Glory Road with Lauren K. Denton q&a

Hello, reader friends! Join me in welcoming author friend Lauren K. Denton for a little chat, a JustRead blog tour, and giveaway celebrating Glory Road plus the celebration continues on social media!

 

about the author

Born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, Lauren now lives with her husband and two young daughters in Homewood, just outside Birmingham. In addition to her fiction, she writes a monthly newspaper column about life, faith, and how funny (and hard) it is to be a parent.

On any given day, she’d rather be at the beach with her family and a stack of books. Her debut novel, The Hideaway, is USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon Charts bestseller. Her second novel, Hurricane Season, released in April, 2018, and was listed on BookPage’s 2018 list of Most Anticipated Fiction.

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q&a

Describe your writing life.

L: 1. I have to have quiet while I’m writing. I usually use the white noise app on my phone so I can’t hear any other noises that will distract me.
2. I have an office where I do a lot of my writing (it’s really our guest bedroom, but it’s where I have my desk and chair and all my notebooks and Post-Its) but I occasionally write sitting on the couch or at a big table in our local library.
3. When I write, I sometimes type and sometimes write longhand. When I get stuck in one method, I’ll switch to the other and it usually jars something loose so the words will flow again.
4. My times for writing are confined to the hours between school drop-off at 8 and pick-up at 3. I don’t write for the entire time, because life gets in the way (grocery store, exercise, laundry, etc) but I do try to write at least a couple hours every day when I’m in the middle of a book. And my brain just works better earlier in the day.
5. I recently stayed up until 4:30 am to finish the first draft of my next book. It was as miserable as it sounds, but I was determined to finish it. Next time I do that (if there is a next time), I won’t do it on the night we spring forward into Daylight Savings.

B: Oofdah! All-nighters are bad enough without the added misery of spring forward!

What did you learn or discover about yourself or while researching or writing Glory Road?

L: One thing I learned while writing Glory Road is that I have to trust the process. For me, that means remembering that first drafts are just that—a draft used to get to the final product. It means remembering that as I write, I learn more about the characters—their backstories, their desires, their fears, their voices—and it’s okay if I don’t know all those things the moment I start writing. It means remembering that there will be days when I feel like the story is going nowhere, that I’ve created terrible characters, that no one is going to read a word of my story.

Having done this a few times now, I know this is ALL part of the process of creating a story that has depth, substance, emotion, grit, humor, and grace. No one can get it right every time they sit down, and no one can get it perfectly right from day one. It’s so easy to forget that though. Now, looking at Glory Road as a polished finished product, it’s even more ingrained in my mind to trust the process, because I know if I can push through those hard days when it feels like I have no idea what I’m doing, the end result is beautiful—and even more beautiful knowing what it looked like at the beginning! (Also, I have to relearn this each time I write a book!)

B: You have to start somewhere! Maybe writing a book is like having a baby, memory dulls the edges of the struggles and we vividly remember all the good stuff instead!

What is your next release and/or what are you working on now?

L: I am working on my next book, which will come out next summer. It’s another story of women finding their way through seasons of their lives—which I always think is fascinating, because no matter where we are in our life, we all have various blessings and tragedies going on, often all at the same time, and it’s helpful to see how other women navigate similar situations. And because I love setting stories in places familiar to me and my readers, I set this one in far south Alabama, right on the coast.

B: I adore the gulf coast and this story sounds lovely!

What book(s) are you reading right now?

L: I am rereading Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, and loving it just as much as I did the first time. I’m also in the middle of rereading The Shell Seekers, one of my all-time favorites.

B: These weren’t on my radar but I’m loving the covers! Thanks for sharing!

What is your favorite comfort food?

L: Any kind of cheesy pasta.

B: I completely agree!

Do you prefer print or ebooks?

L: Print books all the way. I don’t own an e-reader, and when I go on vacation, I enjoy choosing which books I’m going to lug with me!

B: I’m sorry, I don’t understand the part about not owning an e-reader… how?! 

Do you have any writing quirks?

L: Chocolate helps, as do Cheez-Its (Strange, I know, but they’re a lifelong addition.) I also like cheap notebooks—something about the fact that they’re not fancy makes it easier for me to write down ideas and scratch out the bad ones with wild abandon. I love Staples Optiflow Rollerball pens. I buy them in bulk from Amazon.

B: Yummy chocolate! 

about the book

Title: Glory Road
Author: Lauren K. Denton
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Genre: Women’s Fiction/Southern Fiction
Release Date: March 19, 2019

Written in Lauren Denton’s signature Southern style, Glory Road tells the story of three generations of women navigating the uncertain pathways of their hearts during a summer that promises to bring change–whether they’re ready for it or not.

At thirty-eight, garden shop owner Jessie McBride thinks her chances for romance are years behind her and, after her failed marriage, she’s fine with that. She lives contentedly with her fiery mother and her quiet, headstrong daughter. But the unexpected arrival of two men on Glory Road make her question if she’s really happy with the status quo. Handsome, wealthy Sumner Tate asks her to arrange flowers for his daughter’s wedding, and Jessie finds herself drawn to his continued attention. And Ben Bradley, her lingering what-could-have-been from high school days who’s known her better than anyone and whom she hasn’t seen in years, moves back to the red dirt road. Jessie finds her heart being pulled in directions she never expected.

Meanwhile, Jessie’s fourteen-year-old daughter, Evan, is approaching the start of high school and trying to navigate a new world of identity and emotions–particularly as they relate to the cute new guy who’s moved in just down the road. At the same time, Jessie’s mother, Gus, increasingly finds herself forgetful and faces a potentially frightening future.

As all three women navigate the uncertain paths of their hearts and futures, one summer promises to bring change–whether they’re ready for it or not.

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tour giveaway

Two winners will each win a print copy of Glory Road.

Enter via the Rafflecopter giveaway below. Be sure to check out each stop on the Blog and Takeover tours for more chances to win. Full tour schedule on this tour shown below. Giveaway begins at midnight March 23, 2019 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on March 30, 2019. Winners will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. Due to shipping cost, only US mailing addresses valid. For our giveaway rules and policy, click HERE.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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tour schedule

Check out each stop at the link above and be sure to stop at the takeover tour for more chances to win!

Say hi to Lauren in the comments and leave your own answer to one of the questions if you’d like!