Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this interview, free of charge, from JKS Communications, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about them
I'll be reviewing Lisa's new book tomorrow, but in the meantime, how about some info about an ebook of hers, and an author interview?
Synopsis: Elizabeth Gallagher has been balancing on the ragged edge for a while now. Then a rough case on the boards of her 911 operator’s job collides with a family conflict at home, and Elizabeth finds herself finally coming apart at the seams. A four-state road trip—trapped in a car with her mother—is the last thing she needs. Their destination may be beautiful Hatteras Island, but the reason for going is anything by pleasant. After one disastrous hurricane, and with a second one working its way up the coast, it’s time to convince Aunt Sandy to abandon her little seaside store on North Carolina’s Outer Banks and return to the family fold in Michigan. But when the storm sweeps through, the three women will discover that sisterhood and the sea can change hearts, lives, and futures . . . often in the most unpredictable of ways
There’s a little reality and a little imagination in The Sea Glass Sisters. Any good story is combination of both, I think. In the best stories, one thing feels very much like the other, both for the reader and for the writer. The story of Sandy’s little seashell shop on Hatteras Island began as a prequel novella for The Prayer Box, a simple enough project. A way for readers to get to know the setting and a few very special side characters ahead of time. But, as is typical with side characters, they have stories of their own. And when you look their way, they start spinning a yarn faster than you can say, “Grab a pencil and hang on!”
The Sea Glass Sisters quickly became its own story. The tale of one very special, very resilient seaside store and the women who regularly gather there. They prove that sisters aren’t created by blood, but by love. The shell shop girls make a very big difference in the life of Tandi Jo Reese, the main character in The Prayer Box, so it was a joy to spend time with this special sisterhood by the shore in The Sea Glass Sisters.
Every great sisterhood revolves around one very magnetic center of gravity. The woman at the center of a sisterhood is usually the sort of fearless, selfless, magical woman we all want to be. And that, in a nutshell, is Sandy of Sandy's Seashell Shop. She’s half battleax,half grandma Moses, half humanitarian, half tent preacher, half home decorator, and half old salty sea sage. Is that too many halves to make one whole? Suffice to say, then, that Sandy is a force of nature. A woman strong enough to live life on a sandbar in the middle of the ocean, to rescue her little Hatteras Island shop after one hurricane, and defiantly face up to another storm headed her way. You see, that shop on Hatteras is Sandy’s dream. It's her life, and she’s not about to give it up. But, her family has other ideas. They've come to bring Sandy home, to persuade her that it's time to give up the shop and finally retire inland.
But, you don't tell Seashell Sandy anything, and there's a reason for that too. I didn't pluck the character of Sandy out of thin air. When I was working on The Prayer Box, my mother's sister, my very own Aunt Sandy, declared that she wanted to be a character in the book this time. My Aunt Sandy lives in Florida, surrounded by salt air and lazy, swirling palms. She knows about life by the sea, so a story set on Hatteras Island seemed a natural fit for her. I told her to let me know who she wanted to be in the book. Of course, she had plenty of ideas. She wanted to own a seashell shop, and not just any seashell shop, but a truly special one.
She named it Sandy’s Seashell Shop. The name had a ring to it, and aside from that, it made a nice tongue twister. Aunt Sandy created her imaginary shop, and I wrote the original draft of The Prayer Box (and this is where truth and fiction come crashing together, mind you) prior to the massive strike of Hurricane Sandy last fall. The Prayer Box was already in production when I walked through a hotel lobby in October 2012 and saw a banner on the large screen TV that said, Hurricane Sandy clips Cape Hatteras. I nearly had a coronary right there at the Comfort Inn. Who would think they’d name a hurricane after my Aunt Sandy, and only months after I’d put her in a book and given her a seashell shop on Hatteras Island? Seriously… most hurricane seasons don’t even get to the end of the alphabet, and then of all the “S” names they could have chosen for the massive, “Perfect Storm” of the century, they had to pick Sandy? What are the odds of that, I ask?
Sometimes, truth really is stranger than fiction.
So that, my friends, is where the germ of the idea for The Sea Glass Sisters began – with the question, What if Sandy’s Seashell Shop faces, not one hurricane, but two in two years? Sandy of Sandy's Seashell Shop has a problem to deal with in The Sea Glass Sisters, and she’s a big one, and she’s storming up the coast, right toward Hatteras Island. Her sister, Sharon has decided it’s time to talk some sense into that woman before the storm hits. She’s dragged her daughter, Elizabeth, along for the ride, too, poor thing. Elizabeth doesn’t have a clue what she’s in for, and she’s got enough problems of her own, just trying to survive the emptying of the nest back home.
It’s no accident that Elizabeth’s empty nest blues found their way into my novella about three women who travel through a life-changing storm by the sea. As always, truth and fiction run pretty close together. The nest is looking rather empty around the Wingate house these days, too. I understand where Elizabeth is coming from. I think writers often find their current realities creeping onto the pages. When you get right down to it, writing amounts to a cheap form of therapy. My Aunt Sandy even pointed out that Elizabeth’s name is a perfect fit. Again, that was completely accidental. I just plucked Elizabeth’s name out of the air as I was writing, but it turns out that Aunt Sandy is right. I checked Wikipedia and found this little nugget of information: “Elizabeth and Elisabeth are the parent unit names of Libby, Liza, Lilly, Lisa.”
Go figure. Maybe Aunt Sandy isn’t the only one with a book fantasy. Maybe there’s a little bit of me that yearns to spend my days walking the shores of Hatteras and sipping coffee along Pamlico Sound with the Sisterhood of the Seashell Shop, too.
About Lisa : Lisa is a popular inspirational speaker, magazine columnist, and national bestselling author of several books, including Tending Roses, Talk of the Town, Blue Moon Bay, and Larkspur Cove, which won the 2011 Carol Award for Women's Fiction. Lisa and her family live in central Texas.
Visit www.lisawingate.com for more info.
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