Nancy Radke Interview Published on: 04, Sep 2018

Tell us about your childhood. How has it influenced you as a writer?

That’s a tough one, since I feel my childhood influenced everything about me. Ranch kids are expected to grow up quick, and learn to handle tough decisions. Sometimes I was the only one around, making life or death decisions, usually involving an animal. I also went to a one- room country school, eight grades, sixteen to eighteen kids, one main teacher, where we were all expected to help each other. Older kids taught the younger ones, and helped them. Later I became a teacher, and I still teach things through my stories.

You have mentioned that you would make up stories while exploring the Blue Mountain trails. Do stories usually come to you in this manner even today? What is the most bizarre situation from which you have derived the plot or an event of a book?

I write so many stories today, that I don’t know where they are going when I start them out. As the characters develop, things happen, sometimes because of something I put in earlier in the book, but didn’t realize how I would use it until later. That happened in the Sunniest Gal from Tennessee, as I had her meet a young girl on the train, then used the job the girl was going to as the basis for a later event. I have actually dreamed a plot, woke up long enough to write it down, then gone back to sleep again.

You have published a lot of collections like Love, Christmas and Sweet and Sassy in collaboration with other authors. What is something you have learned from these authors about writing and publishing?

Not really much about writing as I picked that up during years in RWA, but we have an excellent promoter, and that is one thing I’m not good at at all. I just do what she tells me to do. So do the other authors, pretty much.

You have mentioned that your focus was more on the gentle humor and romance in your novel Turnagain Love, rather than a great mystery. Why did you decide to write the book in this manner?

It is easy to write action, but humor is the hardest thing to write. I wanted to work just on humor when writing it, to get that experience, and learn how to write it. Now most of my books have some humor in them.

What inspired you to publish Turnagain Love? What were some of the unexpected challenges you faced while publishing it?

Turnagain Love was first published by a small press. When they went out of business, I took the book back. A good friend called me and suggested I join their writers group, bring up to date the eight books I had already written, and self-publish them. I just had to learn how to put them up on Amazon, and also hired an excellent cover artist, Su of Earthly Charms. I had the group giving me advice when I needed it, so didn’t have too many difficulties.

Can you tell us about the protagonist of Closed Doors and his unique dilemma?

This successful business man had never learned to read, as his eyes muscles did not track together, making the words jump around on the page. He had tricked his secretary into reading for him, but she gets married (to one of the characters from Turnagain Love), so he hires a reading tutor. There was a Reader’s Digest article on successful people who are non-readers, terrified that others would find out about them.

Which was your favorite book to write in the Sisters of Spirit series and why?

My favorite book was Appaloosa Blues, since it took place in the Blue Mountains and was where I rode all the time. My favorite hero is Hugo, who has a unique sense of humor that just pops out whenever I write about him. Hugo was in Scorpion’s Trail, and then I used him as a secondary character in Spirit of a Champion and Height of Danger. Some characters have that humor. Stuart Jones has it in my latest story, The Holiday, but Jesse Trahern didn’t have it in his story, Trouble Never Knocks. I can’t force a character to be funny if he doesn’t want to be.

Can you tell us about your USA TODAY best-selling novel and how this achievement influenced you as an author?

This came about from being in the writing group, since to sell so many books as an indie author, it takes a combined effort to promote. It was a great achievement, and one which I couldn’t have reached without having the group behind me, and also without having so many stories already out, that people liked to read. This is especially true of my pioneer westerns. I write books that have the feeling of a Louis L’Amour story, and have gained a huge following from them. Both men and women read them and keep asking for more. I’m working on number 14 right now.

You have mentioned that you enjoy writing more than reading. Why is it so? Is there anything that you would say you enjoy more than writing?

I enjoy creating things, so enjoy writing where my characters come to life as I tell their story. When I read, I have to follow someone else’s plot. I love a good Alistair MacLean book, and many others, but since I speed-read, I go through them quite fast. When I write, I’m naturally slower and enjoy the book longer.

Why did you decide to produce a Bible series for children on DVD? What do you hope this series will achieve?

I’ve taught Bible classes for almost sixty years now, and am always wanting a picture to illustrate a point. So I decided to do this project with my daughter’s help (she is also a Bible teacher) and the help of some preachers who act as editors and guides. I took one year to write the script, from Genesis to Revelation, and then we went over it, making it more kid-friendly in the words used, and accurate in the events. Kids were coming into Bible classes with no knowledge of the Bible at all. We wanted to help make our country God-strong again, long before President Trump picked up that phrase. Kids watch this, and in an amazingly short time have a huge Bible background, since we are using the best teaching method possible, where they hear the story told to them as they see the many pictures illustrating each point.

At what point did you begin considering yourself to be an author?

I guess when my first book, Turnagain Love, was accepted by a publisher.

What has been your biggest achievement that is not related to writing?

Planning and building my own homes, raising a family.

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

Cooking, sewing, painting, gardening. I used to do horseback riding and hiking, but don’t get much of that anymore.

What book ideas are you currently working on?

A Trahern western…all plotted out, which is why it is so slow getting written. Also a Brothers of Spirit book, #2, which is a mystery called Terminal Pursuit. Just finished The Holiday and Trouble Never Knocks.

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