Q: Is writing the only job you have or do you have another job?

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I wear many hats. Writer, rancher, farmer, crafter, bookkeeper. I just so happen to have an amazingly supportive husband who knows I can do whatever I set my mind to.

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 Q: Do your books have a message?

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Yes, they do. It depends on the series, but there is usually a current social justice issues buried within them. 

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Q: How would you describe your writing style?

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Romantic with a dark/sarcastic but humorous flair. Life can be hilarious, loving, and tragic. Sometimes all at once. It’s what make the characters and the stories seem real.

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Q: Can you describe a typical day in the life of Rachel Connell?

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 Let’s see…there is no typical day in my life. Every day is different when you have kids and animals. With so many different jobs I do, each day is exciting and new.

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Q: What is your greatest challenge as an author beginning work on a new book?

There’s no challenge really. Once I get an idea in my head, it’s the easiest thing to get started. Getting through the middle section is the hardest. I always have the beginning and how I want it to end in my head. The path to the finish line can get hairy sometimes.

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Q: Which character from your various worlds was the most fun to create?

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 Probably, Nola from The Chronicles of Zara Fae. Even though she’s not a main character, I feel she embodies that badass inner bitch every woman has had to embrace at least one time in their life. It was nice to let the crazy out of her and let the world know that you don’t always have to be perfect. Even though you keep getting knocked down horribly, you can still come up swinging both fists.

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Q: Did you always want to be a writer?

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Nope, I hated writing throughout most of my childhood. Right up until the 7th grade. That’s when I stumbled across a creative writing site that piqued my interest. Anyone could write whatever they wanted. There were only a few rules and after reading a handful of other people’s stories, I was hooked on the idea of trying to write my own. After that, it kind of spiraled into a love for the creative, fictional world. I had two books written by the time I married but never knew how to get them published until 2011.

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Q: Where do you get your ideas?

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Everywhere. They seem to fall out of the sky and hit me over the head at random moments.

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Q: How do you stay motivated and inspired?

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It’s hard sometimes. There will be months where I go without writing because I am at a standstill or writers block. Something will suddenly pop into my head, and the writer’s block is solved. Once I get into the groove, it’s hard to stop me from writing again.

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  Q: Are you going to write more books in future?

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Absolutely. I have at least three different book ideas in my head at all times. I cant seem to stop coming up with them.  

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Q: Have you won any awards?

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Not yet, but there’s always a chance.

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Q: What is the most important reason for you to keep writing?

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 My love of it. Not to mention, there are a handful of reader fans who might object to my quitting.

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Q: What is the first thing you ever wrote?

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A horribly written romance novel.

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Q: Do you have any charities you support or other humanitarian programs you participate in?

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 I support numerous charities. Local humane societies, my church, NRDC, HSLDA, and my local 4-H clubs.

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Q: Who reads the Rachel Connell books?

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 Mostly adult women. 

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 Q: What’s the hardest thing about being a writer?

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 Not listening to the voice of self-doubt that rings in my head sometimes.

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Q: What kind of research did you have to do?

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All books require some form of research. If you set them some place you haven’t been or that you haven’t visited before, you have to study those towns and areas, even if it’s a contemporary setting. The internet helps a lot with that.

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Q: When you write, do you use all your senses?

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When I write, I can feel and see everything clearly in my head. I use music as a brain setting (if that makes sense?) It helps me get in the frame of mind for the events happening on the page, flowing through me and into the story. Things go through my head like a movie.