Patricia Bradley’s doubleheader book launch

Being friends with Pat Trainum, writing as Patricia Bradley, is one more thing I owe to MBT (It’s unlikely we’d have met otherwise). She remembers me from Deep Thinkers, Melbourne. I sat next to her at Deep Thinkers, Clearwater and was impressed with her deep peaceful spirit. She asked me location questions about the Pacific Northwest, where I’m from, for Shadows of the Past, and we’ve stayed in touch. Soon she was off and running with multiple publications. I’m learning lots from her, and celebrating her current nearly doubleheader book release, Matthew’s Choice, Harlequin, released yesterday, September 1^st, and A Promise to Protect, Revell, October 1^st.  Thank you, Pat, for answering some questions for us today.

How does it feel to be an author birthing multiple book, especially in different genres?

It's quite challenging, and I felt very pregnant with some of the emotional ups and downs that accompany giving birth to two stories. :-) The difference in writing romance for the general market and romantic suspense for the Christian market is not all that different because the romance is full of godly principles...I just didn't include scripture. And romance without a suspense thread was quite different for me. I didn't think I could write straight romance, but felt God was leading me to write the story, so I told him He'd have to help me. And He did. It was a lot of fun.

I know sometimes even you do not know who the villain is until the end. And that your editor loves that you keep her guessing, too.
Pat: That’s especially true with A Promise to Protect. I got to the reveal chapter, wrote about a half page and said, "Nope, wrong person." Then I went back and started over with another person. 

What has been your biggest surprise in your writing journey?
That it took so long. Thirty-four years. And then all of a sudden it has exploded, first with the four-book deal with Revell, then the two-book deal with Harlequin Heartwarming and now another four-book deal with Revell—cold cases set in Memphis. And Harlequin has asked me to propose more books for them. 

Why do you think it took so long? (Pat has seriously studied and practiced craft.)
A couple of reasons. I had no one to teach me craft, so I kept making the same mistakes over and over. The other reason—it wasn't God's timing. So learn craft and get feedback on your writing, either from critique partners, or through contests, or even paid critiques. That's what I did after meeting Susan May Warren and she changed my writing life. I took what I learned and applied it. Three years after meeting Susan and attending writing retreats, I landed an agent and a contract. I would like to add one last piece of advice for unpublished writers? Don’t give up. What if I had given up after year thirty-three?

Here is a blurb from my upcoming release, A Promise to Protect: Acting Sheriff Ben Logan hasn’t heard from Leigh Somerall in a very long time, but it doesn’t mean he can get her—or their whirlwind romance of ten years ago—out of his head. When she calls out of the blue it is with a strange request to protect her brother, Tony. But when Tony dies just days later, Ben is charged with a different task—protecting Leigh and her nine-year-old son, TJ, from the killers. But how can Ben keep an eye on Leigh if she’s doing everything in her power to avoid him? And could the secret that Leigh is keeping change Ben’s life forever?

Amazon and B&N only have e-copies of the book. To order a paperback copy of Matthew's Choice, go to Harlequin's website: www,harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=53665&cid=3302#  

Congratulations, Pat, and thank you for your encouragement to other writers.