I am so thankful to have Autumn Macarthur here today for our coffee chat! I hope you all have a large mug of your favorite beverage while you settle back and enjoy getting to know this amazing best selling author a little better!

Autumn: I knew I wanted to be a writer from when I first was able to form letters. My first “publication” was a poem in the school magazine when I was 6! LOL! Though I didn’t realize people could actually make a living from writing till my teens, I settled for a sensible job till my late 40’s when I decided it was time to give writing for publication a serious try. Five years and eight “practice” books later, I launched my first book.

Paula: I know you are from Australia, and now reside in London….what do you miss most about Australia? What do you love most about living in London?

Autumn: There are three major things I miss about Australia. #1, and the biggest – my family. Coming probably a tie after that are sunny winters, and space! Thankfully we’ve been blessed with more sunlight the past few winters, but I’ve had a few where there is seriously no sunshine for a month or more. This Aussie girl needs her sun! And I need space, too. Australia is so much bigger, and yet contains so many fewer people. There’s a lot more room to move, larger yards, less crowds. The things I love most about London – history, being right there surrounded by so much living history. The first few days I was in London, I walked around in a daze, just repeating to myself. “I’m in London, I’m really in London!” LOL, jet lag may have also had something to do with it, but far from all of it! And the other thing I love is the River Thames. I’m not sure why, but there’s something so special and so appealing about walking along the river.I tend to send my couples on a riverside walk in most of my books set in London!

Paula: What is your best time of the day (or night) for your Bible reading time?

Autumn: Any time! I always read and ponder on a chapter right before bed, but I keep a daily journal, that I try to write as soon as I can after I get up, and often I’ll want to look up a verse or two. I love Bible Gateway for that, and for being able to read verses or whole chapters in several different translations or paraphrases at once! All those verses I can kinda remember, but aren’t sure where they come from. Which is too many! I really need to get a lot better at properly memorizing verses.

Paula: Can you recall the first book you read as a child when you knew you would be a reader forever?

Autumn: Sure can! Robert the Rose Horse. That was the first book I read all by myself, and the first book I actually owned, after it was given to me as a fifth birthday gift in Kindergarten. It’s still in print, too!  That was the start of my life-long love affair with books.

Paula: You have written some difficult struggles for your characters and it makes me wonder,do you suffer right along with them as you write their stories?

Autumn: Writing is always emotionally powerful for me, and yep, whatever spiritual lessons the characters need to learn in the course of the story are ones I learn right along with them. Though thankfully I haven’t personally experienced everything my characters have lived through, often I’ve experienced similar situations, losses, challenges. If I get stuck on a story, often it’s because I’m refusing to learn whatever lesson God wantsme to learn. Or I’m trying to avoid digging deep enough into the characters’ situations. Because ouch, that’s going to hurt, for sure! I love love LOVE reaching those joyful happy ever afters with them, and the deeper their struggles, the ultimately more joyful and uplifting their endings will be.

Paula: What is your favorite go to snack, midnight or any time?

Autumn: LOL, what’s my favorite snack I wish I could still eat, or what can I actually eat? I have developed zillions of food intolerances, to a crazy range of foods and drinks. The itchy rashes, burning mouth, or migraines if I eat what I shouldn’t are no fun! I adore milk and dark chocolate, but need to stay away from chocolate. So the last couple of years, I’ve gotten good at making alternative treats. Sometimes wildly alternative! Raspberry and macadamia vegan grain-free cookie, anyone? I’m thinking I need to add some white chocolate to these, and then they’d be just about perfect!

Paula: If you had to chose any other career path, what would be your “dream” occupation and why?

Autumn: Oh, that is a tough question! My real-life career path was working as a nurse and midwife for over 35 years. Tough, heart-breaking at times, but very rewarding. If I couldn’t be an author, and if I didn’t have these pesky food intolerance’s, I think I’d be a chocolate maker. Maybe one specializing in chocolate treats for people with food allergies or intolerance’s!

Paula: Do you think about your characters as friends? I always wonder if the author worries about where the story-line is going, and if you ever find your story is going in another direction than you had planned.

Autumn: I need to like my characters, and they do become real people for me. Authors need to be a little bit nuts, I think, or we wouldn’t sit around talking to our imaginary friends all day! I have a load of ongoing storylines in my head, where I see what happens to them after the story ends. Sometimes that comes out in other stories from the same series, sometimes not. LOL, stories going in directions I didn’t plan? All the time! I’m not a super-detailed planner, with the whole story outlined and mapped out before I start, but I like to have some sort of idea where the story is going and what the main plot points might be. Then as I’m writing, I discover all sorts of things I didn’t know about the characters and the road map gets thrown out the window! I’ve learned not to fight that. Trying to stick of my plan and make the story be what it’s not never works.

Paula: Tell us how all your fans can keep up with your upcoming projects!

Autumn: The best way is by subscribing to my no-more-than-weekly reader newsletter! As well as getting all my book news, subscribers are entered in an monthly subscriber-only contest, and get a few other little goodies now and then. The sign-up link is https://dl.bookfunnel.com/7luq95last . That link also gives access to a gift ebook, newsletter subscription not required, though obviously I hope readers will want to get all my book news!Or anyone who wants to know about my new releases without getting so many emails can follow me on Amazon instead: https://amzn.to/2xc38Ag

Paula: Finally – Coffee or tea? Cream? Sugar?

Autumn: Oh, I hate to be so boring! Just water, please! I’ve never been a big coffee or tea drinker. Like a cup of really good coffee after dinner maybe once or twice a year. Cream,no sugar. I do admit to loving diet cola, to the point I may have been the teensiest bit addicted! Though now I’m blessed with this pesky chronic migraine thing, I need to avoid any caffeine at all. :(But hey, we’re talking virtual beverages! Food intolerances needn’t be an issue. The evenings are beginning to get cooler, so I’ll have a hot chocolate with extra whipped cream and Cadbury Flake sprinkles on top, please! Yum!

Autumn is generously giving away one ecopy of Come To The Lake – a three book set!! Please comment on this post within one week from today and share what YOUR favorite midnight snack is to enter to win! Winner will be notified via email!