Interview with author, Monique Miller

Today I welcome author, Monique Miller, to UCFT. This is a longgggggg overdue interview. Monique and I are really close writer buddies. We met in 2004 at Jacquelin Thomas' Faith Based Fiction Retreat in North Carolina where Monique lives and have kept in touch eversince. Both of us were unpublished at the time, and now we'll be label-mates.

Welcome Monique! Introduce yourself to my readers.
Hello everyone, I am Monique Miller, Christian Fiction Author. And before I say anything else, I’d like to thank Rhonda McKnight for inviting me to do an interview for Urban Christian Fiction Today.

Tell us about both your novels, Secret Sisterhood and Soul Confessions.
Secret Sisterhood was my debut novel. It is about three African-American women who struggle with the problem of infertility, while learning to rely on God to see them through. My second novel, Soul Confessions, is about a husband who has some skeletons in his closet, skeletons that literally knock on his front door at home and confront his clueless wife.

What was the inspiration behind these stories?
Some one asked me the other day what made me decided to start writing. I told them God. They thought I was joking and asked what I was doing at during the time decided to start writing? I told them that I was praying.

In truth a few years ago I was dealing with some infertility problems. I turned to God for answers. Instead of medical answers or money to finance any medical procedures, God simply told me to, “Write.” So I wrote about three women experiencing problems with infertility and their faith walk with God.

What do you want readers to take away?
I want my readers to have a sense of hope after reading my novels. And I want them to know that with God, ALL things are possible.

Share a little about your journey to publication? Don’t be discouraged if you are trying to get published and are still waiting. Be persistent and stay hopeful. But also use wisdom. My road to publication was long and bumpy. I wrote my first novel, like God told me to and just knew a book deal was around the corner. Well it wasn’t.

I contacted publishers and received rejection after rejection. I also contacted literary agents and received rejections also. I got discouraged and put my novel on the shelf for a while. But something in the back of my mind kept nagging at me. I entered a fiction writing contest with Black Expressions book club and placed 3rd out of over 700 people who entered. That gave me the fuel I needed so I sent my manuscript back out and contacted more agents also. I also networked with other writers and authors during that time.

And after five long years the persistence and networking paid off. An author friend of mine not only mentioned my name to a publisher, she also sent a copy of my manuscript for review. I got a book deal and secured an agent all in the same week!

Advice for aspiring writers?
Re-read what I have written above and continue to write as you try to secure a book deal. Remember writers, write. Writers don’t sit around thinking about writing.

Time to get to know Monique personally. I asked her questions and she shared her answers.

Favorite scripture: Proverbs 18:16 KJV - A man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.
Favorite dessert: Banana Pudding
If you were a crayon in coloring box, which one would you be? Sapphire Blue – My birthstone.
If you could spend one hour with someone living or deceased, who would it be and why? I think it would be my maternal grandmother, Mable. Lately I’ve been finding myself thinking about her. She died when I was in the 7th grade and I never really got a chance to know her. There are questions about wisdom and insight that I would love to have her advice about.

If you had to go to a solitary place and could only take one novel, that you didn’t write, what would it be and why? The Color Purple. I’ve never actually read the book, but I’ve seen the movie many times. And as I know from first hand, the book is always better than the movie. I’d like to see how Alice Walker originally wrote the book.

What’s next for Monique Miller?
My next novel Redemption Lake will be out in stores November 2009. It is my third novel, and by far my favorite so far. A couple of my characters are pretty edgy. And there is one character in particular, that I’m sure, will have the readers talking to the book.How can my readers find you on the Internet?
Many, many places – My books can be found on http://www.amazon.com/ . My website is http://www.authormoniquemiller.com/ . I can also be found on various social networking sites like: Facebook, MySpace and Shout Life. My email address is: authormoniquemiller@yahoo.com

Thanks for stopping by, Monique. Thanks for having me Rhonda.

Many Blessings to you all!
Monique Miller