Alissa Callen – Bright Light in Darkness

Alissa Callen’s wide-open-space romances – whether set in the Australian outback or Montana mountains – give a bright lift to the darkest day. That’s what her readers tell her, and she couldn’t hope for a more rewarding response. Hi there, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today USA Today Best Selling author Alissa talks about what she loves most about writing rural and small-town fiction, and why she’s thrilled her books are in school libraries. Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode: Why readers love small town romanceHow you can have too much shopping and cocktailsThe one thing she'd do differently next time roundYarn bombing in Dubbo - it is a thingThe healing power of natureThe nicest thing a reader ever said Where to find Alissa Callen: Website: www.alissacallen.com Facebook: @AlissaCallenAuthor What follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions. Jenny:  And now here's Alissa. Hello there, Alissa, and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us. Alissa:  It's such a pleasure to be here. Alissa Callen - Author of rural and small town romance Jenny: Beginning at the beginning, was there a Once Upon a Time moment when you decided you wanted to write fiction, as distinct from other things you might have written. And if so what was the catalyst for it. Alissa: I think I'm that stereotypical writer who was that childhood reader. And if I look back I probably read too many books and probably needed to get another life. But I was a very avid reader as a child/bookworm. And then I did English at university because that was my thing. And I've always wanted to write and I dabbled at writing but it wasn't a definitive decision that I needed to do this. Words always been her "thing" I have four children and somehow I had time amongst raising my children. I thought 'Oh I might actually put pen to paper.' And I did! I grew up in the country. I live on a small farm now. So it was only natural that my stories played themselves out against a rural backdrop.  I have also lived in America and I love the mountains over there. So I'm just really lucky that what I love to write, is actually what the market will read because I can't imagine myself writing anything else.  Words have always been my thing. From a family of scientists And it's really interesting because I come from a family of scientists. We have a lot of very analytical brains in the family, and I'm the odd one out.  It is interesting because through the wonders of DNA we've actually found a missing branch of my family tree and that's where I fit. There's a professor of medieval literature there. There is another person who writes, so I think writing has always just been in me and it's who I am. Jenny: You describe your books as small town and rural fiction but they are really sweet romance stories when you look at the heart of them, aren't they? Alissa: They are. I think it's very interesting because I do write for the two markets and I find that small town stories and rural fiction in Australia are interchangeable terms really. Sweet clean romance Rural fiction has such a wide spectrum. You can have small town books. You can have medical romance,