Book Goodies

Connecting Readers and Authors

  • Home
  • Advertising
    • Author Advertising PrePay and Save!
    • BookGoodies MEGA Submit And Book Buyer’s Guides
    • Advertising
    • Bargain Books Category Feature
    • Feature Your Amazon Countdown Book
    • Highlight Your Free eBook Promotions
    • PermaFree Features
  • Deals Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Featured Books
    • Buyer’s Guides
  • Apparel for Book Lovers
  • Free Books
    • PermaFree Books
  • KDP Countdown Bargains
  • Featured Free and Bargain Books
  • Bargain Books Under $3
  • Interviews With Authors
    • Author Interview List
    • Podcasts with Authors
    • BookGoodies Podcasts Listing
  • BookGoodies Network
  • Authors Start Here
    • BookGoodies MEGA Submit
    • Feature Your Amazon Countdown Book
    • Submit Your Interview
    • Is Your Book on Free Promotion?
    • Highlight Your Free Book Days
    • Add Your KDP Countdown Bargain Books
  • Giveaways from BookGoodies
  • Buyer’s Guides
You are here: Home / *Reading Room / Interviews With Authors / Interview with Author – Vikki Kestell

Interview with Author – Vikki Kestell

By Book Goodies Leave a Comment

Vikki-12-2012
Author Bio:
Vikki Kestell has more than 20 years of career experience as a writing, instructional design, and communications professional in government, academia, semiconductor manufacturing, health care, and nonprofit organizations. She holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Learning and Instructional Technologies.

Vikki is an accomplished speaker and teacher and belongs to Tramway Community Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she teaches an evening Bible study for working women. She and her husband Conrad Smith make their home in Albuquerque.

Enjoy all the books of A Prairie Heritage as they become available:
Book 1: A Rose Blooms Twice
Book 2: Joy on This Mountain
Book 3: The Captive Within
Book 4: Wild Heart on the Prairie
Book 5: Stolen, June 2014
Book 6: Title to Be Announced, November 2014

What inspires you to write?
I wrote my first book during one of the darkest periods of my life. It was 1988. I had a notebook and wrote in it everywhere I went. In three months I had a complete story—and was amazed.

Someone offered to let me use their computer—a Commodore 64! If you don’t know what that is, let me say that a) it didn’t have a hard drive, b) you had to install the software into (wait for it!) a whopping 64k of RAM, and c) you have to save your writing to five-and-one-half-inch floppy disks! In any event, I learned to use it and have been a technophile ever since.

When I wrote my first book it proved to me that I could start and complete something difficult, and it gave me the courage to go back to school at age 39. I worked and went to school for the next 14 years! I earned my bachelor’s degree in English/professional writing, took a semester off and went back to earn a master’s degree, took two years off and went back to earn a Ph.D. in organizational learning and instructional technologies.

After working and earning three degrees, guess what? I figured I could write more books! LOL! That is exactly what I am doing now.

What inspires me to write? My mind is continually fermenting storylines and characters—and I derive such a sense of satisfaction when I see them onscreen and then in print.

My highest motivation is to present the goodness of God through stories that include the difficulties, tragedies, and injustices we all encounter. I write from the perspective of Christians who have personal relationships with God through Jesus and who desire to respond to life—life in all its pain and discouragement—in ways that honor him.

Tell us about your writing process.
I’m both an “outliner” and a “pantser”–writing by the seat of my pants. Often my books take on a life of their own. I live by the adage, “What gets measured, gets done.” and so I track how much I write. I keep a spreadsheet and, while I’m writing a book, track how much I write on a daily and weekly basis.

While I’m working on a book, I set daily word goals and try to reach or exceed them. I’m not legalistic about it, but I make sure I consistently write 1,500 words a day; a good day is 2,500, and a great day is 3,500. Over a week I look for 10,000 to 12,000 words. Do that and you’ll have a book in 9-10 weeks! Even on days when I am not writing good stuff I know that when I revise I always find the thread to what I’ve written and make it “right.”

For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Wow. I have SUCH a vivid imagination that it’s hard to say exactly where my characters come from. All life is fodder for my writing, but once I have a character in mind, he or she becomes my companion and we have conversations, arguments, and discussions while I walk, exercise, sleep, and write. I love to write good dialogue—conversations that make my characters as real and as close as my own family.

What advice would you give other writers?
Write. Write every day. Doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad. Come back and re-read what you’ve written a few days later and revise. You’ll find moments of brilliance and utter trash on the same page—but you would never have written the brilliance without also writing the trash.

How did you decide how to publish your books?
I decided to become an indie publisher (Faith-Filled Fiction) when my first book, “A Rose Blooms Twice,” did so well as a Kindle book. Now, more than 60,000 downloads later and working on the fifth book in that series, I am fully committed to my process and my loyal, growing readership!

What do you think about the future of book publishing?
Technology always moves forward, never backwards. I heard recently that ePublishing is about 25 percent of the market right now, but guess what? Tomorrow and next year and the year after, it will grow that market share. Eventually printed books will be a very small part of the market–and ePublishing will be the majority market share.

What do you use?
Beta Readers

What genres do you write?
Christian historical fiction

What formats are your books in?
Both eBook and Print

Website(s)
Vikki Kestell Home Page Link
Link To Vikki Kestell Page On Amazon

Your Social Media Links
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6476598.Vikki_Kestell
http://www.facebook.com/TheWritingOfVikkiKestell

Share with your friends!

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Interviews With Authors

Sign up for our email newsletter to get daily notices about free, bargain and featured books.Be notified of instant access to free books AND Amazon Gift Card and book giveaways.

 

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

five + twenty =

Fiction

  • Fiction
  • Action & Adventure
  • Comic Books
  • Drama
  • Fantasy
  • Graphic Novels
  • Historical
  • Horror
  • Mystery/Suspense
  • Paranormal
  • Romance
  • Romance – Erotica
  • Science Fiction
  • Women’s Fiction
  • Fiction Audio Books

Nonfiction

  • Art/Photography/Coffee Table
  • Biographies & Memoirs
  • Body/Mind/Spirit
  • Business Books
  • Cooking and Food Books
  • Crafts and Hobbies
  • Educational/How-to
  • Essays
  • Faith and Religion
  • Gardening Books
  • Health & Fitness
  • Humor
  • Inspiration and Photography Books
  • Pet and Animal Books
  • Science and Math
  • Travel
  • Nonfiction Audio Books

More Categories

  • Featured Books
  • Children and Young Adult Books
  • *Reading Room
    • Interviews With Authors
    • Short Stories
    • Audio Books
      • Nonfiction Audio Books
      • Fiction Audio Books
    • Excerpts
    • Reviews
    • Trailers
  • Review Matchmaker
    • Book Reviewers and Book Blogs
  • Advice for Authors
  • Spanish
  • Giveaways from BookGoodies

For Authors

  • BookGoodies MEGA Submit
  • Universal Link Tool for Amazon Books
  • Seasonal Features
  • Add Your Bargain Books!
    • KDP Countdown Bargain Books
    • Bargain Books Category Feature
  • Author Self Serve Interview
  • Authors: Tell Readers About Your Book
    • Audio Books
    • Cats, Dogs and other Pets Authors: Tell Us About Your Book
    • Cookbook and Food Authors: Tell us About Your Book
    • Craft Books and Tutorials
    • Memoir Authors: Tell us About Your Book
  • Is Your Book on Free Promotion?
    • Highlight Your Free eBook Promotions
  • PermaFree Books – Add Yours Here
    • PermaFree Features
  • Subscribe to Our Newsletters
  • Advice for Authors
    • BookGoodies Podcasts
    • Author Services Podcasts
  • BookGoodies News

Copyright © 2019 · A BookGoodies Network Site · Log in

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.