Fran Speake and her new book, Daughter of the King: Finally Free

Hello all it has been awhile since I posted but I have been busy working on my new case. This killer is confusing and very smart.  I hope to solve it soon.  When I do finally catch him I will let you all know.

 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.