Thank you for joining us for our fourth installment of our interview with award-winning inspirational novelist, Leigh Bale. If you missed parts one, two or three, click here to see what we’ve been talking about.
Leigh, I was hunting around on your website and found a reference to your very first book, which you describe as being pretty bad. Do you have any plans to polish it up and submit it?
Absolutely not! (I’m chuckling here.) That book is so horrible, and would need such massive work, that I might just as well start over completely. But writing that book proved to me that I could do it. Writing and completing that novel showed me that I had the self-discipline to put my fanny in a chair and do the hard work to finish a 450-page book.
For me, this first book was a teaching tool. I learned so much about writing and the formation of scenes that once I found a group of other writers, I was able to share my frustrations and ask questions and receive feedback to help me see how I could strengthen my work. I’ve learned so much. How to “show” instead of “tell” my story. Good dialogue that helps move the story along. Point of view techniques. Building conflict, incentive and conflict throughout the story. Filtering texture throughout the book. Dynamic character development. These are just a few of the skills I started to learn with my first book. I say “started” because learning good writing techniques is a work of progress. Every time I attend a writing workshop or complete a new book, I learn something new. For me, the learning process never ends and I thrive on the challenge.
Because I typed my first book on a typewriter, if my house burns down, I would lose every bit of proof that this book ever existed. But I know what writing that book brought to my knowledge base and that’s what has enabled me to arrive at the skill level I now have to write better, more marketable products for people to enjoy.
What projects are you working on right now?
I am currently writing another emotional Contemporary Inspirational with poignant family-type of elements. I’ve recently completed an emotional Inspirational Suspense centered around a military theme, which I’m planning to revise and send out to editors soon. I also have some outlines I’m working on and I would love to finish a unique time-travel story I’ve been working on for the past three years.
Who are your favorite authors?
Wow! Have you got an hour?
I’ve never read a book by Nora Roberts, but I respect that woman’s business savvy and self-discipline. She’s incredibly prolific and has been publishing for about thirty years. While I’m unwilling to pay some of the dues Nora has paid to get where she is today, I still respect her accomplishments.
I admire Lynn Curland, not only because she is a friend and has offered me some tremendous advice when I was feeling pretty low about my writing career, but also because she has served as a great example to me in her own writing career. She has stuck to her values against an industry that loves to slather sex, violence and self-gratification throughout the commercial market.
Amongst all the dusty history books I read, I love consuming a good suspense or romance. I love books that offer good values and heroic characters that rise above their worst nightmare to defeat their demons, whatever they might be.
That sounds great!
We’ll conclude our conversation with Leigh Bale tomorrow. Be sure to visit her website and learn more about this fascinating author.
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