Please help us in welcoming Melissa Foster to our blog! She will be answering some questions and letting us know more about her book Megan's Way.
Welcome! Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Let's see, I'm a forty-something mom to six great kids, an author, and a lover of all things chocolate (and ice cream). When I'm not writing, I'm running or hanging out with my family.
What inspired you to write Megan's Way?
There was an event with my mother years ago–many years ago–I was a young mother of two at the time, and she'd had surgery. She indicated that it was a pretty benign surgery, and told me a year after the fact that they had thought she'd had cancer, and (here's the kicker), if they had found cancer, she'd decided not to have treatment. I reverted to a selfish teenager and immediately went into, how-could-you-leave-me-mode. It took many years for me to wrap my head around that decision and come to grips and understanding of where she was coming from at the time. Thankfully, they hadn' t found cancer, but her decision effected me as if she'd actually made it. Thus, MEGAN'S WAY was born.
What books have influenced your life the most?
I'm influenced by every book I read, but for years I read Jodi Picoult and truly loved the way she wrote from the heart. I think her books had a major impact on my writing, and I strive to carry raw emotions into my stories.
Do you have any advice for other writers?
There are two aspects to writing that one needs to do, the first is to actually write, without giving up, and the second is to study the craft. If you combine those two things, you'll do well.
Do you have any current projects you're working on?
Yes, thank you for asking! MEGAN'S WAY is currently casting for the film production, which is a huge undertaking for the director, but I am also viewing the reels and involved with the production, and my next book, COME BACK TO ME, is now in the final edit stages. Here's a brief summary of COME BACK TO ME, in international love story/tragedy:
Tess Johnson has it all, Beau, her handsome photographer husband, a thriving business, and a newly discovered pregnancy. When Beau accepts an overseas photography assignment, Tess decides to wait to reveal her secret—only she’s never given the chance. Beau’s helicopter crashes in the desert.
As Tess struggles to put her life back together and deal with the pregnancy she can no longer hide, a new client appears, offering more than just a new project.
Meanwhile, two Iraqi women who are fleeing Honor Killings find Beau alive in the middle of the desert, his body ravaged. Suha, a doctor, and Samira, a widow and mother of three young children, nurse him back to health in a makeshift tent. Beau bonds with the women and children, and together, with the help of an underground organization, they continue their dangerous escape.
What happens next is a test of loyalties, strength, and love.
Chat w/Melissa on The Women's Nest
Melissa Foster is a New York Time and USA Today bestselling and award-winning author. She writes contemporary romance, new adult, contemporary women's fiction, suspense, and historical fiction with emotionally compelling characters that stay with you long after you turn the last page.