Trish Perry, author of Sunset Beach.

by Molly Noble Bull
www.mollynoblebull.com

Molly:
Today I am interviewing Trish Perry. Welcome to Books That Inspire.
Trish, tell about your exciting Beach House series and the names of your current and upcoming novels. .
Trish:
I’ll try not to gush or ramble, Molly. This is a little like asking a grandma about her grandkids.
The books in The Beach House Series each feature different characters, but they’re all set at the same little beach house in San Diego. Sunset Beach is my most current installment in the series. It’s about a young woman, fresh out of college, who engineers a gathering of people at the beach house in order to uncover a lifetime’s worth of secrets about her parentage and family history. She gets more than she bargained for, including a romantic flash from her past.
My other beach house book is Beach Dreams. It involves a brand new believer—a formerly bad, conniving girl who we come to love. Through a scheduling mix-up, she has to share the beach house with another woman who would be a challenge to Mother Teresa’s patience, let alone our formerly snarky heroine’s. When the roommate’s wonderful, unappreciated boyfriend arrives in town, he further complicates the situation and eventually adds an unexpected spark of romance to our heroine’s beach getaway.
My first two published novels are The Guy I’m Not Dating and Too Good to Be True. The Guy I’m Not Dating is about a fitness trainer who vows to go the no-dating route to relationships right before she ends up on a road trip with an amazing guy who seems perfect for her.
And in Too Good to Be True, an elementary schoolteacher, whose philandering husband divorced her a year prior, falls for a charming male nurse but struggles with the fear of being hurt again. And both of these dear young people have major mommy issues.
My upcoming novels will be for a new series called The Tea Shop Series, set in beautiful, historic Middleburg, Virginia. The first booking the series is The Perfect Blend. It will be release until early 2011.
My blog is on my website, which is www.trishperry.com.
Molly:
Thanks. Now tell us a little about Trish Perry.
Trish:
I was born in Newfoundland, Canada, but I’ve lived in the U.S. since I was a toddler. Although we traveled around the country like gypsies when I was very young, I’ve lived in Northern Virginia most of my life, and I’ve always loved it here. Much of my family still lives in this area, which is wonderful.
I have a gorgeous adult daughter and a brilliant and hilarious son.
Molly:
What would you like to say to young people who might want to one day become novelists? Is there a special book on fiction writing that you can recommend?
Trish:
I always say this to any writer who will listen: pray about your writing. Every day. Ask for God’s guidance with regard to your writing, and turn your writing efforts over to Him every day. That way, you’ll always know your writing is going the path He’s set for it. That knowledge eliminates so much of the angst that can go along with this craft. And try to get into the habit of writing; you’ll see how that habit will sharpen your skills at observing life around you. You’ll notice more about people, about sensations, about emotions. Write down what you notice—you never know what God might be preparing you for in the notes you take.
The book that helped me get started on my first novel, back in the 90s, was Donna Levin’s Get That Novel Started (and Keep it Going ‘Til You Finish). Very helpful in simplifying what seemed like an overwhelming task. I think her more current version is called Get That Novel Written. There are oodles of books I’d recommend to anyone farther along the writing path, if they want to contact me through my website.
Molly:
It was great having you today, Trish, and I hope you will come back real soon. Next month my guest will be Linore Rose Burkard. See you then.