I’m so excited to feature Roseanna White today. Partially because she’s my best friend, but also because Roseanna does a ton of stuff for Go Teen Writers.
Quick housekeeping note, and then we’ll get to the interview and giveaway with the lovely Mrs. White: I’m putting together a thank you email for all the judges from 2011. If you entered contests this year, would you please take the time to write a quick note that I could send to them all? You can express appreciation for them giving of their time, and I’m sure they would love to know anything you learned from the judges’ comments. You can send your thank you notes to Stepahnie(at)GoTeenWriters.com, and if you would put “Thank you to judges” in the subject line, that would help me tremendously.
On to Roseanna!In case you aren’t familiar with who Roseanna is, she’s the author of two Biblical love stories and Love Finds You in Annapolis, Maryland. She makes her home in the mountains of Western Maryland with her husband, two small children, and the colony of dust bunnies living under her couch. After graduating from St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD, she and her husband founded the Christian Review of Books, where she is the editor. She is a member of ACFW, HisWriters, Biblical Fiction Writers, and HEWN Marketing.
This is the lovely cover art for Love Finds You in Annapolis, Maryland and a brief description:
In 1784 peace has been declared, but war still rages in the heart of Lark Benton.Never did Lark think she’d want to escape Emerson Fielding, the man she’s loved all her life. But when he betrays her, she flees to Annapolis, Maryland, the country’s capital. There Lark throws herself into a new circle of friends who force her to examine all she believes.
Emerson follows, determined to reclaim his betrothed. Surprised when she refuses to return with him, he realizes that in this new country he has come to call his own, duty is no longer enough. He must learn to open his heart and soul to something greater … before he loses all he should have been fighting to hold.
4 1/2 star Top Pick from RT Book Reviews!
“White writes an unpredictable love story that will keep the reader cheering for the characters.”
Roseanna, you are being kidnapped, but your kidnappers are somewhat kind and offer to let you bring three of your favorite books to help you pass the time. What do you bring?
Euclid’s Elements – that’ll keep me busy and my brain from turning to mush. (Didn’t expect me to name a geometry book, did you?! LOL). Laurie Alice Eakes’s A Necessary Deception, because I’m in the middle of it now, and it would just be awful not to know what happens. 
And . . . um . . . a blank (thick) journal/notebook. Because if Roseanna can’t write, Roseanna gets cranky. And we don’t want to be irritating the kidnappers, right? 😉
If you had to pick one book to read for the rest of your life, which would you choose. (In addition to the Bible. Will let you bring along that one as well because I know otherwise that would be your answer.)
Oh, good grief. Life with only one book other than the Bible?? I’d sooner perish! 😉 Much as I love all my fiction, I can’t imagine spending a lifetime with a single novel. So I’d probably vote for a book that would help tend my soul (which would need some tending with only two books!!), so I’m going to go for My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.
Wow. This is a real learning experience for me. So far you haven’t named a single book I would have guessed for you.
Let’s switch gears and talk about your current release. What makes Love Finds You In Annapolis, Maryland unique from other books in the genre?
The pure genius! Kidding, kidding. 😉 For one thing, the Colonial / Early Federal era is a growing but still small segment of historical fiction, which immediately sets it apart. And I also worked off a premise not often used—a hero and heroine who are betrothed at the beginning. Lark breaks the engagement when Emerson betrays her, and the story is largely about how one woos back a broken heart. Not too many out there like that. =)
I’ve read Love Finds You in Annapolois, Maryland, and I have to ask … do you think powdered wigs will ever come back in style? And will you be attempting to forge the way?
 |
| I don’t claim to be a fashionista … but seriously? |
I am literally laughing out loud at this one! When I first started doing research on the era, the whole idea of powdered wigs made me groan, roll my eyes, and wrinkle my nose. Did I really have to have my characters wearing them??
The answer was actually no—they’d gone out of style with the younger generation by then. =) But I just finished up a book set five years earlier, and my heroine in fact DOES wear powder and wigs, and I’ve come to appreciate the style . . . within the pages of a book or in a picture, LOL. I think I’ll just leave it safely there though, thanks.
Okay, good. Because I might have to rethink our friendship if you start showing up to awards dinners in a powdered wig. (Though it could be an effective marketing tool. I have $10 with your name on it if you don one for your book signing. $20 if you wear one to the ACFW gala dinner….)
 |
| Me and Roseanna at the ACFW awards gala. Wouldn’t a powdered wig complete the outfit? |
So, you’re not a fan of powdered wigs. If you could pick any fashion time period to live in, when would you choose?
Oh, this question gets me in a whole other way! I sooooo love old-fashioned styles. Let me go grab my favorite resource: Fashion: A History from the 18th to the 20th Century – The Collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute (which I found used for $5! Go, me!). I think a good compromise of all my favorite elements can be found in the 1850s. Ornate dresses with big skirts, but the hoop didn’t enter until the middle of the decade. Floor-length, well fitted, a variety of colors and fabrics . . . yes, I would be quite happy to live in 1850s clothing. In all seasons but the summer. Unless we’re transporting an air conditioner back in time with me. 😉
Name 3 writers, dead or alive, whom you would love to have a conversation with and why:
Francine Rivers is number one. I admire her so much for her books, her personal story, and her faithfulness in both. I’d love to have the chance to talk with her someday and get to know the woman behind some of my all-time favorite novels.
Next would be Cervantes (with an interpreter, please, as my Spanish is non-existent). His Don Quixote is the world’s first novel, which makes him my instant hero. =) I’d love to see what he thinks about the industry he helped pioneer, about how it’s grown and evolved, and if he had any idea that crazy story he penned hundreds of years ago would still be required reading today.
Hmm, I actually have had conversations with lots of authors I really admire or just plain adore, so it’s hard to pick a third that’s in dream-land . . . guess I’ll go with another writer of the past and name L. M. Montgomery, who may have shaped my life and my goals more than any other author. I read and loved the entire Anne of Green Gables series, but my absolute favorites are her Emily books, since Emily is a writer. =) I read those as a pre-teen then again in college, at which point I realized how much I’d tried to become Emily, LOL.
I have yet to read the Emily books. (And weren’t we just discussing what you could get me for Christmas…?)
Roseanna, you and I have bonded over the fact that we worked to get published while in high school. What are 3 things you wish you could tell high-school-writer-you?
 |
| Roseanna as a high school writer |
1.) Don’t assume that talent is enough. You need skill too. Which requires work. And lessons. And a lot more information than you had available in the days before blogs and online writing groups. Learn the rules and then follow them. For instance, let me explain POV and Show V. Tell . . . 😉
2.) Don’t try to have anyone else’s career. This path you’re on is yours, no one else’s. Don’t think you have to be Francine Rivers or Nora Roberts or Tom Clancy or Stephenie Meyer (who you wouldn’t have heard of yet) or anyone else. The Lord has a special plan just for you. So stop comparing yourself to other writers and go where He leads you.
3.) You’re doing great! In spite of all the mistakes you’ve made (and will keep making), you have a passion that doesn’t waver, and it’ll see you through. It’s that passion that’ll help you learn those first two lessons, and which will keep you on the path in spite of rejection after rejection. That passion will give you patience—which you’re gonna need, baby. Never give up—and never stop improving.
Roseanna has offered to give away a copy of Love Finds You in Annapolis, Maryland to one lucky US resident, which would be an excellent Christmas read for anyone! To get entered to win, share something you love about Christmas. It can be a tradition your family has that you cherish, the peppermint mochas at Starbucks, watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas, or anything else that strikes your fancy!