Spinning a yarn
By Darrell Laurant on Jun. 19, 2008
385-5544
It’s interesting that Emilie Richards sometimes writes about quilting, because her novels are quilts in themselves, stitched together from scraps of experience.
“I’ve been fortunate to have done a lot of different things in my life, and these are all experiences I can use in my writing,” said the prolific author, who will be signing copies of her latest book, “Sister’s Choice,” at Givens Books at 6 p.m. June 23.
“We make things up, which is fun, but in some ways it isn’t really made up.”
Born in Maryland, raised in Florida and degreed (family development) at Virginia Tech, Richards has worked as a mental health therapist, a parent services coordinator for Head Start and a pastoral counselor. Thus, she can not only create her characters, but get inside their heads.
“When I started writing,” she said, “romance novels were very popular, and I thought I could use some of my background to talk about how relationships could work. I thought I had something to say.”
She didn’t begin writing until her fourth child was born in 1983, but she’s been making up for lost time ever since - nearly 60 novels, and counting.
“I don’t consider myself a fast writer,” she said, “but I’m very dedicated. I see this as my job, and I spend a lot of time at the computer.”
And speaking of family relationships that work she has a daughter-in-law who helps with illustrating and another who offers technical assistance. Call it Team Richards.
“The hardest thing is the marketing,” Richards said. “It used to be that the publisher did all of that, but now we’re expected to get out and market our books ourselves. A lot is asked of us.”
The Lynchburg appearance is part of a four-city Virginia tour (Richards and her husband Michael, a Unitarian Universalist minister, live in Northern Virginia). According to an online review, “Sister’s Choice” is an examination of sibling relationships.
“With nine years and a turbulent childhood between them, Kendra and Jamie have never been storybook sisters. After a long estrangement, they’ve finally begun to heal their hurts and forge a new bond.
“Now Jamie is offering a gift Kendra has long since given up hoping for, the fondest wish of her heart: a baby. Already raising two young girls on her own, Jamie wants to become a gestational surrogate for Kendra and her husband, Isaac, giving birth to a child the husband and wife have created together.”
It’s a typical Richards subject.
She began her quilting series in 2004, harkening back to a stint as a VISTA volunteer in the Arkansas Ozarks. The experience turned out to be a tradeoff; she helped the local people in various ways, and they taught her how to quilt.
Now, besides working that subject into her books, she is a member of the National Advisory Board of ABC Quilts, a non-profit quilting education organization.
Richards has also branched out into murder mysteries in which the heroine is a minister’s wife.
“That’s a nice change,” she said, “and I like to jump back and forth between romance and mystery.”
She sticks to one book at a time in the creative phase, though, although “the next one is always taking shape in my head.”
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