Al: You are quite prolific as a writer, and seem to be on quite a roll...what can we expect from Sara Shirley in the coming months/year? What are you currently working on?
Sara: HA! Your guess is as good as mine. One thing is for certain, there will be at least two books coming out in the next year. Yes, I said two.
Next week is the cover reveal for my next book Truth In Time. I'm really excited to show this cover off to everyone. I actually had the cover done before I even started writing the book back in June. Starting in October I'll be working alongside my trusted editor to get it ready to go live in January 2016. I told myself I was going to take my time writing this book. After busting out the four Barriers series books in less than a year I really needed a summer off to just chill out. However, once I started writing these characters the words wouldn't stop.
Then of course thanks to a good friend of ours....yes...that would be the lovely Alexis Riddley....she's already got me writing a second follow-up book to Truth In Time. It's called The Thirteenth Hour and yes, the cover is already done for this book too. Fortunately Boston winters are cold and snowy nights are longer so I'm sure I'll be finished with this book sooner than expected.
Al: Perfect timing for our interview. Tell me about the new book.
Sara: You would ask me that. At every author event people ask me that question and I freeze up like a deer in the headlights. I'll give it my best shot...
The new book is Truth In Time. It's a new standalone. The story is about a woman, Noelle, who comes home one day to find her husband has left her and their young daughter. Her husband had kept a secret from his past that threatened to tear their lives apart. Little does the husband know his decision to leave could send his wife back into the arms of an old flame. Noelle was about to discover the truth. Only then does she realize in the eyes of the ones we love, the truth has the power to kill, to heal, and also destroy. With each hour that passed a secret is revealed...tick tock. There isn't a cliffhanger at the end but it is left open for a few side characters. *repeats "do not make this into a series" over and over in my head ;) * Clearly I’m not listening to the voices in my head.
Al: As far as work/life/writing balance...how do you mange it all? What is your process for managing your time? Or, do you simply wing it?
Sara: There isn't really any easy way to answer this question. I guess you could say I mostly "wing it." In my life there is never any time management. As you know I'm always on the run in my "real life". Writing actually came about only because my husband used to work nights for years. I'd find myself coming home from my full time job just either wanting to read or write. Without kids in the house it was easy to just curl up on the sofa and type away. So, I'd write for an hour or sometimes five hours. These days though I'm finding it harder and harder to get writing time which is why I've not written as much as I have. So much of our lives are wrapped around social media and marketing ourselves that I feel like it's become even harder to manage life and writing time. By limiting the amount of exposure I have on there I have felt as though I am able to focus a lot more on the writing and firmly believe it's accounted for the only reason why Truth In Time was written as quickly as it was.
Al: Last question. You are sent to prison...you get a choice: once a week you can either have a new book or a new CD. Which would you choose?
Sara: I like quiet time alone, which is probably why I'd choose to take the book over the CD. As my husband pointed out a CD is over in less than an hour in which case you'd have to repeat it several times. Where's the fun in that?
A book can evoke so much more than just one CD. A book you can read more than once and still find little things that you could have missed the first time. A book can allow your mind to go to far off places and dream about a world you could only hope to live in. Music has the power to make you feel as well, but there is a power in words on a page that take over your entire body in ways that no CD ever could. So, yeah, I'd choose books over CD's despite my love of music.
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