Author Interview - Alice K. Arenz

Anne: Today's interview is with a very talented writer, Alice K. Arenz, also known as A.K. Arenz. As Alice K., she has a book call Mirrored Image, and as A.K. Arenz, she has two cozy mysteries, The Case of the Bouncing Grandma and The Case of the Mystified M.D. I had read the cozy mysteries quite a while ago, then attended an American Christian Fiction Writers Conference and discovered she was there, too. Wow--I was awestruck!

If you'd like to read yesterday's review of Mirrored Image on this blog, click HERE.

Readers, at the end of this interview I want to ask an important favor of you all, so please read to the end, okay?

Good morning, Alice. We have to know--what inspired the book?

Alice: I originally wrote Mirrored Image almost 20 years ago. As with all the books I've written, I feel their inspiration has come from something that God has put inside my brain to niggle at me until I write the story he wants written. With MI it took all those years and many rewrites to finally bring it to fruition.

Anne: This is such a change from your merry mysteries before--why the change?

Alice: The cozies were actually written long after my more serious mystery-suspenses. I wrote the cozies because the market seemed right for this kind of book and I wanted to try my hand at it. I liked writing them and I like writing the more serious mystery-suspense. I hope never to be pigeon-holed into one or the other, or any particular genre.

Anne: Was it difficult to find a publisher for the new genre?

 

Alice: No; it was the same publisher as for the other two books.

Anne: I'm curious. You published cozy mysteries before under A.K. Arenz, and your suspenseful mystery under Alice K. Why the name change?

Alice Using my full name for Mirrored Image was a way of showing that it was a more serious novel. At least I hoped it was.

Anne: What was the toughest part of writing Mirrored Image?

Alice: All the years of rewriting it and continuing to believe that it would one day be published.

Anne: What was the easiest?

Alice: Believing that God was really going to get me a publisher for this book.

Anne: What are three things about you that readers might find surprising?

Alice: 

1. That I wrote my first two published books using pencils to punch out the keys on the computer --- a necessity because of hypersensitivity in my fingertips.
2. That I'm allergic to almost everything.
3.  Currently I'm suffering from Bell's Palsy and the ultimate migraine and that I'm very sick.

Anne: Thank you, Alice. I know you were feeling pretty crummy when your husband sent me your answers.

And readers, if you noticed, her answers were very brief--not the usual chatty writer-type answers. From the answer to her last question, I'm sure you can understand why.

Here is my request: I'm asking all of you to pray for her. You can make up a prayer on your own, or if you don't know how to pray you may repeat this prayer:

Dear Lord, Loving Heavenly Father of Alice, I'm asking You to place Your healing hand on her. I ask that You would heal the Bell's Palsy and the migraine and whatever is causing the palsy. You alone know the causes and cures and have them at the tips of Your fingers. I ask You to hold Alice and her husband close to You and grant them peace and comfort. And I thank You, Lord of the Universe, Author and Finisher of our faith. For Your sake and for Your glory, Amen.