Thank you for joining us for part three of our talk with award-winning inspirational romance author Leigh Bale. If you missed part one or two, click here to catch up.
Leigh, when we left off, we were discussing your novel “The Healing Place,” which has inspirational elements in it. Was it difficult to blend romance with religion?
Not at all. My own marriage with my husband is based on profound love and respect for one another and our deep religious beliefs are at the foundation of our relationship. Romance and religion comes very natural for me. Just because I’m religious and have been married over twenty-five years to the same wonderful man doesn’t mean we don’t have our share of romance. Neither does it mean we haven’t faced our share of trials. That’s what I try to portray in my novels — a man and a woman overcoming fierce odds by relying on one another and the Lord.
You also wrote an award-winning article called “The Golden Heart: Not for the Faint-Hearted.” Do tell more!
The Golden Heart is the most prestigious contest a non-published romance novelist can enter. Competition is very fierce and finalists are judged by buying editors to determine the winner. I sold my first book off of this contest to Steeple Hill Publishers in June and I won the Golden Heart for best Inspirational in July 2006.
Back in 2004, I was commissioned by Romance Writers of America (RWA) to submit a survey to people who had finaled or won a Golden Heart and compile the research data and write an article based on my findings. At the time, I had not yet published in book-length format. I think RWA was eager to have me write the article because I was curious about how many finalists went on to actually sell a book and I was dumb enough to do the research for the article.
I discovered some amazing information about the romance industry in writing this article. If you’re interested in reading the article, you can access it from my website.Scroll down to the article titled “The Golden Heart: Not for the Faint-Hearted.” Wait a few moments for the article to download. You will need Adobe Reader in order to read my article, but I also include a link for you to download a free copy of Adobe Reader.
I have some other articles I’ve written, if you’re interested. I hope you find some benefit from them. Enjoy!
And I understand that you’re working on getting your Master’s degree in Medieval History. Do you have intentions of writing medieval romance?
I have already written several medieval romances; however, they are not inspirationals and I would need to heavily revise them to make them marketable. Because the Catholic Church was the only religion in Europe during the medieval time period, an inspirational would need to be handled carefully so as not to offend potential readers, especially since I am not Catholic. I would want to share my beliefs in the atonement and faith with people of all religions, to try and influence their lives for good. Once I have finished my schooling and have more time to devote to writing, I intend to tackle an inspirational medieval story. For me, it’s a way of sharing my love of history while also sharing my love for the Lord.
I can’t wait to see how you handle that, Leigh.
Join us again tomorrow as we continue our conversation with Leigh Bale. In the meantime, you can visit her at her website.
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