Dangerous Careers

Elizabeth Goddard is the award-winning author of more than a dozen novels, including the romantic mystery, The Camera Never Lies—a 2011 Carol Award winner. A 7^th generation Texan, she graduated from the University of North Texas with a B.S. in computer science and worked in corporate America for a decade before retiring to home school her four children and write romantic suspense novels. She lives in Louisiana with her husband and children.

Let me first just say how delighted and humbled I feel to be part of this blog featuring some of the most talented romantic suspense writers in the Christian market today. I’ve read romantic suspense novels for as long as I can remember.  I love thrillers, suspense, and mysteries, so long as romance is included. 

Now I’m blessed to write my own novels, and I can go wherever my imagination will take me so long as readers are willing to go there with me.

I sometimes imagine that my career of writing novels is a dangerous one. In my search for intriguing story ideas, I might one day come across an incident that could prove dangerous for me and others if I were to write about it. But that’s just my overactive imagination, right? 

Remember the movie Three Days of the Condor?  

Joe Turner (played by Robert Redford) works for the CIA reading books, newspapers and other media from around the world, looking for hidden messages or ideas that must remain hidden. He turns in a report and heads out to lunch and when he gets back to the office, all of his co-workers are dead.  He’s on the run now—from his employer, the CIA.

What a great idea!

Who would think that reading books could get you killed?

While writing novels isn’t typically hazardous (except maybe to your health from too much sitting), I love to explore dangerous careers that could make an intriguing premise or provide an interesting twist. Clearly, you don’t have to have a dangerous job to enter the danger zone, but I’m constantly on the look-out for such careers. 

Sometimes, though, I have to set aside a day or two and dig deep through magazines or the internet.  Last year I spent a couple of days combing through the internet looking for a fresh idea and that’s when I came across the premise for my new release, Treacherous Skies. 

Connor Jacobson is a high-stakes Learjet repo man—he goes into volatile situations to retrieve very expensive property from dangerous and unscrupulous men who aren’t so willing to let things go. Before this career, my hero was a fighter pilot and then a test pilot—both very dangerous jobs.

In fact, piloting aircraft is in the top three of most dangerous jobs according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. So putting that pilot into a complex and intense situation only increases the tension and conflict, and makes for an exciting adventure. 

My stories are suspenseful and are meant to be an adventure romance along the lines of the movie Romancing the Stone. That way you can enjoy a great suspense and still sleep at night. 

If you know of any dangerous jobs that would make for a good story,  I’d love to hear from you!

I’m giving away a copy of Treacherous Skies to one lucky winner.

Please comment and leave your contact information and I will randomly choose a winner no later than this weekend.