Interview with Jody Hedlund,

Author of "A Daring Sacrifice"

 Biography

Jody Hedlund is an award-winning and bestselling author of inspirational historical romances for both youth and adults.

As a busy mama-writer, she has the wonderful privilege of teaching her crew of 5 children at home. In between grading math papers and giving spelling tests, she occasionally does a load of laundry and washes dishes. When she's not busy being a mama, you can find her in front of her laptop working on another of her page-turning stories.

She loves reading almost as much as she loves writing, especially when it also involves chocolate and coffee.

Website: http://jodyhedlund.com/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJodyHedlund/?fref=ts

Description

In a reverse twist on the Robin Hood story, a young medieval maiden stands up for the rights of the mistreated, stealing from the rich to give to the poor. All the while, she fights against her cruel uncle who has taken over the land that is rightfully hers. Forced to live in the woods and hide with the poor people she's grown to love, she works to save and protect them, but she never anticipates falling in love with the wealthy knight who represents all she's come to despise.

 

Purchase at the following locations:

http://www.amazon.com

http://www.barnesandnoble.com  

http://www.christianbook.com

                      

Welcome to my blog, Jody! Thank you for sharing your time answering some questions about yourself and your newest release, A Daring Sacrifice!

You’ve based A Daring Sacrifice a little bit on the Robin Hood story. What drew you to this medieval tale?
 

I've always loved tales about underdogs rising up against injustice. The story of Robin Hood encompasses such an element, where the poor are unfairly cast from their homes, forced into hiding, and must rely upon their fearless leader to fight for their rights.
 

Instead of a nobleman leading and fighting for the needs of the underdogs, I decided to add a twist and have my heroine, a displaced noblewoman, be the leader of a band of poor outcasts. As a skilled archer, she's gained a reputation as the "Cloaked Bandit" doing her best to protect and provide for the people she's grown to love.

How do you keep a faith focus in A Daring Sacrifice without becoming "preachy"? 

It’s definitely tricky to keep a faith focus without becoming preachy. 

One of things I try to do is intertwine the characters’ emotional and spiritual arcs, so that they are closely related. I start off by giving my characters flaws or weaknesses that they must work through as the story progresses. As they wrestle through issues, they don’t end up perfect. But by the end I try to bring about some emotional and spiritual growth with their story flaw.

What did you have the most fun with when you were writing the book?

Of course, since this is a series involving knights, I had to have those knights engaged in various battles. So I had a lot of fun writing the sword-wielding, arrow-shooting, death-defying scenes. In addition, I always have fun figuring out how my heroine can help save the day (because while I like having the knight come to the rescue, I also like being able to have the heroine do some rescuing too!).

A Daring Sacrifice ends with one of the knights in mortal danger, a cliff hanger for the next book in the series. Can you tell us a little bit more about the third book?

For Love and Honor is the third book in the series and gives the final knight his happily-ever-after. However, as you know from the cliff-hanger at the end of A Daring Sacrifice, he has to work extremely hard to gain his true love as well as save his life and those of the people he loves. 

I had a lot of fun writing the heroine of the third book. She’s a little quirky and not quite as beautiful (aka more normal!) as the ladies in the first two books. She’s also hiding a secret, a “blemish” on her skin that could brand her as a witch if anyone ever sees it. During the Middle Ages, the time of the Inquisition and extreme religious intolerance, even the slightest mole, birth defect, or blemish could easily lead to accusations of witchcraft. The times were dangerous, and of course, I just love putting my characters right into the middle of the worst possible danger. Cue: evil cackle.

You have five children, so you must have plenty of interruptions when you’re writing. How do you handle the interruptions?

Yes, I DO have MANY interruptions each time I sit down to write. If I waited for perfect conditions, however, I’d never write. I’ve simply made up my mind to work under the circumstances I’ve been given, even if they’re less than ideal at times.

One thing that helps is that I give myself daily word count goals. I block in work time as best I can every day, and then I stick to it. I also let my family know my schedule. And while I try to minimize the interruptions, I’ve learned that I just need to attend to whatever the need is (whether it’s a child needing a snack or the dog getting into the garbage, etc.) and then get back to my writing as soon as possible. In other words, I don’t let the interruptions paralyze me.

What is your favorite season of the year and why?

I actually love all the seasons! Since I was born and lived most of my life in the Midwest, I love each season in its own time. I savor every single second of summer. But by the time it's is done, I'm ready for the glory of fall. And then when we get our first snowfall and bitterly cold weather, I'm eager for the beauty of winter. But of course, by the time spring rolls around, I'm anxious for the first glimpses of green and warmer weather.

What two jobs have you had that would surprise people? Do tell!

When I was in high school I worked at Dairy Queen and I loved getting to taste the "mistakes." It was a nice job perk!
 

In college, I worked as a nurse’s aid in a nursing home with Alzheimer and dementia patients. It was an incredibly challenging job that makes me appreciate anyone who works in a nursing home.

Out of all the sounds in the world which are your favorite?

My children's laughter and the percolating coffee pot.