Monday, January 13, 2014

Interview with Faith Blum

Faith Blum
Faith, welcome to Homeschool Authors. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Thank you letting me join you!  I am a 23 year old homeschool graduate.  I love playing piano, singing, crafting, and spending time with my family.  I live with my family on a small hobby farm in Wisconsin.  I also enjoy serving my church.  This year my sister and I are directing the Christmas play.  And obviously, I love reading and writing.

Have you always loved hymns?
Yes, I have.  I love the beauty of the hymns in both the music and the words.  There is simply nothing better than listening to or singing a hymn.

Who are some of your favorite music artists?
For Christian music, I like Steve Green, Sandi Patti, and Keith and Kristyn Getty.  For movie soundtracks, I like John Williams (Star Wars), Howard Shore (LOTR and Hobbit), and Michael Giacchino (Star Trek).  For Classical, I like Frederic Chopin, Franz Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven, J.S. Bach, and David Lanz.  And yes, I do like music.  :D

What caused you to start writing?
I don’t honestly remember.  I think I just started coming up with some story ideas and wrote them down.  Mom encouraged me to write by giving me school assignments.  As I approached high school, I knew that I really liked writing and Mom tailored many of my school assignments to accommodate my passion for writing.
A Mighty Fortress (Hymns of the West, #1)
What inspired A Mighty Fortress?
Four or five years ago, Vision Forum had a writing contest based on the picture on their magazine.  I was too old to enter the contest, but I wrote a story about the picture anyway.  It also ended up being too long for the contest since it was about 25,000 words when I finished the rough draft.  The story also changed from the picture in subsequent drafts.  The picture was of a brother and sister dangling from a rope off a cliff with a cougar staring at them and the sister is aiming a small pistol at the cougar.  The cougar changed to a timber wolf and the pistol changed to a rifle.

What is it about?
“Stay back!” Joshua ordered.  He kept his eyes on the scene below while waving his arm in Ruth's direction.  “Get deeper into the woods and stay down low to the ground.”
Joshua hazarded a glance behind him.  He could no longer see Ruth and breathed a sigh of relief.  In one swift move, he grabbed his rifle and lay flat to the ground.  Extending the rifle, he aimed at the shorter man whose gun was pointed at Bradshaw. 

Joshua and Ruth Brookings are traveling by stagecoach to finally join their parents in Montana. Attacked by murderous outlaws, the teens barely escape with their lives and must survive in the barren Wyoming and Montana territories and escape the man who's hunting them.

Seven years ago, Jed Stuart ran away from home and joined Tom's gang. Jed is tired of the lawlessness and wants out. The only problem? He is the boss's right-hand man and will never be able to leave. And what's one more stagecoach robbery, anyway?

Can Joshua lean on God's strength to keep himself and his sister alive until they find a town?   Will Jed be able to face his anger or will it consume him completely? All three are running--the hunter and hunted. What will happen when they meet?

Who will enjoy A Mighty Fortress?
Anyone who likes Westerns, Christian Historical Fiction, or adventure.  I aimed my book mostly for teens and young adults, but parents and other adults would also enjoy A Mighty Fortress.

Do you have any final thoughts?
If you would like to read an inspiring, adventurous Christian Western you can find it on Amazon on Kindle or Paperback.  I would also like to thank Sarah for hosting me today.  It has been fun answering these questions.

Faith is giving away one e-copy of her book! Enter to win below.

7 comments:

  1. Looks like a neat book! I see that it's the first in the series! When do you plan on writing/publishing the rest?

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  2. Hi Faith, I so enjoyed reading this interview!

    My question is: Who was your favorite character to work with while you were writing this book?

    Thank you so much!

    His Princess,
    Bekah

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  3. Thank you, Anna! Yes, it is part of a series. There will be at least three more books. I am currently working on book two, "Be Thou My Vision". I hope to publish it by the end of this year, but that may not happen. We shall see what the year brings.

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  4. I certainly LOVE Christian western fiction!! (And like Anna I noticed it was Hymns of the West 1. What other hymns can we be looking forward to and when?)

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  5. Hello, Bekah! I'm glad you enjoyed the interview. I know I did. :)

    Who was my favorite character to work with? Honestly, it was Jed, the villain. Yes, he was hard to write, but he was also fun to write because he is so totally different from any other character that I have written.

    Rachel, I do, too. Which is why I chose to write the genre. :D So far my plans are to do "Be Thou My Vision", "Come Thou Fount", "The Solid Rock", and possibly "Amazing Grace". As for when they will come out, I'm not sure. I am HOPING to do approximately one book per year, but that depends on what else happens in my life. God is in control of that, not me.

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  6. Hi Faith,

    I started writing as a result of my homeschooling assignments too. :)

    How many more books do you have planned for this series?

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  7. Rachel Rossano,

    Awesome! Go homeschool assignments! :D

    I plan on doing at least three more books. There might more than that by the end. We shall see. :)

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