Interview with Dawn Crandall, by Carrie Fancett Pagels

Author Dawn Crandall

Dawn Crandall is the author of The Hesitant Heiress, book one of The Everstone Chronicles series. I met Dawn through ACFW and through our mutual agent, Joyce Hart, CEO of Hartline Literary Agency.

Dawn, welcome to Overcoming With God. We appreciate your willingness to share your testimony of overcoming with our readers.  

Thank you so much for having me on your wonderful blog! I do love sharing how God has overcome in my life through many situations.

Would you tell us about one of the most difficult things in your life you have had to overcome, with God’s help? (transparency appreciated!)

I don’t want to trivialize anything that anyone else may have had to go through which is much more difficult than my lot, but I feel as though I’ve had quite a few difficult things to overcome to get me to the place I am in life. They all seemed to work together throughout the years though, and although I would have preferred things to work out a little differently, I am very grateful for all I have now. 

First off, I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder in high school. It made sense why I’d never been able to get very good grades in school… but because it was discovered so late (because I didn’t generally speak to anyone much before this point in my life), I had a very strong sense that I would never be good at anything. Becoming a Christian soon after this diagnosis helped me a lot with this lowly view of myself, and I even ended up going to Taylor University and majoring in Christian Education. I’d always wanted to write a book, but even after graduating college I did not feel that I would be any good at it. So I didn’t write. 

And then in my late twenties, God brought my husband into my life. We married, and soon after, he found out about this secret desire of mine to write a book. I guess all I really needed was to believe in someone’s belief in me. That had always been difficult too. But writing a book is not a simple thing, and I just could not get anything going. It was as if my creativity was completely blocked, and I could only get half way there. By this time, I was in my early thirties, and my husband and I felt that we should start a family. This is where things get tricky. I stopped taking the medication that helped with my ADD because I wanted to get pregnant. Suddenly a million ideas flooded my mind, and I felt like I could start plotting a novel… basically because I was allowed to let myself daydream. I still wanted babies more than to write, but because I didn’t have babies, reading everything the CBA published in the historical romance genre for a few years and studying those books was what I focused on. I spent about three years doing that while working full time, and then my husband encouraged me to stop working to focus on writing. I think he could tell I needed something to keep my mind off of the fact that I wasn’t getting pregnant. I still hadn’t actually written anything much, just some scenes which I had no idea what to do with. To make a long story short, my husband sent me to the 2011 ACFW conference a year later and came home with two partial proposal requests from agents. They both offered to represent me based on those partial proposals within the week of my sending them. My one and only proposal started making the rounds and ended up taking about eighteen months to land a three book contract. Fortunately, I’d written most of the rest of the series while I was waiting! By this time, I’d convinced myself that I didn’t need babies, because I had my books. I still wasn’t doing anything to prevent from having babies, but after seven years, I had quit hoping. It’s sad, but I again felt that there was something wrong with me, that I obviously wouldn’t be a good mom, or God would allow me to be one. It was just easier to not hope, so I didn’t. 

HOWEVER, just as my agent and I were getting those good leads from my publisher last summer…. that is when I got pregnant. The Hesitant Heiress released when my son was eighteen weeks old. He’ll be seven months old when the second one (The Bound Heart) releases in November and ten months old when the third one (The Captive Imposter) releases next February. 

I’ve been a little bit of a mess ever since getting pregnant a year ago, because for some reason, while I was pregnant, my creativity was blocked in a very similar way it was while I’d been taking the medication for ADD. I’m not sure how this is supposed to all work together for my good yet, because I feel like I’m running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I’m still working on revising book three… but now that I can “think like a writer” again... I don’t have the time! Because I have a baby! It’s all a little backwards to me, but I’m not complaining! God’s done some pretty amazing things in my life lately! I’m just being forced to overcome this next challenge with more faith and trust than I ever remember mustering up in my entire life before now. Learning to write again with a little man hanging out with me and also demanding my time and attention away from my characters and plot while already having to function around having ADD… Yeah, I pretty much have to ask God to help me get anything done every single day. It’s not fun all the time, but it’s worth it.  

Disability friendliness: Is this latest release available in audio format or do you have any other works available on audio?  Do your e-books have audio capability? Do you have any in large print?  

Unfortunately not at this time. Whitaker House has The Hesitant Heiress released as only an eBook at the moment. It is everyone’s hope that it is able to come out in paperback and even audio next spring.

CFP: We'll be praying so, Dawn! 

Thank you, for agreeing to answer these questions!

You are very welcome! I am honored to have a place on your blog! 

THE HESITANT HEIRESS BLOG TOUR

As part of her book launch, Dawn is taking part in a blog tour featuring interviews, book reviews and giveaways. She’s giving away a prize pack every weekend for the six weeks of the blog tour and one larger prize pack at the end. Each of YOU who comments on any post will be entered into the drawing for that specific week, and then also for the end of the tour Grand Prize–all of which will be announced on this blog. Many of the blogger’s posting in the blog tour are also giving away a digital copy of The Hesitant Heiress.

THE FIVE WEEKLY PRIZE PACKS: a $10 Amazon Gift Card, an eBook of The Hesitant Heiress, a mug with all three book covers and a moleskin journal.

THE GRAND PRIZE (at the end of week six): a Kindle Fire, a $10 Amazon Gift Card, an eBook of The Hesitant Heiress, a mug with all three book covers and a moleskin journal.

CONNECT WITH DAWN

Blog: www.dawncrandall.blogspot.com

Facebook: facebook.com/DawnCrandallWritesFirst 

Book Review Blog: APassionforPages.blogspot.com 

GoodReads: www.goodreads.com/dawn_crandall

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/dawnwritesfirst

Email: dawncrandallwritesfirst@gmail.com

Twitter: @dawnwritesfirst

Amazon: www.amazon.com/Dawn-Crandall

READ THE FIRST CHAPTER FREE!!! {link} http://whpub.whitakerhouse.com/dawncrandall/heiress.html

{About The Hesitant Heiress}

After being unjustly expelled from the Boston Conservatory of Music, Amaryllis Brigham sees her dreams of founding a music academy disappearing before her very eyes. Now the only way to achieve her goal comes with high stakes for someone set on avoiding men as much as possible: marry within the year to inherit her grandmother’s fortune. Amaryllis reluctantly takes part in her aunt’s society, intent on getting to the west coast on her own… and without a husband.

Despite her own misgivings, she soon finds herself falling in love with the most unlikely of men, Nathan Everstone, whose father not only had a part in her expulsion, but whose ominous presence has haunted her dreams for a decade since her mother’s tragic death. Nathan turns out to be much more than he seems and everything she never knew she wanted. But just as everything Amaryllis has recently hoped for comes to fruition, it all falls apart when she finds that the real culprit who has been managing her life isn't who she thought at all.

{About Dawn Crandall}

A graduate of Taylor University with a degree in Christian Education, and a former bookseller at Barnes & Noble, Dawn Crandall didn’t begin writing until 2010 when her husband found out about her long-buried dream of writing a book. Without a doubt about someday becoming traditionally published, he encouraged her to quit working in order to focus on writing The Hesitant Heiress. It didn’t take her long to realize that writing books was what she was made to do. Dawn is represented by Joyce Hart of Hartline Literary.

Apart from writing books, Dawn is also a first-time mom to a precious little boy (born March 2014) and also serves with her husband in a pre-marriage mentor program at their local church in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Dawn is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, secretary for the Indiana ACFW Chapter (Hoosier Ink), and associate member of the Great Lakes ACFW Chapter.

The Everstone Chronicles is Dawn’s first series with Whitaker House. All three books composing the series were semifinalists in ACFW’s prestigious Genesis Writing Contest, the third book going on to become a finalist in 2013.

GIVEAWAY: A copy of Dawn's debut novel. Leave a comment.