Author Chat with Carrie Walker on her Debut Novel, Emma’s Hero
Carrie Walker is a fellow author with Mountain Brook Ink publishing, and I have so much enjoyed getting to know her over the last few months as she prepared to launch her debut novel. Well, the wait is finally over, and Emma’s Hero is now available. I hope you enjoy this interview with Carrie and check out this sweet and inspiring story.
Q: When did you first realize that you wanted to be a writer?
I’ve always loved reading and kinda had that “maybe I’ll write a book someday” in the back of my mind, but I never felt the call to write until the seed of this story was planted about five years ago. As I wrote it, I discovered I loved writing and haven’t turned back.
Q: What inspired the idea for this story?
A young woman, who was in the youth ministry program my husband and I ran years ago, gave birth to a daughter with the same condition as Theo. When I went to visit them in the hospital, I immediately imagined all of the lives this child had touched and the seed for this story was planted.
Q: Your back cover copy grabbed my interest from the opening line. God sometimes does seem to give us more than we can handle! What other truths about God do your characters learn from these tough experiences that might encourage readers who are also going through struggles?
That even though sometimes life is hard, and it can feel like it, we are never alone. That when we are at our weakest, that is when God’s power shines through. And as easy as it can be to blame ourselves for things not in our control, none of us can escape suffering.
Q: What is something you enjoy, aside from writing, that you think makes you a better writer? How could you encourage other writers (or creatives in general) to fuel their passion?
I always say “who needs creativity? Just take notes.” Life gives so much material for story. I live a busy family life with my husband and seven children. They give plenty of ideas, from the crazy things they say (every. single. day), to their many activities. I also love playing board games, and while on the surface that might not seem conducive to helping write a story . . . strategy games really do help strengthen that advanced thinking that helps with plotting.
Q: How can readers connect with you?
My website: www.carriewalkerwrites.com. I am also active on Facebook and Instagram. I’m also on BookBub and Goodreads.
Q: Can you share about what next project you have in the works?
My next book, Right Before Their Eyes, is the second book in this series. It follows Mason, five years after the ending of Emma’s Hero. He’s harbored a love for his best friend, Clare, since high school and now grapples with choices for medical school, one that would move him across the country. Clare struggles to balance work as a social worker while living with her dementia-ridden grandmother, Dottie. Not to mention her boyfriend who has their whole life planned out. The third pov character is one of Clare’s foster teens, Lucia, who loses her foster home and is placed in an unwelcoming group home. When the paths Grandma Dottie and Lucia walk take a dangerous turn, Clare frantically tries to save them. As their lives knit together, will they find the love that’s right before their eyes?
About the Author
Carrie Walker is an award-winning author who lives in Michigan with her husband and seven children. As an avid reader, she pens what she loves to read, stories that bring hope to a hurting world. Besides writing, Carrie enjoys board games, time with family and counting down the days ’til Christmas.
About Emma’s Hero
“God won’t give me more than I can handle? I’m pretty sure He just did.”
After a year of loss and bad choices distance Emma Reynolds from her lifelong beliefs, she finds herself pregnant and alone at a twenty-week ultrasound, hearing the words “incompatible with life.” When her son, Theo, survives birth, she fights to give him the best care possible. As each day passes, Emma’s love for Theo grows—along with her fear of losing him. She can’t understand why God allows her son to suffer.
Seventeen-year-old blogger, Mason Hughes, feels lonely and worthless after his father left their family years ago. When he ignores his mother’s push to “contribute to society,” she volunteers him to help Emma each week. Wishing he’d applied for any other job, Mason has no choice but to grocery shop and practice his rusty social skills with a mother and son he doesn’t know.
Paramedic Ben Sullivan has earned himself the title of “most eligible” bachelor among his friends as they continually set him up on blind dates. While he’d love to avoid the uncomfortable events, his heart can’t help but seek the one thing missing in his life—a marriage like his parents have. If only he could find the woman himself.
As Theo’s tiny life connects them to each other, their loneliness breaks under the love of community, and they will never be the same.
