Allison Pittman ~ Interview + Giveaway!

*You can earn up to 4 entries in this giveaway. Read below for details*

Today author Allison Pittman is telling us about her new book, Lilies in Moonlight (April 2011 -- [unofficial] baseball series #3). She has offered an autographed copy of her book to one lucky commenter. She will also be stopping by throughout the week to answer your questions! So if you have anything you want to ask her, you can leave a comment on this post to find out the answer!

Welcome, Allison! Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m married to the greatest guy in the world, and we are parents of three amazing teen-age boys. So, life is exhausting! I left a teaching career about six years ago, and I’m so glad God has allowed me to make a living as a writer so I can be more available to my family.

Tell us about your salvation experience.
I was actually saved at a very young age—8 years old—in a tiny Baptist church in Tooele, Utah. And, while I know my childhood experience was genuine, I have so many milestones in my life that mark times when I felt more secure in my salvation—where it became so real to me. As a child and teen-ager, living in my Christian home, I didn’t have to look to my faith to get me through many situations. But, striking out on my own—and often failing—my faith became more solid.

How do you handle disasters/BIG problems? Do you have a funny or interesting story showcasing how you handle them?
Usually, not well, which is why I think God is gracious enough to shield me from a lot of disaster. But, once—a few years into my writing career—I got my first big advance check. (I don’t know how other authors would view the amount, but to our little family it was HUGE!) So, I endorsed it and put it on our bookshelf, thinking my husband would put it in the bank. He, of course, thought I would put it in the bank since it was my check. Well, neither of us did, but we continued to spend and spend away as if we had. The result? Overdraft charges galore. I cried and cried, begging my husband’s forgiveness. The next morning, I put on a new green jacket (bought just after the account went negative), and channeled my best Scarlet O’Hara as I went to the bank to beg for mercy. They were actually quite nice and forgave every overdraft fee. From then on it’s a given: I do the banking!

Tell us something surprising about yourself that readers may not know.
I’m actually a horrible reader. Very, very slow. I rarely read more than one book a month. I just can’t devote hours and hours like I know many other readers can. I get restless—even if the story is good. I’ve NEVER finished a book in one sitting, and if I’m not enthralled by page 72, it never gets finished.

What is one book that you recently read and would recommend to your readers?
A Woman’s Place by Lynn Austin. That, I admit, I listened to while on a cross-Texas drive, but it was AMAZING. I love World War II stories, and it captured the era beautifully. I arrived home with about 15 minutes left to listen, so the next day I picked up lunch at a drive through and went to a local park to just sit in the car and listen.

What is your favorite time of day to write?
I write from about 10:00 am to 3:00 pm every day. But, my favorite—and most productive—writing sessions happen when I take my laptop to a local coffee shop and settle in for an hour or so.

If you compared your writing style to any other Christian Fiction author, who would it be? Also, how would you rate the romance in your books?
I have a hard time comparing my writing to other people. Maybe Robin Lee Hatcher, because she also has a few titles that swirl around the turn of the century. As for romance, that can be tricky, especially with this title. On stage, the characters do nothing more than kiss, but Lilly is a woman with a past and Cullen is a man with desires, so those deeper thoughts/elements of sexuality play a role in the story.

What are you working on now or going to write next?
You have no idea how badly I wish I had a definite answer for that! I have quite a few ideas/proposal swirling back and forth between my agent, my editors and me. But, the immediate future holds the second title of The Sister Wives series, with Forsaking All Others releasing in September.

Book’s back cover blurb:

After a roaring night on the town, fun-loving flapper Lilly Margolis, dazed and disoriented, twists her ankle and falls into the backyard of a wealthy family where the effects of the Great War—over for more than half a decade—are still endured. Inside the walls of the Burnside mansion, Cullen Burnside, a disillusioned and disfigured veteran, and his widowed mother, Betty Ruth, who daily slips a little further into dementia, lead a lonely existence … until Lilly. Whimsical, lighthearted, and beautiful, she rejuvenates their sad, disconnected lives and blossoms in the light of their attention.

But Lilly, like Cullen, is hiding from a painful past. And when Cullen insists on returning her to her faraway home, their budding attraction seems destined to die on the vine. The resulting road trip becomes a journey of self-discovery—but what will Cullen and Lilly find at journey’s end?

What research did you have to do for this book?
I read a lot of F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby, of course, and several short stories) to try to get a feel for the period—not just the look of it, but the attitude. The 20’s is characterized by being a “roaring” good time, but a lot of that roaring masked a disillusioned loss of innocence. I watched a ton of silent movies to get an idea of how this story might be blocked into scenes.

Who would you pick to play the lead roles if this book was made into a movie?
That’s a bit difficult for this book, as Cullen is badly burned from the mustard gas used in World War I. My best pick would be Jesse Spencer (though he’d have to lose his Australian accent!). As for Lilly—well, she is totally based on a former student of mine named Stephanie Stuart who is an aspiring actress. So, if it ever happens, I’d want her…

How can readers get in contact with you?
I have an Author Page on facebook (Allison Pittman Author Page), and they can always email me through my website— http://www.allisonpittman.com/.

Is there anything you would like to add, or tell your readers?
I absolutely love this story. I truly feel it is my most romantic novel to date—just an old-fashioned Beauty-and-the-Beast love story.

~~~~~

**USA addresses only, please**

Okay readers, here is your chance to win an autographed copy of Lilies in Moonlight!

TO ENTER:

*Leave a comment with your name and email address (so I can contact you if you win). The comment is mandatory. You will not be entered unless you leave a comment AND your email address.

*If you leave a comment you will be entered unless you specify that you do not want to be entered.

*Here are the ways to get entries:

(First entry) The mandatory comment saying you would like to be entered with your email address.

+1 Become one of my followers OR subscribe to my blog by email.

+2 Read and leave a comment on my review of Driven.

**You can earn a total of 4 entries if you do all of the above entry options. Make sure to tell me in your entry comment on this post which of the things you did to get extra entries. (You can put them on one comment if you want to, you don’t have to separate each entry into its own comment or anything like that.)**

*The contest will run from today (April 22) until 6:00 CST on Thursday (April 28). I will announce the winner that night. The winner is always randomly drawn. I will contact the winner either directly after choosing him/her or on Friday the 29th, and then that person will have one week to reply. If the winner doesn't reply within that time period, I will pick a new winner.

Good luck! Thanks for visiting.