Interview and a Giveaway with Author Jodie Bailey!

It's a real treat to welcome RT Reviewer's Choice and Selah Award winner Jodie Bailey! She's graciously offered to give away a copy of her newest suspense, Dead Run. Leave a comment for Jodie to be entered to win! 

Tell us a little about yourself and your newest book. 

Hi, everyone!  Well, I’m an Eastern North Carolina girl, born and raised, who married a soldier and was blessed to live in a whole lot of other places!  I love the beach—especially the NC Outer Banks—and good coffee.  Okay, I love any coffee.  Let’s be real here.   My latest book, Dead Run, takes place right here in North Carolina, at Fort Bragg.  When Kristin James is attacked running trails at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, her assailant wants information about her brother, who was killed in Iraq. Kristin is certain her background in personal training means she can take care of herself, but when the danger increases, she leans on Sergeant First Class Lucas Murphy, her brother’s platoon sergeant. Lucas knows Kristin’s brother was suspected of stealing Iraqi artifacts. Kristin believes her brother was innocent, but as they dig deeper and a killer draws closer, the pieces don’t add up to a pretty picture.  In order to survive, Kristin’s will have to rely on the man who is capturing her heart even as he tries to prove her brother’s guilt. The book that follows, Calculated Vendetta, will pick up with two of the other characters from Dead Run, so readers will get to revisit Kristin and Lucas.

What are you working on at the moment?

Right now, I'm wrapping up another suspense for Love Inspired.  It's the second book in a series about the Texas Rangers and their hunt for a cartel leader's sister.  I'm getting to work withSharon Dunn and Elizabeth Goddard.  It's a whole new experience collaborating with otherauthors about characters and plot points, and I'm enjoying it so much!

What is the hardest thing about writing?

Those days when you’re sitting at your desk and the words just won’t come.  I can remember a day when I sat for four hours and the only work I got done was my character’s name.  Nothing else was working.  Some days, I just have to turn off the computer and go do something different.  It’s really easy to narrow your whole writing life down to your desk sometimes, because you work from home and it’s easy to just keep right on working.  But there is a big needto get out there with real people and simply have a day off and some fun!

What is the easiest thing about writing?

I love meeting new characters.  My favorite thing is sitting down at my desk with a cup of coffee and simply thinking about who these people are.  When I was in middle school and high school, I wanted to be an experimental psychologist before I figured out that teaching was my calling. But still, digging into characters, their pasts, their motivations… All of that goes back to my first love of psychology and what makes people do the things they do.