Interview with Carrie Fancett Pagels

Thanks for having me on your blog, Jodie!

What is your favorite book or work that you’ve written?  Why?

Yes, I have an as-yet-unpublished manuscript that is my favorite. It is currently titled “The Overseer’s Daughter” and I simply loved the heroine, the hero, and their story as well as the setting. The story made the rounds to most of the CBA publishing houses, except a few. Still praying it will be published traditionally.

 

I’m also very fond of my Return to Shirley Plantation: A Civil War Romance novella because of the theme of obedience plus a cast which includes multi-racial characters—something you don’t see too much of in inspirational fiction.

Why do you write?

I only write because God calls me to do so. Logically, I see no good reason for people to write Christian fiction—it has to be a calling. It’s very hard work with little return. God has encouraged me through people he’s put around me to lift me up on my journey. And when I’ve been ready to give up—He’s granted me awards or lovely reviews, etc., to urge me to keep writing.

What’s the hardest thing about publishing?

The hardest thing is cutting a story while still maintaining the integrity of what you’ve written. Writing the story “Snowed In” for Guidepost Books A Cup of Christmas Cheer was one of the easiest and most enjoyable things I’ve done (on the first draft). It was awesome “spending time” during 1945 at my great-grandparents’ log cabin (which is where it was set.) But when I had to trim 20% of the story down (which was within the guidelines of what was contracted for, so I’m not complaining, I’m simply stating the facts) that process was so difficult that I had to enlist two freelance editor friends to help me do so. Lesson learned. I’d stay at the lower end of guidelines for future submissions.

You have a new novella out. Is one of the characters your favorite?

Absolutely!  Josephine Christy wouldn’t leave me alone until I’d finished writing The Fruitcake Challenge! The story is inspired by my mother, who died four years ago. There’s a lot of Ruby in Jo Christy. She loved my husband, Jeff, and found him funny but rarely did she get to observe Jeffrey in

his “I’m almost always right” mode—which is what my character Tom Jeffries stays in until his character arc changes. Mom started life out in Kentucky and was then dragged off to the northwoods to lumber camps, by my grandfather but she found her way out of the camps by getting jobs in the last community where they’d lived. So I’d say Jo is my favorite character for her determination and spunk and because she reminds me of my mother!

What is one take-away from your book that you hope readers identify with?

Don’t ever give up hope! God has a plan for you. It may not look like anything you wanted to do. In fact, it might look like the exact opposite of what you were aiming for. Trust God and He’ll bless you with a future better than you could have imagined for yourself!

Thanks for having me on your blog, Jodie! 

Short Bio: Carrie Fancett Pagels, Ph.D.

Carrie Fancett Pagels, Ph.D. (www.carriefancettpagels.com) “Hearts Overcoming Through Time,” isThe Fruitcake Challenge, releases September, 2014. Her short story, “Snowed In,” appears in Guidepost Books’ A Christmas Cup of Cheer (2013). She’s the Amazon best-selling and top-rated author of Return to Shirley Plantation: A Civil War Romance (2013). Her Historical Genre winning short story, “The Quilting Contest,” will appear in Family Fiction’s The Story 2014 anthology. Carrie is a finalist in the 2014 Maggie Awards for Excellence for her unpublished novel, Grand Exposé.
an award-winning Christian historical romance author. Carrie’s novella,

Novella Title: The Fruitcake Challenge

The Fruitcake Challenge blurb

When new lumberjack, Tom Jeffries, tells the camp cook, Jo Christy, that he’ll marry her if she can make a fruitcake, “as good as better than the one my mother makes,” she rises to the occasion. After all, he’s the handsomest, smartest, and strongest axman her camp-boss father has ever had in his camp—and the cockiest. And she intends to bring this lumberjack down a notch or three by refusing his proposal. The fruitcake wars are on! All the shanty boys and Jo’s cooking helpers chip in with their recipes but Jo finds she’ll have to enlist more help—and begins corresponding with Tom’s mother.

Step back in time to 1890, in beautiful Northern Michigan, near the sapphire straits of Mackinac, when the white pines were “white gold” and lumber camps were a way of life. Jo is ready to find another life outside of the camps and plans that don’t include any shanty boys. But will a lumberjack keep her in the very place she’s sworn to leave?

Giveaway: I will give away an ebook copy of “The Fruitcake Challenge” novella and an autographed paperback copy of my novella Return to Shirley Plantation: A Civil War Romance.

Contact info

Carrie Fancett Pagels

www.carriefancettpagels.com

Facebook Author Page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Carrie-Fancett-Pagels/317053071710640?fref=ts

Facebook Personal Page http://www.facebook.com/carriefancettpagels

Twitter https://twitter.com/cfpagels

Pinterest http://pinterest.com/carriefpagels/

GoodReads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7043690.Carrie_Fancett_Pagels

LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=131454255&trk=tab_pro

Links to purchase

A Cup of Christmas Cheer, Guidepost Books

http://www.shopguideposts.org/new-releases/a-cup-of-christmas-cheer.html

Return to Shirley Plantation: A Civil War Romance 

Amazon  http://www.amazon.com/Murray-Puras-American-Series-ebook/dp/B00C2EZ5L6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1370264197&sr=1-1&keywords=carrie+fancett+pagels

Barnes and Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/murray-puras-cry-of-freedom-volume-1-return-to-shirley-plantation-murray-pura/1114941171?ean=2940016542836

God’s Provision in Tough Times

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Provision-Cynthia-Howerter-La-Tan-Murphy/dp/1938499441/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358266747&sr=8-1&keywords=cynthia+howerter