Lorana Hoopes

Growing up in Texas was fun but hot. We used to fry eggs on our sidewalk just to watch them sizzle.

My first love was acting but my father said my morals were too high. Then I wanted to be a lawyer. I worked in radio for a time and am now currently a teacher, but I've always loved writing. I used to write small books when I was little and I read all the time.

Working with the church choir has helped draw me closer to God, so yeah I think it has. It also gives me a good view to watch people while I'm singing. I'm constantly thinking of how I could describe a face or a gesture.

Absolutely. Christian women (and some men) love a good romance story just as much as everyone else, but we don't want to read all the curse words or sexual encounters. We want to fill our minds with godly thoughts so we stay focused on God.

My Heartbeats series was inspired after watching a woman wave a banner about her reproductive rights outside a Planned Parenthood. I already knew from research that a lot of women don't believe a fetus is a baby and they are never told of the negative risks. My first two books especially talk about some of those negative risks including guilt and the inability to have future children. My hope is that women will start to realize there are other choices. Even the other three books in the series, while not as intense, show that even when you make mistakes there are other options such as adoption. I like to show redemption in my novels.

I usually have a basic plan but I'm not a plotter. I don't plot everything out. One book that really surprised me was When Hearts Collide. An ex boyfriend wrote himself back into my book, but I couldn't make the story work. I took him out and published the book, but eventually it bothered me and I rewrote his story giving him his own book, A Past Forgiven.

Lanie definitely took on some characteristics of me. My husband and I were going through a rough time when I wrote that book, and we felt much more like roommates than partners, so I really related to Lanie. Lanie also worked in radio which I did for many years. I also picture someone when I write my characters. I feel like it makes them easier to write if I have someone in mind.

The Star Lake romance is a less intense romance series set in a small town. The first book reunited two old friends who had never shared their feelings for each other. The second book centered around a second impression. The hero hadn't impressed the heroine in high school, but when she returns, he gets another chance. The third book follows an interracial couple. I became friends with an African American guy at my gym and was intrigued by our differences and similarities. He was my inspiration for Azarius, but I wanted to be sure I wrote him right.

The Power of Prayer as I said was inspired by Pro-choice signage. I wrote this book to show women there are other options. One really funny thing was I had a male friend read the book. He later told me his HS girlfriend had had an abortion without telling him, and he had been dealing with the grief and guilt for years and hadn't known it. No one ever thinks about how abortion affects men, but it does.

I started writing kids' books when my oldest son learned to read. He started bringing home chapter books but everything was in very simple sentences and that isn't the way we speak. So, I used him as a character and created the Wishing Stone books. Kids books are easier because they are shorter but harder because you have to keep your writing simpler and try to tell the story through the kids' eyes.

I sort of answered part of this in ten, but I enjoyed writing them because I used my own kids as the characters. It was fun to write their personalities in and see them come to life through the illustrator.

I think a lot of authors struggle with wondering if they will ever make it. We work really hard to put out great books and then when they don't do as well as we hoped, it gets discouraging. Also, it is hard when readers only want free books. I'd love to be able to put my stuff out there for free, but readers tend to forget we sacrifice our time to write these stories. We pay for editors and covers and promotions and the only way for us to put stories out faster is to be able to write more and the only way to do that is if we make enough to quit our other jobs. It's a vicious cycle.

I'm working on several things right now. I have a billionaire book coming out in August and a romance with a speculative fiction theme that I'm hoping to have done for September. I have at least two more slated for the Lawkeeper series and I'd like to write more in the Sage Creek Saga series. I have a lot planned as you can see. I just need more time to write. In five years, I hope to be making enough to be writing full time. I'd love to be able to volunteer at my kids' school.