Thursday, April 17, 2014

Thursday Sisterhood with Sandra Orchard

Family Status: I’ve been married for almost 27 years to my very own real-life romance hero and I mean that literally. Only in a romance would the hero catch the heroine tossed off her bucking horse. Yes, he really did. And I never rode bareback again! We have three fabulous grown children and a son-in-love, of which my youngest daughter is also an accomplished freelance writer and an aspiring fantasy novelist and a much-appreciated sounding board when my characters give me grief. We also have 2 adorable grandchildren who bring such joy and laughter to our days. A cat and an Alaskan husky and a coop full of chickens and a miniature goat and a thirty-year-old horse round out our brood. That and the wily mouse I keep spotting running along the edge of my kitchen cupboards that keeps managing to elude eviction!

What Is Your Favorite Beverage: water. I know, boring, right?

What Is Your Favorite Food: Hmm, it always used to be pizza, but pizza just doesn’t seem to taste as good as it used to. Must be that elimination of trans-fat thing, or switching to whole wheat crust. LOL. My favorite treat is chocolate cream cheese cupcakes. Totally decadent!



          What Is Your Favorite Thing to do During Free Time: Play with my grandchildren. :-)

Who Has Been the Most Influential Person in Your Life: These are hard questions! At different times of my life, different people would come to mind. But overall, I’d have to say my mother, not in words, but in the life and character she modeled every day.

First Book You Fell in Love With: The Wind in the Willows. I still vividly remember returning it to the school librarian and going on and on about the characters etc.

A Book You Wish You’d Written: The next book in my contract…I’m always wishing it was already written! ;)

First Book Published: Deep Cover (Sept 2011, Love Inspired Suspense)

Most Recent Book: Perilous Waters (April 2014, Love Inspired Suspense) I loved writing this book, because it’s set on an Alaskan cruise modeled after the one my husband and I took to celebrate our 25th anniversary.

Out Next: Book 2 in my Port Aster Secrets mystery series: Blind Trust (June 2014, Revell) The romance and suspense arcs over the three books in this series, while each book also has a standalone mystery. The first book in the series, Deadly Devotion, is actually on sale at Kobo right now (other Ebook sellers may match) for $1.99 until the 20th.

How Many Have You Written: I have a few manuscripts in my drawer that were never contracted, but by the end of 2014, I will have 8 novels published and 2 more written and in the pipeline for 2015.

What Do You Know Now That You Wish You'd Known Then: Ive actually really enjoyed the journey of learning the craft and building friendships with writers prior to being contracted. There are a lot of things I couldve learned sooner that would have sped up the learning part, but Gods timing has been perfect.

What is Your Favorite Bible Story: The story of Ruth—so many great truths in that story

What is Your Favorite Bible Verse: ”The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter until the full light of day.” Proverbs 4:18 Its such a beautiful word picture of what our lives should look like and a good reminder that were on a journey, not arrived.

What is Your Favorite Hymn: O Sacred Head, Now Wounded, for both the words and haunting music. I love Amy Grants version from the 80s with a storm in the background. My favorite line: O make me Thine forever, and should I fainting be, Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee.

What is an Ongoing Prayer Request You Have: My back is a continuing source of pain for me, especially when I cant resist picking up my grandkids or sit too long at the computer, so healing/strengthening of my back and God’s ongoing guidance in my writing are my two ongoing request.

17 comments:

  1. Sandra, how fun to meet you! I love that picture of you next to the police car and am wondering what the story is with that. Were you participating in a police academy for writers?

    A lot of writers suffer from bad backs (myself included). Prayers, for sure! I use a timer set to 30 minutes. When it goes off, I'm supposed to get up and stretch and move to ease the back pain. Sometimes, though, the writing is flowing and I ignore that summons (and later pay the price).

    How fun that you could use your cruise experiences in a book!

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  2. Yes, like you, I ignore the timer too often! I was a part of the first WPA and am going again this year, but that particular picture was taken by my daughter on a shoot for a movie she made

    BTW, I just popped over to Kobo and the book deal for Deadly Devotion hasn't gone live yet. Hopefully soon!

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  3. I heard back from my publisher and apparently, US-based computers do see the price for Deadly Devotion as $1.99, whereas when I click the exact same link from Canada, I don't. :(

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  4. Sandra, loved learning more about you. Those grandbabies are too, too cute. I thought you were much too young to be a grandma!

    Raising my hand about the back problems. Computers only make them worse. My daughter's a PT. I keep encouraging her to develop a product that will help with ergonomics. She'd make a fortune!

    Happy Holy Thursday to all...and a joyous Easter!

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  5. Sandra, it great to get to know you. The trip to Alaska sounds great and using what you experience is so familiar.

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  6. Great to get to know more about you Sandra! As for those pesky back problems, I think we writers must all have to deal with that one. I've found if I move around with my laptop to different place, its helps some. I think I turn wrong at my desk, or don't align right or something. And I can relate to carrying those precious grandchildren around. Oh but we can't resist. And they do grow up way too fast.

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  7. Hello Sandra, do you still ride horses? I love hearing he saved you and you are still together. Many people have bad backs as they get older but you don't look old enough. I think I would like to read that book about the alaskan cruise.
    thanks for sharing.

    Paula O

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  8. Hi Sandra! What a fun interview, and you look lovely as a blonde. :)
    I'm so excited about how well your writing career is going, and I'll continue praying for your back problems and guidance in your writing.
    Thank you for being such a wonderful, amazing "accountability partner" for me---you are awesome.
    Hugs from Georgia (where I wish YOU lived, LOL), Patti Jo

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  9. Thanks for all the encouraging comments! Janet, I recently bought a "gravity chair", which is designed as a lawn chair, but I've found it's a great alternative to take my laptop to to vary my position. I don't know how it's different than a recliner, but my recliner would make my back worse. Anyway, worth the experiment!

    Paula, no, I don't ride anymore. Our horse is 30 years old and still amazingly active, too active for me! :)

    Hugs, right back, Patti Jo. And I feel the same about you. I so appreciate your prayers and encouraging emails.

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  10. I love the picture of you in disguise. I actually put your old picture up first, because when I went to my photo page, I thought, "That's not Sandra!"

    Sorry about your back. I have problems there too. I slide into second back 20 years ago and damaged vertebrae.

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  11. Sandra, my husband wants us to go on an Alaskan cruise. I'm going to download Perilous Waters, both to enjoy the story and to see what an cruise to Alaska would be like. I love mysteries and am looking forward to yours.

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  12. What a great interview, Sandra! I'll be praying for your back.

    Loved the photos!

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  13. These are great! Thanks for sharing all the pictures!

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  14. I love the story of Ruth, too. I really enjoyed Deadly Devotion.

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  15. I had fun wearing that disguise to an event at church, Pamela. No one recognized me. They thought I was my son's date. Poor guy. :-)

    Oh, Carolyn, if your hubby is saying let's go on an Alaskan cruise. Say yes, yes, yes. It's fabulous. I recommend splurging on a balcony room on the side of the ship that will face land, which depends on which port your start in. And don't forget your winter coat, even in July. It's chilly around the glaciers. :)

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  16. Thank you so much for your prayers, Missy.

    Glad you enjoyed the pics, Danica. :)

    Thanks Margaret! BTW, I'm on Margaret's blog right now, too, doing a giveaway of Perilous Waters!

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