I would like to introduce you to fellow writer and friend Roseann McGrath Brooks, author of The Vacation Friends Romance series. I met Roseann through a local writing group called the Pocono Liars Club.
Roseann is passionate about creating Christian romance steeped in faith. She has four books in her first book series, with more stories to come.
The Vacation Friends Romance series follows the love lives of a group of people who have been friends since childhood, having vacationed together every summer with their families. Although you can read the novels independently, each book highlights the romantic journey of one of these friends. There are currently four books in the series, with three more planned.
Victoria Marie Lees: Congratulations on your Vacation Friends Romance series, Roseann. And thank you for visiting with me at Adventures in Writing.
Roseann McGrath Brooks: My pleasure.
VML: What made you decide to become a writer and how long have you been writing? Why did you choose Christian romance as a genre to write?
RMB: Victoria, thanks for having me and asking these insightful questions!
In second grade, I read Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses and said, “I want to do that.” My eventual career as a writer/editor in corporate communications was close enough for a while. However, when I had more free time after my kids grew up, I began reading more fun stuff, mostly romance novels. As I found myself praising the well-written ones and chastising the others, I wanted to write my own stories.
During this time, my husband, a pastor, performed the wedding of two people whose families had vacationed together for two weeks every summer. They were friends as children but reconnected as adults and fell in love. Thus was born the idea for the Vacation Friends Romance series.
Because my Christianity is important to me, I want faith to be something my heroes and heroines address. Some Christian romance can be a bit preachy. I strive for my characters to be real and not have all the answers, facing real roadblocks that readers can identify with. One of my most supportive readers is active in her Jewish faith.
VML: Good for you, Roseann, for knowing what you wanted to do in life early and pursuing it, even if it was a little less creative in corporate communications in the beginning. And then you use your life experiences again to create your stories. Well done!
Your novel deals with the importance of faith in a person’s life. Trust in self and each other as well as second chances are important. Why are these themes important to you?
RMB: All of us struggle with challenges. Faith is what helps me get through those challenges. My goal is to give my heroes and heroines the same challenges that we face and show how they can lean on their faith to help them through—while, at the same time, falling in love.
VML: Faith helps me get through many challenges in life too, Roseann. Placing real-life challenges in story can help readers understand how they might find faith helpful in their lives as well.
You know, this process of writing and re-writing can be a tedious one—especially for full-length novels. Having published four books, how do you determine when a book is ready to be published?
RMB: Great question! As for most good fiction stories, my books should have a clear beginning, middle, and end. And I’ll admit that the middle is the hardest part: What draws the characters together? What pulls them apart? How does each one grow? Of course, romance readers expect an HEA, or happily ever after, so I know how the story is going to end. As an editor at heart, I tend to take longer to write each book because I self-edit as I go along. But an editor cannot edit her own work; I can’t emphasize that enough. I have a supportive team of beta readers who read the manuscript once I feel as if I have the correct beginning, middle, and end. Three years ago, when I began the fourth book in the series, I started attending a monthly critique group. Meeting with them has truly polished my writing. They’re not all romance writers, so they challenge me well.
VML: I self-edit as I go along in story writing too, Roseann. You are correct, though. All writers require another editor, one who has not read the story before, to be the final editor of their work. This is in addition to their own self-editing. A separate editor will actually see the words on the page and not assume what is in the writer’s mind is on the page. And critique groups can be very helpful to writers to see what’s missing from the story.
So, why did you decide to indie-publish? Could you offer any advice to writers trying to indie publish their first novel?
RMB: I had a book contract for my first romance novel, which was not a Christian romance. However, because the small publisher didn’t really “have its act together” (its own words), the contract ran out before the books could be published. I had already started writing All for Good and decided to try the indie route. Here are a few pieces of advice:
- Get good beta readers, a good copy editor, and a good proofreader.
- Use a designer who knows his or her craft but is willing to work with you on your vision. I’m lucky that my designer was a friend from a previous editing job; we had 13 different cover versions of the first book until we were both happy!
- Choose a reputable self-publisher, not a vanity press. Whether you like Amazon or not, they have a very easy process for self-publishing. I’m just now working to add an Ingram Spark presence to my print books, and I’m sorry I didn’t do it earlier because the learning curve is huge. Decide early on how you want to make your books available.
VML: Solid advice here, Roseann. Thank you! You are lucky to have good beta readers and a designer whom you know and trust. All writers should stay away from vanity presses. They are expensive and offer no benefit to the writer. They are merely printers, and I cannot attest to the quality of their work.
A writer needs to be a marketer as well in today’s publishing world. How do you wear these two hats [Writer and Marketer]? Can you offer any advice to other writers about marketing their books?
RMB: I don’t think I’m alone in disliking marketing. I was advised early on to write a newsletter that “adds value.” Rather than tout my books all the time, I started by focusing on grammar tips, a topic I love.
My only advice is to be true to yourself. Share things not necessarily related to your book, but then be sure to point people to your book. It’s a delicate balance.
I just produced a free “bonus chapter” to encourage readers to see the writing style of the series. Offering value to your followers is key, but don’t give everything away for free.
Oh, and encourage readers to review your books. My understanding is that the more reviews, the more Amazon’s algorithms like you.
VML: Being true to ourselves is what every writer [and even person!] should do. And newsletters are definitely a balance of writing tips and self-promotion. I’m still trying to gain my balance.
Thank you so much for visiting Adventures in Writing and sharing your writing advice with us.
You can connect to Roseann McGrath Brooks online at Instagram, Threads, Goodreads, or TikTok.
Sign up for Roseann’s newsletter on her website and get a free stand-alone bonus chapter related to All for Good.
If you are interested in a paperback edition of Roseann’s novels, please go to your independent bookstore and ask them to order the book. We need to support indie bookstores.
Otherwise, you can find her book online at:
Amazon, Tertulia, or Bookshop.
Roseann has almost completed the first draft of book 5 in the Vacation Friends Romance series. Tentatively titled Abound in Hope, this is Aaron’s romance. Aaron appears in all the previous books, and Roseann is excited that her readers have been clamoring for his story. Aaron has commitment issues, but his love interest has her own reasons for being tentative. She hopes to have the book out by the fall, but not until her beta readers say it’s ready!
Well, Roseann, I can’t wait to read the next installment of the Vacation Friends series. Thanks again for sharing your insight into writing. All the luck with your Christian romance series. Bravo!