What’s the story behind the story? What inspired you to write Camp Bliss?
One day last summer, I was taking my dogs on a long walk, and we passed a nearby church with the following passage on its marquee: “Where there is no love, put love and you will find love.” —St. John of the Cross. The idea for CAMP BLISS just hit me. A story about two people who find themselves stuck in a tough situation and have no choice but to make it work—and they fall in love in the process.
If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of Camp Bliss, what would they be?
“A Natural Woman” by Aretha Franklin. For so many reasons.
What books are on your TBR pile right now?
Unlucky Like Us by Krista and Becca Ritchie, Better Hate Than Never by Chloe Liese, and Not That Duke by Eloisa James.
What scene in your book was your favorite to write?
It’s hard to pick a scene I enjoyed writing the most. Putting Greta and Zach together in a scene always made me smile, but if I had to pick, it’d be the roof leak scene (laughs wickedly).
Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)
I write every day, usually early in the morning after I’ve exercised and walked my dogs, Mabel and Bud. But lately I’ve also stopped looking at my phone before I write. It’s been a challenge, but I think my brain and my creativity are better off.
If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?
Greta learns that forgiveness is about overcoming the lie. When someone hurts us, the hurt lingers when we allow ourselves to believe that we are the way the hurt made us feel: inferior, unlovable, inadequate, etc. Forgiveness is really about freeing ourselves from that lie. If we no longer label ourselves that way, then the injury we’ve sustained no longer weighs us down, and we are free. Forgiveness really is for ourselves, not for those who hurt us.
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