Sherri Sand is a wife and mother of four young children who keep her scrambling to stay ahead of the spilled milk. When she needs stress relief from wearing all the hats required to clothe, feed and ferry her rambunctious brood, you’ll find her sitting in a quiet corner of a bistro reading a book (and surrounded by chocolate). Then to elude that calorie consumption you might see her running on the trails throughout Eugene, a city considered to be the running capital of the world. Sherri is a member of The Writer’s View and American Christian Fiction Writers. She finds the most joy in writing when the characters take on a life of their own and she becomes the recorder of their stories. She holds a degree in psychology from the University of Oregon where she graduated cum laude.

Welcome Sherri Sand to Portrait of a Writer…Interrupted. Tell us a little about your family and your call to write.

 

Most writers I know have always wanted to write, even from early childhood. I am no exception. I can remember telling people when I was about eight that I was going to be an author when I grew up.

My husband and I are a bit unique in that we had four kids in 4 ½ years (not recommended for the faint of heart). When I was on bed rest with our twins and my mother-in-law was taking care of our sixteen-month-old, I felt that old urge to write surfacing. With nothing but time on my hands, (though that became a scarce commodity a few months later) I started a story in a notebook and the journey began.

 

 

How did you get your first “writing break?”

I can’t say that I’ve gotten any “breaks,” but at my very first writer’s conference, a well-respected agent was flipping through the opening pages of my manuscript very quickly—too quickly to be reading, I suspected. Already nervous and wondering what I was doing thinking I could ever get published, he stated, “You must have a lot of people interested in this.” It was a huge confidence builder. I began to look at myself as a legitimate writer at that point.

 

 

What do you write and why this genre?

Women’s fiction with strong romance. I write what I love to read.

 

 

Do you have any recent contracts and up coming releases?

 

 

I am currently working on a collaboration series. I met with my agent and the writer a few weeks ago to brainstorm and do some character development. I can’t wait to dive into it.

 

What do you hope to accomplish through your novels?

 

 

I want my novels to bring hope to people. I want readers to be uncover nuggets of wisdom and truth that give them an “aha” moment in the midst of the story.

 

 

And now for the tough questions…

How do you balance being a mom, wife, and writer?

 

 

It’s something I think about all the time. It’s tough, as it is for any working mom. I’m fortunate that I work from home, but that is also its own drawback, in that I can easily be distracted by dirty dishes or the telephone. Generally, I make sure my work day ends by the time I pick up the kids from school. I make an effort to be fully present when they are home. I haven’t always been this way, but I’ve learned that relationship with my family is more important than anything else in my life. So I try to set boundaries on when work begins (and not let those distractions creep in), and when it ends. Of course, there are exceptions, say when a deadline is looming. But that is part of the flexibility of being a family and pulling together to help each other meet their obligations. (My kids actually like it when I’m on deadline because they get to watch more movies.)

 

 

Do you think it’s possible to give yourself fully to raising children, writing, and keeping in shape? If not, which one for you has to take a back seat?

 

 

I think it is possible, but it also means making each of those things a priority. I have to plan how many days I’m going to run each week and where I’m going to fit them in around my writing schedule. If I waited for the time to find me, I’d probably never exercise. I’m a pretty structured person, but I’ve found that if I’m not flexible, the relationships around me (primarily the ones with my kids) will suffer, because my structure will take precedence over people. Relationships are eternal. What I can accomplish, in terms of writing, isn’t.

 

 

When do you find the time to write, and do you ever feel like you’re neglecting your children when you write?

I actually wrote a book while I homeschooled several years ago. Evenings, when the kids were in bed, were a great time for me to write, as well as their nap times. And my husband was great about letting me go to a coffee shop for a few hours to write every weekend. But I think there were definitely times that I made writing a priority when it shouldn’t have been. At that period in my life, I was looking for value in what I did. My goal was to get published and I was putting all my worth into that. Fortunately, God in his wisdom didn’t allow publication to happen during those years. He took me on a different journey and walked me through healing and gave me revelation about who I am in him. That has made a huge difference in how I balance family and writing.

 

 

How do you handle interruptions in your writing life?

 

 

Flexibility hasn’t been my strong suit, but I’m learning to go with the flow.

 

 

How do you get back into the flow of writing after you’ve been interrupted?

 

 

It’s kind of like unstopping a clog. If I keep trying to push through and get those words down on paper, even if they aren’t very good at first, eventually I get back into the groove of writing. I think like anything we do, there are times it is easy and fun, and days that it is drudgery, where you have to fight for each word. It helps to have a word count goal for each day. On those tough days, each word I get onto the page is one word closer to being done for the day.

 

 

What do you do to encourage yourself during those stormy days every writing mom has?

 

Call a friend. They are my voices of reason and help get it all back into perspective.

 

 

How do you position yourself to HEAR God’s voice when all the noises of life are swirling around you?

 

 

Each morning I try to take time to be still with Him and just listen. I may not hear anything, but I notice that just taking that time, and then getting into the Word attunes my heart to his gentle nudges throughout the day. My kids can tell when I’ve gone a day or two without those moments with Him. They’ll smile and say, “Maybe you need to go spend some time with Jesus.”

 

 

If you do feel your priorities slipping, what do you do to get back on track?

 

 

Ask God what I need to be doing. He knows what’s around the corner, so if I listen and find the path he wants me on, I’ll be fine. When it’s just a matter of having been too busy and getting off my schedule, I try to reprioritize and choose what I need to let go (usually the housecleaning) until things feel manageable again. I’m also trying to ask for help instead of doing the supermom thing and doing it all to exhaustion. Our kids are old enough (7 to 11 ½ years) that if the six of us pitch in and tidy up for a half hour, I save myself almost three hours of cleaning. Love that!

 

 

Has there ever been a time God told you to set aside your writing to focus on other areas of your life? If so, how did you handle that?

 

 

Yes. It was when I was homeschooling and focused heavily on the writing. He asked me to set the writing aside for a year and let him do some work in me. It was hard initially, but I had such peace because he was directing me. And I’m so grateful for that time. I’m a much better wife and mother and now my writing fits into one section of my life rather than being my life.

 

I can really relate to this. While homeschooling, I too was asked to set aside my writing. It was the hardest thing I did, but so necessary for me to put everything into perspective and realign my priorities.

 

 

Did you ever feel like you’ve “missed” God in regards to writing, that maybe you should be doing something else?

 

 

No. I feel his pleasure when I’m writing and even when it’s hard, I know it’s what he’s asked me to do. I think I struggled early on this path because writing was such a passion for me, but out of balance. And I didn’t recognize yet that writing was a calling from Him for my life. Because of that, and my focus on performance, I was so afraid that he’d take it away from me. I was a little like one of those runaway horses with the bit between their teeth. I was going the direction he’d called me to, but needed some healing and fine-tuning.

 

 

What advice would you give to writing moms who are have their hearts set on publication?

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

 

 

Take some time with the Lord and ask him if the desire to write is coming from him. You don’t want to try paddling upriver. Going the direction God’s going will make life much easier! Attending writer’s conferences and joining a critique group will help develop your writing and get you ready for publication. T. Davis Bunn was the fiction track teacher at a one conference I attended and he stated that if he’d known about writer’s conferences it would have shaved years off the time it took him to get published.

 

 

Thanks so much for sharing with us, Sherri!

You can leave a comment to win her book OR you can buy her book on Amazon

CONTEST CLOSED!

Chance Brought Them Together…Will He Tear Them Apart?
Newcomer Sherri Sand delivers a delightful novel in the style of Karen Kingsbury

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. ( January 2008 ) – Novelist Sherri Sand offers a humorous tale of a romance between two stubborn people and the antics of a horse named Chance in her first novel, Leave It to Chance.

Single mom of three, Sierra Montgomery is desperate to find a new job to keep from having to move back home and be smothered to death by her mother’s good intentions and overbearing love. So when Sierra inherits Chance, a quirky old gelding she doesn’t have a clue what to do with, she thinks her best bet may be to sell the horse to cover another month’s rent—a decision that devastates her children.

Enter Ross Morgan, a handsome landscaper who just happens to have an empty barn and fenced pasture…perfect for an old horse to live out his days as the pet of three wounded kids. Ross develops a soft spot for eldest child Braden…and he just might have one for Braden’s mother. But what he doesn’t have is time for distractions—he’s got a landscaping business to run.

But Sierra has a secret. She’s terrified of horses and—thanks to her past—wary of attractive men. Yet seeing the way her angry son idolizes Ross and adores that old horse forces Sierra to confront her fears. Will she remain distrustful and self-reliant, or will she seek help from God and those who love her?

 

Be sure and stop by the other blogs on the blog tour.

Amber Miller
Blog Tour Spot
Camy’s Loft
Chatter Matters
Cliffy’s Mom’s Blog
Fictionary
Flying Changes
The Friendly Book Nook
Horse Book Reviews
I Don’t Wanna Blog
In the Dailies
Leap of Faith
lighthouse-academy
A Little Bit of Sunshine
Margaret Daley
Ma Space
Musings on This, That & The Other Thing
Mystery, Suspense and God, Oh My!
Net’s Notes
Novel Journey
Penning Prose
Readin N Writing with Patricia
Real Women Scrap
Relevant Blog
Sharon Hinck
Sips ‘n Cups Cafeteria
Smells Horsey
Toni V Lee
Writing by Faith
The Writing Road.com

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