{"id":2507,"date":"2013-12-04T07:00:30","date_gmt":"2013-12-04T12:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/?p=2507"},"modified":"2013-12-04T07:00:40","modified_gmt":"2013-12-04T12:00:40","slug":"author-interview-rhonda-mcknight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/?p=2507","title":{"rendered":"Author Interview: Rhonda McKnight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Today I have the great pleasure of introducing, author Rhonda McKnight.<\/p>\n

My connection to this superb writer is through our mutual friend, mentor and amazing author, Victoria Christopher Murray.<\/p>\n

I really enjoyed her interview, and I hope you will too.<\/p>\n

********<\/p>\n

1) Tell me about your current project?<\/p>\n

Breaking All The Rules<\/i><\/a> is my first romance and my second indie project.<\/p>\n

All of my novels were with traditionally published with Kensington and my first indie project was only indie for a short time. I sold it to my publisher for re-release.<\/p>\n

Breaking<\/i> is the story of a Deniece Malcolm, a wedding planner, whose pregnant baby sister is marrying her ex-fianc\u00e9. I think it\u2019s a no, no for most people, but dating an friend or relative\u2019s EX is a major taboo in the African-American community.<\/p>\n

To make matters worse, Deniece\u2019s sister has the nerve to ask her to help with the wedding.<\/p>\n

Our hero is the groom\u2019s rich, sexy, younger cousin, Ethan Wright. Ethan\u2019s interested in Deniece, but she has a rule about dating younger men.<\/p>\n

Despite her resistance, things heat up between them and Deniece begins to wonder if it\u2019s time to break a few rules of her own.<\/p>\n

2) How has Breaking All The Rules<\/i> been received?<\/p>\n

Readers love it. They love it more than I ever thought they would. It\u2019s my first romance and I was a little nervous about introducing something that wasn\u2019t the women\u2019s fiction I normally write, but they can\u2019t get enough of my hero.<\/p>\n

The reviews have poured in and the sales have been better than I ever thought they would be. I also received my first review in USA Today<\/i> and it was glowing. I was quite proud of that.<\/p>\n

3) How long did it take you to write your first novel?<\/p>\n

Too long. About 32 years.\u00a0 (That was a joke.)<\/p>\n

I became serious about publication in 2003 and started Secrets and Lies<\/i><\/a> in May of 2004.<\/p>\n

I work full-time, so any writing I do is in the evenings and on weekends.<\/p>\n

I finished the book in early 2007, but along the way I completed graduate school, had a baby, and in general was not working on the manuscript. Time in front of the computer was probably a total of seven months.<\/p>\n

I wrote my second novel, An Inconvenient<\/i> Friend<\/i><\/a> in six weeks.<\/p>\n

4) What was the most difficult thing about writing\u00a0a novel?<\/p>\n

The stress of draft writing and the discipline of pushing to the end without hating it too much along the way.<\/p>\n

5) Who are your mentors or\u00a0influences?<\/p>\n

Victoria Christopher Murray is my mentor and she\u2019s taught me more in a phone conversation than I could learn in ten years in this business.<\/p>\n

6) Who are your favorite authors and why?<\/p>\n

Victoria Christopher Murray, Pamela Samuels-Young and the late BeBe Moore Campbell. Victoria and the late Ms Campbell are master story tellers.<\/p>\n

Ms. Moore in particular weaved multiple complex plots and a large cast of \u00a0characters seamlessly. I miss her voice. I love a good mystery.<\/p>\n

Pamela is the next John Grisham. Her legal thrillers are not to be missed.<\/p>\n

7) What are your favorite books and why?<\/p>\n

My favorite books are Too Little, Too Late<\/i><\/a> by Victoria Christopher Murray, My Soul Cries Out<\/a><\/i> by Sherri Lewis, A Heart of Devotion<\/i><\/a> by Tia McCollors and Passing By Samaria<\/i><\/a> by Sharon Ewell Foster.<\/p>\n

In addition to being well written, I learned something from each story that has helped me in my Christian walk. That\u2019s important to me and puts them at the top of my list.<\/p>\n

Another favorite is Gather Together In My Name<\/i><\/a> by Tracy Price-Thompson. I read it in one sitting and I\u2019ve read it twice. I never read a book in one sitting and I never read a book more than once, so there was something special about it. I\u2019ve not quite sure I\u2019ve figured it out yet. I think it was just a fantastic story.<\/p>\n

8) What books have helped\u00a0you\u00a0as a writer?<\/p>\n

Books about novel writing. I own nearly 40 craft books and have probably borrowed at least 20 more from the public library.<\/p>\n

9) What are you currently working on?<\/p>\n

A Christmas novella that won\u2019t end. LOL. Give A Little Love.<\/i> It\u2019s due for release in early December. I hope!<\/p>\n

10) What do you want a reader to get from your\u00a0novels?<\/p>\n

I want readers to be entertained by my stories, because I\u2019m an entertainer first. I\u2019d love for them to also walk away with a message about hope, faith and forgiveness, because those are the themes that resonate from my work.<\/p>\n

11) What is your writing and creative process?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a bit of a planner. My stories or characters come to me and I write the first one or two chapters, but then I never write more until I know exactly who the people are and what\u2019s going to happen.<\/p>\n

I typically write the last chapter after I write the first and I force myself to outline and determine the goals, motivation and conflict before I get to Chapter 3. I write much faster and cleaner that way.<\/p>\n

I draft write without re-writing and then re-write, re-write and re-write until I\u2019ve reached my deadline.<\/p>\n

My books are never finished. I just have to stop.<\/p>\n

12) How\u00a0does your faith play into your writing?<\/p>\n

Heavily, I write who I am and I am a person who loves the Lord, so it shows in my stories. I\u2019m also a divorced woman who still loves men, so the men in books are flawed, but they smell and look good.<\/p>\n

13) How does a\u00a0Christian writer write about romance and sex without feeling\u00a0like they\u00a0are sinning?<\/p>\n

Let me say this so it\u2019s clear up front, I write a pretty sweet romance. I\u2019ve never written anything but chaste stories. I\u2019m not sure how it works for other people, but I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything un-Christian about romance and sex, and I consider myself to be a conservative Christian.<\/p>\n

However, I also know the word \u201cChristian\u201d means different things to different people. Being Christian is my faith, but it\u2019s also a lifestyle. While I recognize that we\u2019re in our flesh (the human state) until we die, there are things that we can do through faith; remain celibate is one of them.<\/p>\n

My stories are sexy, but I don\u2019t write sex scenes. My characters are strongly attracted to people, but \u201cthough shalt not fornicate\u201d in a Rhonda McKnight story. I balance what is realistic with what the Holy Spirit says is okay. When I rewrite it\u2019s very easy to find content that needs to be deleted.<\/p>\n

14) What do you think is the number one thing that\u00a0hinders writers?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an interesting question. Are writers really hindered? I don\u2019t believe we are.<\/p>\n

Writing is solitary act that can be as private or public as the writer decides.<\/p>\n

Authors are hindered or can be by lots of things: contracts, deadlines, genre, reader expectations, the demands of marketing, etc, etc, etc.<\/p>\n

I could go on and on, but I\u2019ll sound ungrateful. LOL. I am glad to have a book contract.<\/p>\n

15) Lastly,\u00a0what\u00a0advice would you give a novice writer?<\/p>\n

Attend writer\u2019s conferences (American Christian Fiction Writers is a very good one, as is Black Writers Reunion Conference) and build a network of other writers.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll learn a great deal at a conference and your network will encourage you to stay the course. I know mine did.<\/p>\n

The writers I connected with ten years ago are the same people I email and text good news and \u201cgrumble, moan and whine to\u201d today. They\u2019re also the people who help me promote my work and I help them. Those relationships are very important.<\/p>\n

Pick a project and make yourself finish it.\u00a0 Get to \u201cThe End\u201d.\u00a0 The End feels so good.<\/p>\n

Lastly, believe in yourself.<\/p>\n

Everyone won\u2019t support your writing. Most people won\u2019t, so be okay with \u2018you\u2019 being the only person who does.<\/p>\n

Thank you so much for this wonderful interview, Rhonda McKnight.<\/p>\n

********<\/p>\n

Rhonda McKnight<\/b> is the author of the Black Expressions<\/i> Top 20 bestseller, A Woman\u2019s Revenge<\/i> (Mar 2013), What Kind of Fool<\/i> (Feb 2012), An Inconvenient Friend<\/i> (Aug 2010), Secrets and Lies<\/i> (Dec 2009) and Breaking All the Rules<\/i> (Oct 2013).<\/p>\n

She was a 2010 nominee for the African-American Literary Award<\/i> in the categories of Best Christian Fiction Novel and Best Anthology. She was the winner of the 2010 Emma Award<\/i> for Favorite Debut Author and the 2009 Shades of Romance Award<\/i> for Best Christian Fiction Novel.<\/p>\n

Originally from a small, coastal town in New Jersey, she\u2019s called Atlanta, Georgia home for fifteen years.<\/p>\n

Visit her at www.rhondamcknight.net<\/a> and www.facebook.com\/booksbyrhonda<\/a> and follow her on Twitter @rhondamcknight<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Today I have the great pleasure of introducing, author Rhonda McKnight. My connection to this superb writer is through our mutual friend, mentor and amazing author, Victoria Christopher Murray. I really enjoyed her interview, and I hope you will too. ******** 1) Tell me about your current project? Breaking All The Rules is my first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[666,16,8,90],"tags":[704,713,698,709,714,699,710,712,702,708,706,696,697,707,703,705,701,700,711,527],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2507"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2552,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507\/revisions\/2552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}