SQ: What a chilling plot! "Dear Heart" has had a slew of five-star rated reviews, from professional reviewers to regular readers! This fact, along with the awards it has won, means the book could be a bestseller in proper hands. Have you attempted acquiring an agent?
WD: Gosh - best seller! My life is too normal to cope with that!! Seriously, I really want an agent, especially with a new contract likely to loom in May; I just am so busy writing and mothering that it's difficult to find the time to look for one. (Stop press: I am now agented by Irene Kraas of Kraas Literary Agency!) Sara, we both know competition is very stiff in the writing world; there are a lot of talented writers 'out there,' with books published worthy of greater recognition. I'm old enough now to know you write for the love of it, but with no expectations of gaining "real money." Very few writers have the luxury of just being able to write - most have jobs outside the writing world to financially support them. But I couldn't imagine not writing - it feeds my soul!
SQ: Stop press: Big congratulations regarding Kraas Literary Agency representing you -- you will go far! Will any of the book's characters appear in future books?
WD: I'm writing a trilogy on Katherine of Aragon at the moment. I want the first book of that finished this year, and I'm on track to get that "dunn." The first book introduces Henry VIII as an eleven-years-old boy - Katherine of Aragon first met him at sixteen.
Tom Wyatt is also excited about the prospect of taking stage again in the second and third books; I've given him warning that his wife also demands a speaking role. He may not like! You know, I feel a bit like a director with lots of family desiring walk on roles.
Now I've come to terms with the fact that I'm writing a trilogy - I'm very excited about how the new work is going. Still with big gaps in its story line, it got short-listed for a very sought after manuscript-development award in Australia and that encourages me greatly.
SQ: Congratulations again, Wendy! Can you give information on your publisher Metropolis Ink? How did you come to be published by them and have they contracted you to write future books?
WD: David Major and Kurt Florman launched Metropolis Ink in 2000, if I remember right. David is the talented production guy and lives in Australia and Kurt's the editor extraordinaire. It's a small company, with over twenty books in its stable. BTW - they're not taking on new writers at the moment.
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