Episode 37: Patricia Sands

Patricia Sands, the award-winning author of The Bridge Club, The Love in Provence series, the Villa de Violettes series and Drawing Lessons.

Key Topics: Her unusual publishing path to landing at Lake Union, the role of writer friends in encouraging her, advice for other writers.

Interview Notes:

We chat about how her debut, THE BRIDGE CLUB (just re-released!), came to be ten years ago. She shares her inspiration for this tale of eight friends, helping each other through the hard moments in life, and some of the unexpected impacts of basing your characters on real life!

She shares how her own writer friends encouraging her to keep going were a big part of her success. Plus, how she started Indie and had finished the second book in her Provence series when she got a surprise call and that coveted publishing offer from Lake Union (Amazon publishing)

We talk about how she keeps finding inspiration after creating 8 books in ten years and her writing advice includes “Don’t stop believing in your dream” which Patricia credits to her favorite writing book ON WRITING by Stephen King. And if you have a story to tell just sit down and tell it, and somewhere along the line you will find your voice. Then, you find a good editor.

Patricia also has lots of book recommendations! UNDER A GILDED MOONnby Joy Jordan-Lake, which she absolutely loved, and WOMAN ON THE EDGE a fantastic thriller by fellow Canadian Samantha M. Bailey

Right now she’s reading Jennifer Robson’s OUR DARKEST NIGHT, a World War 2 story set in Italy. And she loves the light-hearted tone of books of Craig Carlson, author and restauranteur who runs the first American style diner in Paris and has 2 great books about his journey- and Julie Valerie’s last two books were very funny - THE PECULIAR FATE OF HOLLY BANKS and HOLLY BANKS FULL OF ANGST.