Award winning author Patricia Bradley is the recipient of an Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award in Romantic Suspense, a Daphne du Maurier, and a Touched by Love Award. She is a former Carol Award finalist and three of her books were included in anthologies that debuted on the USA Today bestseller list.
Patricia is a cofounder of Aiming for Healthy Families, Inc. and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Sisters in Crime. She makes her home in Mississippi.
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If someone asked you to describe yourself with one word, what word would that be?
Stubborn
Let’s talk about writing. Do you have a writing hero or mentor?
Yes, actually two. Susan May Warren and Rachel Hauck. I attended four of their Deep Thinkers Retreats, and they encouraged and mentored me—I don’t think I would be published without what I learned from them.
What kept you on your writing journey when life tried to get in the way?
That one word that I described myself with. I am very stubborn and don’t quit, plus I developed a very thick skin.
What is your writing schedule like? Do you write seven days a week, 365 days a year? Morning, afternoon, night?
I usually take a couple of months after I finish a book to think about and research and develop the next book. That’s where I am now. So, even though I’m not at the computer typing, I am working on the book.
Once I type Chapter One, I set a weekly (usually five days) word count goal—7500 a week until I get my rhythm, then I’ll up my word count to 10,000 until about midway, then to 15,000 until the book is finished.
I often set my alarm to get up at 5:30 and write for an hour or until I get 350 words (Nifty-350), then I eat breakfast and have my quiet time. When I go back to the computer, I check email, and take care of anything that needs attention, then it’s back to work on the book.
Let’s talk about your new book, Crosshairs (Revell, November 2021). It’s the third book in your Natchez Trace Park Rangers Series. Please tell us about it.
Investigative Services Branch (ISB) ranger Ainsley Beaumont arrives in her hometown of Natchez, Mississippi, to investigate the murder of a three-month-pregnant teenager. While she wishes the visit was under better circumstances, she never imagined that she would become the killer’s next target–nor that she’d have to work alongside an old flame.
After he almost killed a child, former FBI sniper Lincoln Steele couldn’t bring himself to fire a gun, which had deadly and unforeseen consequences for his best friend. Crushed beneath a load of guilt, Linc is working at Melrose Estate as an interpretive ranger. But as danger closes in on Ainsley during her murder investigation, Linc will have to find the courage to protect her. The only question is, will it be too little, too late?
What can readers look forward to next from you?
I’ve turned in Deception, the fourth book in the Natchez Trace Park Rangers series, and it will release August 1, 2022. Deception can be preordered from Baker Books for $9.59 with free shipping! Also, I’m doing research for my next series set in the Cumberland Plateau up around Chattanooga.
A few fun questions in celebration of the season…
What’s your favorite Christmas song?
Hark the Herald Angels Sing—it’s why I chose it for the Christmas Cookies Mysteries!
What’s your favorite Christmas comfort food?
Sweet Potato Casserole. It’s considered a side dish, but it’s almost like a sweet potato pie with a brown sugar, butter, and pecan topping. I only make it for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
What’s your idea of a perfect Christmas tree: a lush blue spruce decorated with the latest couture; a shaggy cedar covered in homemade ornaments and strung with popcorn; a vintage aluminum tree with shiny glass bulbs; or a palm tree adorned with pink flamingos?
Of those four, it would be the shaggy cedar covered in homemade ornaments and strung with popcorn…but the tree I have is a pre-lit artificial spruce with all the ornaments I’ve made from porcelain clay.
If you had been one of the “wise men,” what would you have brought the Baby Jesus?
That’s a hard question because the gifts the actual wise men brought were perfect—Joseph was able to sell them and escape to Egypt.
Thanks, Pat! It’s always nice to have you as a guest at Divine Detour.
Thank you for having me as a guest! The Divine Detour is awesome!
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