March Madness in the life of Carol Steward

March in Colorado is definitely known for wacky weather. Spring one minute, snow the next. Wind all the time, through either spring heat (not to rub it in to you in the north, but we had 76 degrees yesterday) or wintry blizzards. This is typically our snowiest month, with April trailing close behind. This is not looking to be our snowiest year, which leaves us dry, dusty, and maddeningly fearful of wildfires. We've had four large fires already on the front ranges of the state.

March also brings spring, a time of longer daylight (whoohoo) and growth. With even a hint of moisture, bulbs peek out from the dried leaves of fall. Green grass starts to poke out from the brittle brown blades of winter. The trees are teased into letting the buds of new fruit out of their branches. (waiting in suspense, to see if we'll get another May blizzard to freeze the blooms of fruit trees.) And the madness of yardwork looms like a maniac just around the corner. In spite of that, I love spring.

I'm not sure, besides rolling off the tongue nicely and making a nifty name for the basketball playoffs, where the name March Madness really came from. I'm sure I could google it, but in my life, it indicates a time of change. Hurrying to get organized. Get the spring cleaning done. (No, it's not the same as it was in my mother's day, but it's still something I feel obligated to try to do.) Now I call it clearing the clutter - of winter, of a deadline, of well recouperation – from any of the overly stressful stages of life, and get ready for the next.

Families with young children are getting ready for the change in sports. Kids are in the parks practicing soccer, and baseball, and teen-age girls can be found in bikinis soaking up the sun. My motherly madness used to include cleaning the yard so it was ready for the kids to play right here at home. Packing for spring break to Grandma's mountain cabin, where we could move from spring back to winter in the matter of hours. Shopping for new clothes that the kids really can't wear until May because of the weather, but need because they grew 6 inches in the last weeks of winter. Oh, and I especially stressed over buying our "Easter dress," which always required snow boots rather than sandals and a down coat over it. Four years ago, it included the excitement of preparing for my daughter's wedding. (Happy Anniversary Sarah and Robert!) March Madness. That it is.

As a Christian, I love spring and getting ready for Easter. I love the reminder that God had all of this planned out for us an eternity ago. And has it all planned out for an eternity to come. I love that He knows we're going to make mistakes, and He loves us anyway. I love knowing that a fresh start is just a prayer away. After the bleek and sometimes bitter "rest" of winter, God gave us spring, in all it's glory to blow in and give us new hope for a fresh start. Growth and change. What will March Madness bring to your life this year?

Getting to Know Carol Steward

Brief Intro:

Wow, it's already 2009! I'm thrilled to be here with the Craftie Ladies of Suspense. I'm Carol Steward, wife, mother, grandmother, administrative assistant, and author of romance and suspense. A friend once teased me about wanting to be a Christian crime writer. My dream came true in 1998 when Steeple Hill bought my second book, Her Kind of Hero, my first of many Christian cop novels.

I've always done the unexpected. I was married at 17 to the love of my life, which meant that the odds of staying together was against us. Thirty-plus years later, and he's still the one to inspire my romance novels. Writing shouldn't have surprised me, or anyone else, but it did. In hindsight, the signs were there, but it took a lot of kicking from God to get me to follow His plan.


All About Me:

1. How I got my first name? All I know is I'm not named after anyone. I'm the fourth of five children, and the only one without a nickname. I'm simply Carol, one of the most popular names of my generation. My siblings nicknames all end with 'y', so I always have and will always be the oddball.
2. How I got my writing name? Partly given to me at birth, part from my own hero. I didn't really expect my first sale so quickly, so I hadn't been able to settle on a pen name. So when the editor suggested using my real name, I asked my father-in-law for permission to use their family name as my writing name, and was thrilled that he welcomed it.
3. How I pick my characters' names, good guy and bad. A few heroes and heroines have been named after people I admire. It becomes challenging to find names that fit the same generation as the age of the characters the more characters I write, but the most challenging have been the characters that I don't plot. Two books were continuity series where the editors plan the book, name the characters, and assign the plot.

When I'm writing villains, I try very hard to use stereotypes rather than real sounding names, because even though I love to torment my characters, I don't want to taint any real person's image with a fictional name.

Three Interesting Tidbits About Me:
1. I was raised in a motel. My parents owned a small motel, so I grew up with a very public life.
2. My husband and I delivered newspapers in the middle of the night for many years, giving me a lot of ideas for my books. Even with my romances, it wasn't uncommon to have found a touch of mystery.
3. I love watching the criminal investigation shows. Being raised by a law enforcement officer, I always had the interest and respect for police, but seeing how the investigation is processed has been very intriguing for me. It's almost an obsession.

All About my Books:
1. How I stumbled into writing suspense... delivering newspapers, I happened to interrupt a burglar, leading to his arrest. Not every book starts from my own life, but real life is often more interesting than fiction, and I use what I can to add to my books.
2. My favorite suspense book I wrote and why... Finding Amy was a continuity book, so the editors told the group of 6 authors what our stories would include. It was an incredible challenge, as the heroine's three year old daughter was kidnapped by her child care provider. I'd been a licensed provider for over a decade, so having the villain from a profession that I greatly admired was a challenge. It strengthened my writing, and now it is easier to push the envelope on what I'm comfortable with writing.
3. My favorite suspense book I read and why... Redeeming Travis by Kate Welsh. It was before the suspense line officially started, but Kate did a terrific job mixing the suspense, the crime, and the romance of a couple who had broken off on their relationship years before.

All About Others:
My favorite author is.. impossible to name just one!
My best writing friend is... Maya Milhous, a brilliant author who is going to start a new trend when she finally finishes her book!
My most loyal fan is... a coworker. Mary can name the characters from every book, something I can't even do!

The funniest thing that's ever happened to me because I'm a writer...I was scheduled to ride along with a police officer friend, but when I got there, someone else had shown up to ride along with him, too. He asked if I'd mind riding with someone else. I agreed. When I got in to the car, the officer asked what I write, and when I told him Christian romance, he made an excuse to get out of the car, for at least five minutes. I'm sure my friend was ripped a good one for pawning me off on him. It turned out to be a terrific night with perfect experiences for my book, and it eventually won the tolerant officer a vote for mayor.

The craziest thing I've done gathering research for a novel is.... run into an on-duty police officer, flip him onto his top and spun him around. It wasn't meant to be research, of course, but it turned out to be a perfect opening for Shield of Refuge. The officer wasn't injured, praise the Lord. It could have ended much differently.

A real life murder (crime) that fascinates me is/was....when a sheriff's officer's wife killed a police officer's wife just down the block from my home. It was horrid, and turned out to be a very warped case that I'd love to just forget, but it hit me too close to home on many levels. I had planned to stop at that bank after work, but didn't. I'd gone home sick early in the afternoon. I cancelled my critique group at my home and went to sleep, only to be woken up by my son calling to tell me he'd just turned in his application for our local police force. Justice did prevail, and hopefully, nothing like it will ever happen again.

Finally, I'm excited about this blog because...I think it is a great place to interact with our readers. The Love Inspired authors are truly the most wonderful people you'd ever want to meet, and I think that setting up this blog is a brilliant idea to keep us all connected. I feel very fortunate to be a part of it. I love reading about the characters in our books, and love hearing back from you, the readers also.

Happy New Year, and Happy Reading!