Beach Dreaming

One of my favorite authors is Trish Perry. She’s been on my fave list since her first book, The Guy I’m Not Dating. And she’s up at the top again with her third book, Beach Dreams. It’s a story filled with fun, romance, the beach and a powerful message about how God uses even our mistakes to bring about His divine purposes.

To get the word out about Beach Dreams, she’s doing a very cool thing I hope you’ll take part in. So stretch your fingers and get ready for some fun…

What: a special contest for Beach Dreams

Prize: goody-filled beach bag

How: post a response to the following prompt: How has God used a mistake you made - big or small - for his purposes?

The example may be serious or funny, complex or simple, and you may or may not have realized He was even using it at the time it occurred. Tell your story and reference that you are participating in the Beach Dreams blog tour.

Then visit http://blogtourspot.com and add your post. All entries must be received by 5pm CST on August 22. Trish will judge the entries and declare her favorite.

To get you in a writing and reading mood, here’s a little about my friend, Trish, and her wonderful new novel, Beach Dreams…

Beach Dreams:

Following up on Sally John’s bestselling Beach House series is a brand new Beach House book from veteran Harvest House novelist Trish Perry.

Tiffany LeBoeuf recently lost her mother to cancer. Still grieving, Tiffany seeks rest for her body and soul at a cozy beach house in San Diego. A scheduling mix up causes a double booking, and Tiffany ends up sharing the house with a woman named Eve. When Eve’s boyfriend, Jeremy, arrives to surprise Eve, he’s surprised to see Tiffany as well. He settles in at the beach house next door, and what happens after that surprises them all.

To win a copy of Beach Dreams, just post a comment below!

Trish’s bio:

Trish Perry is an award-winning writer of The Guy I’m Not Dating and Too Good to Be True. Her most recent book, Beach Dreams, was released on July 1, 2008. She served for seven years as the editor of Ink and the Spirit, a quarterly newsletter of the Capital Christian Writers organization in the Washington DC area. She has published numerous short stories, essays, devotionals, and poetry in Christian and general market media, and she is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers group.

Trish lives in Northern Virginia with her son, and has a gorgeous adult daughter and an amazing grandson.

You can learn more about Trish at her website, http://www.trishperrybooks.com/.

An interview with Trish...

Tell us a little bit about your background and your family.

I’m the middle child; middle girl. I was raised as one of five kids by my British mum and my WWII Air Force vet dad. I lived in Newfoundland (Canada), California, Colorado, and finally Virginia, which I’ve called home for the greater part of my life. I love it here. Most of my family still resides in Virginia, which is a bonus.

My late sister lived a rough lifetime of medical problems, which had a distinct bearing on our family lifestyle and our sensibilities toward the hardships of others. Her eventual death may have been a blessed relief for her, but it was a huge loss for us. The loss is what brought me to the Lord.

Both of my children are believers, which brings me such peace. I have a 29-year-old daughter, who is one of the coolest, smartest, most intuitive women I know. She’s blessed me with a remarkable grandson, now five. And my 16-year-old son is brilliant and funny, and he tells me daily that I’m weird (but I can hear the “I love you” in there when he says it).

If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

Well, hands down, I’d have to be able to teleport. Frankly, I’d travel a lot more if it weren’t for airports! I would have chosen the superpower of flying, but who wants to carry all that luggage in the air? If I could teleport, I could have my luggage in my circle of teleportability (you have heard of those, yes?), and it would teleport with me, free of luggage searches and additional-baggage fees.

What has God been teaching you lately?

I’ve been blown away by how clearly He forgives my weaknesses. Things have occurred in my life over the past 18 months for which (right or wrong) I carried a burden of guilt. You know, that feeling of “how did I contribute to this mess?” Yet He has blessed me so abundantly in the midst of my feelings of conviction, that He amazes me daily with His obvious love. The blessings keep me humbly aware of how much I need Him. And they instill in me such a strong desire to serve Him and to follow His guidance and will.

What’s next in your writing?

I’ve just begun work on the follow-up to Beach Dreams, which is tentatively called Sunset Beach. We’re expecting a June 2009 release, but that’s not definite yet. The book’s setting will be the same, but all of the characters will be new. I’m having fun with it!

How do you find time to write?

At the moment I’m blessed to not have to work an outside job, but I expect that to change in the next year or so. Still, I have to deliberately keep my schedule focused first on writing. Sometimes it feels as if I have the time to get back into the worship team at church or to beef up my social commitments. But I’ve learned to avoid putting too much on my plate, and it has resulted in my finding enough time to get my writing done. My son is now 16 and just got his driver’s license, so that has freed up some time for me as well. I’d actually like to write more than I do, so I guard against throwing my time away.

When you write do you generally know where you’re headed or are you sometimes as surprised as your characters about the way things end?

There is always surprise, no matter how well I plan out a book’s progress. I was just talking with my editor about that the other day, the fact that the initial summary I write might change a bit as events unfold around my protagonist. I think that’s happened with every book I’ve written. I typically write a summary, which tells me generally where the story will go, and then I write a sentence or two per chapter idea, and then I start hammering away on Chapter One. As I write actual chapters, the events between “Once upon a time” and “The End” evolve in more significant ways than I expected in the first place. It’s an exciting process!

What would you say to someone who wants to become a published author?

Give the endeavor to God first. And daily. When doubts arise (and they will), you must be able to fall back on the knowledge that your efforts are for Him. And know that He will never show you the way by crushing your efforts with rejection and desolation. If He wants you to do something other than writing, He’ll lovingly draw you to that other endeavor.

That said, take all the practical steps to learn the craft and the business. Read (both how-to’s and novels), write, network, and submit. Over and over again.

Where did you get the idea for Beach Dreams?

I wanted very much to write a book about Jeremy and Tiffany, who were secondary characters in my first two books (The Guy I’m Not Dating and Too Good to Be True). I started to write the third book with the same setting as my first two, but then Harvest House asked if I would move the setting to fit The Beach House Series, the first two books of which were written by Sally John. So I started over and made my east coast protagonists travel across country to sunny San Diego. It was fun to create that facet of their story—it added quite a few layers to the plot. In fact, the circumstances of their getting together was completely different than what I originally planned.

What are the major themes of the book?

The importance of seeking God’s guidance constantly surfaces in my stories—the different circumstances that drive my themes usually fit under that umbrella.

Situations aren’t always as they appear, for example, and we can be fooled or we can misjudge others if we don’t constantly seek God’s wisdom and guidance. And sometimes we can miss out on His blessings if we fail to see situations as He means us to.

Another theme that emerged was how difficult it can be when a believer is drawn romantically to a nonbeliever. I’ve touched on the subject before, but in Beach Dreams, the nonbeliever is someone who feels almost real to me (and many readers) at this point. I feel a renewed empathy for Christians in these circumstances. Again, God’s guidance and strength are so important.

Why did you decide to bring back characters from your previous books?

There was such an unfinished feel for me with regard to Jeremy by the time I finished my first draft of Too Good to Be True. He had become so lovable, but he was still alone and spiritually lost. Both my editor and I hoped there would be an opportunity to do a third novel, with Jeremy and someone falling in love and Jeremy getting a clue about Christ. Because Tiffany had been such a pain in The Guy I’m Not Dating and for much of Too Good to Be True, it was fun showing how God could reach even her. So her development became intriguing to me, too. Surprisingly, I received requests from many readers to throw these two characters together. I’m not such a unique thinker after all!

What is a mistake - big or small - that you’ve made that you could later see God used for a specific purpose and how did he use it?

I was deeply into adulthood when I went back to school to earn a degree. Rather than fretting over having waited so long, I focused on the fact that now I knew what I really wanted to be. A psychological therapist. You couldn’t have found a more attentive, diligent student, and I did well. So, when I neared graduation and realized I had developed an overwhelming desire to write fiction, I freaked out just a little. How could I switch gears yet again? Had I just wasted years earning a degree I wasn’t going to actually use? That felt like a huge mistake.

But God knew what He was doing. If you want to do an in-depth study of character goals, motivation, and conflict, you go on out there and earn a degree in Psychology. I may not be too quick in the plotting and scene-setting departments, but my psychological training comes in handy when creating characters and walking with them through life. I think that’s why God led me to get that degree, and now I know I didn’t waste a moment learning what I did.


Want to learn more about Trish? Check out the links below…

Trish’s Website and Blog

Beach Dreams on Amazon

Read an excerpt

And you can surf on over to some other fun blogs and find out even more about Trish during her blog tour August 11 - 22

A Christain Romance Writer’s Journey
A Peek at My Bookshelf
Amber Miller
Artistic Blogger
Behind the Mountain
Blog Tour Spot
Book Junkie Confessions
Book Nook Club
Book Room Reviews
Camy’s Loft
Christy’s Book Blog
Edgy Inspirational Author Blog
Fictionary
Footprints in the Sand
Gatorskunz and Mudcats
Heart Chocolate
His Reading List
I Don’t Wanna Blog
Kells Creative Musings
Lighthouse Academy
Lone Star Latte and Libre
Margaret Daley
My Christian Fiction Blog
Mystery, Suspense, and God, Oh My!
Net’s Notes
Readin’ N Writin’ with Patricia
Real Women Scrap
Refresh My Soul
See Ya On the Net
Sips ‘N Cups Cafe
So Many Books. . . So Little Time
The Friendly Book Nook
The O.L.D. Blog
The Writing Road
Toni V. Lee
Write by Faith
wandering, wonderings of a whacked-out woman
Writing on the Edge