ANOTHER WAHOO WEDNESDAY ~ Johnnie Alexander ~ 'Match You Like Crazy

It's Another Wahoo Wednesday, that's what's up!!

Please welcome author Johnnie Alexander with her answer to some interview questions.

Welcome, Johnnie!

How long have you been writing?

That’s a hard question to answer. My poetry was published years and years ago. But I had my first “I love this—I can do this” moment about writing fiction after first participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in 2003. Still, I was working full-time and raising my family. Writing wasn’t always a priority even though it was the dream of my heart. Eventually, though, I quit my job, attended writers conferences, won the American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis contest in the historical category, and my debut novel was published in 2013.

How do you go about finding names for your characters?

Sometimes the names just come and they’re right. When that doesn’t happen, I check out the popular names in the decade the character was born, watch TV and movie credits for ideas, or use the name (only the first or the last, not both) of a favorite book or screen character. Sometimes I use the names of friends or family.

The protagonists of “Match You Like Crazy” are named for my son, Nate, and his girlfriend Bre. I gave them different last names and have them both living in Florida where Nate was born and raised (he’s a Flo-Grown boy!). One of the other characters is from Oklahoma, where Bre has lived all her life.

Besides writing, what other hobbies or pastimes do you enjoy?

Most writers are avid readers, and I’m no exception. I read a variety of genres, both fiction and nonfiction. I also love going to the movies or having a “movie day” at home with family and friends. My sister and I have managed to take a trip together the past three years and we’re doing our best to keep that tradition going.

What is your typical writing day like?

I’m more of a night owl than an early bird. So mornings are for quiet time, email, social media connections, and the to-do list. I write in the afternoons and into the evening hours if needed. 

What take-away value do you want readers to gain from your novella?

“Match You Like Crazy” is a lighthearted, fun story about two twenty-somethings, Nate and Bre, whose families are longtime business competitors in the box manufacturing industry. Nate and Bre are loyal to their families but feel stifled by their jobs. Turns out they both have similar dreams, but will they have the courage to achieve them?

What can we expect to see from Johnnie Alexander in the future?

My next novel, To Choose His Love (Hearts of Amish Country Series), releases from Annie’s Fiction in August. I’m currently writing another historical novella for Barbour called “Blue Moon” for the Hometown Heroines Collection. Next May, I’m releasing a novel with the Mosaic Collection, a group of international authors teaming up to write contemporary stories that share God’s timeless truths.

Back cover blurb:

They have everything in common. So why aren’t they a perfect match?

Bre Fisher wishes she’d said no when her grandmother gave her a trip to Matchmaking Week, especially when Nate Hunter takes the seat beside her on the puddle-jumper to Joy Island. He’s the last person she expected to see.

Nate figures he can’t go home if Bre is his match. The longstanding business rivalry between their families makes romance with a Fisher impossible. 

Yet in addition to the same family expectations and obligations, Bre and Nate have the same interests—maybe even the same dream. 

Will a week on Joy Island spark another feud? Or prove they’re a crazy perfect match? 

 Author info:

Johnnie Alexander creates characters you want to meet and imagines stories you won't forget in a variety of genres. Her award-winning debut novel, Where Treasure Hides, is a CBA bestseller and has been translated into Dutch and Norwegian. 

Her first indie novella, “Match You Like Crazy,” (Resort to Romance Series) released in April 2019. She's part of an international group of authors writing the Mosaic Collection, a series of contemporary novels releasing in 2019-2020.

 An award-winning, best-selling novelist, Johnnie serves on the Serious Writer, Inc. executive board, co-hosts Writers Chat, and interviews inspirational authors for Novelists Unwind. She lives in Oklahoma with Griff, her happy-go-lucky collie, and Rugby, her raccoon-treeing papillon. Connect with her at www.johnnie-alexander.com and other social media sites via https://linktr.ee/johnniealexndr. Sign up for Johnnie’s newsletter on her website for updates and special giveaways.

LINKS:

Purchase “Match You Like Crazy” on Amazon

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A Peek Into a Story's Birth ♦ Johnnie Alexander

What Hope Remembers: The Story Behind the Story

By

Johnnie Alexander

“You might say this is an unexpected story. For years I dreamed of telling Shelby and AJ’s story, and I hoped to tell Brett’s too. But I never expected, never thought, never ever considered telling Amy’s.”

The above is the first paragraph of the novel’s Acknowledgements section for What Hope Remembers, the third story in the Misty Willow Series.

As you can see, I didn’t think much of Amy as the heroine of her own story. She appeared in the first two stories as a vengeful, self-absorbed brat. A perfect villain, yes. But an engaging heroine?

No way!

Thankfully, three close friends and my daughter thought otherwise. They wanted to hear Amy’s story, and they wanted her to have a chance at happiness. I talked about the possibilities with my editor, she gave her go-ahead, and I—still with a bit of reluctance—opened my heart to a troubled and unkind woman trapped by the choices she’d made in the past.

Here’s the secret about villains: they believe they are the heroes of their own stories.

Amy was no different.

She had a voice. She only needed someone to listen.

I thought I knew the pain that crippled her spirit. As readers of Where She Belongs (with AJ and Shelby) and When Love Arrives (with Brett and Dani) know, Amy and Brett’s parents and their cousin AJ’s parents died in an airplane crash when they were all in their teens. This tragic accident devastated each of them.

But I didn’t know until I started writing this story that the crushing pain caused thirteen-year-old Amy to give up her love of riding horses and her love for Gabe Kendall, the stable owner’s nephew.

Years later Gabe comes riding back into Amy’s life on a buckskin mare. He’s also trapped by the past, but together—and by God’s grace—they might be able to create a new future.

I’m grateful for wise friends who cared about Amy even when she was at her most unlovable. And I’m thrilled her story has now been told.

From the Back Cover:

When Amy Somers loses her job as a lobbyist, she moves to Misty Willow, well aware that she’s crossing bridges she’d burned years before. With all the mistakes she’s made and the uncaring things she’s done–even to her own family–she can hardly believe that happiness will find her, especially when Gabe Kendall, her first crush and her first kiss, rides back into her life atop a buckskin mare.

A former Marine, Gabe is at loose ends after serving a prison sentence for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He sees beyond Amy’s hard exterior to the girl he once knew and loved, and he longs to see her open her heart. Yet with his vision clouded by shame for his past and fears about the future, he finds it difficult to see the path ahead.

But the memory of that long-ago kiss just may have the power to reignite a romance that brings out the best in both of them.

Purchase: Link to Online Retailers

Johnnie Alexander is a wannabe vagabond with a heart for making memories. While relaxing on her Sunshine State patio with her dogs Rugby and Griff, she writes stories that tug at your heartstrings.

In addition to winning the prestigious American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) Genesis Contest (Historical), Johnnie has received several conference awards. Her popular debut novel, Where Treasure Hides, is a CBA bestseller and has been translated into Dutch and Norwegian.

She is marketing director for the Mid-South Christian Writers Conference and past president of both the ACFW Memphis and ACFW Central Florida chapters.

Where to Find Johnnie Online 

Website/Blog  

Facebook Profile (Friend or Follow!)

Facebook Author Page    

Twitter

GoodReads

Amazon Author Page

Author Johnnie Alexander, Guest Blogger

Johnnie Alexander writes inspiring stories that linger in the heart. Her first contemporary romance, Where She Belongs (Misty Willow Series), releases from Revell in January 2016. She recently signed a contract with Barbour for a novella that will appear in their Courageous Brides Collection (July 2016).

Where Treasure Hides (Tyndale, 2013), Johnnie’s debut novel, won the ACFW Genesis Contest (2011 Historical Fiction). “Beneath the Christmas Star,” her first short story, appeared in the Guideposts anthology A Cup of Christmas Cheer—Tales of Joy and Wonder for the Holidays (2013).

Johnnie also has won the Golden Leaf (Autumn in the Mountains Novelist Retreat), Best Novel and Best Writer awards (Florida Christian Writers Conferences), and Bronze Medalist (My Book Therapy Frasier Contest).

She volunteers as a category coordinator for the ACFW Genesis Contest and as a judge for various contests. This year, she is also marketing director for the MidSouth Christian Writers Conference.

A graduate of Rollins College (Orlando) with a Master of Liberal Studies degree, Johnnie treasures family memories, classic movies, road trips, and stacks of books. She lives in the Memphis area where she experiences farm life with a small herd of alpacas and Rugby, the princely papillon known for treeing raccoons.

♦♦♦

Surprise! My Character Did What?

by

Johnnie Alexander

One of the most rewarding, awe-inspiring, and just plain fun aspects of fiction-writing is when the characters make their own decisions.

When secrets spill from their lips.

When they do the unexpected.

Alison Schuyler is a Dutch-American artist and heiress to an artistic legacy that stretches back to the days of Vermeer and Rembrandt. Several Old Masters hang in the family’s Rotterdam art gallery, but Alison’s treasures most The Girl in the Garden, a portrait of her deceased mother that was painted by her father.

I didn’t realize how much Alison valued this painting until she risked her life to protect it.

In fact, I didn’t realize how important the painting would become to the storyline until . . . well, until it did.

I’m fascinated how things like this happen. An object, a sentence, an action nonchalantly appears on the screen then later serves as unintentional foreshadowing of more important events. Once the value of these unintended gems is realized—which may not happen until I’m reading through the pages—they can inspire the story line.

It’s a mysterious process that I don’t pretend to understand. I only know I love it when it happens.

Curious to find out what Alison did to save her mother’s portrait and how The Girl in the Garden became an integral part of the story?

Then take a trip with me to Waterloo Station in August 1939. Listen to a young boy play “Rule, Britannia!” on his violin. And fall in love with Alison and a British soldier as they fall in love with each other.

♦♦♦

Where Treasure Hides, Book Overview

Artist Alison Schuyler spends her time working in her family’s renowned art gallery, determined to avoid the curse that has followed the Schuyler clan from the Netherlands to America and back again. She’s certain that true love will only lead to tragedy—that is, until a chance meeting at Waterloo station brings Ian Devlin into her life.

Drawn to the bold and compassionate British Army captain, Alison begins to question her fear of love as World War II breaks out, separating the two and drawing each into their own battles. While Ian fights for freedom on the battlefield, Alison works with the Dutch Underground to find a safe haven for Jewish children and priceless pieces of art alike. But safety is a luxury war does not allow.

As time, war, and human will struggle to keep them apart, will Alison and Ian have the faith to fight for their love, or is it their fate to be separated forever?

Chapter One

August 1939

The stringed notes of “Rule, Britannia!” grew louder as the crowd quieted, eyes and ears straining in their search for the violin soloist. The patriotic anthem echoed through Waterloo Station’s concourse, and as the second chorus began, sporadic voices sang the lyrics. Travel- weary Brits stood a little straighter, chins lifted, as the violinist completed the impromptu performance, the last note sounding long after the strings were silenced.

Alison Schuyler gripped her leather bag and threaded her way through the crowd toward the source of the music. As the final note faded inside the hushed terminal, she squeezed between a sailor and his girl, murmuring an apology at forc­ing them to part, and stepped onto a bench to see over the crowd. A dark-haired boy, no more than seven or eight, held the violin close to his anemic frame. His jacket, made of a finely woven cloth, hung loosely on his thin shoulders. The matching trousers would have slipped down his hips if not for his hand-tooled leather belt.

Either the boy had lost weight or his parents had purposely provided him clothes to grow into. Alison hoped for the latter, though from the rumors she’d heard, her first assumption was all too likely. She stared at the cardboard square, secured by a thick length of twine, that the boy wore as a cheap necklace. The penciled writing on the square numbered the boy as 127.

Other children crowded near the young musician, each one dressed in their fine traveling clothes, each one labeled with cardboard and twine. Germany’s castaways, transported to England for their own safety while their desperate parents paced the floors at home and vainly wished for an end to these troublesome days.

“Now will you allow him to keep his violin?” A man’s voice, pleasant but firm, broke the spell cast over the station. The children fidgeted and a low murmur rumbled through the crowd. The speaker, dressed in the khaki uniform of a British Army officer, ignored them, his gaze intent on the railroad official overseeing the children.

“He better,” said a woman standing near Alison. “Never heard anything so lovely. And the lad not even one of the king’s subjects. I’d take him home myself—yes, I would—if I’d a bed to spare.”

Alison mentally sketched the tableau before her, pinning the details into her memory. The officer’s hand resting on the boy’s shoulder; the official, a whistle around his neck, restlessly tapping his clipboard with his pencil; the dread and hope in the boy’s eyes as he clutched his prized instrument. The jagged square that tagged his identity.

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