Q&A With Sharon Sala 

Sharon Sala is a New York Times & USA Today Bestselling author with 156 plus books published in eight different genres, including Romantic Suspense, Mystery, Young Adult, Western, Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Non-Fiction and Children’s books. I’m honored to be doing this interview with Sharon today! Sharon’s new novel Reckoning was released on September 15^th! 

Q: Sharon, welcome to Book Notions! Would you give a brief description of some of your novels beginning with your recent release, Reckoning? 

A: The majority of my work is romantic suspense. I do some self-pubbing which ranges from mystery to women’s fiction, and straight fiction. 

Reckoning begins with two children in the same church school who come from different socio-economic backgrounds, and the little boy’s family has a genetic thread of a child born once in every generation who is psychic, with the ability of precognition.  Their story continues as they grow up, with Briar, the little girl, becoming Tate, the little boy’s most loyal friend, who progresses to love. The girl’s family causes Tate’s family much hardship and pain to the point that they are forced to leave to regain safety. It’s a wonderful, wonderful story about doing what’s right, no matter the cost.

Q: What drew you into writing Romantic Suspense, Mystery, Young Adult, Western, Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Non-Fiction and Children’s books?

A: I was born to be able to plan what I wanted to dream and then go to bed and dream it. My daddy’s people were part Native American. Storytellers. I guess I inherited that piece of me from them. But I was also an avid reader. A girl from the country who would check out as many books as the librarian would let me… and my mother, grandmother, and her three sisters were all teachers. I learned to read when I was four, and I was reading all kinds of books by the age of ten. I read every Zane Grey, every Louis L’Amour, every piece of fiction that had a hero and heroine, and every book on Edgar Cayce.  I don’t consider myself a writer, but more a storyteller, which is why I write in so many different genres, and under two different names. Sharon Sala, and Dinah McCall. 

Q: How long does it take you to write a novel? How many hours a day do you spend plotting, writing and editing?     

A: Well, I dream them remember… so the whole plot is already in my head before I begin. My one quirk is that I will not begin the story until I decide upon the title. That’s priority #1 for me. I write a synopsis because my publisher requires it, but I never look at it again after I begin the story. It unfolds on its own, and when I’m seeing the words appearing on the screen, I’m also seeing the scene visually, not as the written word. Like watching a movie and wondering what words are going to come out of their mouths next. It’s an awesome gift I do not take for granted. 

As for editing… I LOVE editing. I edit as I go, but when the book is finished, I read over it probably five or six times, tightening up a scene of just outright deleting it because it’s repetitive. I think of it as putting lipstick on it to make it pretty. 

Q: Are you currently writing your next novel or novels and if so, can you give any details or is it too early to discuss? 

A: Yes, I’m always writing. I’m working on the last book in a Sourcebooks contract right now called RUNAWAY.  It’s about a young woman who witnesses an assassination, is shot in the process, and after being in recovery, goes on the run after overhearing the FBI agent on guard outside her hospital room giving away her location to the bad guys.  

Q: What core messages and emotions do you hope readers learn and feel once they finish reading them? 

A: I don’t plan to write messages…but my readers always seem to find them within the story anyway, so I guess that’s just my writer’s voice, speaking for others who cannot speak for themselves.  I have become known… again, without intention…to write stories that sometimes make the readers cry or laugh aloud.  I cry when I’m writing those scenes, and I make myself laugh, as well. I guess that comes through in my work. 

Q: How does it feel knowing your novels are New York Times & USA Today Bestsellers? It sounds so exciting! 

A: It’s a wonderful accomplishment any writer aims for, and I am proud of myself for having achieved it…knowing it all came from hard work. 

Q: Sharon, you write in 8 different genres which I find impressive, since most authors stick with writing one or sometimes two! Which genres have you not experimented with, that you hope to in the future?

A: I think I’ve covered all the ones I want to write in and will continue to write. I love writing self-pubs most because there’s no one telling me what I can and can’t write about.

I have zero interest in erotica, not because I’m prudish about it, but because it holds no particular interest for me. 

I won’t be writing fantasy with witches, goblins, warlocks, etc… or any kind of horror. I live with too many spirits around me to mess with the dark side, but I did write a Native American paranormal series called The Prophecy series about a Windwalker, and the ensuing books about the daughter he gave his powers to. 

My granddaughters are Native American. They belong to the Muscogee/Creek tribe. I self-pubbed that series and used my middle granddaughter, Logan, as the heroine on the book covers, and had Rick Mora, a Native American actor/model as the hero in the books. It was a thrill to finally have the power to put actual indigenous faces on the books with my Native characters instead of Italian men with long hair. People can tell the difference… and so can I.   

Q: Sharon, would you please provide your social media links so that readers of the blog and I may follow you and your work?

A: I have one new and actual working site on FB thanks to getting hacked so egregiously this past July that FB blocked every site I had since 2009. The old sites are there, but I cannot use them or control them anymore.

My new Facebook site is:  https://www.facebook.com/sharonksala   

I also have my website on WriterSpace. 

www.sharonsalaauthor.com

I cancelled all of my other social media links after the hack. It was a nightmare  

Q: Does Hollywood have the rights to your books? 

A:   I wish. 

I have wanted my books to be made into movies from day one, but it doesn’t seem as if it’s ever going to happen.

My readers comment about it constantly. My agent has tried. A film agent even gave it a go a time or two, but it appears that’s a wish that’s not going to come true. 

It’s not the end of the world. 

Just the end of a dream.