Tiffany Amber Stockton has been crafting and embellishing stories since childhood. Today, she is an award-winning author, speaker, online marketing specialist, and a freelance web site designer.


Her debut novel released in January 2008. Since then she has sold eleven books to Barbour Publishing. Three have won annual reader’s choice awards and, in 2009, Amber was voted Favorite New Author for the Heartsong Presents book club.


Amber lives with her husband and fellow author, Stuart Vaughn Stockton, and their two children live in Colorado.




What sparked your writing journey?


Well, that all depends on where you might consider it starting. If pursuing professional publication is the starting point, that was sparked by a foray into fan fiction for a favorite TV show. From feedback encouraging me to write more, I took one of the longer stories and turned it into a book. That one has yet to be published, but it led me to ACFW through a favorite author, Tracie Peterson, and that led me to my first contract. I realized I loved to write and I could write a full novel.



How does your faith play into your writing?


It surrounds everything I do when it comes to my writing career. Each book is given to God for the inspiration, and so the message in each story is the one God would have it be. Even if the book only touches one person, I know it has reached its target. I wouldn’t be able to write without God and the gifts He’s given me, so I owe it all to Him and am grateful He has allowed me to stay home with my children as a result of the contracts. Faith has also never been an issue for me. I have never questioned or doubted God has it all under control. Even when life throws a curve and I’m faced with months or more than a year without a contract, I know God has a plan. My faith has sustained me for many years, and I seek to share that through my writing.



Let’s talk about your new book, Bound by Grace (Heartsong Presents, November 2011). It’s the first in your Brandywine Brides Series. Please tell us about the book.


Here is the summary:


A letter from a gentleman in Ashbourne Hills who is seeking books Charlotte Pringle carries in her book shop piques her interest. The desire to provide his niece, Grace, with more classic titles keeps Richard Baxton returning to see Charlotte, and she is attracted to his sweet spot for his niece. When she discovers the girl’s recent leg injury that has left Grace wheelchair bound, awaiting an expensive operation, Charlotte is determined to help. But Charlotte’s father interrupts their idyllic relationship by announcing he’s been working on a marriage arrangement to secure her future. Before Richard can make a viable offer for her hand, a family business emergency forces him to return home. Feeling abandoned, Charlotte believes she has no choice but to accept her father’s plans. Richard despairs over the loss of the woman he’s come to love. It’s his niece who persuades him to fight.


For this series, I am jumping a little over a hundred years into the future from my previous Delaware series and linking the characters through several generations of the same family. A book that was highlighted in the first novel of that series becomes a tying link in all three books in this current series, sending each couple on a different journey. A lot of my readers asked if I was going to revisit the family from my first series, and here it is!



Detours in life can be frustrating—kind of like plot twists in the stories we write—but the outcome is often more intriguing than our original plan. Can you tell us about a recent “detour” in your life—or in one of your character’s lives—that taught you something?


I don’t know if this would be considered “recent,” but it’s only been four years, and considering I’m working my way toward the big 4-0, I feel it’s recent enough. All my life, I knew my ultimate goal was to get married and have a family. I hadn’t given much thought to a career beyond motherhood, but I knew I wanted to work from home and be with my children. When thirty came barreling at me at light speed, I felt I had somehow failed. Not that my twenties weren’t full and productive, but they weren’t where I believed my life would take me. Then, I met the man I married just before I turned thirty-one, and moved to Colorado from Delaware and the East Coast where I was born/grew up. Within three years, we added two children to our family.


The year before marriage, I sold my first book, and I’ve since sold eleven novels and one novella. A part of me dreamed of living near the mountains, but I thought it would be Virginia and the Appalachians. It ended up being Colorado and the Rockies. Guess I wasn’t specific enough. *g* Even though I never would have expected this detour in my life, I know it’s all in God’s plan. And the time I spent in my twenties traveling, setting up my design business, and working on my writing, has all helped me excel in what I do now. That decade was a learning time, preparing me to be the wife and mother I am today. Looking back, I don’t know that I would have been ready to receive all God has given me in the past four years. So, although that time was difficult, it was essential, and it’s taught me to take a step back to look at the big picture before questioning the purpose of a single event or occurrence in my life.



You’re also a professional web designer. Please tell us a little bit about Eagle Designs.


This business happened almost by accident. I took over the web site for the TV show, Dr. Quinn, in the late 90’s, and that led me to meeting the lead actress, Jane Seymour. In 2000, she asked me to design and run her fan web site for her and handle her fan mail. From there, I had clients asking me to do work for them too. I enjoyed doing the design aspect and helping others establish a presence online. As a result, Eagle Designs was born. And we’ve been growing ever since! We have designed over a hundred sites and currently have nearly thirty active clients for whom we do maintenance. Most of our work is one-time contracts, where the clients go on to maintain the sites themselves, but some stick around. *grins*



A few fun questions…


This website features musicians as well as writers. Do you have musical, as well as literary, talent?


As a matter of fact, I do. I can sing, and I played the violin for twelve years, although it’s been more than that since I’ve truly played. I’ve done solos in church, been part of a choir that recorded a CD, served on several worship teams, and taken part in musical plays for high school and college, as well as bit parts for church productions.



If you were a song, what kind of song would you be?


I’d have to say country, not only because it’s my favorite genre of music, but because the songs are about real life. All the ups and downs and unexpected surprises. There are jokes about lives playing out like a country song, but I think that’s an accurate description, and I don’t mind if someone says that about my life.



Are you a major or a minor chord?


That depends on the circumstances. In my family, I am a major chord, and in most situations, I tend to take a leadership role, but there are times when I am a supporting component or minor chord, still participating, and still important, but not getting the spotlight shined on me. I enjoy the aspects of both parts.



In the story that is your life, are you the strong, female lead; the girl next door; the mysterious woman behind dark glasses; the super heroine; or the little girl trying to walk in high heels?


What an intriguing question! I love it. And I’d have to say I primarily take the strong, female lead in most situations. It’s part of my personality. However, when it comes to new situations, I can be the girl next door. And since I moved a lot as a child, I tend to keep people at arm’s length, becoming more of the mysterious woman behind dark glasses. When it comes to my family or standing up for my beliefs, I become the super heroine. But as a wife, mother, author, and web designer, there is always someone who seems to do it better than you. So, in that regard, I definitely feel like the little girl trying to walk in high heels before I’m ready. Patience is required, and I don’t often wait long enough to learn before taking that first step.



Please tell us about your pets, if any, and/or your favorite pet as a child.


We had a Betta fish for about two years before our daughter fed him an entire container of food. There might have been other items in the water too, as it became polluted two days after we’d cleaned the tank. But our pride and joy is our Flat-Coat Retriever/Australian Shepherd mix, Roxie. She’s great with our two kids, very loving, and an excellent protector of our family. We rescued her four years ago as a small puppy and haven’t regretted a moment.



Thanks, Tiff! It’s great to have you at DivineDetour.


Kathy, this was a fun interview. Your questions are creative and unique, definitely not the same ones I’ve answered time and time again. Thank YOU for having me here and helping me promote my newest release.


I’ll be happy to do a giveaway of an autographed copy of Bound by Grace to a random winner of those who comment with an answer to one of the questions you asked me above. Reader’s choice. I love learning more about others, and if you’re here for either Kathy or me, or even another author and happened to see my interview too, you’re welcome to reply. Thanks for coming.


EDITORIAL NOTE: The deadline for leaving a pertinent comment to enter the random drawing is 11:59 p.m. CST, Saturday, November 19, 2011.


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For more information about Bound by Grace and Tiff’s other books, visit her website at www.amberstockton.com.



To learn more about Tiff’s web design company, logon to http://www.eagle-designs.com/.



To purchase Tiff’s books, logon to: