What can you tell us about your new release, It Was Always You?
It Was Always You is from the long running Friessen Family Series and brings back Katy and Steven whose marriage fell apart bit by bit after a brutal attack and the resulting fall out of Steven’s injuries that slowly drove the couple apart and Katy into depression. Steven and Katy share a son who is being looked after by Katy’s parents, Brad and Emily Friessen, while both do their very best to get lives back together. But five long years later they have both moved on dating other people and when Steven comes knocking on her parent’s door when she arrives back in town, his intentions regarding their all but over marriage are soon made very clear. This is a love story of that first love that you never get over.
What or who inspired you to become an author?
There was no singular person that inspired me to become an author, but rather it was where I was in my life, after the birth of my daughter, my oldest recently diagnosed with autism being the mother of three and a marriage all but over and I was hit with that, “is this it?” And it’s that moment that I teach others that talk about in my blogs where we all have a dream and not to ever settle for mediocrity. My dream was to write a book, it always was, I just never did it instead settling for just a job and career that pays the bills but doesn’t fill you with any satisfaction or joy of life. And it was a moment of wanting it so bad that I didn’t give up and kept going to achieve my dreams, wrote my first book started on the next one, queried everyone and never gave up no matter who said no.
What’s on your top 5 list for the best books you’ve ever read?
Boy I had to really dig deep on this one, first there is, Ride the Wind by Lucia St. Clair Robson, Over the Edge Suzanne Brockmann (from her Troubleshooter series, the first series I ever fell in love with) Real by Katy Evans, The Vow Linda Lael Miller, Faithless by Karin Slaughter (I read just about every genre).
Say you’re the host of a literary talk show. Who would be your first guest? What would you want to ask?
First guest would be E.L James who wrote the phenomenon Fifty Shades Series. And first thing I’d ask her is how did you ever come up with the Fifty Shades of Grey concept and create those characters that nearly everyone in the reading world has grabbed a copy of and read whether they’ll admit it or not.
What’s your favorite thing about writing?
Everything! What can I say to be a writer you have to love your own company and I do. It is a lonely occupation people say and I’ve been told. But I’ve never found that. I love my days writing alone with no one around, it really is something that fills me with such joy. I love creating my characters where they come to life and begin telling me their story.
What is a typical day like for you?
I’m up at 5 a.m. Part of the 5 a.m. club I joined this year, I work-out, get my head together, outline my day and spend the most productive hours of my morning the first ninety minutes writing or marketing. And then because it’s important to always be learning something new, I then will spend either thirty minutes to an hour listening to a podcast or online taking a course, so I am always learning something new in the industry, in marketing or just for me. Now in there to, because I have kids, all teenagers by the way, I tend to get, “excuse me mom are you busy.” Generally, in middle of writing a really fantastic scene, because they need me to drop everything to drive them someplace, handle something for them, or just need to interrupt me because they can.
My days are jam packed, and I tend to focus on social media, booking ads and other maintenance stuff that every author needs to do to sell books in the afternoon, when my head isn’t as productive. And two nights a week you’ll find me on the water where I am part of a dragon boat racing team that fills that part of me that is super competitive.
What scene in It Was Always You was your favorite to write?
The opening chapter was my favorite by far. When Katy comes home to her parent’s ranch, and no one knows she’s coming or the plans she has to take her son back, which all but falls apart. Then her estranged husband Steven shows up after not seeing each other in years and she realizes in this defining moment watching her father with her soon to be ex and how close they seem to be that she may be the one on the outside looking in. It’s just a moment for Katy where everything she’s planned in that quick trip back home to Hoquiam to her parents’ ranch where her son is still living and being looked after, begins to disintegrate. And then to make matters worse in walks a friend of hers from high school only to learn that her estranged husband Steven who was her first love has moved on and is planning to marry her once best friend. And it was that opening scene where Katy comes face to face with her first love and everything she ran away from only to discover she may not be over her first love.
Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?
Yes, I do and it’s one I teach my kids. Follow your dreams and passions, don’t settle for mediocrity, don’t do it if it’s not fun. Be honest. Do your very best. Keep your word. And a job is one that you have to love!
Lorhainne Eckhart is the author of the new book It Was Always You.
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