Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Multiple-award winning author Sally Brandle weaves slow-burning romance into edgy suspense, motivating readers to trust their instincts. Growing up as a tomboy alongside helpful brothers prepared her to work in a male-centric industry (wholesale food service sales) and raise respectful sons. She takes pride in creating action-packed stories featuring strong women who find men deserving of their love. Her unintentional heroines conquer their vulnerabilities and partner with heroes to outwit cunning villains in her three traditionally published books. She penned her fourth book, Sapphire Promise, the enhanced memoir of her friend, Iris. This story presented a challenge to stay true to her idyllic life while portraying the colonial aspect of 1938 Batavia, Java, in a sensitive manner. Research and consultations with a variety of experts proved invaluable. Photos bring the world to life. Sally’s rescued Tuxedo cat, Shepherd dog, and Blue Heeler are her companions during long spells of writing or bouts of tormenting weeds in her garden. Afternoons she often spends riding on the wind with her thirty-one years young Quarter Horse.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Sapphire Promise” tells the true story of an amazing friend. We met while volunteering together at the Seattle Art Museum. How can you not ask more questions when you learn that the elegant, pristinely dressed older woman standing beside you once rode her horse through an Indonesian jungle with a pet monkey! After the Japanese invasion of WWII, her ability to speak five languages and limited nursing training landed her in the position of internment camp and hospital interpreter. English was the common language. Ninety percent of the book is true. As the book took place eighty years prior, we needed to fabricate a few scenes for flow. The book has been lauded as inspirational, historically accurate, and uplifting.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I often hammer out plot issues while swimming.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I enjoy Jayne Ann Krentz. Her less-than-perfect characters and witty dialogue hook me every time.
What are you working on now?
I’m deliberating which book to edit and offer to my acquiring editor from my publishing company. I have three more books written in the Love Thrives in Emma Springs series, and can’t decide which one to pick.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
For the series books, I need to work with my publisher to get my book free or discounted. Then I begin booking ads with my own money to get the word out. Awesome Gang is at the top of the list.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Take classes and listen to successful authors for tips on making your book shine. Then, implement their suggestions in your book, let it sit for a week, and re edit before you send it to a professional editor. Editing takes me nearly twice as long as writing the story.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
You aren’t getting any younger, get publishing!
What are you reading now?
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram Kendri. Writing Sapphire Promise gave me insight into how the colonial attitude is still prevalent today. It is based on policies.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’d like to finish the book for my publisher, then write how my grandmother emigrated from Ireland in 1902, worked for a very wealthy family, and left a stack of postcards and a diary which shed light on her challenging life. She died when Mom was ten, so I never met her.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I’d want a big notepad to write and sketch on, 1492-The Year the World Began, The Bible-probably a student’s edition, and a boat building book!
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