Rebekah Morris | Author Interview

I've "seen" Rebekah around author circles the past year, but it wasn't until a few months ago that we really began "talking" to each other via email. It has been such a joy to get to know her better!

She recently released a new short story. You may see my review of it here.

About the Story

Newly married, Elizabeth Leffler moves with her husband to his farm in the foothills of the western mountains. Eager to be a part of the town and community, she is disappointed by the cool welcome she receives. In her eagerness to fit in and find a place for herself, Elizabeth does the unthinkable.

Purchase this story on Amazon.

Interview with Rebekah

You have been a busy writer in the past few years! Can you tell us a little bit about how God led you to become a writer and how you've become published?

God’s ways sure are not man’s ways. Looking back now, I can see His hand guiding me toward writing even when I hated it! I loved reading and listening to unabridged books, which established a very good foundation for sentence structure, style, plots and so much more. I also loved to pretend. Seriously, my best friends and I were ALWAYS pretending something. It might be taking our “children” to church, or riding our “horses” (that looked an awful lot like bikes), or manning a ship on the sea. Anything and everything was play acting , and I think that really helped me be able to “become” the characters that I write about now.

Once I was ready to write, stories just started coming and I had to write them.

Getting published. When I was ready to publish my first book, I didn’t know of another homeschooled author who had written and published their book. I was on my own. After much looking, I decided to publish with Xulon Press. That was great. Except . . . I had no control over the price, I couldn’t make the book and ebook, I didn’t have money to advertise at all, and it would probably have taken me another couple of years to earn enough money to publish a second book. Enter Homeschool conference. There I met someone who introduced me to CreateSpace. I signed up for his short course, followed the steps, and published my second book. And the rest, is history.

What is your favorite stage of writing?

Oh, I love when a new story starts and I can hardly write fast enough to get my ideas down. But I also love watching the story unfold beneath my fingers as I type. And then ending, seeing the last few pages become a reality . . . But I really think my favorite part is when I get to tell my readers, “Hey, it’s finished!” and watch their excited responses, hear their delighted reviews and know that I’ve given them a good story to enjoy.

What is your least favorite stage of writing?

Probably those times when the story feels stuck. When I want to write and can’t. I think that is worse than editing because I edit as I go so I’m never stuck with an entire book to edit at once.

Do you have any future plans for writing novels?

Yep. Right now I have four novels started. Two are a little over half-way done while the others are patiently, or not, waiting their turn. And there are more stories in my head. I don’t think I’ll run out of stories to write any time soon. :)

Do you find much of your real life reflected on the pages of your novels?

Quite often I’ll find my characters going through things that I’ve gone though, thinking the same sort of thing that I’ve thought. And if you really want to know, most of the time, when the characters are talking and they scratch their neck or yawn, or something like that, it’s because I just did it. :)

What is the #1 piece of advice you'd give to an aspiring writer?

Learn from other authors, but don’t try to make yourself like them. Get ideas from them about how to write, but don’t decide that that is how you “have” to do it. Everyone is different and works differently. Be okay with being unique.

What are three non-writing things you enjoy doing?

Does reading count as non-writing? Because I LOVE to read!

I love knitting baby hats.

Playing the piano and my violin are near the top of my list.

So is hand quilting. But not piecing the quilt! :)

Okay, now for some 1-word answers (if possible ;))

Favorite verse?  Right now it’s Psalm 16:11.

Favorite color? Red (Always have loved red.)

Coffee, hot chocolate, or hot tea? Hot chocolate! Hate coffee and don’t like tea.

Winter or summer? Winter hands down!

Can a book be read a dozen times? ;) Or two dozen times. ;)

About Rebekah

Rebekah A. Morris has lived her entire life (as of now) in Missouri. Being home educated during her school years was great, except for writing. That was the worst subject (along with math) that she had to do. It wasn't until after she graduated that she discovered the joys and wonder of writing. Now she can't write enough. After spending six years in research and writing, she completed her first book, "Home Fires of the Great War," a 500+ page, historical fiction about home life in the United States and Canada during the First World War. Since then, she has been an avid writer and always has more than one story going on at once because only one story at a time got tiring and dull.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5126973.Rebekah_A_Morris

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/readanotherpage/

Website: http://readanotherpage.com/blog