Interview and Giveaway with Author Amanda Stephan

Amanda Stephan is a stay at home mom who teaches her two children homeschooling. She is the author of The Price of Trust - her first book. She is currently working on her fifth and sixth novels.

Amanda stopped by to do an interview with us. She's giving away a copy of her book to one winner. You'll have the choice to select either an autographed paperback book or a pdf version of The Price of Trust. Be sure to read the rules at the bottom of this post before entering!

Welcome, Amanda!  
Thank you for having me here!

 It mentions on your site that you homeschool. How do you juggle being a teacher, writer, and a mother?

Juggle is the operative word… I take my jobs very seriously, and enjoy each aspect, and I’d have to say that they roll into one another quite nicely. Good thing I love spending time with our children! For school, I have a set schedule for each part of my day ~ we start every morning at the same time and they have a set time to complete their tasks or it’s homework. I take their education very seriously because one day they’ll walk out of our house, and I hope they’ll be prepared to succeed in whatever profession God leads them into. While the kids are doing their school work, I’ll be plotting my next situation, or reading a book that I need to review.

What books made your imagination soar when you were a child? And did you ever dream to write like those authors did?

I loved to read, but I can’t think of a particular book or series that spiked my imagination, although I do remember that they always had to have a happy ending. Even as a child, I knew life could be sad and hurtful, and I wanted to spend my time thinking on the positive. Actually, I would write books in my head. I guess it definitely helped having an active imagination. 

I recently reviewed your debut novel: The Price of Trust. The characters were fun and entertaining. You must have loved creating them, but was it challengeing?

No, I didn’t find creating them as challenging. I like to write my characters to invoke a particular response – whether likable or not, but I don’t like painting the entire picture, so to speak. I wanted my readers to envision the people for themselves. I would actually miss them after I hadn’t written in a while. It was like they had become my personal friends. Odd, I know.

It would appear that you like suspense and romance intermingled together. How did you decide on these two genres out of the many others for The Price of Trust?

Personally, I don’t like a fluffy romance. All roses, all gaiety, all blah blah blah. (I was embarrassed a couple of times when I re-read my work at the fluffy stuff – I even blushed.) I love suspenseful books and I’m an incurable romantic, so the two just naturally combined.

How do you motivate yourself to keep at the writing process? Any tips or advice you’d like to make known?

Motivation isn’t my strong point. I used to write when it hit me, but I try to spend a few minutes everyday writing now. It’s virtually impossible to write when my husband is home as he desires my full attention! LOL! Now, I find that if I write down a list the things I need or want to accomplish on that particular day, that helps tremendously. I’ll even write the normal, everyday duties down, like making dinner. (Yes, I’ve forgotten to prepare dinner on more than one occasion…)

Do you have more books planned for further down the road? What are you currently working on right now?

Oh my yes! I’m super excited about my other books. I’m currently working on my fifth and sixth novels. I was working on my fifth, and one night while I was cooking, the sixth just popped in my head and it’s been gung-ho since. It literally took over! (Dinner was hopelessly burned, but I had a fantastic outline…)

There are many great Bible verses and quotes out there, but which of these apply to your journey in life?

My life verse:

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. – 3 John 4 (KJV) I want our children to love God and serve him their entire lives. If they do, that is my greatest accomplishment, and I will view my life as a success.

Randomly Fun Questions:

You’ve been given plane tickets to visit three countries. Which would they be? And why have you always wanted to see these?

Ireland – because there are so many redheads there! I won’t be in the minority! Scotland – because that’s where my family comes from, and finally, Venice, Italy – I’ve always wanted to ride in a gondola!

In your spare time, how often do you read? Every day I try to set aside time to read.

Have a favorite dessert you cannot resist eating? I am a cookie-aholic. If there is cookies in the house, they will NOT last long!

How can our bookworms best get in contact with you? Readers can contact me through my website, The Price of Trust, they can connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, and my blog, The Eclectic Blogger

Thank you, Amanda, for taking the time to do this interview with us. And we especially want to thank you for giving a copy of your book to one of our readers. It will be wonderful to see who wins it!

Book Giveaway!

Synopsis:

What was going on? Was she allowing herself to think too much of this little town? Or just the people in it. She blushed as she remembered how her heart had sped up as Joe had sat next to her. Carly Richards is on the run. For the last two years, she's skipped from town to town, ducking her dangerous and well-informed ex-fiance every few weeks, never settling anywhere for long. With the death of her parents, Carly's vulnerability made her trust a man with an attractive facade, now that same man tracked her across the country, always nipping at her heels, preventing her from reaching out to anyone other than her God. Now she's in Montana, and surely that is far enough away from Texas and her abusive past that she can rest. But her emotional scars are reluctant to heal, and Carly resists the friendliness of those in the small town she lights upon, especially handsome farmer Joe Baird. Without a car and money, though, she has little choice but to dig in and begin building back up her savings so she can run once more. Caught in the circumstances, the kind people around her begin to creep into her softening heart. God is at work, and she has to trust him to not only take care of her, but care for the people she is learning to love. Carly must learn the Price of Trust.

Book Info:

Title: The Price of Trust

Author: Amanda Stephan

Format: Paperback *autographed* or PDF

Pages: 348

ISBN: 978-1616630478

Publisher: Tate Publishing

Rules:

Amanda is giving away The Price of Trust to one bookworm! In order to enter, you must leave a comment with your e-mail address (so that we can contact you if you're the winner). US and Canada only, please. This giveaway starts today and ends on February 3rd. A winner will be picked randomly (using random.org) and announced on the 4th. We will contact the winner and notify them by their e-mail address. If the winner doesn't respond within a few days, we will have to pick another. Good luck! =)

God bless!

~Grace