(Photo credit to Holly Bush! It is from her website)

I got the chance to meet Holly Bush and have a wonderful conversation with her. Not only was her advice helpful, but she inspired me to give this blog a go. A review of one of her books, Romancing Olive, will go live tomorrow. Today’s treat is an interview I got to conduct with her.

To find out more about Holly and her books, click here to visit her website.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
I don’t think I consciously chose to be a writer but rather writing chose me. I recently found some hand written stories I wrote years and years ago and it made me think back to that time in my life and what made me scribble twenty-two pages on a yellow legal pad. I’m certain I had a picture in my head of a heroine or hero doing something and I could not resist writing down what I saw and what else unfolded in my mind.

Do you have any writing quirks?
I don’t know if they are quirks but I need an Iced Tea, preferably Turkey Hill, and quiet. I wish I was one of those writers that could listen to music for inspiration, but I’m not. I need as close to silence as I can get especially when I just begin writing for the day. Once I hit a writing zone then the noise doesn’t bother me.

What was one of the most surprising things you learned about yourself while writing your books?
That I was creative. I always saw myself as a numbers kind of person until I started writing stories.

Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?
I do hear from readers quite a bit, through email, and through comments on my website. Readers ask all different kinds of questions – about the writing process, why I made a character do what I did, will there be a sequel, but mostly they want to tell me how much one of my books, or a character in one of them, meant to them. It is especially gratifying to hear from readers after having written for so long and having no success with traditional publishing.

What do you think makes a good story?
Characters. For me, characters make the story. When, as a reader, I’m inside the heroes and the heroines head, it is the pinnacle of good writing for me.

Where there alternate endings to any of your books that you decided not to use?
No.

What are you working on now?
I’m writing the third book in the Crawford Family Series. The first book was Train Station Bride, and the second book is Contract to Wed, followed by a novella about a secondary character in Contract to Wed. I’m writing the third book, as yet unnamed, about the youngest Crawford daughter, Jennifer. I’m hoping to release this book early February 2016.

What books have influenced your life most?
Sense and Sensibility, The Bastard, and the rest of The Patriot Series. Everything by Mary Balogh. To Kill a Mockingbird.

Do you have to travel much concerning while writing your books?
I do travel some. Not too much though. I usually attend at least one major conference and several smaller conferences or book signings per year.

Are the people or experiences in your books based on someone you know, or events that occurred in your own life?
The characters are not based on specific people, however, their reaction to events are broadly based on life experience and personal observations.