Author Interview ~ Margaret Daley

Margaret Daley is an award winning, multi-published author in the romance genre. One of her romantic suspense books, Hearts on the Line, won the American Christian Fiction Writers’ Book of the Year Contest. Recently she has won the Golden Quill Contest, FHL’s Inspirational Readers’ Choice Contest, Winter Rose Contest, Holt Medallion and the Barclay Gold Contest. She wrote for various secular publishers before the Lord led her to the Christian romance market. She currently writes inspirational romance and romantic suspense books for the Steeple Hill Love Inspired lines, romantic suspense for Abingdon Press and historical romance for Summerside Press. She has sold seventy-five books to date.

Margaret is currently the Volunteer Officer for ACFW. She was one of the founding members of the first ACFW local chapter, WIN in Oklahoma. She served as vice-president for two years in WIN-ACFW and is still on its board as an advisor. She has taught numerous classes for online groups, ACFW and RWA chapters. She enjoys mentoring other authors.

You can visit her web site at http://www.margaretdaley.com/ and read excerpts from her books and learn about the ones recently released and soon to be released.

Margaret has two books releasing soon, both with Christmas themes. In keeping with that, I've geared my questions toward everything Christmas. Enjoy!

Hello, Margaret! Welcome to The Borrowed Book. What do you most associate with Christmas where you live?

Lately bad weather. The last few years at Christmas time we have had snow storms and ice storms. This is unusual for Oklahoma. But what I really associate with Christmas is the houses that put up lights in our area. It is beautiful to drive around and view all of them.

Do you have any special family traditions you do at Christmas time?

Going to Christmas Eve service with the family. Another thing we do is go around and look at all the Christmas lights as a family with Christmas music playing on the radio. Decorating the Christmas tree as a family and remembering all of the places we got the ornaments.

Do you have a favorite Christmas Carol and if so do you know why?

I love Christmas music. I often listen to it at times other than Christmas. There are a lot of songs I really enjoyed hearing. But my favorite is The Prayer that Celine Dion sings.

If you could spend Christmas any way you could how would you celebrate?

That’s an easy one—with as much family around me as possible.

Do you have any special memories of Christmas?

I have a lot of fond memories of Christmas. Staying up late and putting together my son’s toys for the next day with my husband. Driving down to Biloxi to see my family. The open houses my parents had when I was little girl on Christmas Eve. Going to my grandparents’ house for Christmas dinner.

What does a typical Christmas Eve and or Christmas Day look like for you?

A typical Christmas Eve is spent going to church with my family and having a quiet time listening to Christmas music. Christmas Day is usually spent with my son and his family as well as my mother-in-law.

Do you have any Christmas movies or Christmas books you like to see or read each year?

I love The Christmas Story. It is hilarious and I usually watch it every year.

Tell us a little about your book:

A Daughter for Christmas, Love Inspired, November 2010 ~ Dr. Max Connors had no idea he'd fathered a child thirteen years ago. Or that his baby girl had been given up for adoption. He locates his daughter in a small Oklahoma town and moves there, hoping to become a part of her life. But when he meets her widowed mother, Max is unsure how to reveal his identity. As he helps Rachel Howard with her plans to homeschool the girl, he's welcomed into the family. But with the holidays approaching, Max must tell Rachel who he really is. Can he make his dreams of family come true by Christmas?

I also have a Christmas book coming out in December called Christmas Bodyguard. It is a Love Inspired Suspense book. It is the first story in my new series called The Guardians, Inc. about female bodyguards.

Both sound fascinating! Where did you get the idea for A Daughter for Christmas?

I wanted to do a secret baby story with a twist. This is my last book in my home schooling series.

Do you have a Christmas message for my readers?

I wish all my readers a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year. May the Lord be with you each day.