Sunday Brunch with... Kerry Lonsdale

Happy Sunday!

We have an amazing guest today. Her books are sold worldwide in more than 25 countries and have been translated into 22 languages (Italian, German, French, Brazilian, Serbian, etc.) and her fourth novel, Everything We Give, will be released on July 3, 2018.

I’m really excited to introduce…

Kerry Lonsdale

Describe yourself with three adjectives.

Kerry: Laid-back; good-natured; persistent.

Choose three adjectives for your last novel, Everything We Left Behind.

Kerry: compelling, heartbreaking, unpredictable.

What was the best thing about writing your last novel?

Kerry: Everything We Left Behind is the second book in the Everything series. When I wrote the first book Everything We Keep, I hadn’t planned for it to be the start of a series. So, the most exciting part about writing the second book was revisiting with the characters and settings.

Who was your favorite character to write and why?

Kerry: My favorite character to write was Ian Collins, the protagonist in the third and final book of the series, Everything We Give, which publishes July 3, 2018. Discovering who he is and where he came from was a thrilling journey for me as a writer.

Who was your first reader and how his/her opinion influenced the final project?

Kerry: My first reader for Everything We Left Behind was my editor. I only had six months to write the book. By the time I finished my own revisions and read-throughs, the manuscript was due to my editor. It was nervewracking.

What did you edit out of this book?

Kerry: I didn’t edit anything out of Everything We Left Behind. I actually added more to it during the editing phases. Some scenes were expanded.

What is the most difficult part of your writing process?

Kerry: Sitting down to write. It’s easy to get distracted, to come up with excuses not to write. To manage this, I have set writing hours. I treat my writing time as though I’m going to the office for the day.

What feelings do you hope your readers experience by reading your novels?

Kerry: I hope they feel what the characters do. I write emotional fiction, so I hope they laugh and cry and get angry right beside the protagonist. But I also hope they enjoy the stories enough that they don’t put down the book and are quick to pick up the next book.

What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?

Kerry: The bulk of my research occurs online. But I do contact experts to help me work through a specific scenario. I write fiction, and while my fiction might include a magical quality, I want the story and the issues it addresses to be as realistic as possible.

If you could be one of your characters for a day, who would it be and why?

Kerry: I’d love to be Molly Brennan from All the Breaking Waves. She can read minds and mentally coerce people to do things. It would be nice for my kids to do their chores when I told them.

What author/s has/have most influenced your writing?

Kerry: Multiple authors, but Liane Moriarty, Diana Gabaldon, Susan Wiggs, and Sarah Jio are up there.

What is the best compliment you’ve ever received?

Kerry: That my books are unputdownable. Readers read them in one sitting. Those are my favorite types of books, so it’s rewarding to know readers feel the same about mine.

What are you working on now?

Kerry: We’re putting the final editing touches on Everything We Give, which publishes July 3, 2018. But I’m working on my first stand-alone novel since All the Breaking Waves. I don’t have a title yet, but that book will publish July 2019.

Could you give some advice for aspiring writers?

Kerry: Remember the three Ps: Patience, perseverance, and pay-it-forward. The journey is long in publishing. A lot of hurry-up-and-wait. But keep at it, persevere, and when you finally make it, when your book is published, pay-it-forward. Turn around and give the next aspiring writer a leg up.

Would you like to share a happy photo and tell us more about that moment?

Kerry: I took it during our trip to Paris. It’s of my family and me in front of Notre Dame. My husband and I met in France 25 years ago. Last summer, we returned and brought our kids with us. It was a great trip.

Thank you, Kerry, for joining us today, and for sharing a copy of Everything We Keep or Everything We Left Behind with our readers!

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