Ronie Kendig Interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.  

A. I’ve been married to my best friend and own hunky hero for twenty-three years, and we have four children. Our eldest graduated—via homeschool—last year, and we’re still schooling the other three at home.

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

A. I’m not an author who had some great epiphany that I wanted to be a writer. For me, I’d always been creating stories, either with my Barbies or in spirals. It wasn’t until my husband nudged me lovingly to seek publication when I was in my mid-twenties that I dared even risk the chance of publication.

Q: Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?  

A. I met Steve Laube at a small writer’s conference in February 2004, and I knew then after hearing him give the keynote and having an appointment with him that I wanted Steve to represent me. It would take four rejections by him (and many others but various agents) before I had honed my skills enough to garner an offer of representation from Steve. We went through some disappointments before I signed my first book contract Abingdon, who published Dead Reckoning released eighteen months later. During that long wait to publication, I was writing my fingers off and prepared the first book in what would become known as the Discarded Heroes. That sold to Barbour Publishing and from that series came Wolfsbane, which earned a Christy Award—and humbling experience that totally blew my mind! My second series is the A Breed Apart series about military working dogs, and I have one more upcoming suspense series with Barbour, Quiet Professionals.  

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release Talon: Combat Tracking Team?  

A. Aspen Courtland is out to find her missing brother. Only his combat tracking dog, Talon, knows where to look. Problem is, after a brutal attack that separated dog and handler, Talon’s afraid of his own shadow. The search is on, but when one mistake means disaster, can Talon muster the courage for one last mission?

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for Talon: Combat Tracking Team?

A: The inspiration for the basic element in TALON—that the military working dog has post-traumatic stress disorder—arose out of stories coming from the combat theater of dogs traumatized after terrible incidents. It intrigued me—and made my heart ache—that these four-legged heroes could incur an “invisible wound” that affects so many of our soldiers.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?

A:  Hope—that there is always hope in God, no matter the circumstance or situation.

Q: What is your favorite scene/chapter from the book?

A: Probably one of my favorite scenes comes pretty late in the book when Dane is livid over the complicit behavior of someone he knows, behavior that has put Aspen in grave danger, and Dane is going to fix it. One way or another. There is something very raw and  powerful about that scene to me, and I hope it’s the same for readers.

Q: What inspires you to write?  

A. Inspiration is drawn from life, from situations I might encounter, and very often, directly from the Bible. But I cannot wait for “inspiration” to strike to write. I must carry on, fight the good fight of faith that what I’m writing—sometimes without an inkling of inspiration—will touch hearts and minds for the Lord, will somehow make a difference. I work hard (as any author does) to write the best possible, and after that, it’s out of my hands. 😀

Q: How has being a published novelist differed from your expectations of the profession?  

A: As lame as this might sound, it’s more work than I ever realized, and with the advent of social media, the author is expected to be “on scene” more than ever before. I’m admit, I’m struggling with finding the right balance, especially since I’m still homeschooling, but I take it one step/day at a time.

Q: What advice or tips do you have for writers who are just getting started?

A: Know the rules of writing great fiction, learn the rules, master the rules. . .and *then* you can break them. Too often, I see authors looking to be “edgy” or “real,” and their fiction shows that’s where their focus is, rather than on the craft of storytelling.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?  

A. Right now, I am working on the first book in the Quiet Professionals series, Raptor Six. The QP series features the Special Forces team introduced in the A Breed Apart team, and I’m hoping readers will like getting to see some more of this team. 

Q: When you’re not writing what do you like to do?  

A.  I love to crochet, decorate (paint/sew), and garden. If I could get a bicycle, I’d probably pick that back up, but that hasn’t happened yet.

Q: Where can readers find you on the internet? 

A. I can be found online via my website (roniekendig.com), Facebook (www.facebook.com/rapidfirefiction), Twitter (@roniekendig), and Goodreads (http://www.goodreads.com/RonieK ).

Q: Anything else you’d like to tell or share with us?  

A. This series is about real-life heroes, both 4-legged and 2-legged, and there are many ways to help support our heroes. I encourage everyone to put “boots on ground” and support our military heroes, either through volunteering or donations. There are some vetted groups listed on my website (http://roniekendig.com/ground-support/) , and I will post more in the future.