Interview with Ronica Stromberg

http://ronicastromberg.wordpress.com

Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?

I knew at eight years old. I loved books and was always thinking up stories about other children I saw in pictures and illustrations. I wanted to see those stories told.

Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?

I think my road to publication has been more of a back road than an expressway. I’ve definitely hit a few potholes.

As a child, I’d write several pages of a story on notebook paper, get sidetracked, and never finish the story. I wrote in a diary every day though. When I was in eighth grade, the local newspaper paid me to write a column about happenings at the junior high. In high school, I wrote for the school newspaper and won a couple of journalism scholarships. I earned a degree in Journalism and didn’t return to creative writing until I was in my thirties and pregnant with my first child. I became a stay-at-home mom and started writing novels, only this time I finished them. I sold the second novel I wrote, The Glass Inheritance, to a small press, Royal Fireworks. I’ve been writing at home for thirteen years now and have also sold a picture book, The Time-for-Bed Angel, and two teen novels, A Shadow in the Dark and Living It Up to Live It Down.

The road to publishing is different for every writer. I’m happy to be getting somewhere on mine.

Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?

No pressure there, right?

A Shadow in the Dark and Living It Up to Live It Down are the first two books in my just-released Kirsten Hart series. In A Shadow in the Dark, Kirsten hears of a girl living in the farmhouse across the road and catches glimpses of her, but the girl never comes out. The mystery is, Who is the girl and why doesn’t she come out? This is an eerie story based upon an incident that happened to me as a child. (Insert ghostly wail here.)

In Living It Up to Live It Down, Kirsten tries to grow in her faith by befriending a pastor’s daughter. But the pastor’s daughter has gone astray, “living it up” at school and the community to “live down” the fact that she’s a pastor’s daughter. This book puts to rest the notion that Christians don’t have a sense of humor. It will make you laugh.

And here’s the clincher: neither book is ever going to be on Amazon for less than the publisher is currently selling it, so you might as well go to rfwp.com and order them both right now!

What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?

That little girl who went to the library and bookstore searching for answers to the questions she had about faith and never finding children’s books that addressed that.

Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!

I have two sons: a tween and a teen. The tween always wants me to write about him, and the teen never wants me to. My husband is fine with me writing about him as long as I disguise his identity. Whoops. Guess those days are done.

Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?

Chocolate. Pure, unadulterated chocolate. Or impure, adulterated chocolate. Any kind I can get my hands on actually.

What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?

Exercises (because I partake too much in my comfort food and because calisthenics are a lot easier to put aside than calories), wake my kids, and stumble into the bathroom to survey the night’s damage.

If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?

I have a huge, walk-in closet. I have more than 30 pairs of shoes, and three racks of clothes, but I don’t feel bad because my husband has as much as I do, and you’ll see his section first.

Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?

Emerald. You knew I couldn’t just say, “Green,” because I’m a writer and female, to boot. But I used to have a shiny, deep green dress that I always felt fabulous wearing. It was me at my best. Finally, I outgrew it (chocolate, again), and I haven’t found a shirt or dress in that color since. (It’s one color missing in my closet.)

Who is your favorite cartoon character?

Scooby-Doo.

Which cartoon character is most like you?

I’d like to say Daphne, but it’s probably Velma (dressed in green, not orange, and with contacts—I couldn’t stand losing my glasses that much, plot device or no).

If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history, where and when would it be—and why?

I don’t have much interest in living in historical times, so I’d say some time in my own life. Knowing what I know now, maybe I’d make better choices.

So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while you’re writing?

Soul from the ‘80s. Alexander O’Neal is my all-time favorite, but I’m also a fan of The Gap Band, Jon Gibson, The Dazz Band, Kool and the Gang, Michael Jackson, and Rick James, among others.

I write in silence. The kind of music I like to listen to makes me want to dance, and writing and dancing don’t mix.

Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie you saw at the theater?

Favorite TV shows are “Forensic Files” and “Antiques Roadshow.” I’m starting to like “History Detectives,” which is like a combination of the two.

No movies I watch over and over. The last one I saw was “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,” with my kids. (The teenager protested going, but it was the tween’s turn to choose.)

You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?

When you’re going through tough times (and you will), remember four simple words: This too shall pass.

One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?

I’ve started the third book in the Kirsten Hart series. Depending upon how well the series sells, I may write up to eight.

Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!