~~ Karen Kingsbury ~~ Spotlight Interview with Tracey West ~~ May 2005 ~~

 
Karen Kingsbury has sold over two million copies of her books. One of her stories, Gideon’s Gift is even being considered for a made for TV movie.  I had the pleasure of reading her latest release, A Thousand Tomorrows, which released in April.  Having never read an Inspirational Romance before, to say I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the story was an understatement. I felt more, thought more, just completely looked at many things differently – or had my eyes open to things I didn’t give much thought to regularly.  Reading A Thousand Tomorrows led me to Ms. Kingsbury’s website, as well as looking into more of her great stories. This is also an author I wanted to get to know better, which leads us to this interview.

Karen was gracious enough to agree to visit with RTR …

Welcome to The Road to Romance Karen! 

Tracey – Karen, please tell our readers a bit about yourself, your family?

Karen - I’m the mom of six kids, married to the man of my dreams. We enjoy playing together and taking walks or bike rides. We laugh a lot and at dinnertime we’re usually busy playing silly dinner games between bites. My oldest son once told me, “Mom . . . I’ll probably be a Broadway singer or producer when I’m older, but I think I’ll write novels in my spare time, like you!” That was maybe one of my best compliments ever. I’m really a wife and mom first.

Tracey – With six children, how do you find the time to write? Are some days more of a struggle than others?

Karen - It’s always easy to write once I make the appointment with my keyboard. But that part is always tough. I set aside 6 hours a day to write – when the kids are in school. But half the time that doesn’t actually happen, and I end up scrambling on deadline.

Tracey – When did you know you wanted to be a writer Karen? Was this something you grew up having an interest in?

Karen - I’ve known since I was five years old. I’ve always loved creating stories and poems…I was born to create with words, it was something God put in me from the beginning.

Tracey – Was there ever a time that you wanted to do something different? Do you work outside of writing as well part-time or full-time?

Karen - For a short period of time I toyed with the idea of being a lawyer. But my heart was already hooked to writing. I earned my degree in journalism so I’d always have a way to earn money as a writer, even if my dream of being an author didn’t work out.

Tracey – What is the first step for you when you sit to write a new book? Do you outline everything – characters, world, etc.? Or do you just sit and write?

Karen - Conflicts come to me, and characters are usually very quickly behind that. I sit down and write out the details and ideas on a pad of paper. Then I outline on paper, also. There’s something about a pen and pad of paper that still appeals to me. I think it always will. After I have an outline in my chicken scratch, I take it to the laptop. The rest happens there.

Tracey – As I mentioned above, A Thousand Tomorrows was the first story, I’m ashamed to admit, that I have read by you.  This story blew me away, I cried just about all the way through the last forty pages of it.  In your own words, what can you tell readers about A Thousand Tomorrows?

Karen - This novel is a story of sacrificial love, a love that never fails despite the odds, even despite death. In many ways it is a parable of the type of love found in 1 Corinthians 13 in the Bible.

Tracey – Cody Gunner – a true hero. Strong, determined, stubborn (very much so J ) and really does have a heart of gold. When and how did Cody come into your life? Was he a difficult character?

Karen - I came up with the storyline because of something that happened at our local health club. I was checking in at the front desk, and the woman behind the counter had tears in her eyes. I asked what was wrong and she told me that she’d spent the morning visiting her son’s wife’s gravesite. It was the one-year anniversary of her death. I asked if she’d died in an accident, since it was clear that she must’ve been young – maybe mid 20s. The woman told me no, not an accident. She died of Cystic Fibrosis. I said, “So your son knew going in that she wouldn’t live long.” And the woman said, “More than that . . . my son gave her one of his lungs.” I was stunned. I said, “So the surgery didn’t work?” And the woman shook her head and teared up again. “It worked very well,” she said. “We always knew it would only buy her three years.” I hung onto that for the next few hours and I realized that her son had loved this young woman so deeply that he gave her one of his lungs for three years, or about a thousand tomorrows. I knew then, that I had a love story that would go beyond anything I’d ever done. Next I needed a guy. Sitting on a plane waiting for a flight home from Atlanta, Professional Bull Rider Ross Coleman entered the plane. He stopped the people on board, and everyone turned to see him. He had a bigger-than-life quality about him. I ended up sitting next to him and asking him about bull riding. We talked for the entire flight, and at the end I knew I had my male protagonist. Because I couldn’t imagine what it would take for a woman to break through the exterior of this sort of guy. And to make the guy fall in love so strongly that he would give up a lung, well, that was exactly what I’d been looking for. 

Tracey – Ali Daniels – has a lot of the same qualities that Cody had, and a determination unlike any I have ever witnessed before. With her Cystic Fibrosis, was she a character that was more challenging to write than any other you had written before, or did you find there was much of a difference?

Karen - It was more difficult because she had limitations, even though she didn’t want to. I’d be pushing the storyline through and I’d remember, “Oh, yeah…she’d probably need a hospital stay about now.” So her real life situation definitely was something I had to be mindful of throughout the entire story. Otherwise, she wasn’t necessarily harder to write. But she was very, very special to me.

Tracey – Cody and Ali together – what do you think made these two such a strong, inspiring couple…for you? What do you feel, or hope, this couple will bring/show readers?

Karen - They didn’t need each other, for one thing. They weren’t looking for love, obviously. Then what made it so strong was that Cody couldn’t love people, except for his little brother. Carl Joseph had a vulnerability – Down Syndrome. When Cody realized that Ali was sick, she became like Carl Joseph to him. Vulnerable, someone he wanted to protect. On a bull he could do anything he wanted, ride a two-thousand pound beast and pull it off week after week. But with Ali, Cystic Fibrosis was bigger than him. That created an intensity that I haven’t seen with my other characters.

Tracey – How much research did you do about Cystic Fibrosis, as well as Down Syndrome, which Cody’s brother, Carl Joseph had in A Thousand Tomorrows?

Karen - I did extensive research on Cystic Fibrosis. As for Down Syndrome, I was familiar enough with it to pull off my character Carl Joseph. I’ve heard from parents of Down Syndrome children since the book has just come out. They say I nailed it, so that makes me feel good.

Tracey – Cody was a Champion Bull Rider, Ali - a Barrel Racer – did you also need to do extensive research on these sports to prepare for the story?

Karen - Yes, very extensive research on both sports. I went to events, conducted in-person interviews, read books and watched hours of rodeo. I fell in love with it, to be honest.

Tracey – Why did Cody and Ali have dangerous occupations in A Thousand Tomorrows?  Both of them could have done anything else, why a bull rider and barrel racer? Ali, especially with such a dangerous disease, why have her in such a life-threatening occupation?

Karen - The dangerous occupations worked for both characters. It showed Ali’s determination to seize life, to live to the fullest every moment of the day. For Cody it gave him a way to battle his anger.

Tracey – What do you hope readers learn or take from your stories when they are done reading them?

Karen - I pray that they feel changed by what they read. Maybe that means forgiving someone they love, maybe it means loving someone with a greater intensity. It might mean finding a way to live life to the fullest. Of course I hope the story stays with them, and I hope it makes them want to read it again and again. But most of all, I pray it brings about a life-changing difference in their lives. That’s why I call my work, Life-Changing Fiction ™.

Tracey – Do you find that you are emotionally drained after writing any of your stories? Do you take some “down time” before beginning the next one?  I ask this, due to the emotions I found myself feeling – anger, sadness, happiness, faith and understanding after reading A Thousand Tomorrows. I am just curious, if you find yourself feeling drained after writing such powerful pieces?

Karen - Often times I don’t get a lot of down time between books. But I do find it hard to let go of the stories once I’m finished. A Thousand Tomorrows stayed with me, still stays with me, longer than the others I’ve written. Something about this book really found a permanent place in my heart.

Tracey – When you aren’t writing, what are you doing in your spare time?

Karen -  (Laughing) With a husband and six kids, not much J I love having conversations with my kids, being involved in the drama and dance and singing of my older two children, going to my younger boys’ sporting events, playing ping-pong, taking walks through my neighborhood, listening to praise music. Singing at the top of my lungs in the car when no one’s listening.

Tracey – What authors would we find you reading when taking a break?

Karen - It varies. I like to read NY Times list authors occasionally. I like Grisham and Sparks and Randy Alcorn and Francine Rivers. I read Dave Barry, the humorist for his short columns. The chance to laugh hard is welcomed after writing an emotional book – even though mine always have hopeful overtones and hopeful endings.

Tracey – You have written many books to date and received many great reviews.  Do you worry with every release, how it will be received by your readers? Does the nervousness, even for a very successful author like yourself, does it every go away?

Karen - I really don’t think about it very much. I guess I figure you can’t please everyone, but my goal is to make every book a little better than the one before it. I’ve had wonderful editors through the years. I carry a little bit of everything they’ve told me, so that makes it easier to keep honing my work, developing the craft of writing.

Tracey – Your next release, in June 2005, is a spin-off from the Redemption series. What can you share with readers about this new series?  How many will there be and what can readers expect?

Karen - The Firstborn Series is going to be wonderful. I’ve written two of the five books, and I’m hooked J Often when I write it feels like I’m reading. Usually that’s been a good sign, and it definitely feels that way with the Firstborn Series. The first book will be called, “Fame” and will be released in June. The second is “Forgiven” and it will be out in September. I’m working on the third book next, which will be “Found.” After that will come “Family” and “Forever”. The series will follow rising Hollywood movie star Dayne Matthews and Bloomington drama instructor Katy Hart. The two are single and early in the series they become friends. But logistics make it clear they can never be together, their lives are simply too different. Their stories happen against the backdrop of the Baxter family and their happenings. John Baxter, the father, has a secret and he’s keeping it from his adult kids. This series will explore the development of that storyline, also. I can’t wait to write all the books! It will then spin off to another series called, “Sunrise Series.”

Tracey – In closing, is there anything you would care to add Karen that we have not covered?

Karen -  I’d love to have people visit my website and sign up to receive my newsletter. That’s where they’ll hear more about what’s coming out next, how my family’s doing, and where I’ll be visiting next. I love meeting with my reader friends, so the website gives us a way to connect. It’s www.KarenKingsbury.com. Readers can enter their email address on the home page and be automatically on my list to receive the newsletter. I guess also that I’m praying for every one of them as a group. When I sit in my little room and tap out these stories, it’s very visual. I really believe God gives me the stories . . . what He does with them from there is something I love to hear about.

Tracey – Could we possibly have an excerpt from A Thousand Tomorrows?

A THOUSAND TOMORROWS
© Karen Kingsbury
Released: April 2005

    She was doubled over near her horse when she felt his hand on her shoulder.

    “Ali . . . here.” This time Cody handed her a full water bottle. “Maybe you’re allergic to dust.”

    “Maybe.” Ali took a long drink. She had her own water, but it was twenty yards away, near the back of the tunnel. Another swig and she could feel her lungs relax, feel the air making its way into even the stubborn areas that were no longer soft and pliable. “I’m fine.” She wiped her brow and met his eyes. “Thanks.”

    He studied her for a minute. “I have to go.”

    “Yep.” She smiled. “My advice is still paying off.”

    Cody grinned and let his gaze fall to his boots. When he looked up, his eyes were more vulnerable than before. “Can I ask you something?”

    “You just did.” She lowered her chin, her eyes big. It felt fun to tease him.

    “I’m serious, Ali.” He looked over his shoulder at the arena. The last barrel racer was about to go. His ride was coming up.

    “Okay.” She took another drink from the bottle. She could breathe now; but she needed to get out of the tunnel. The dust there was almost as bad as it was on the barrel course. She squinted at him. “Ask.”

    “Why do you ride sick?”

    The words skipped across the surface of her heart like a series of smooth stones. She met his gaze, unblinking. “Why do you ride angry?”

    He mulled over her question and finally he gave her a slow nod. “The answers are somewhere, aren’t they?”

    “Probably.”

    “Let’s talk tonight.” The teasing faded from his eyes. “Can we do that, Ali?”

    The truck was circling the barrel course now; a handful of cowboys tossing the bins in the back, clearing things for the bull-riders. Ali could hear her mother’s warning. Anyone but Cody Gunner . . . anyone but him. She looked at the arena. “You need to go.”

    “Tell me, Ali. We’ll find someplace and talk for an hour. Nothing more.”

    Ali bit her lip. She needed to wear the vest for an hour before she could do anything. “Come by my trailer around eleven. Knock once on the door; I’ll be waiting.”

~~~~

Karen Kingsbury’s books are available online – Amazon, Books-a-Million, Barnes & Noble.  Visit her site often for new updates about her books, the new series starting in June and much more. www.karenkingsbury.com

Thank you, Karen for taking the time out of your busy schedule to visit with us.

The Road to Romance congratulates you on your newest release and wishes you much success with all of your endeavours.