Guest Author, Carol Ann Erhardt

Today we have as our guest author, Carol Ann Erhardt, who has seven stories published with The Wild Rose Press, both full-length books and short stories. I was blessed to meet Carol Ann this summer in Cincinatti at the Lori Foster Readers and Writers Get Together, which was a wonderful experience all around. (I need to blog about it sometime, because it really was a great time.)

Carol Ann and I kept each other company during the booksigning. So, without further ado, here's Carol Ann...

Who are you?

I am a wife to my soul mate after surviving an abusive marriage; I am a mother to my four children and four step-children; I am a proud grandma; I am a full-time Executive Assistant; I am a caretaker of thirteen feral cats;I am owned by three cats named Charlotte, Wilbur, and Templeton; I am a woman who loves God, ice cream, chocolate, people, animals, sunshine, snow and good books; I am afraid of heights, the dark, and spiders (eek!); I am a woman who dislikes mean-spirited people, death, and destruction; I am a child who worries about her elderly mother and misses her deceased father--I am Carol Ann Erhardt, romance novelist.

What type of stories do you like to write and why?

I love to write suspenseful stories set in small communities. Being raised in an area where everyone knew their neighbors makes it easy for me to develop characters my readers can associate with and care about. I especially writing suspense because I enjoy creating the “page-turners” that keep readers awake at night.

What type of stories do you like to read and why?

I love anything with well-developed characters. That’s so much more important than a clever plot, although plots are important, too. I’m a multi-genre reader, but my favorites books are romance and romantic suspense.

When do you write?

It’s hard to cram in writing time. I work full-time and in the warmer months, I sit in my car and write during my lunch hour. At night, it’s difficult because my husband is more demanding of attention than any of my kids ever were. Sometimes, I cram in a few pages over the weekend. I’m luck to have a job that gets slow sometimes, and I have an office with a door…so I’ve been known to crank out a few pages at work and save them to my flash drive. Shhhh.

When do you read? Where?

I read in bed every night. Sometimes it’s only a paragraph, sometimes an entire chapter. It helps me relax and get my mind off the day-to-day stresses.

Where did you get the inspiration for your books?

To be honest, I don’t know where I get the inspiration for any book! Sometimes a scene pops into my head, or a character. Since I’m a pantster, the story develops from those glimpses.

Where do you go to think?

In the bathtub or shower. It’s the only place I have peace, though sometimes my cats wander in.

How did you come up with your title and main characters’ names?

Since this was an inspirational, I wanted to reflect that in the title. I loved the name Joshua for my little boy and decided to use his name. From there it was easy to come up with Hope for my heroine. Thus, Joshua’s Hope was born.

How long did you write seriously before your first book was published?

Five very long years!

Why do you write?

Because I can’t not.

Carol Ann Erhardt resides in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband and three curious cats. Her bookshelves overflow with over five hundred novels written by her favorite authors. Carol Ann writes romantic suspense and sweet romantic short stories. She has three novels and four short stories published with The Wild Rose Press. Additionally she has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul and Cup of Comfort books. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, RWA Kiss of Death Chapter, Central Ohio Fiction Writers, American Christian Writers, and Pop Fiction Writers.