Friday Five with PEPPER BASHAM!

Hi, friends! I'm up for the Friday five today, and I got to thinking-- who would be better to interview with these fun questions that our very own and dearly beloved Pepper? I hope you get to know a little bit more about this extraordinary woman through my short interview with her, and be sure to comment to let her know how much you love her too! So without further adieu, here's Pepper!

1. What’s your favorite recipe to make?

Well, I really like making The Dark Knight Chocolate Torte because I can taste test often 😉  It also lasts a long time in the fridge because you have to eat it in small slices because its so rich 🙂

2. What are your hopes for 2017?

World peace? LOL. I think we have to wait for Heaven for that one. In writing, I'd LOVE to find my publishing home with a 'dream' house who really believed in my writing (whatever genre 😉 )

I'm really looking forward to stepping into the Indy world  in 2017 with a March novella and an April novel. 🙂

3) What led you to want to start the Alley?

Well, I saw what a blast the lovely Seekers had together in their fantastic community of Seekerville, so I hoped to build a similar community except for newbies like I was at the time. It's been such a wonderful experience and making these Alleycat friends has gotten me through so many struggles both personally and professionally, as well as just been a sweet fellowship. I love being able to offer something to new writers out of the overflow of what we've cultivated here at The Alley.

4) What has surprised you most about publishing?

Where do I begin? Well, I think we all have this Cinderella image in our head of how things are going to go when our book finally makes it into print, and it's very different. There certainly are fantastic blessings - holding your book for the first time, getting readers' responses & encouragement, having someone come up to you in a store and tell you they loved your story...those are AMAZING - but the other side is the constant challenges to meet deadlines, keep up marketing/promoting. Easily the biggest struggle for me - that I thought might rectify itself once I was published, is my confidence in my skill. Despite having published 4 books and getting some great feedback on those, I think we naturally struggle with wondering how to improve. How to get to the bigger pub house? How to increase sales? How to encourage more reviews? Ultimately though, the problem isn't with the publishing world - but my own heart and my need to fall into the arms of the God who gave me the stories and skills to write. When I'm walking in His calling for my life, 'success' has a very different definition - and THAT's where my heart needs to dwell instead of looking for that 'success' outside 🙂

5) Tell us a little bit about your new projects!

 I have 3 projects I'm super excited to share!! As many of you know, my historical romance, The Thorn Healer, released last month. This story is dear to my heart because of its location (Blue Ridge Mountains of NC), its swoony hero, and the incredible true events related to a WW1 German internment camp hidden away in the mountains. RT made it a Top Pick AND gave it 4 1/2 stars. It's the third in a series but can totally be read as a stand-alone.

Upcoming, I have some fun fun surprises in store! In March, my first novella will arrive in a compilation with some amazing romcom authors. So if you like to laugh, get ready, because Second Impressions arrives in March and then....oh boy THEN...my FAVORITE novel comes out in April- Just the Way You Are. It's a Rom Com of Brittalachian proportions.  Can you tell I'm a little excited about this?

Pepper, thanks so much for taking the time to answer these fun questions about you and your writing! I hope our readers learned more about you. And let me just say, I read half of Just the Way You Are, and I LOVED it too! Can't wait for it to release!