Donna Schlachter – Janet Grunst

I interviewed Donna Schlachter last week and learned a bit about her writing journey and her December release, Missing Deposits. It is a contemporary mystery written under Leeann Betts her pen name. Here’s more about her journey and her upcoming January release, Double Jeopardy.

God often teaches us something through our writing. What did you learn about life, faith, or yourself in the process of writing these books?

Donna~ I’ve learned three important things:

The books are the mechanism the message gets to the reader, but the author is the message. The Lord once showed me that the stories are the packaging around the product, which is the author. He works through the stories, but not unless He’s already worked through and in the author. Which means we have to make ourselves available to him.
The One True God gives us second, and third, and fourth—and more—chances to make the best decision. He never stops chasing us down.
Never, never quit. Whatever gift you’ve received from the Holy Spirit isn’t yours to pick and choose how it’s used. It’s a gift from God to reach others. Use it to its fullest to reach the many.

You have written novels and novellas. Do you prefer one format over the other?

Donna~ Novellas are nice because they are much quicker to write. With a main plot and one subplot, they aren’t as technically difficult.

Novels give an author plenty of space to develop characters and introduce more subplots.

I like both—at first, I found novellas restrictive because I wanted more subplots, but now I like a break from a book that takes six months to write to one that takes two months (or less).

Please tell us about Double Jeopardy.

Donna~ My next release is January 7th, Double Jeopardy. It’s an historical mystery, set in southwestern Colorado.

In May of 1880, Becky Campbell leaves her wealthy New York lifestyle in search of her father, only to learn he was murdered in the small town of Silver Valley, Colorado. Unable to return to her mother in humiliation and defeat, she determines to fulfill her father’s dream—to make the Double Jeopardy profitable. Zeke Graumann, a local rancher, is faced with a hard decision regarding his land and his dream. After several years of poor weather and low cattle prices, he will either have to take on a job to help pay his overhead expenses or sell his land. He hires on with this Easterner for two reasons: he can’t turn his back on a damsel in distress. And he needs the money. Becky isn’t certain Zeke is all he claims to be, and after a series of accidents at her mine, wonders if he isn’t behind it, trying to get her to sell out so he can take over. Zeke finds many of Becky’s qualities admirable and fears he’s losing his heart to her charms but also recognizes she was never cut out to be a rancher’s wife. Can Becky overcome her mistrust of Zeke, find her father’s killer, and turn her mine into a profitable venture—before her mother arrives in town, thinking she’s coming for her daughter’s wedding? And will Zeke be forced to give up his dream and lose his land in order to win Becky’s heart?

What is your current work in process?

We are thinking ahead to June 2020 when the last installment of the By the Numbers series will release.

Donna, thanks again for being my guest.

Thank you, Janet, for hosting me. I always love connecting with readers, and I appreciate your sharing yours with me.

Where can readers find your books?

Double Jeopardy is available at https://shoplpc.com/double-jeopardy/ as well as at Amazon.com

My other books are available at Amazon.com and Smashwords.com

What are your social media sites?

www.HiStoryThruTheAges.wordpress.com

www.HiStoryThruTheAges.com Receive a free ebook when you sign up for our free newsletter!

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/DonnaschlachterAuthor

Twitter: www.Twitter.com/DonnaSchlachter

Books: Amazon: http://amzn.to/2ci5Xqq and Smashwords:

What Can Be Online University: https://what-can-be-online-institute.teachable.com/

For original oil paintings, book folding art, notecards, and other gift ideas: https://www.etsy.com/shop/Dare2DreamUS?ref=search_shop_redirect

I met Donna through her blog, http://www.historythrutheages.com/ where she “explores history through the ages, from the beginning, through the middle, and to the conclusion, in the form of historical suspense and historical romance, written with a Christian worldview.”

Please tell us something about yourself, Donna. Where were you raised and now live?

Donna~ I was born in Newfoundland, the large island in eastern Canada, but my parents moved us to Toronto, Ontario when I was nine months old. I traveled the 600 miles from the east side of the island to the west, where the ferry to the “mainland” sailed from, in a “plastic” car bed laid on the floor behind my mother’s seat. My father, a communications and electrical engineer, moved us several times before we finally returned to St. John’s, my “hometown” when I was eight.

I now live in Denver, Colorado, and just celebrated 20 years of marriage to my husband, Patrick, who I met online and moved to Denver, sight unseen, to marry. Kinda like a mail-order bride.

What sparked your interest in writing?

Donna~ I was an avid reader as a child, always getting lost in books. I remember one time I was so engrossed in a book I was reading (I was 7) on the school bus that I didn’t realize I’d missed my stop and ended up at the depot out in the middle of nowhere. I had to call my mother, who called my father (one-car family), who had to leave work early and get me. Thankfully, no harm came to me, and I didn’t do that again.

In 2002, I saw an ad for National Novel Writing Month and wondered if I had just one book in me. I started writing, and haven’t stopped.

Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?

Donna~ Since writing that first draft in 2002 with no outline, I have always outlined since. Sometimes it’s as simple as a 1-page synopsis. Sometimes it’s 20 pages of detail.

What do you find most challenging about being a writer? (research, plotting or organizing a story, marketing, or something else)

Donna~ Marketing is definitely the most challenging. Just when I think I’ve found something that works, it changes.

You have a contemporary mystery releasing this month under Leeann Betts your pen name for contemporary stories. Please tell us about it.

Donna/ Leeann Betts ~ Missing Deposits:

“Carly looks forward to a vacation when Mike is hired to assist a rancher family in western Colorado catalog their various mineral rights following the discovery of a large copper field on their property. However, Carly soon learns that the real wealth—and the real danger—aren’t below ground. Someone is out to keep a secret bigger and more profitable than copper.

And they’re willing to kill for it.”

Come back next week and we will learn a bit more about Donna and her January 2020 release.

Donna, thank you so much for being my guest. Where can readers find your books?

Double Jeopardy is available at https://shoplpc.com/double-jeopardy/ as well as at Amazon.com

Missing Deposits and other books are available at Amazon.com and Smashwords.com