I talked to my friend and fellow writer Paula Benge this week because she had some exciting news!!! Her book, At the Heart of the Game, Amazon.com: At the Heart of the Game eBook : Benge, Paula: Kindle Store just won the Writer’s Digest Self Published E-Book contest! With over seven hundred entries. Big win! This book won the published YA book award at the OWFI conference last year and now it is taking home honors once again. If you haven’t read it, now is the time. Pick up a copy and as always, leave a review when you’re done.

Paula is a fellow member of the Enid Writers Club and the Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc. (OWFI). But I’d like you to get acquainted with her so here are some questions for her:

Thank you for inviting me, Peggy! You’ve been there since the first, extremely short, hand-written draft of this book and it’s an honor to be here now.

1. What drives you to write?  I think it’s the need to create and the challenge of it. Writing is a skill you can learn and improve, plus I’ve fallen in love with words. I think the passion comes from wanting to keep learning and trying to write even better than the day before.

2. What genre(s) or age groups do you write, and why? My first published book was a romantasy novella that I enjoyed writing, but since then I’ve written young adult and I’m working on a middle grade. I didn’t necessarily plan this, but that’s where the stories and the characters’ voices were, so I went with it.

3. Give us a glimpse of the surroundings where you write. Separate room? In the kitchen? At the dining room table? I write in my office on a bean bag or at a coffee shop. But I’ve written in my car, beside an indoor pool between games at a softball tournament, and just about everywhere.

4. Are you the kind of writer who needs total quiet to compose, or are you able to filter out the typical sounds of the day and use your tunnel vision? At home, I need quiet because there’s already enough to distract me there. But the noise of a coffee shop is actually my most productive environment.

5. How did you create the plotline/idea for At the Heart of the Game? I was attending my daughter’s college softball games and didn’t have time to write. An author friend suggested I write about softball and she’d read it. But after that inspiration, my desire to show the many sides of River, not just her sport, which is the “shiny” part, is what drove the story.

6. Which comes first for you – character or plot? And why? Usually, character. Sometimes it’s an interesting question or real-life situation that inspires the characters. Which can lead me to write myself into a corner and I have to figure out how to get out.

7. When you first started writing, did you know what genre you planned to write, or did that change? I started out knowing my softball book was young adult, but before that I hadn’t settled on a genre. I like to read so many different kinds of books, it could’ve been anything. But I think I always wanted to write something inspiring.

8. What do you do when you aren’t writing? I’m a personal trainer and amateur dog trainer (a necessity since I have an Airedale who’s smart, playful, rambunctious, and stubborn. And, of course, loving.)

9. Will there be a sequel to At the Heart of the Game? And what are you writing currently? A lot of people have asked about a sequel. I never intended to write one, but now I can see the way another story might go, so maybe. I’m currently working on a middle grade novel.

10. What is your latest WIP? And will you continue to self-publish? I’m working on a middle grade story about the adventures of a boy made from chalk who lives undetected in a school until an enchanted chalkboard is uncovered and chaos breaks out. It’d be fun if this story interested an agent, but I liked the complete control you have when you self-publish, too, so either way would be nice.

Paula’s bio:

Paula Benge is also the author of A Neapolitan Fairy Tale at Lake Okoboji, Amazon.com: A Neapolitan Fairy Tale at Lake Okoboji (One Scoop or Two) eBook : Benge, Paula: Kindle Store an Oklahoma Romance Writers Guild 2020 Heart Award Finalist. She was inspired to write At the Heart of the Game after years spent keeping score for fastpitch softball and providing off-season training for athletes. She lives in Oklahoma with her husband and her Airedale. To find out more, follow her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/paula_benge/ or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/paula.benge.books . Or visit www.paulabenge.com to sign up for her newsletter.

You can find At the Heart of the Game at this universal buy link:

Amazon review link

Thank you, Paula, for the interview today and congratulations on the wins with this book.  I’m sure you will continue to have great success with your writing, and we’d love to hear about it when you do.

What are you writing, reading, or creating this week?