This book was amazing, thank you for taking the time to do this interview.
When did you decide to become a writer?
Ever since I was a little girl. I probably wrote my first story as soon as I learned how to write. I spent a lot of summers locked in my room, typing on an old Selectric typewriter. Drove my family crazy with the clack, clack, clack of the keys. Ha ha.
I wrote several novels in high school and submitted them to publishers. It wasn’t as easy to publish in those days because there was no Internet. Yes, I grew up in the world without the Internet. So I had to photocopy novels, mail them in big boxes with return postage and wait weeks—sometimes MONTHS! —for that good old rejection letter. Boo hoo!
Once I DID get a contract. I was fourteen-years-old. Obviously I couldn’t sign it because I was underage. I gave it to my parents but I’m not certain they ever read it over. Anyway, when they didn’t talk to me about the contract, I did a lot of reflection and decided that I wouldn’t pursue it. I figured I had a whole lifetime to write and publish. Who wants to achieve a life dream at fourteen? Right? :D
Do you have an author that inspires you or do you have a favorite author you like to read?
My favorite authors are Jane Austen, George Elliot, Thomas Hardy, Margaret Mitchell, John Steinbeck, and Victor Hugo. You simply cannot go wrong with the classics. People who haven’t read classics haven’t really read. Those writers know how to build a story and develop characters in a way that modern writers do not.
But the author who influenced me the most—as a child and even today! —is Laura Ingalls Wilder (don’t laugh!),
Growing up, Laura Ingalls Wilder was my super-hero. I dreamed that I was her, living a hundred years later. That didn’t work out so well for me (although I do live on a farm six months out of the year and I’m determined to visit all of her homesteads…been to Kansas and MIssouri…just need DeSmet, Pepin, and Florida!).
I really enjoyed Frances and her fighting strength, I also so loved Andy he seems to have such a sweet caring spirit, out of all the characters in this book do you have a favorite one?
Charlotte is a great character and you will likely see her show up in another story. She’s based a little on my friend Gina McBride, one of my BFFLs. Like Charlotte, Gina tells it like it is and without any emotion. If my house is a mess, she will let me know. If she hates an outfit I’m wearing, she doesn’t hold back. When I’m on the ledge, she is the voice of reason who talks me back through that open window.
When I was going through my divorce, she was the only person who stood by me. It was a hard time for me because I was raised to believe that people just do not get divorced. I literally waited until after my grandmother passed away because I was so ashamed. I felt like a failure. My own family wasn’t supportive in the beginning, but Gina was there.
Charlotte is that friend. She knows that Frances is not perfect and yet she loves her. And Frances knows that she can count on her throughout the good, the bad, and the in-between.
I know this is not your typical Amish book, what inspired you to write this book?
There is a photograph that I have from when I was a little girl. The woman who lived down the road did not have any children and wanted to take a photograph for Christmas. For some reason, she wanted me in the photo. On a snowy Saturday, my mom and I went down for the photographer. The woman was in a red sleigh and I stood next to her, a big smile on my face (and probably a wad of gum hidden in my mouth!).
Later, I learned that she died of breast cancer. I often wondered about her story and that was the catalyst for The Faded Photo.
And, of course, having survived breast cancer, I wanted to share some of my experience. While the novel is not my story, there are components of it that are true, which I didn’t realize until someone else (probably Gina! ha ha) pointed out to me. In the beginning, people would come to the Chemo Cocktail Lounge with me, but after the first two or three sessions, I wouldn’t let anyone come. It was just easier to do it alone.
People don’t know how to act with someone who has cancer. And I was a-typical. I truly was very “whatever” about my cancer. Maybe I should have been more panicky or distraught. think my laid-back attitude gave people the freedom to make a big deal about how my cancer impacted them. I got lost in the shadows of my own disease. It was a little irritating because I kept thinking, “If I can be so positive, why do other people have to be so dramatic?”
I was often sorry that I had told anyone about it! Of course, I had so many complications because of bad reconstruction that I couldn’t have hidden it from them…but what if? That thought was in the back of my mind and helped form The Faded Photo.
Do you have a favorite place you like to write?
I write all day and night, with on set time of day being a scheduled time. I do, however, love writing at night while snuggled in bed (and usually with my parrot on my head). There’s something about the darkness that surrounds me that helps shut out the rest of the world…no distractions OR interruptions. However, between dogs, Coco, and Marc, that doesn’t usually last very long. ha ha
These days, I’m spending a lot of time at our farm in Flanders, NJ. I write in one of our trailers (camper). Coco is almost always on my shoulder or my head. She’s my velcro bird for sure.
I love how you do morning coffee's on Facebook and you are so transparent is there something fun about yourself that your readers don't know?
Where oh where do I start? :D
When I was 18, while in college, I ran away and traveled with the circus. Later, that same year, I lived in a tent in Alaska for six weeks while on an archeological dig. A moose and her calf ran through our dig one day and we all had to dart up trees.
When I was 20, I worked in Argentina for a while, reprogramming English applications into Spanish for a computer company. Yes, I’m a techno-geek.
And I hate talking on the phone. I never check my voice mail. I think I still have some unopened voicemails from two years ago on my phone.
Has Marc ever inspired any of your Characters?
Marc. Oh Marc, Marc, Marc. (smile). Yes. He has inspired two characters. The first should not come as a surprise. In Cowgirl Cat, Marcus is Marc. He has this weird relationship with Cat. They can be the best of friends or fight like cats and marc. <—get it? For years, they battled over slippers. When Cat was little, she hated shoes and would bury ONE (just one) in the woods. She was smart. If you lose all the left shoes, you can’t wear ANY shoes. So when Marc came along and we got married, she rebelled against his slipper rule. That first Christmas, he gave her twenty pairs. And, of course, she lost all of them. ;-)
The other character might surprise my diehard readers. Rosanna Zook’s husband, Reuben, is based loosely on Marc. Ironically, when Marc read the book, he didn't recognize himself in the character. In the beginning of our marriage, there were some bumps in the road as everyone adapted to the new family dynamic. And I suffered severe PTSD from my previous marriage and, consequently, terrible divorce. After years of being emotionally, psychologically, and verbally abused, you develop a strong fight or flight mentality. It makes you stronger but it also makes you weaker. Like Reuben, Marc stepped up to plate to help me through it.
You’ll probably see another Marc-type character in one of my upcoming women’s fiction books.
Can you tell us what’s next on the horizon for your next book?
In October, I have two books being released.
First is a women’s fiction book called Heavenly Blues that deals with the issue of prescription drug abuse. The protagonist, Laura Reese, is a nurse with a crazy work schedule, demanding boss, and needy family. Sound familiar? I bet most women read that sentence and groan…they already connect with Laura. But when a nurse begins to abuse her prescriptions, you know things will spiral out of control.
Fun fact: You may recognize Laura as the nurse who takes care of Frances in The Faded Photo.
The second book is Belle, an Amish variation of Beauty and the Beast. Now, I often hear that readers don’t take the Amish genre seriously and that disheartens me, mostly because I totally get where they are coming from. A lot of the books are “boy meets girl at the fence, a miscommunication breaks them up, somehow they get back together, the end.”
However, I challenge anyone who scoffs at the Amish genre to read one of my books. I strive to provide an authentic and accurate portrayal of the Amish culture—which is easy since my family background is Mennonite and I’ve been living/staying with Amish families for over thirty years—while creating a solid literary work that steals time from the reader who, hopefully, gets lost in powerful stories. My books do not focus on the Amish, but on the characters that develop and grow within such an unique setting. In fact, they deal with similar issues that regular people do: depression, domestic violence, death, substance abuse, even rape. There’s no fluff in my books, trust me.
A former college professor, bestselling author Sarah Price began writing full-time after she was diagnosed with cancer in 2013. She has written more than twenty novels, but The Faded Photo is her first foray into women’s fiction. Drawing on her own experiences as a survivor of both breast cancer and domestic violence, Sarah explores the issues that touch—and shape—women’s lives. Sarah lives in Morristown, New Jersey, with her husband and two children.
Connect with Sarah Price:
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Sarah-Price/e/B00734HBQM
Thank you again Sarah for this great interview, I can't wait to read more from you. I just love your books. Y'all she is not kidding when she says there is no "fluff" in her Amish books which by the way thats why I love them even more. Well I hope you all enjoyed this interview as much as I have. Click the link below to be entered into the giveaway for a E-version copy of this book.
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Please check out how to make yourself aware and check for breast cancer, early detection is always the best.
