn’t begin writing until 2010 when her husband found out about her long-buried dream. It didn’t take her long to realize that writing books was what she was made to do.

Dawn is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, the secretary for the Indiana ACFW Chapter (Hoosier Ink), and an associate member of the Great Lakes ACFW Chapter. She is represented by Joyce Hart of Hartline Literary Agency.

Connect with Dawn

Website: http://dawncrandall.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DawnCrandallWritesFirst/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dawnwritesfirst

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/dawnwritesfirst/

Are you wondering about that "sort of" comment earlier? Dawn and I set up this interview months ago. Before a summer field with change for Dawn. She gave birth to her second son, moved, and released a new book. On top of all of that, her computer crashed and she has very limited internet service so keeping up with email and all things online has been a bit of a challenge for her. 

But I've gotten to know Dawn a bit better over this summer via social media and her blog and figured I'd just share what she's shared over a few months in one consolidated place.

• After struggling with not having children, Dawn began to write The Hesitant Heiress (book one in The Everstone Chronicles). Two years and two books later, she signed a book contract and got pregnant within six months of each other.

• Skip ahead a couple years to 2016 and Dawn gave birth to a second baby boy and her fourth book was published.

• Dawn recently learned her new home is in an “unserviceable area” for public libraries. She lives so far on the line between counties and towns that no one claims her and she has to pay an annual fee in order to use the library.

• Each book in the Everstone Chronicles is written from the heroine's point-of-view. Dawn says she chooses this method of writing to allow the reader to fall in love with the hero right along with the heroine.

• Dawn's book outlines start basic with the place, what's going on, and why it's important to the characters. Once that is done with every chapter of the book, she adds layers to each chapter outline. Her outline for The Cautious Maiden was ten single spaced pages and took three months to write.

• Another fun fact about The Cautious Maiden: Dawn mostly wrote it on her phone.

• And she never had a favorite hero in her first three Everstone books but Vance Everstone in book four took that title.

• While Dawn started writing because she wasn't getting pregnant, she doesn't plan to stop now that her family has grown. In fact, she's got plans to write some stories about other characters readers have met in The Everstone Chronicles (these won't technically be a part of the series, though)

Want to win a copy of Dawn's newest release? Here's a little bit about the book.

The Cautious Maiden

Violet Hawthorne is beyond mortified when her brother Ezra turns their deceased parents' New England country inn into a brothel to accommodate the nearby lumberjacks;but when Violet's own reputation is compromised, the inn becomes the least of her worries. In an effort to salvage her good name, Violet is forced into an engagement with a taciturn acquaintance,Vance Everstone. As she prepares for a society wedding, Violet learns that her brother had staked her hand in marriage in a heated poker game with the unsavory Rowen Steele, and Ezra had lost. Now Rowen is determined to cash in on his IOU. With danger stalking her and a new fiance who hides both his emotion and his past, Violet must decide who to trust and who to leave behind.

Available to order here.

Enter to win a paperback copy of The Cautious Maiden by leaving a comment below. In order for the contest to be valid, we must have five entries (comments left by five different people).