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Debby Giusti interview with Susan Sleeman
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February 08, 2016
A: My dad was career Army so I traveled a lot as a child, moving every two to three years. After graduating from The Ohio State University, I met and married my hubby at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and continued living the nomadic Army life. We raised three wonderful Army Brats of our own, traveled the world and eventually settled in Georgia. Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? A: I started writing as soon as I could hold a pencil and was always creating stories to entertain my friends. As I got older, my mother encouraged me to have a profession, and since my love of science was as strong as my love for the written word, I pursued a career as a medical technologist, working in the clinical laboratory. After my first child was born, I became a stay-at-home mom and was heavily involved in church ministry and community projects, but I always longed to write. My path to publication started in earnest when I freelanced for magazines in the early 2000s. Q: What do you write and why this genre? A: I grew up reading Nancy Drew and have always loved the mystery/suspense genre so that was a natural fit when I started writing full-length fiction. Q: Do you base your characters on people you know or are they totally made up? A: My characters are mostly made up, although I occasionally draw from people I come in contact with throughout the day. My military heroes are Alpha types—strong men who sacrifice their own needs for the good of others, just like the men and women in uniform who put our country first.
A: PLAIN DANGER is about a woman who inherits an antebellum home from a father she never knew and finds a murdered soldier on the property the night she arrives. The neighbor, an Army CID special agent, investigates, and together, they unravel the truth about her father and her past. Q: Where did the idea for this story come from? A: I’m enchanted by antebellum homes and wanted to write a story with a throwback to the Civil War. I placed the house in the middle of an Amish community so I had fun mixing in a bit of the Old South along with the military and Amish threads. Q: Tell us a little about your main character and how you developed him/her. A: Carrie York, a speechwriter for a US Senator with anti-military leanings, grew up believing her career Army dad had jilted her mother, leaving her pregnant and unmarried. From the onset, that puts the heroine at odds with the CID hero, but he’s a good man, and Carrie soon changes her opinion of those in uniform. In the course of the story, she opens her heart to the hero and learns she was loved not only by her earthy father, but by her heavenly father as well. Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now? A: I’m working on an new suspense proposal that I hope my editor will give me the go-ahead to write. Q: What are some ways that readers of your books can help you as an author? A: I love to hear from readers via email or Facebook. Their support means so much to me. Reviews of my books are appreciated as well. Q: What one thing about writing do you wish other non-writers would understand? A: I want readers and non-writing friends to know how much I value their encouragement and support! Q: Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers. A: I write the bulk of each story on an AlphaSmart, a small portable word processer that was first developed for special needs students. Because it has limited functions, I’m forced to keep writing forward and save my editing until a later draft, after I’ve downloaded my files to my computer. While my husband was stationed in Germany, we had the honor of attending an elegant, formal dinner hosted by a German prince and princess in their castle, and I lived in Japan for three years as a child. Q: Milk or dark chocolate? Coffee or tea? A: Milk chocolate! Two cups of coffee in the morning. A cup of tea in the afternoon. Q: Favorite TV show or shows? A: American Idol. The show gives young, unknown singers a chance to be discovered. In my opinion, that’s the American dream come true. Q: Where can readers find you on the internet? A: Readers can connect with me in the following ways: Website: www.DebbyGiusti.com Email: Debby@DebbyGiusti.com Blog: www.seekerville.blogspot.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debby.giusti.9 Twitter: https://twitter.com/DebbyGiusti Q: Anything else you’d like to tell or share with us? A: My next book, PLAIN TRUTH, will be out in August. Each book in my Military Investigations series stands alone so they can be read in any order and are available in print as well as digital format. Thanks for inviting me to The Suspense Zone, Susan. You’re always such a gracious hostess. |
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Publishers Weekly Bestselling Author Debby Giusti is a medical technologist who loves working with test tubes and petri dishes almost as much as she loves to write. Growing up as an Army Brat, Debby met and married her husband–then a Captain in the Army–at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Together they traveled the world, raised three wonderful Army Brats of their own and eventually settled in Georgia, where Debby spins tales of suspense that touch the heart and soul.
Debby has more than 900,000 books in print, and her stories have won numerous awards, including two Daphne du Maurier Awards for Inspirational Suspense, the National Readers’ Choice Award, the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award, Golden Quill, the Beacon, the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence and the Write Touch. Her twenty-fourth novel, AMISH CHRISTMAS SECRETS, released in October and is the last book in her Amish Protectors series. AMISH SAFE HOUSE, the second book in a new Amish Witness Protection Continuity series from Love Inspired Suspense, will be available in February 2019.
Wow, when I see your books all spread out like that Debby, it really hits home what an expansive career you have.
And I would have NEVER guessed American Idol!
Thanks so much, Susan, for inviting me to THE SUSPENSE ZONE. It’s a fun place for suspense writers to hang out!