Good Monday Morning Readers!
Today, Angela Ruth Strong visits Lagniappe and discusses her latest release, False Security which she published with the other members of Team Love on the Run.
Welcome, Angela!
Tell
us a little about Team Love on the Run.
Team Love on the Run is a group of four writers who love
romantic suspense. We are going to be putting out a book set of novellas twice
a year. Our first one just came out, and it’s so much fun. I’m honored to get
to work with such great Love Inspired Suspense authors. My story is titled
False Security and was based on the idea of a character like Danny Ocean from
Ocean’s Eleven getting saved in jail. Of course, nobody is going to believe he’s
a changed man. Especially the woman
who arrested him.
If you could be any character, from
any book who would you be? Why?
Lady Blakeney from The Scarlet Pimpernel. I read this book in 8th grade, and I believe it’s where my love of hidden identities started. I mean, her husband was practically the world’s first super hero, and she didn’t even know it. How intriguing is that?
Lady Blakeney from The Scarlet Pimpernel. I read this book in 8th grade, and I believe it’s where my love of hidden identities started. I mean, her husband was practically the world’s first super hero, and she didn’t even know it. How intriguing is that?
What's on your writing playlist
these days?
Train. Their song Mermaid would be the perfect opening song to my manuscript Romancing the Throne (currently being shopped by my agent), and Save Me San Francisco fits my next novella for Team Love on the Run. But I’m probably partial to the band because my husband proposed to me in a movie theater to a slideshow of our lives with the song Marry Me.
Train. Their song Mermaid would be the perfect opening song to my manuscript Romancing the Throne (currently being shopped by my agent), and Save Me San Francisco fits my next novella for Team Love on the Run. But I’m probably partial to the band because my husband proposed to me in a movie theater to a slideshow of our lives with the song Marry Me.
What Bible verse speaks to you the
most?
Right now it’s I Samuel 16:7. “People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” This verse fits with the whole idea of hidden identities and also inspired False Security.
Right now it’s I Samuel 16:7. “People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” This verse fits with the whole idea of hidden identities and also inspired False Security.
Give
readers your brand/tagline and share how you came up with it.
“Light-hearted and life-changing.” I may write suspense, but it has to have some humor in it and it has to make the reader think deep thoughts, otherwise I don’t feel like I’ve done my job.
“Light-hearted and life-changing.” I may write suspense, but it has to have some humor in it and it has to make the reader think deep thoughts, otherwise I don’t feel like I’ve done my job.
What led you to choose the genre in
which you write? I’ve
always loved romance. That is until my ex-husband left me right after I sold my
first novel Love Finds You in Sun Valley, Idaho. Then I had to write the thing
while my own love life was falling apart, and I decided to never write romance
again. That is until I met Mr. Strong. *swoon* Love changes lives, people.
There’s nothing else I’d rather write about. The suspense part just kinda
happened when FBI agents started showing up in my stories and stuff.
What author's books do you enjoy
reading?
Besides the other authors on Team Love on the Run—Heather Woodhaven, Lisa Phillips, and Becky Avella—I also enjoy reading books by Deeanne Gist (also light-hearted and life-changing), Tracey Bateman (she makes me laugh and cry my eyes out), Rachel Hauck (do you see a theme here?), and Denise Hunter (she’s just amazing).
Besides the other authors on Team Love on the Run—Heather Woodhaven, Lisa Phillips, and Becky Avella—I also enjoy reading books by Deeanne Gist (also light-hearted and life-changing), Tracey Bateman (she makes me laugh and cry my eyes out), Rachel Hauck (do you see a theme here?), and Denise Hunter (she’s just amazing).
What is your hope for the readers of your
books?
HOPE. I love that word. It’s my life mission. So I HOPE to inspire, create, and encourage HOPE in myself and others through my writing.
HOPE. I love that word. It’s my life mission. So I HOPE to inspire, create, and encourage HOPE in myself and others through my writing.
Do you read your reviews? Do you respond
to them, good or bad? Do you have any advice on how to deal with the bad?
Heck yeah, I read reviews. I write for those people after all. If they love the book, I want to know. If they didn’t get it, I want to know. I appreciate feedback and try to learn from it. I can always grow.
Heck yeah, I read reviews. I write for those people after all. If they love the book, I want to know. If they didn’t get it, I want to know. I appreciate feedback and try to learn from it. I can always grow.
What is the most awkward situation you've
ever put your character(s) into?
Whoa, baby. I am so mean to my characters. In False Security, Laney pulls a gun on the man who loves her. And that’s just the beginning of my cruelty.
Whoa, baby. I am so mean to my characters. In False Security, Laney pulls a gun on the man who loves her. And that’s just the beginning of my cruelty.
Where is one place you want to visit that
you haven't been before and is it a place you'd set a story? Everywhere. And yes.
Give us the description of the ideal
person you wish would read your book.
You.
You.
Where did your love of books/storytelling/reading/writing
come from?
My parents. Dad tells stories. (Seriously. When playing “The Dating Game” my mom was asked what was one thing she would change about her husband and she said, “He wouldn’t tell so many stories.”) And Mom writes. (When I was little she sold an article about me to Woman’s World. They printed it along with a picture of me and my 8-year-old mullet haircut.)
My parents. Dad tells stories. (Seriously. When playing “The Dating Game” my mom was asked what was one thing she would change about her husband and she said, “He wouldn’t tell so many stories.”) And Mom writes. (When I was little she sold an article about me to Woman’s World. They printed it along with a picture of me and my 8-year-old mullet haircut.)
What's the worst job you've had and how
has it helped your writing?
Last fall I took a seasonal job at what I thought was going to be a gift shop like Harry and David’s. Good hours. Good pay. But … I also had to help out with butchering dead animals. For eight hours a day. Wearing an XXL butcher jacket in a freezing warehouse. My mom came to get a gift box and laughed her head off at me. Joe, the Mexican butcher, liked to lecture me about how I should have a real job and not just write at home. And the owner liked to make fun of how I always wore pretty shoes even though they got bloody. I hated it at first. HATED. But then I changed my attitude. And ended up changing the whole attitude of the place. Plus I realized how vanilla most of my characters are compared to real people who work at butcher shops. I will fondly remember the experience as “the Christmas of bloody pig butts.”
Last fall I took a seasonal job at what I thought was going to be a gift shop like Harry and David’s. Good hours. Good pay. But … I also had to help out with butchering dead animals. For eight hours a day. Wearing an XXL butcher jacket in a freezing warehouse. My mom came to get a gift box and laughed her head off at me. Joe, the Mexican butcher, liked to lecture me about how I should have a real job and not just write at home. And the owner liked to make fun of how I always wore pretty shoes even though they got bloody. I hated it at first. HATED. But then I changed my attitude. And ended up changing the whole attitude of the place. Plus I realized how vanilla most of my characters are compared to real people who work at butcher shops. I will fondly remember the experience as “the Christmas of bloody pig butts.”
What
can we expect from you in the future?
Falling
Hard will be book 2 from Team Love on the Run, releasing this fall.
I’m
entering a contest with Love Inspired Suspense, so I hope to be writing for
them soon.
My
agent is shopping a full-length romantic suspense titled Romancing the Throne.
Fingers crossed…ahem…I mean, God’s will be done.
I also
write for kids. My Fun4Hire series will delight reluctant readers ages 8-12.
The third book, The Food Fight Professional, released last month.
Check it out
at www.angelaruthstrong.com.
LIGHTNING
ROUND
These are sooo hard.
Plotter, Pantser, or Planser?
eReader or Paper book?
Biscuits or Dinner Roll?
Nora Roberts
or Diana Gabaldon?
Birthday Card: Email or Snail Mail?
Angela sold her first story to a national magazine while still in high school and went on to study journalism at the University
of Oregon. Her debut novel Love Finds You in Sun Valley, Idaho released in 2010. She started IDAhope Writers to inspire other authors, and she has currently won the Idaho Top Author Award two years in a row. Find out more than you ever wanted to know about her at www.angelaruthstrong.com.
BUY LINK FOR HER BOOK:
Angela, thanks so much for sharing!
Readers, thanks for visiting Lagniappe.
Angela's question to you:
What is your life mission?
Leave a comment to tell us YOUR answer!
I pray you find
"a little something extra"
in each of your days.
Marian
