Blog Tour: For This Life Only Q&A with Stacey Kade

Hi Everyone!

Just stopping by today with a Q&A Post from Stacey Kade, author of For This Life Only. Not only is this book a great read, but I had a lot of fun asking these questions and so glad to be part of the blog tour for this book. 

Welcome, Stacey to the blog! 

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How did you become a novelist and how long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing my whole life. Little bits of things here and there. I never finished anything until I took a short story class in college. When I graduated, I worked as a copywriter for a variety of companies, but writing a book was always something I wanted to do. I love books so much!

I finished my first book—it was terrible—when I was 22 or 23. So I’ve been writing steadily for about seventeen years or so.

What is your writing process? Do you have a daily routine?
Every book is a little different and I try not to let my process be so formal or ritualized that it gets in the way. Usually I have an idea that excites me, something that I can’t stop thinking about. Much like if you hear about a book from someone else and you desperately want to track that book down to know more. I take lots and lots of notes on characters, trying to understand who they are and what they want. I can’t start until I have a pretty decent first line, and I have to have a rough idea of the ending.

My daily routine is to exercise first thing in the morning. I hate it and if I don’t knock it out right away, then I won’t do it. Then I read for a while, as that seems to help get my brain in the right space. Then, I head out to either Starbucks or Panera to write. I work better away from the house.

What inspired you to write this book and in this way?
I’m a pastor’s kid myself. It’s a unique position, growing up with a behind-the-scenes look at religion. I felt like I had a story to tell about what that was like, when church is the family business, to speak. But I wanted it to be at a crisis point rather than a more leisurely exploration of identity and beliefs because I think those crisis points are when you really need to draw on who you are and what you believe, which is made all the more difficult when you aren’t sure about either of those things.

Also, I don’t think people talk about doubt or questions or uncertainty enough. It feels like we want people to check a box one way or another and kind of neglect talking about the process by which one makes that decision.

How did your characters for this book come about and did you enjoy creating them?
Characters for me tend to show up whole cloth. In this case, Jace and Thera have been hanging around in different iterations for a while. For Jace, there was always the car accident, and Thera always had some connection to the supernatural in some way.

I always enjoy creating the characters, seeing them take life and breathe on their own. They always surprise me! Thera, to me, was particularly enjoyable because she is so angry (as she has a right to be) and she’s not afraid to show it.

Finally, is there a question that you wish an interviewer would ask that you’ve never been asked and how would you answer said question?

Do I have a favorite line in the book?

 I love dialogue so I’m always the person who has a favorite line in a movie or TV show and runs around quoting those things endlessly. And I do have a favorite line: In the argument about Sarah leaving the cap off  the toothpaste. Eli says, “Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure Jesus would have been a proponent of putting the cap back on.”

And Jace, who is reluctantly drawn into this argument, responds with: “Actually, I’m pretty sure clumpy toothpaste wouldn’t have been an issue. Son of God, water into wine and all.”  It made me laugh.

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Thanks Stacey for stopping by the blog! Happy Reading!

ABOUT FOR THIS LIFE ONLY:

A young man struggles to move forward after the death of his twin brother in this gripping, coming-of-age tale about loss, redemption, love, and the moment you begin to see the world differently.

Three minutes.

Jacob Palmer died for three life-changing minutes.

And when he woke up, nothing was the same. Elijah, his twin brother, is dead, and his family is broken. Jace’s planned future is crushed, along with his pitching arm. Everyone keeps telling him that Eli’s in a better place, but Jace isn’t so sure. Because in those three minutes, there was nothing.

Overwhelmed by guilt and doubt, Jace struggles to adjust to this new version of the world, one without his brother, one without the certainties he once relied on. And then Thera comes into his life.

She’s the last girl he should be turning to for help.

But she’s also the first person to truly see him.

LINKS: Amazon | B&N | Indiebound | iBooks | The Book Depository

ABOUT STACEY KADE:

As an award-winning corporate copywriter, Stacey Kade has written about everything from backhoe loaders to breast pumps. But she prefers to make things up instead.

She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, Greg, and two retired racing greyhounds, SheWearsThePants (Pansy) and Shutter. When she’s not reading or writing, you’ll likely find her parked in front of the television catching up on her favorite shows (Scandal, The Vampire Diaries, Almost Human, The Walking Dead, and Sherlock, among others.)

Stacey is the author of the The Ghost and the Goth trilogy (THE GHOST AND THE GOTH, QUEEN OF THE DEAD, and BODY & SOUL) and The Project Paper Doll Series (THE RULES and THE HUNT). You can find her (far too often) on Facebook and Twitter as well as http://www.staceykade.com

LINKS: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr 

Giveaway:

3 Finished Copies of FOR THIS LIFE ONLY (US Only)

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