Meet and Greet Monday: Vickie McDonough

Book Giveaway Drawing! 

Read the details later in this post.

Award-winning author Vickie McDonough has lived in Oklahoma all her life, except for a year when she and her husband lived on a kibbutz in Israel. Vickie is the author of 20 books and novellas, including the Texas Boardinghouse Brides series. Historical Christian romance is her favorite genre to read and write. 


Vickie is currently the ACFW Treasurer and a founding member of WIN, an ACFW chapter in Tulsa, OK. She is a member of RWA, CAN, Women Writing the West, OKRWA, and OWFI. Vickie's books have won the Inspirational Reader's Choice Contest, Texas Gold, and the ACFW Noble Theme contest, and she has been a multi-year finalist in ACFW’s BOTY contest. This year she is a triple finalist in the ACFW’s Carol Awards(formerly BOTY) She is a wife of thirty-five years, mother of four grown sons and grandma to a feisty four-year-old girl. When she’s not writing, Vickie enjoys reading, gardening, watching movies, and traveling.


BRC: How would you describe your new book? 

Second Chance Brides is a light-hearted Christian historical romance that deals with some difficult issues.


BRC: What message do you hope it conveys?  


The theme of the book is trusting God when your situation seems impossible. I want readers to know that no matter what they’ve done and whatever their circumstances are, God is just a prayer away. He’s always waiting for us to put our faith and trust in Him and He will walk with us and help us through the hard times.


BRC: What did you enjoy most about writing this book?  


I put my poor characters through some rough situations. They’re probably still mad at me for making them endure so much.


BRC: What did you dislike most about writing this book?  


Second Chance Brides was close 100,000-word book. You have to have a lot happening in a book that long to be able to hold a reader’s interest. I really prefer writing a book that’s shorter, more like 70,000, so I found writing this a bit of a struggle.


BRC: What inspired you to become a writer? 


It was a God thing. For years and years I’d prayed that God would give me an idea for a home business. I also wanted to travel. We couldn’t afford to travel much when our four boys were young. I never consider becoming a writer until a story started running through my mind
and wouldn’t go away. I finally wrote it down in hopes it would leave my head, so I could sleep at night. 


I just kept writing, and taking writing classes, attending conferences, and about three years later, I sold my first novella collection. God opened the door for me to become published, thus answering my prayer to bring in extra income for our family. A side perk I never anticipated is being able to travel to conferences and on research trips—another answered prayer—and these trips are writing expenses, thus tax deductible. J Isn’t it cool how God works?


BRC: Tell us about your writing process. 


Uh. . .well, I just sit in my recliner, get my laptop, and start writing the next scene in my current wip (work in progress). I do most of my research ahead of time. I plot out my stories and my charcters in fairly good detail so I know what needs to happen in each scene—and then I start writing.


BRC: What are you working on now? 


Actually, you caught me in-between books. I just turned in Secrets of the Heart, which is the second book in my South Carolina historical series for Heartsong. I’ll be working up a synopsis for the first book in a prairie series that I’ll be writing next spring for Guideposts, then I’ll be starting on the third SC book, Dueling Hearts.


BRC: What books do you enjoy reading? 


I love historical romances set in the late 19th century with a western America setting. I read other genres, but that’s by far my favorite.


BRC: Where can readers buy your books? 


Most of my books are available at Christianbook.com and Amazon.com or in local book stores.


BRC: Where can readers find you online? 


My website is www.vickiemcdonough.com. Leave a message in my Guestbook and you’ll be entered in my quarterly drawing. I’m also a regular contributor at Bustles & Spurs blog. www.bustlesandspurs.com.

Posted by Janalyn Voigt, author of novel books.

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Book Giveaway Drawing: Vickie McDonough will give away a free copy of  reader's choice of any of her Christmas books, which can be seen on her website under the Novellas tab, to a reader of this blog. To enter, leave a comment to this post. If you are a follower of Book Readers Central and tell me so in your comment, I'll give you an extra chance to win. 

Please include a valid email address in an anti-spam format (example: youremailhandle[at]gmail[dot]com]) or your entry will become invalid. Entries will be accepted until this Thursday at midnight (Pacific Time/US). 

The winner will be announced on Book Readers Central on Friday. The winner must respond within two weeks of notification. Detailed rules of giveaways on Book Reader's Central are located in the footer of this blog.

*Janalyn Voigt is an Amazon Associate and benefits when books are purchased through links from Book Readers Central.