Summer

I am so glad that we are in warmer weather. Kids are home from school. The evenings are more active with youth softball and other activities.
Yet

Somehow we get bored. In the area where I live, we are 121 miles from the nearest mall. The small towns in our area manage to put together great activities for everyone.
The first weekend of June, Miami, TX has their national cow calling event. They have a 5K and 1 mile run with the cows. (akin to running with the bulls?)
and a steak cook-off with a band and some singers. There is cowboy church and The Follies!
Be sure to go to The Follies on Friday! It features local singers, great costumes, and a lot of fun. It will be worth your time. If you don't know where Miami, TX is, google it and find out.

This week I am interviewing Sherry Polf. I spoke briefly with Sherry at the North Texas Book Festival at Denton, TX.

1. What is your name and the title of your book(s)?
Sherrilyn Polf...A Matter of Trust, Engineers of Flight Series

2. What is one thing you think your readers would like to know about you?
I am pleasant and interesting (I hope)

3. When did you know that you wanted to become a writer?
When I was about eleven. I had ateacher who made writing fun. Don't remember the teacher's name though.
4. What are your strong points in your writing style or methods?
Storytelling.

5. Are you a reader?
Yes.

6. What are you reading right now?
A Trail of Broken Promises by Jess Davon Joslin, The Cat Who Said Cheese by Lilian Jackson Braun and The KJ Bible.
7. Do you have another book that you are working on and hasn't been submitted for publication? Tell about it.
Yes. It's the second of a trilogy... If In Doubt...Believe. It should go to the Publisher by Summer. The time span runs from August 1940 to October 1941. It continues the story of Dena and her engineer friends dealing with blueprints, formulas and general world problems. It also tells of her spiritual growth along with her maturing.

8. What are your biggest obstacles to writing and how do you overcome them?
Not having enough time. Schedule more effectively.
9. Please put a description of each of your books here.
Stanford University is out of reach for most Colorado teens in 1939. The opportunity to gain an education there is beyond nineteen-year-old Dena Caulter’s wildest rural dreams. Yet Uncle Walter, a professor at the prestigious university, extends an open door to his home as well as the Howard Hughes Aeronautics program, and Dena is more than willing to spread her wings. Upon arriving in California, Dena feels her rustic roots showing but easily adapts to a more sophisticated lifestyle alongside her cousins, Emily and Stuart. Life may be offering opportunities and fun Dena never thought existed, but her naïve world is about to get a huge dose of reality. Uncle Walter is chosen to work with Howard Hughes in Virginia as part of an elite, top secret team working on NACA technology, and the move threatens to break up the family with the mention of an unfathomable divorce. Talk of war also breaks up the previously pleasant conversations and laughter that once provided the soundtrack for gatherings between Dena and friends. With opinions voiced, she worries that the boy she secretly crush on—Clay—will be whisked away before she gets the chance to truly know him. Even her beloved brother wants to join a war effort she has yet to understand, and her younger sister decides to marry straight out of high school. Studying blueprints no longer offers the intriguing escape it once held for Dena. Struggling to find balance in a life moving faster than one of Mr. Hughes’ airplanes, she must hold on to the Christian values her mother always instilled in her youth, especially when the bright future of her friends and family begins to dim under the threat of war and A Matter of Trust.

10. How can readers contact you or purchase your books? Please put your website or blog here. sherpolf@ptsi.net or www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore or at any major bookstore, amazon.com and ebay.

Face Book Tate Authors Group

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Face Book Tate Authors Group
A few weeks ago I started a group on Face book for the authors of Tate Publishing and Enterprises. From doing the interviews with authors on this newsletter I have learned a little about each one of them who have contacted me about doing an interview. It started out with an email plea from me to them. Thank goodness most of them have wanted to share their vision for their books with me here.Honestly, if you are interested in having your interview here, just go to my website and contact me. http://elainelittau.com I will email you the questions and schedule your interview. (clean books only)

If you are a book lover and not an author...yet, give us unknown authors a try. There are some very good books out there by people who are not house-hold names...yet. Tate does have a few authors who have movie contracts so it can happen.

This week I am interviewing Craig Gleerup:
1. What is your name and the title of your book(s)?
My name is Craig Gleerup and I authored the book, “The Type of Marriage that Endures.”

2. What is the one thing you think your readers would like to know about you?
Most people want to know how long I have been married. I guess they want to make sure I have enough experience to be able to write about a successful marriage. They can relax, I have been married for over 25 years. I am still passionately in love with my wife and we act as if we are still newlyweds.

3. When did you know that you wanted to become a writer?
I don’t know if I can pinpoint a time when I knew. I still struggle to call myself an author. I was never good in English classes in school and still struggle with diagramming sentences. It would have to be a God-thing for me to write. My dream is to write fiction as opposed to non-fiction. However, I will have to work on my creative writing skills to get that one down.

4. What are your strong points in your writing style or methods?
I work to make my book conversational in style. The topic I write about can be a little academic, but if I write it that way I will lose readers. So I work hard at making the book come across more conversational by using stories to illustrate points. I have always been called a storyteller.

5. Are you a reader?
Yes, most definitely! I have a mini library at home. I am running out of shelf space, but that won’t stop me. I generally read fiction. I seem to learn more from fiction than non-fiction. For example, I’ve learned more history from Jack Cavanaugh’s books than from text books.

6. What are you reading right now?
I just finished a Terri Blackstock novel. She’s one of my favorite authors. I am reading Road to Nowhere by Paul Robertson and Relentless by Robin Parrish.

7. Do you have another book that you are working on and hasn’t been submitted for publication?Actually, I am working on a couple of books for the Christian market. They are taking subjects that we have let church tradition get in the way of truly understanding God’s purpose and plan.

8. What are your biggest obstacles to writing and how do you overcome them?
Time in 2 different ways. One is just finding the time to write when life keeps getting in the way. The other is the amount of time actually spent on the book. I have to confess that after a while I begin to get tired of the book. After you spend so much time with the book and you have to keep reading it for each rewrite, it gets monotonous for me.

9. Please put a description of each of your books here.
I currently only have the one book and it’s best if I just give you the description from the Tate website. "The Type of Marriage that Endures will open up new avenues of insight on your spouse, as well as yourself. Based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Craig Gleerup will guide you to understanding the wonderful gift of personality that God has given each of us. You will also develop the knowledge to understand God's gift of your spouse to a whole new level. Armed with this knowledge, The Type of Marriage that Endures will help you develop strategies that will build the type of marriage that endures a lifetime of challenges and leaves a legacy of love for our children to carry on."

10. How can readers contact you or purchase your books?
They can purchase them through Tate and any online bookseller. They can also order them through any bookstore. Currently, many LifeWay stores have copies on the shelf. One of the cheapest ways to purchase is Christian Book Distributors. They have it listed for $3.00 off the list price. Here is the link: http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=67836&item_code=WW&netp_id=486237&event=ESRCN&view=covers