Recently I was talking to my friend Fran Speake. She has a new book coming out, Daughter of the King: Finally Free. I asked her a lot of questions, as a good detective does, and here are her answers. Check out her new book at the bottom of the page
What inspired you to write your first
book?
It was actually an event that happened
at work, on my first day at a new job. I had been through a nasty
divorce and custody battle and the judge had been very unfair to me,
unreasonable and not just at all. Well on this first day at this new
job I had a patient who was a young 23 year old male, in an almost
catatonic state from a closed head injury due to a skiing accident
and he turned out to be the judge's son! I WAS IN SHOCK to say the
least. Through prayer, trying to figure out how and why this boy
would come in to my care, recognizing divine intervention, God said
your gonna write a book.
How long have you been writing?
I've been journaling since 2004. I
initially hired a ghostwriter to write the book and very quickly in
to that arrangement I could easily see that it was not working. Her
writing was flat and non descriptive and so I fired her and I began
writing. Little did I know that all this healing was going to come
from me writing the story and that it's what God wanted all along,
for me to get better.
What inspires you to write?
Pain. That is what started the whole
writing process for me but as I write now, I see a lot of gratitude.
Matter of fact when I am too “down”, I know I need to go to my
journal and make a gratitude list, that is the thing that puts
everything in perspective.
How has your upbringing influenced your
writing?
It's everything. My whole story
wouldn't be near as interesting or have so many people relate if not
for all the dysfunction, neglect and abuse. But I also know so many
people have it worse, we at least, were not raised in poverty on top
of everything else.
When did you first know you could be a
writer?
When I received the email from the
editor at Tate Publishing and she said how good my book was. Like I
wrote it and sent it and then hoped for the best and I was the most
shocked when she said it was good, and then part of me still thought
she's just saying that, she doesn't mean it.
And then people started reading my book when it was done, and 100% of
them said the same thing, I couldn't put it down.
I now know I can write so much more. I have a collection of poems I
have been writing since 2006 but have never shown them to anyone.
Do you intend to
make writing a career?
I hope to. I am in
prayer about it and believe God would not have given me this talent
and then not let me use it, and use it full time.
Have you ever had
writer's block and if so what did you do about it?
Yes when I was 80%
done with the book, I got writer's block and for a few weeks I
couldn't break it or write a thing. So I went to Austin for a
friend's mom's funeral and while there I went out to Lake Travis and
watched the sun come up, prayed and brought my laptop. After an hour
or so of just watching nature wake up, come alive that morning, I
began to write and whoa, I couldn't stop. It just kept coming and
coming and then my battery went dead, but hey writer's block was
cured!!
How did you come up
with the title?
When I
began getting to know God, study His word and build my relationship
with Him, I would still get upset with worldly things. I had a
boyfriend at the time who would remind me who I am, daughter of the
king. He would tell me remember who your dad is, a king. And that
would always bring me comfort because I came from such a
dysfunctional background and never belonged anywhere so to hear I was
daughter of the king, well that was music to my ears. God had already
performed miracles on my behalf and the thought that He would take
care of me, provide my financial needs as well as any other need,
well that was comforting, I never had anyone, including parents, ever
be there for me and love me unconditionally. It was the exact
opposite, it was always conditional. And so I scratched my original
title, Running with the Devil Straight in to God's Arms(I was married
to Van Halen's cousin) and chose Daughter of the King:
Finally Free, the Finally Free
subtitle being the truth about me today, I am finally free of so many
things that had a stranglehold on me.
What's my favorite
place in the entire world?
Hawaii,
specifically Kihei or Lahania, Maui.
Get Fran's Book on July 30th, 2013.
Here is the cover for those of you that are just as excited as I am to see it.
Get Fran's Book on July 30th, 2013.
Here is the cover for those of you that are just as excited as I am to see it.
