Interview with Sandra D. Bricker, author of 'Always the Baker, Never the Bride'

Sandra D. Bricker was an entertainment publicist in Los Angeles for 15+ years. She is now a best-selling, award-winning author of laugh-out-loud fiction for the inspirational market, and the mastermind behind the Another Emma Rae Creation series that started with Always the Baker Never the Bride. As an ovarian cancer survivor, she gears time and effort toward raising awareness and funds for research, diagnostics and a cure.

Visit her Web site at www.SandraDBricker.com and her blog at http://sandradbricker.blogspot.com.

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Q: Welcome to The Writer's Life!  Now that your book has been published, we’d love to find out more about the process.  Can we begin by having you take us at the beginning?  Where did you come up with the idea to write your book?

Well, Always the Baker Finally the Bride is the fourth and final book in the Another Emma Rae Creation series. The initial idea came to me while watching a weekend marathon of a reality show called Amazing Wedding Cakes. I started thinking that, as much as I adore cake, what if I’d been called to make them instead of writing books? As a diabetic, that could have been really cruel. And so a couple of hours later, a diabetic baker and The Tanglewood Inn was born!

Q: How hard was it to write a book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make the journey easier for other writers?

This particular series of books was probably the easiest thing I’ve ever written. For some reason, I just really connected with the characters and the whole world that I created for them. I think the key to that could have been that I was writing something I really loved. Humor, quirky family characters, weddings, cakes…You see what I mean! I can’t count the times that I heard, “Write what you know.” But my advice to writers is to write what they LOVE. It makes all the difference and will make the finished product something really exciting.

Q: Who is your publisher and how did you find them or did you self-publish?

My publisher for the Emma Rae series is Abingdon Press. I found them quite a while back when I was writing for the Love Finds You series at Summerside Press. Abingdon was just growing their fiction line, and the acquiring editor there at the time (Barbara Scott) just really loved my writing. She published one novel that I wrote called The Big 5-OH!, and then asked me to develop something else for her. That’s when I came up with Emma.

Q: Is there anything that surprised you about getting your first book published?

I’d published several sweet romances for Avalon Books, but I’d been trying to break into the Christian market for several years. The big surprise came when Summerside Press asked me to write something funny to help them launch the Love Finds You line. I’d been submitting suspense ideas to them, so asking me to write a comedy came as a real head-scratcher. The book that came from that was LFY in Snowball, Arkansas, and it turned me completely around as an author and launched my romantic comedy brand.

Q: Can you describe the feeling when you saw your published book for the first time?

I’ll never forget it. I’d waited so long and, when I finally held that first book in my hands, I cried like a dork.

Q: What other books (if any) are you working on and when will they be published?

The first book in my Contemporary Fairytales series for River North Fiction (If the Shoe Fits, inspired by Cinderella) comes out in June, and I’m currently working on the second in the series. Rise & Shine (inspired by Sleeping Beauty) will be released next year. In the meantime, though, I have Raw Edges (from the Quilts of Love series) coming out in September; and I wrote what I think is a hysterical double novella for B&H Fiction (Merry Humbug Christmas) that will come out in late fall. It’s been an amazing year for me and my readers.

Q: Fun question: How does your book contribute to making this world a better place?

Well, you know I don’t want to toot my own horn here, but my book does provide the solutions for global warming, the fiscal cliff and … Okay. It doesn’t. But what it DOES do is confirm the scripture about how a merry heart does good like medicine. I think a hearty belly laugh or two – especially when you’re not expecting it, but really need it – is one of the best things that can happen to a person.

Q: Finally, what message (if any) are you trying to get across with your book?

I hope readers will come away feeling a little relief from a fun, thought-provoking and uplifting diversion that comes from a Godly perspective.

  

Q: Thank you again for this interview!  Do you have any final words?

Just that I’m really grateful to readers for the loyal support they’ve given me throughout the Another Emma Rae Creation series. They really fell for the people at The Tanglewood Inn, and in doing so they’ve changed my life. I can never thank them enough.