INTERVIEW WITH PATRICIA BRADLEY!

I love connecting with readers on my blog every Tuesday where I have a Mystery Question for them to solve. 

Winner of an Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award in Suspense, Patricia Bradley lives in North Mississippi with her rescue kitty, Suzy. Her romantic suspense books include the Logan Point series and the Memphis Cold Case Novels. She also has written sweet romances for Harlequin Heartwarming available as ebooks. 

You can find out more about Patricia through Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest!

 INTERVIEW

If you had to describe yourself in one sentence, what would you say?  

I’m one of those people who jumps into something with both feet and about halfway down thinks to ask, “Should I really be doing this?”

What do you do when you’re not writing? Any interesting hobbies?

When I’m not writing, you’ll find me in my pottery shop, working with clay. I envision making mugs maybe this month as well as Christmas ornaments and maybe a few jewelry pieces.

What was your favorite book as a teen or child?

Exodus by Leon Uris. I was in the tenth grade and stayed up all night reading it, and when I went to school the next day and told my English teacher, she didn’t believe me until I told her about some of the characters. That story has stayed with me until this day.

Tell us three things about yourself that might surprise your readers.

I can touch the floor with my palms (knees straight) – should after thirteen years of Pilates. I’ve been dating the same man for nineteen years. I have great-grandchildren.

What genre did you start out writing? Have you changed course? Why or why not?

I started with mysteries in Woman’s World magazine and never looked back. I love writing in this genre.

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

Toughest criticism? I think getting a 59 score when I was a Genesis finalist. I know that’s not exactly a criticism, but it told me not everyone would like what I wrote. The other two scores were high nineties.

Best compliment? When a reader told me she had the same problem as the heroine in one of my books, and the way my heroine handled the problem showed her she could change as well. She told me reading my book had changed her life.

Any other genres you’d like to try? If yes, what and why?

I want to write a time slip novel with part of the story set in a historical time. And I plan to write a cozy after the first of the year.

If you could go back in time and do something differently at the start of your career, what would it be?

Reach out to other authors and network more. I started writing before the Internet became a way of life and didn’t know any other authors. Also, I didn’t have anyone to critique my work so I kept making the same mistakes over and over—like head hopping and telling instead of showing. It wasn’t until I went to a writer’s retreat four years in a row that I learned how to write. Each year I took what I learned and worked on it until the next year where I repeated the process.

What is the most important thing you’d like readers to take away from your books?

Being a Christian doesn’t exempt us from having problems and trials, but we have Someone ready to help us in our need. I want readers to know that God never leaves us nor forsakes us.

What is the most valuable piece of advice you’d like to give to unpublished authors?

DO.NOT.GIVE.UP It was thirty-three years from the time I started writing before my first book released, but I never gave up the belief that one day I would be published. I kept writing and honing on my craft and believing. I just had to wait on God’s timing.

Thanks, Patricia! 

In an effort to get her security consulting business off the ground, Kelsey Allen has been spending a lot of time up in the air, rappelling down buildings and climbing through windows to show business owners their vulnerabilities to thieves. When she is hired to pose as a conservator at the Pink Palace Museum in order to test their security weaknesses after some artifacts go missing, she's ecstatic. But when her investigative focus turns from theft to murder, Kelsey knows she's out of her league--and possibly in the cross hairs. When blast-from-the-past Detective Brad Hollister is called in to investigate, Kelsey may find that he's the biggest security threat yet . . . to her heart.

Patricia is giving away a copy of BURIED JUSTICE. A print copy in the U.S. or an eBook copy if you live somewhere else. To enter, please leave a comment, along with your contact information!