Trish Perry ~ Interview + Giveaway!

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

Today author Trish Perry is telling us about her new book, Tea for Two (Tea with Millicent series #2 -- April 2011). 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!

Author BIO:

Award-winning novelist Trish Perry has written eight inspirational romances for Harvest House Publishers, Summerside Press, and Barbour Publishing, as well as two devotionals for Summerside Press. She has served as a columnist and as a newsletter editor over the years, as well as a 1980s stockbroker and a board member of the Capital Christian Writers organization in Washington, D.C. She holds a degree in Psychology.

Trish’s latest novels, Unforgettable and Tea for Two both released in March. She invites you to visit her at http://www.trishperry.com/

Welcome, Trish! Tell us about your salvation experience.
I was raised in a Catholic home, so for as long as I can remember, I’ve believed Jesus is the Son of God who died for my sins. But I was an adult (and had walked away from the Church) before I sought a closer relationship with Jesus and learned all about the true redemption, salvation, and loving guidance Jesus offers to those who accept it from Him. At that time, my sister was dying from a terrible fall down some stairs. I didn’t know how best to pray for her. A secular counselor advised me simply to pray that God would help me accept whatever His will was for her. The peace I gained through that prayer was so intense, I decided to turn my heart and control of my life over to God and His Son. I’ve followed the Lord ever since.

How do you handle disasters/BIG problems? Do you have a funny or interesting story showcasing how you handle them?
I’ve had my share of meltdowns, that’s for sure. My pattern is usually the same when the event is devastating to me: shock, total emotional meltdown, and then complete throwing of myself at the Lord and asking for help.

Rather than giving you one of the sadder stories, I’ll tell you about the time I was under an amazingly tight book deadline when my computer starting acting up. Like a dummy, I hadn’t printed out a hard copy of my manuscript. I paid to have Geeks on Call come to my home to fix my computer. The nice young geek assured me he could make it all better. It wasn’t until he left that I realized he had somehow deleted all but the four most recent chapters. He had erased the first 16 chapters I had written. I actually fell to the ground and wailed into the floor. Eventually I got around to praying about it, and it was a total beg-fest.

Praise God my critique partners still had quite a few of my chapters. I ended up having to rewrite about four chapters, which was a breeze compared to 16.

Tell us something surprising about yourself that readers may not know.
I sang on stage at the Kennedy Center in the Nation’s Capital. That sounds more impressive than it was. Years ago, when I was in high school, our choral director was so phenomenal he eventually went on to become the Grammy-winning director of the prestigious Washington Oratorio Society, which performs with the National Symphony. Before that, though, he managed to arrange for our high school chorus to sing with the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center. It was a heady experience!

What is one book that you recently read and would recommend to your readers?
It doesn’t release until September, but Sandra D. Bricker’s Always the Wedding Planner, Never the Bride is great fun. I read it for endorsement and enjoyed every minute of it.

What is your favorite time of day to write?
Late morning, usually. I need to spend some time with God and wade through emails and find out what’s going on in the world before I can shut everything down and dive into my imaginary world. But when I’m under a tight deadline, I tend to start immediately after my devotional time, just to be sure I’ll meet my daily quota.

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?
Well, that’s a funny one, because I just finished recommending a Sandie Bricker book, and I think she and I actually write in a somewhat similar voice. I suppose that’s why I would recommend her book to my readers. I’d give the romance in my books a G to PG. I always have some kissing, and there is the occasional appreciative thought about how attractive the hero is, that kind of thing. But nothing racy.

What are you working on now or going to write next?
I just sent off the finished manuscript for a Christmas novella set I wrote with Debby Mayne, called Love Finds You on Christmas Morning (September release from Summerside Press), and I’m finishing up my contribution to a book of devotions tentatively called Your Grace is Sufficient . . . But Decaf is NOT (also with Summerside), and then I start on a novella for Barbour, called Labor of Love, for its Midwife’s Legacy collection (releasing March 2012).

Book’s back cover blurb:

Zack Cooper tries his best to raise his children, but he's losing his grip on them in their teen years. They've both had scrapes with the local law.

Tea Shop owner Milly Jewel has the perfect woman in mind to help Zack. Counselor Tina Milano meets weekly at the tea shop with her women's group. Milly encourages Zack and Tina to work together to draw the teens back before they get in even hotter water. Milly never thought things might heat up between Zack and Tina. Or did she?

Tina's connections with the Middleburg police department prove a mixed blessing for Zack and his kids. Both her best friend and old boyfriend are officers on the force.

And when Tina's women's group gets wind of her personal pursuits and clashes, they want to help. The group's meetings at the tea shop take on a slightly different flavor. Tina wonders who, exactly, is counseling whom.

What research did you have to do for this book?
I had already researched Middleburg for The Perfect Blend, but I needed to do some psychological research and look into the local farming industry, the Middleburg police department, and a number of regular village events. And, of course, there were Milly’s recipes, which I adapted to my own preferences after much taste testing and weight gaining.

Who would you pick to play the lead roles if this book was made into a movie?

 I pictured actress Linda Fiorentino for Tina Milano (since Tina is of Italian descent) and Viggo Mortensen for Zack Cooper (since Zack is “the hot produce guy”).

Do you have a link to a place to read the first chapter or an excerpt of this book?

Yes, Harvest House has the first chapter posted on its site:
http://www.harvesthousepublishers.com/books_fictionbook.cfm?productID=6930161

How can readers get in contact with you?
Visit my website, http://www.trishperry.com/, which is also where my blog is. I have a contact link there. I’m also on Facebook as Trish Hawley Perry and Twitter as TrishPerryWrtr

Is there anything you would like to add, or tell your readers?
I love hearing from my readers, and I try to answer every email I receive. Also, if any of you happen to read Tea for Two (or any of my books, for that matter) and think they’re good, I’d love it if you’d post some nice comments about the book on the online sites. Word of mouth is a powerful tool!

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**USA addresses only, please**

Okay readers, here is your chance to win an autographed copy of Tea for Two!

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 A Secret Identity

**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 15) until 6:00 CST on Thursday (April 21). 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 22nd, 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.