Q&A with Wendy Sparrow, author of Stealing Time

Now available from Pen and Kink Publishing is the paranormal holiday romance Stealing Time, book one in the Servants of Fate series by author Wendy Sparrow.

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The author has taken a few minutes out of her busy schedule for a Q&A about her newest novel.

When did you become interested in storytelling?

I’ve been a storyteller my entire life. When I was a child, I told big stories and heard “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” many, many times in return. I’ve also had lifelong insomnia; so, as long as I can remember, I’ve told myself stories at night to get to sleep. I still do…and then I get up and write them so I don’t forget them.

What was your first book/story published?

I was published in anthologies, but my first individual title was Frosted, a romance novella about Jack Frost and his wife.

What inspired you to write Stealing Time?

I wanted to write about a different sort of paranormal character associated with winter holidays. When I came up with the idea to go with Father Time and his sons, the world began building itself.

What character in Stealing Time is the most/least like you, and in what ways?

I guess Hannah and I have more in common. My sense of humor I think matches hers. Zeit has that whole immortal…thing and I’m not feeling so immortal these days.

What is your favorite part in Stealing Time?

My favorite scene is definitely the snowman scene.

Making snowmen was a lot more difficult than Christmas commercials on mortal TV made it look. Hannah was rolling the middle portion while Zeit supervised… because his kept falling apart.

“It looks bigger than the lower portion,” he pointed out.

She stopped and shook her head at him. “It doesn’t have to be perfect. Come over and help me lift it onto the bottom.”

After he’d set the middle section onto the lower portion, he stood back and eyed it critically. A snowball hit his head. Zeit frowned at her.

“Stop!” Hannah said. “Sometimes the best things in life are all misshapen and…” She tilted her head. “We should really do that one again.”

Zeit laughed as he brushed snow from his face.

It took them another three attempts to get what they both deemed were acceptable snowman portions.

“Hey. Coal.” With raised eyebrows, Hannah held up the two lumps of coal that had come in his snowman kit. “Get a good long look because this is what you’re getting next year.”

He couldn’t stop smiling at her. A dozen times each hour today, he wished he could slow down time because he wanted to spend more time with Hannah—he needed that. She was singing “Frosty the Snowman” with a carefree abandon he’d never felt before. If only he didn’t have the end of the year looming over him.

“Okay, pass me his corn cob pipe,” she said.

He pulled the “pipe” out of the box and stared at it. “Our snowman is a smoker? And this is a kids’ song?”

“It was written back before people worried about things like their lungs,” she said, reaching for it.

He pulled it away. No. It wasn’t right. “His days are already numbered, and he’s playing with fire—actual fire?”

“Ohhhh, right.” She tilted her head. “Wow, that does make him a bit of a rebel, doesn’t it? I bet the snowladies were all suitably impressed.”

Zeit looked around. There were mortal children all around. Young impressionable mortal children. He put the pipe back in the box.

“Or he’s not really a rebel. He likes to play things safe. Then again,” she tapped his coal eyes, “he did earn his coal. Maybe he’s got nothing to prove. There should be buttons in the box.”

He pulled off his glove to search through the bottom of the box, pulling out three buttons. “What is he buttoning up?” he asked as he handed them to Hannah.

She’d started pressing the buttons into his middle snow section, but she stopped and bit her lip as she stared at the round button still in her hand. Finally, she shrugged and pushed the last one in. “I think you’re overanalyzing this.”

“Or it’s a mortal tradition that could use some scrutiny.” He held out the faux carrot that came in his kit.

“But, look, he’s healthy. A carrot.”

“Is he going to eat his own nose?”

“I can’t do this with you now.”

He went still. Was she… mad?

Her shoulders started shaking, and he leaned forward to see her trying to restrain a laugh.

Then, she leaned down, grabbed a handful of snow and threw it at him.

Copyright © 2016 by Wendy Sparrow 

What was the hardest part to write?

There’s always a part in every one of my stories that makes me cry. I don’t actually cry much in real life, but I do when reading. In Stealing Time, it’s early on…when Zeit is acting like Hannah is losing her mind and insinuating he can’t control time.

What would your ideal career be, if you couldn't be an author?

Prior to parenthood, I managed and worked as an optician. I loved it.

Do you read reviews of your books? If so, do you pay any attention to them, or let them influence your writing?

I know I shouldn’t, but I do read reviews. Writing can be hard and lonely and bad reviews make me feel defeated…and good reviews are the reason I’m still putting out books.

What well-known writers do you admire most?

Neil Gaiman, J.K. Rowling, Margaret Atwood, Jayne Ann Krentz, and Sherrilyn Kenyon.

Do you have any other books/stories in the works?

Always. I’ve got a lot of unpublished manuscripts, but I’m always anxious to write new stories.

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About the Author: At home in the Pacific Northwest, Wendy Sparrow writes for both an adult and young adult audience in many genres but always with a happily ever after. She has two wonderfully quirky kids, a supportive husband, and a perpetually messy house because she hates cleaning. She’s an advocate both online and in her community for autistic children in addition to actively trying to raise awareness about obsessive-compulsive disorder. Most days she spends on Twitter procrastinating doing the dishes.

For more information about the author, you can visit her website at wendysparrow.com or sign up for her newsletter.

You can follow Wendy on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Amazon, and her blog.