Seralynn Lewis

I grew up in northeastern Ohio, an area where overcast weather prevailed for most of the year. The quaint village where I grew up was steeped in history. It was a stop on the underground railroad during the civil war and President McKinley was raised there. During the summer months, I spent a lot of time riding my bike with friends, playing kickball in the local church's parking lot, and going to the library. I sat on the banks of Yellow Creek and reading Nancy Drew and archeological mystery books.

My most cherished memory was having lived in California. I remember pinching myself and thinking, am I really here? It was a dream come true to have lived in California. My husband and I took weekend trips to Lake Tahoe, San Francisca, Napa, and Sonoma. I totally appreciated having those wonderful locales to travel to at a moment's notice.

I'm not certain I understand the question but for me, general romance is every era and sub-genre of romance fiction of which contemporary romance is a part of general romance. Whereas contemporary romance is a specific era of romance. It's current-day romance and they contain elements of life that may, at some point, date the books.

The first story I read was part of the Encyclopedia Britannica for children. I don't exactly recall the title but it had something to do with 900 buckets of paint. It was one of my favorite stories as a child, along with Nancy Drew mysteries. I think a lot of women of my era were enthralled with them. A few years ago, I downloaded a Nancy Drew mystery from my local library and wanted to relive what it was that captured my imagination with the series.

This is a hard question. The first story was inspired by one scene that I worked on for a writing workshop I attended. It ballooned into a trilogy and there will be more than three stories. The series came about because I was told publishers and agents wanted authors who were capable of writing more than one novel. Essentially, it meant I had to write a series. And I needed a name for the series and it came to me one evening as I fell asleep.

This is also a really hard question. She evolved from a sister in Cassie's Secrets to the main character in Mia's Irishman. I needed an occupation that would have taken Mia away from her hometown, then I needed a backstory and that's how Mia's life in New York City began.

This story started out as a single scene for a workshop and evolved. Both the widowed business owner and the single mom were in that scene. I won't tell you which scene, I asked my readers to guess which scene it was. (Hint: it wasn't the first scene.)

Usually, I spend all of a Sunday afternoon researching and preparing for the Bible Study. We take off the month of December to focus on family and will return in January.

I'm friends with a lot of different authors in different genres. I'm a member of two local writer's groups and have other author friends in the deep south, Chicago, and San Diego. They have all helped in one form or another. They have either critiqued my stories or have allowed me to critique and edit theirs. Having other authors to chat with on a regular basis inspires my imagination. There's a lot of brainstorming that goes on when an author is a part of a critique group.

That it's incredibly difficult today to publish a manuscript through the traditional means of publication. Publishers require a platform before they will give you the time of day. They are in publishing to make money. If I were a lot younger, I would have exhausted every avenue of traditional publishing before I tackled self-publishing. But I'm not. So, for me, that was a huge consideration. Publishers also require their authors to market their books. As a self-published author, you're in charge of all of it: finding a great editor, awesome cover artist, a great book formatter, and a mechanism to market your books. Learning is key, but the story trumps all of it. If the story isn't any good, the rest doesn't matter.

My daughters live in other parts of the country and have full and busy lives so they have the books but have not yet read them.

Funny you should ask this question. I submitted the manuscript in November of 2019 and promptly forgot about it. I didn't know I was semi-finalist until another author friend told me about it...then I forgot about that when I made finalist. Too funny.

Keeping my focus on the tasks at hand and completing them. If I have to do something and it's hanging over my head like a proverbial sword swinging to and fro, I lose focus because that one thing overshadows everything else. I also keep my eyes on Jesus. He gives me strength and that focus I need to keep going.

My next book, Kate's Quest, which is book #3 of the Women of Worthy series will be out in the winter of 2021.

I have enjoyed All Author and especially love the teasers, mockups, and giffies available. The stats are a huge help as well. I'd like to know more about how to market on the site. Marketing will be my focus for 2021.