Beth Warstadt is the author of Megan’s Christmas Knight, which was released about a week ago. I’ve been meaning to blog about this for a while now, and I’m glad to finally get the chance to spotlight such a fun and inspiring person.
Readers can find out more about Beth Warstadt and her writing journey here on her web site. You can also find her books on Beth Warstadt’s Amazon page.
Beth was also kind enough to answer some questions for me to share. For your enjoyment, here it is!
Tell us about your new book, including where readers can find it for sale.
Megan’s Christmas Knight is a romantic Christmas fantasy. Megan is a woman running away from her life because of something terrible she has done. She is rescued by a mysterious stranger, Nick, who sends her on a quest that helps her learn about love and forgiveness. At the same time that he is helping her he begins to question some of his own rules about his life, especially the ones that keep him alone. It’s available through Amazon.com in both e-book and print formats.
Would you like to share a passage from your new book?
Megan has been saved by a mysterious stranger who would not let her see his face and then vanished through back of a man-made cave called a fogou. When she goes back to where she met him she sees him again.
She went back to the windswept cliffs, back to where she now knew the ancient fogou lay silently concealed in the peaceful countryside, back to where her adventure began. There was no storm today, no need for rescue. There were only her tortuous memories and the cliffs that offered their different kind of escape.
When horse and rider surprised her this time, they came without a whisper. She jumped at the warm hand on her shoulder and spun around to find him standing there, head still concealed under the black hood, leading the now serene white horse by reins he scarcely held. Her soul thrilled, but she couldn’t tell if it was excitement or terror that set her heart pounding. When he reached up slowly to push back the hood, her breath caught as she waited, wondering what was hidden underneath.
He was not a decaying, skeletal Ghost of Christmas Future. His face was young and handsome, and his blue eyes were at once merry and sad, as though he was glad to see her but knew the burdens of her heart. She could not tell his age, because he seemed to have the enthusiasm and wonder of youth and the wisdom and serenity of old age.
What kinds of works do you write, and how long have you been writing?
Like many writers, I began making up my own stories when I was a child It was when I turned 40, however, that I figured that I was probably about halfway through my life, and if I was going to write, I had better get started. I write romantic fantasy mostly, with touches of paranormal and history thrown in for good measure.
What is the most rewarding thing about writing?
I love feeling like I am in some small way contributing to the literature of our time. Who knows? Maybe someday something I write will be included in an anthology of American literature of the 21st century!
What is the most challenging experience you’ve ever had writing?
I guess you would call it writer’s block. I have a book that I have been working on for two years, and I still can’t get a hold of it. I write two or three pages, sometimes more, and wind up discarding it.
What would you recommend to new writer?
I’m going to steal the advice I have heard from so many others, so many times. Just do it. If you want to write, then sit down at the computer or with a blank pad of paper and put words on the page. You can never finish if you don’t start.
How would you describe your personal creative process?
I enjoy doing lots of research, even though it isn’t always necessary for what I am writing. I have found that the world is truly an amazing place, and that almost anything I can make up, there is something even more incredible happening in reality. That is the great thing about fantasy. There is no need to stop writing because your story has become too hard to believe. Reality can be even harder to believe.
When is the best time for you to write?
Saturday mornings after my husband has gone to work is my prime writing time. I enjoy having coffee in a cup without a lid, and I sit at the computer for hours completely immersed in whatever story I am working on. My sons are grown and in college, so my house is a very quiet place on the weekends.
What kinds of things inspire you in your writing?
I am inspired by the amazing things I see in the world all around me. It is incredible to see what people can do, whether on a big scale like art and architecture, or on a smaller scale like cross-stitch or knitting. I also get the writing bug when I read something so beautifully written that it moves me deeply, either viscerally or spiritually.
Do you have any other books or other writing you’d like to talk about?
I’ve written another book called Soul Lost that I self-published for Amazon Kindle. It is a romantic time-travel fantasy about King Alfred of England and the mysterious woman who was his wife. I’m also on my seventh edit of a book about a great, ancient civilization that is discovered buried here in Forsyth County, Georgia. Its tentative title is People of the Green Hills.
I find that I write mostly about women who discover that there is so much more to them than they think, whether because she finds out she was supposed to be a princess, or because she is able to complete a difficult quest, or because she is the one person who believes in a cause and can make sure it happens. I write fantasy because that is what I love, but there is a truth that transcends the fantastic elements. People are so much more than they think they are. Put us in extraordinary circumstances, and we will find out how exactly extraordinary we are.
Gwen Bristol 