ANSWERING YOUR QUESTIONS!

Nancy Mehl is an award winning author who lives in Missouri, with her husband, Norman, and her Puggle, Watson. She’s authored over twenty-five books and is currently writing a new series for Bethany House Publishing based on the U.S. Marshals. The first book, FATAL FROST, in her Defenders of Justice Series, released on November 1st, 2016. The second book, DARK DECEPTION, will hit store shelves in June of 2017. She is also working on a new cozy mystery series for Guideposts.

Readers can learn more about Nancy through her Web site: www.nancymehl.com. She is part of The Suspense Sisters: www.suspensesisters.blogspot.com, along with several other popular suspense authors. She is also very active on Facebook.

ANSWERING YOUR QUESTIONS

In trying to decide what to write about today, I asked some of my Facebook friends what they’d like to know about me. They offered several questions, so I’m going to attempt to answer some of them. There are so many good ones, I can’t do them all at one time. I’ll finish them in upcoming posts.

First of all, from Carolyn Parks-Williams: It would be encouraging to me to hear about your road to publication. How long did it take you to find an agent or publisher? How many times were you rejected by an agent or publisher? Any tips for beginners?
 
Actually, I didn’t have much trouble finding publishers, but when I started out they were all smaller publishers. And a couple of them were big mistakes. For example: One was a large author mill. They made their money by trying to get you to buy your own books and sell them. One interesting side note about that experience: At one time, I was their highest selling author. And…I was interviewed by the Associated Press in an attempt to let other writers know they should stay far away from them.
 
Another publisher which had a good reputation, wanted to own me and everything I wrote. Thankfully, I got out of that before getting bogged down for years under a very controlling editor.

I actually met one of the Suspense Sisters through that same publisher! I won’t tell you who it is. I’ll let you guess. 😉

I found my first agent through an online group called Murder Must Advertise. With her help, I got my first big contract with Barbour Publishing. I’m grateful to God that since then, I’ve always had contracts.

Oh, and how many rejections from agents and publishers? Lots. And lots. And… Well, you get the idea. I have a file… Sigh. Stephen King used to put all his rejections on a large railroad spike he had stuck in the wall. It was full…and then he wrote CARRIE. You just have to keep going if you believe you’re called to write.

Lynn McPeak said: Like Carolyn, I think it would be interesting to learn about finding your publisher, any compromises that you made to be published, and what you would do differently if you could go back and start again.
 
I’ll address the questions I didn’t answer already. Compromises? Well, my idea when I started writing was to write secular stories with spiritual themes. I wanted to touch the world for Christ. Let them know they were loved and that there was hope for their lives. Then I was asked to write an inspirational cozy mystery. And it sold. My compromise wasn’t really a compromise. It was the realization that my idea wasn’t God’s idea. He’s called me to feed His sheep. And I’m grateful and thrilled to do it.

What would I do differently? I would start writing earlier. I didn’t write my first novel until I was forty-five. Long story as to why. Maybe I’ll tell it someday.

Kaye Whitney asks: I would like to know if your settings are real, have you traveled there yourself?

None of my settings have been real until my current series set in St.Louis. They’ve all been small towns set in real areas and near real towns. But I created the actual setting. And yes, in many cases I actually drove to the area to make sure I could stick a town in there somewhere!

Rick Estep says: I'd like to hear your testimony.

I’m assuming you mean my Christian testimony? I was raised in church and always knew God was real. Even when I was a little girl. But the church I grew up in was very legalistic, even teaching that if you don’t go to that church, you’ll go to hell. I was probably around ten years old when I went up front, said that I believed Jesus was the Son of God, and was baptized. But when I got older, I quit going to church even though I didn’t stop believing in God.

When I was in my twenties, a Baptist woman gave my mother and me some books written by a man named Hal Lindsey. The first book was THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH. I found it really interesting. Then I read SATAN IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING ON PLANET EARTH. Wow. I’d never been taught much about the devil and was startled to discover that he was real, and that he was determined to destroy as many people as he could. Then I read THE LIBERATION OF PLANET EARTH. Talk about boring. Sigh. I was driving to work (I was a private duty nurse for an elderly woman) and had the book on the car seat next to me. I clearly remember thinking, “I just can’t finish this book. All it does is say the same thing over and over. Jesus came to the earth and was crucified to pay the price for my sins. He offers me His righteousness for my sin…”

And then for the first time in my life I got it. It was actually like a light bulb went off in my soul. You see, the church I grew up in only asked me if I knew Jesus was the Son of God. Well, even the demons know that! But no one had ever explained “The Great Exchange” to me. I went home from work that day, got down on my knees and received Christ.

And my life has never been the same.

Next time I’ll talk about how I decided to become a writer, how I knew I was called, how I get my ideas for books… And whatever else I can answer for you! Thank you so much for all the great questions! 

Please leave a comment below, along with your contact information. One winner will get their choice of a copy of FATAL FROST or DARK DECEPTION. (DARK DECEPTION will be released in June. Print copy in U.S. only, but an international winner can choose an eBook.), a $10.00 gift card from Amazon, or I'll use your name or the name of a friend or family member in an upcoming book!