Spotlight: Young Adult Author Trisha Haddad

Trisha Haddad is in the author spotlight to discuss her  novel Deep Green.

Deep Green, her third published novel, is a young adult novel, which falls into the sub-genre of survival and romance.  An author faces several challenges during the writing process.  Now imagine a wife and mother writing from the viewpoint of a sixteen year old.  Trisha tapped into her teenage protagonist’s thoughts by re-visiting her own diary entries dating back from her early teenage age.  “It was a fun (and sort of humbling and embarrassing) experience to get a solid dose of those old journals all at once,” she says. “But it made Leah’s voice more true to her character.”

I recently met Trisha through our publisher and liked her immediately.  Her beautiful smile and friendly nature make the world a little nicer – even for people in cyberspace.  Trisha, please tell us about Deep Green.

Leah prefers the quiet adventure and romance of books, but during a cruise with her parents, a terrorist attack leaves her adrift in a lifeboat with strangers. She must overcome her social anxiety and shyness so that they can fight together for survival. Leah also struggles with the growing attention from the men she's stranded with, and her mixed emotions toward them. When her fellow survivors’ dark secrets come to light, the truth will blow apart any semblance of civility and test Leah’s preconceived notions of just how far dedication can go before it crosses over into fanaticism.

I love the synopsis and can’t wait to read the book. How did you begin your writing career? I’ve been writing since I was eight years old (mainly stories about horses through elementary school). I finished my first two full-length books while in high school, and wrote another in college. But it was the romantic mystery novel I wrote after college, Best of Luck Elsewhere, that I found commercially-suitable enough to send to publishers. What a thrill when I got the offer of publication, and again when I started seeing my books on bookshelves and in the library!

Finding your book in print is the greatest feeling. Who is your book published through? My most recent book is published by Eternal Press. They have been absolutely wonderful to work with.

How long did it take you to write your current novel? Deep Green was written over the course of two years. I wrote half of it, then had a loss in my life that sort of made me lose the umph to do anything creative. Six months later, I started to feel the writing itch again, and finished the second half of the book just a few months later.

Who is your book published through? My most recent book is published by Eternal Press. They have been absolutely wonderful to work with.

What else are you working on? On New Year’s Eve, I finished the first draft of a sequel to Deep Green.

Readers love following their favorite authors, which social networking sites can fans find you?  Please provide links.

I’m on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/trisha.haddad.5 and Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2781949.Trisha_Haddad and on Tumblr at http://www.tumblr.com/blog/trishahaddad. I’ve just never gotten into Twitter.

For more of Trisha’s interview, join us at www.writergirlkatie.wordpress.com.

If you would like more information on the author spotlight, please contact Katie at www.katie-mcknight-author.com and/or www.Facebook.com/katiemcknightauthorpage