Award-winning writer Cara Slaughter, who writes under the name Cara Lynn James, is a current Golden Heart® finalist in the Inspirational category. Finaling and placing in contests is not new to her, however. She has finaled in twelve contests and won five with three different stories and is a member of the active group of contest-oriented bloggers known as The Seekers.

Cara writes both contemporary and historical romance, having completed three manuscripts in six years. The Gilded Age of the 1890s is one of Cara’s favorite periods and is the time in which her stories are set.

A New Englander, Cara now lives in northwest Florida near the Gulf Coast with her twice-retired husband, formerly a Navy pilot and then science teacher, her grown daughter, two-year-old grandson who calls himself Spiderman and a yappy Papillion named Sparky. Their son lives five minutes away and attends college full-time along with working full-time.

When she’s not busy creating her stories, Cara likes to play with her grandson, eat out, especially at Mexican, Japanese, Italian and seafood restaurants, go camping in her A-liner pop-up camper (it looks like an aluminum tent) and read romances, women’s fiction and mysteries at the beach.

Join me as we learn more about Cara and her journey.

.

Cara Slaughter

.

Cara’s Journey Begins

.

•You’ve been writing for a number of years. When did you set to work on your first story? How did that initial idea come about?

I wrote my first story for my parents’ wedding anniversary (20 pages!) when I was seven years old. It was modeled after the Bobbsey twins, the only books I knew much about.

I’ve always loved to read and write, although I didn’t finish another story for well over forty-five years. I couldn’t imagine an ordinary person could actually become a writer.

.

•One of your early works is set in the New England town of Newport, Rhode Island. What is about that setting that captured your attention and led you to use it?

My mother came from Newport, so my family spent a lot of time there while I was growing up in Connecticut. In fact, some of her ancestors who were expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious reasons founded the town in 1639.

I loved the ocean and the beach—still do. We’d sometimes tour the mansions (called cottages) where the nineteenth century millionaires summered. I was fascinated with how the rich and the spoiled lived, so writing about them came naturally.

.

•When did you make the decision to write Inspirational romance, and why?

As a Christian, I gravitated toward writing inspirational stories. I don’t have any steamy romances gathering dust under my bed.

.

.

Cara’s Process

.

•You’ve completed several manuscripts. Have you developed a schedule you follow on a daily or weekly basis, or do you write when the mood strikes?

I write when my muse pesters me, but in those in-between times, I think about my characters and plot and I move things around on my ‘mental’ plotting board. My resolution every January 1st is to discipline myself so I can be more productive. I’m improving. I do try to write a chapter a week. Sometimes I even succeed. If I’m under pressure, I can buckle down and do whatever I have to do.

.

•How does one of your stories come into being? Do your characters introduce themselves and start carrying on conversations in your head? Does a setting take hold and lend itself to a story? Or does a plot begin weaving itself into your thoughts and beg to be captured on the page?

Characters and setting come to mind first and then I work on the plot. I like plotting, but it isn’t always easy. My characters usually don’t have a story to tell. I have to coax it out of them. But I like to know where the story will end before I start and at least some of the plotting points. Otherwise I go down a lot of blind alleys.

.

.

Peaks

.

•You’ve finaled and placed in many contests, including the American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis, the Linda Howard Award of Excellence and the Beacon, to name but a few. Which of your wins stand out and why?

I won the Genesis in the historical category in 2005. It was the first contest I won and the competition was fierce. That win gave me confidence to continue writing and take it seriously and not just as a hobby.

.

•On March 25, 2009 you received a very special call from RWA with the news that you are a Golden Heart finalist in the Inspirational category. What were you doing when the call came and how did you react to the news? What have been the most enjoyable aspects of finaling so far?

I was so excited I couldn’t focus on anything else. After the call at 7:30 in the morning, I ran around the house screaming like a lunatic. I’m usually quiet, so this really got my family’s attention. Then I received another call from Terri, the lady who’d just phoned me. I saw her number and I was scared to death she was calling back to say she’d made a terrible mistake and I wasn’t really a finalist. Fortunately, all she wanted to know was which name I wanted to go by—Cara or Carolyn. So all day I basked in the glow of the Golden Heart contest. In fact, over two months later, I’m still grinning. Finaling has given me a great reason to go RWA National this year.

.

.

Valleys

•Even though you’ve done very well on the contest circuit, your first foray was disappointing. What did you learn from that early entry?

I learned I didn’t know as much about writing as I thought. Over the years I’d read many how-to-books on writing, but I’d never written more than a few pages in any of my many works-in-progress. I never got far before I lost interest in the story since I revised the beginning pages so many times I bored myself to death.

So when I entered my first contest I expected to learn exactly how much knowledge I’d absorbed. Turns out I didn’t learn much, or at least not enough. Understanding the mechanics of writing is a lot different than actually developing an interesting story and putting it on paper. I learned I needed to practice writing as much as I needed to study writing.

.

•You’ve been pursuing publication for a long time. No doubt, there have been times when you asked yourself why you continue to work toward a goal that can seem daunting on the darkest days. What or whom has served as motivation in those times of introspection and reflection?

I’ve been writing for six years, minus a year when I had health problems and hardly wrote at all. I persevere because I feel God is calling me to write and even if I never get published, I love to tell a story.

I didn’t get serious about writing until I joined RWA and the Gulf Coast Chapter in Mobile, then ACFW. Chapter members who’ve become good friends and the Seekers and my critique partners have all encouraged and motivated me to keep writing.

.

.

Partners on Cara’s Journey

•You have an awesome group of supportive writers and published authors as friends in your Seekerville pals. How did The Seekers blog form, and how did you come to be part of this awesome group of women?

I believe it was Ruth Logan Herne who asked a bunch of us who had finaled in contests in 2005 if we’d like to form an on-line support group. They’re an awesome, talented group and I’m honored to be a part of the Seekers. When we first got together, only one lady had sold—now about half are published or have sold. I’m waiting for my turn!

Later we decided to start a blog which we call Seekerville. We blog about all aspects of writing and publishing including contests.

.

•Contest judges provide great feedback, but there’s nothing like the interaction with a valued critique partner. Please tell us about yours and why your relationship works so well.

I’m really blessed to belong to two fantastic critique groups. One is online with two multi-published inspirational authors who are great at giving encouragement along with wonderful suggestions. My other group consists of three friends in my area. Two are published and all three are fabulous writers and super critique partners. They’re all supportive and extremely knowledgeable. I couldn’t ask for more. They’ve taught me so much and their help has been invaluable.

.

.

Cara’s Journey Continues

.

•Finaling in the Golden Heart is a great honor and yet it’s no guarantee of publication. What steps are you taking to get your stories “out there”? Have you continued to enter contests? Are you submitting to agents and editors?

I’m submitting to editors and I’m in the process of researching agents. I’m taking it one step at a time. Contests have given me lots of feedback and a few requests for full manuscripts. So I continue to enter.

.

•What story are you working on now and what ideas are dancing around just waiting for you to get to them?

I’m finishing another Newport/Gilded Age story called Love on Assignment. It’s my first manuscript and it’s gone through several versions. First I set it in Vermont where I lived for twenty years, then I changed the location to West Virginia. Not completely satisfied with either setting, I moved the timeframe from contemporary to historical and the place to Newport.

.

.

Five Fun Facts About Cara

.

~I was a Naval officer for eight years at air stations in Beeville, Texas, San Diego and Virginia Beach. Sometimes I was the only woman officer in the entire squadron. That was interesting!

~I owned and operated a small bookstore in Vermont for three years.

~I’ve lived in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, Texas, California, Virginia and Florida and I’ve traveled all over Europe.

~I’m a thirteenth generation New Englander.

~My husband and I adopted a baby girl from Colombia twenty years ago when Colombia was in the midst of a major drug war. Our State Department warned American citizens to return home because of the danger, but the Colombian judge wouldn’t let us wait until the situation resolved. So we flew down to Colombia and got our now grown daughter.

.

.

Plus Five

.

1) Do you write at home, or are you an out-and-about coffee house type of writer?

I only write at home, although to be more productive I should go to B&N or someplace less distracting than my house—not that a bookstore has fewer distractions! I love having my husband and grandson at nearby and I’m never lonely.

2) What are three items you must have close by when you’re writing?

A cup of latte in the morning, iced tea for the rest of the day, my cell phone and a novel in case I want a break which I always do.

3) Do you write in chronological order, or are you a puzzle-piece writer, tackling whatever scene captures your attention?

I always write in chronological order. I glance at my bare-bones outline, but I don’t follow it closely because my muse usually leads me someplace more interesting.

4) What’s your favorite weekend getaway spot?

The beach—any sugar-sand beach on the Florida or Alabama Gulf Coast.

5) If you could choose one romance writer with whom to spend a day, who would it be? What would be your most pressing questions to ask her/him?

I’d love to spend a day with Maeve Binchy, an Irish author who writes awesome women’s fiction. I’d just like to listen to her chat about writing, where she gets her ideas and how she develops characters.

.

.

Cara’s Question for You

.

•I’ve enjoyed having you as my guest, Cara. Thanks for your great answers to my questions. And now it’s your turn to ask a question of your visitors. What would you like to know?

I’d like to know how other writers keep themselves motivated when the story/words won’t come.

.

.

Learn More About Cara

Visit her group blog: The Seekers

Friend her on Facebook: Cara Slaughter

.

.

Leave a Comment for Your Chance to Win

.

My next drawing will take place June 20th. The winner will receive a travel-friendly fabric tote bag just the right size for a day trip or errand run.

.

Tote Bag

.

To enter the drawing, just leave a comment on any blog post by June 20th and enter your email address when prompted. (I don’t share your information or add it to any mailing lists.) On June 21st, I’ll post the winner’s name in the Welcome post at the top of the blog.

.

.

You could also win a First Sale Scrapbook!

.

If you’d like to have a chance at winning a First Sale Scrapbook created by me, your blog hostess Keli Gwyn, leave a comment on any post between now and June 30th. Be sure to include your name and email address when prompted if you want to be entered in the drawing. (Your information will not be shared.) Click red link above to see samples of covers and pages.

On July 1st, I will choose one person who will have her/his choice of several covers on an 8×8 inch, twenty-page scrapbook in which s/he can document that long-awaited first sale. The pages will cover various milestones including The Call, signing the contract, receiving the first advance payment and holding your “firstborn” in your hands.

(No scrapbooking skills required. You just add your photos and journaling.)