INTERVIEW WITH JANET SKETCHLEY

Janet Sketchley is the author of Heaven's Prey and Secrets and Lies, two novels of suspense and redemption. She also blogs about faith and books. Like Carol in Secrets and Lies, Janet loves music and tea. Unlike Carol, she isn't related to a dangerous offender, has a happy home life, and has never been threatened by a drug lord. May those tidbits continue to hold true! 

You can find Janet online at janetsketchley.ca. Fans of Christian suspense are invited to join Janet's writing journey through her monthly newsletter: bit.ly/JanetSketchleyNews. Secrets and Lies page (includes purchase links): http://janetsketchley.ca/books/secrets-and-lies/
Sample Chapter: http://janetsketchley.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Secrets-and-Lies-Chapter-1.pdf
Facebook: www.facebook.com/JanetSketchley
Twitter: twitter.com/JanetSketchley
Amazon Author Central: www.amazon.com/author/janetsketchley
Pinterest: pinterest.com/janetsketchley/ 

INTERVIEW

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I live on the east coast of Canada, with my husband of over 30 years. We're almost empty-nesters, with our youngest son home from university for the summer but living in another province for most of the year. I'm grateful to not be working outside the home, and profoundly impressed by those writers who hold down full time jobs and keep up their writing.

What do you do when you are not writing?

I'm perpetually behind on the domestic front, but in my free time I read (too much), knit and cross-stitch, and I enjoy a good cup of tea. I'm part of a weekly Bible study and prayer group at my church and also sing with the worship team. And a few times a week I go to the gym for classes or treadmill-time.

How did you choose the genre you write in?

I like writing for the Christian market because it lets me explore how faith affects our lives. Clean mainstream reads are good too, but they create stories where God isn't in the picture. I started with suspense because that's the story idea that came to me and wouldn't let me go until I wrote it.

What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment?

One of my first published short stories came back from a writing contest with a judge's assessment that the characters were unrealistic and too obviously vehicles to convey a message. At least that's how I remember the criticism now. It was a powerful motivator for me to delve deeper with my characters and make them real—something I'm still working on, because we never stop growing. Best compliment: in Secrets and Lies, Carol comes to faith from a mindset of fear. Another character coaches her through a prayer for help in retraining her thoughts. One of my reader friends confided to me that she prayed that prayer along with Carol. It doesn't get much better than that for an author, to hear that fictional words touched a beating, human heart.

If you could go back in time and do something differently in your writing career, what would it be?

One of my characters would still have her "real" name. In the early drafts of Heaven's Prey, the heroine's name is Ruth Waring. Imagine my surprise at a writing conference when I met a real-life Ruth Waring! The writer-Ruth was very gracious about sharing her name with a fictional character. When we met again few years later and spent more time together, I started to hear writer-Ruth's voice when working with character-Ruth, who sounds different. I renamed my fictional Ruth, but the change hasn't stuck well in my mind. 

What do you see happening in your career ten years from now?

I expect I'll still be self-publishing (my original publisher closed its fiction line, so I regained my rights to that book and went indie rather than looking elsewhere). Ten years from now... I hope to have a couple of new series completed, after wrapping up the Redemption's Edge series this fall. I'd like to be writing both suspense and speculative fiction and making an appreciable contribution to our household income. Sounds like I have my work cut out for me! 

Secrets and Lies
Redemption’s Edge Series
 
A single mother must protect her teenage son—from organized crime and from himself.

Carol Daniels thinks she out-ran her enemies, until a detective arrives at her door with a warning from her convict brother. Minor incidents take on a sinister meaning. An anonymous phone call warns her not to hide again.

Now she must cooperate with a drug lord while the police work to trap him. Carol has always handled crisis alone, but this one might break her. Late-night deejay Joey Hill offers friendship and moral support. Can she trust him? One thing’s certain. She can’t risk prayer.
If you'd like to win a copy of Janet's book, Secrets and Lies, leave a comment, along with your contact information. We'll draw a winner next week!