Author Behind the Story Blog Series - Hope Toler Dougherty

Phase Three has been implemented in Florida, meaning all restrictions are lifted, and it's up to individual entities as to how they wish to proceed. Yet, mandatory rules for wearing masks with the threat of fines in other places are being reinstituted, like in Brooklyn and Queens, for example. In California, restaurant patrons are being urged to wear their masks between bites (you can't make this stuff up).

Some states have hardly been affected by the pandemic. Other states have been dealt several blows. The year 2020 has proven to us one very important fact: Election years are the pits. So is living out scenes from the movie Idiocracy. 

Therefore, in an attempt to infuse some sanity and normalcy back into the life of America, we bring you another installment of our blog series, The Author Behind the Story! 

Welcome our next guest to the Florida Front Porch, where rain bands from tropical storms and summer heat and humidity linger. Welcome, Hope Toler Dougherty!

Hope, give us a quick bio. In fifty words or less, who is Hope Toler Dougherty? 

I'm an introverted Christian Romance author who loves family, traveling, reading, live music, cooking, crocheting, public speaking, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Jesus. Not in that order. Skills include changing the oil in a 1974 Mustang, playing the dulcimer, and soloing a Cessna 150.

That's quite the diverse resumé! Are you married? Single? Have kids?  

I’ve been married to my Kevin for 32 years. We have two daughters, Anna and Hattie, and twin sons, Lane and Quinn. Anna is in fashion in NYC. Hattie is in law school at the University of Pittsburgh, and the boys are first lieutenants in the US Army. Go Army! Beat Navy!

This year, Army beating Navy should not be too difficult.

Next question. Of all the things out there in the world, what makes you cringe the most? 

Here are a few: hearing people chew or swallow, pets sleeping in beds with people, bathroom humor, profanity, and wasting water (keeping the tap running when you’re brushing your teeth or washing dishes.)

My wife is the same way with the people chewing issue, especially ice. She read an article that this was because people who have high IQs are prone to being annoyed by such things. Who am I to argue with the "science" behind the article? Especially if I want to live?

Besides the usual things authors face, has there been an unusual event that changed your perspective about being an author? 

In the spring of 2013, I had two novels written but no agent and no publisher. Friends in the industry and acquaintances kept signing with agencies and getting book contracts. I felt left behind. I couldn’t figure out the problem. I had an English degree for Heaven’s sake. Two, in fact. I learned a lot about pride and God’s timing during this season.

Our sons applied to West Point. One was accepted and one wasn’t. When Quinn received the good news at dinner, Lane was a wonderful brother. He congratulated his twin, saying all the right words, but it was a difficult evening in our house. We wanted to throw down and celebrate with Quinn, but we also wanted to be sensitive to Lane.

Checking on him later, I told him I knew how he felt. He didn’t say anything, but his countenance revealed negative thoughts, for sure. 

I explained my writing journey about watching my friends move forward on their writing path, being happy for them, but wanting my own journey to begin. I knew he was happy for Quinn, but he wanted West Point too. As he listened to my story, understanding dawned on his face. His mom could relate to his pain.

I knew right then if I never published a word of fiction, my writing journey was worth every disappointment because I’d been able to minister to my son on one of the worst nights of his life.

Here’s the happy ending: Lane graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in ROTC with a Chinese degree, and Quinn is a West Point graduate with an Arabic degree. Their mother has published four novels so far. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

Great story about God's timing.

Of all the stories/books you have written, which one is your favorite? And what compelled you to write this story?  

All four of my novels hold special places in my heart and remind me of what was happening in our family when I wrote them, but Irish Encounter, my first, will always be dear to me. I wasn’t planning to write fiction in 2009. I had an idea for Guideposts Magazine. God wooed me onto the fiction path with the story of Payne and Ellen. He showed me that I could flesh out an idea, expand on a scene, and write a whole book with a beginning, middle and end.

Do you ever receive negative reviews from readers? If so, how do you respond when you see them?

I have one one-star review for Irish Encounter. The reviewer called it “religious propaganda” and chastised Amazon for not having some sort of warning flag for religious books. Clearly, she’d never read the back blurb which mentions God twice—not a higher power or a good energy source, but G-O-D. She rued the wasted hour and a half of her life that she’d “never get back.” Yes, I pretty much memorized her words. 

That review is one reason I don’t read reviews now. I check the numbers because reviews are vital to authors, but I don’t read them unless someone emails me or writes them in a real note.

I always pray that God gets my books into the hands of people He wants to read them, and I’ve prayed for that woman periodically for five years now.

I think we all have those kind of reviews. I had one that said almost the same thing about my debut novel. I've been praying for her as well. It's hard to see the Light when you're spiritually blind.

If you had one person you could meet (think outside the Bible here) and could spend as much time as you wanted with that individual, who would it be? 

Dolly Parton! She may be a caricature in some people’s minds with her bouffant hair, makeup, and costumes, however, she’s a brilliantly talented musician, a shrewd, community-minded business woman who praises God for her blessings. Her songs have crossed over into different genres for decades. Dollywood has provided jobs for several thousand people since 1986 in her home state. She has donated over a million books to young children. She’s funny, smart, creative, energetic, interested in life—oh, my stars! I would love to be friends with Dolly Parton!

What’s the craziest thing you have ever done? 

Neighbors thought we were crazy when we took our children aged 9, 7, 5, and 5 on a six-week home exchange to Ireland. We swapped houses with two families for three weeks each (one in Galway and the other in Bandon, County Cork) and added a week in France visiting our foreign exchange students. My husband was able to work remotely. It took months of planning and getting our house ready—housekeeping isn’t one of my strong suits—but the trip was a wonderful, learning adventure for all of us.

I have always wondered about that process. Is there a vetting process involved? I mean, the though of having strangers living in my house while I live in theirs seems so foreign to me.

We know “Readers are leaders, and leaders are readers. ”Is there a book you’ve read in the past five years or so that has helped you become a better you? If so, which one was it, and how did it affect your life?

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. I saw the movie when I was a teenager but read the book only a few years ago. Corrie wrote about thanking God for the fleas in her concentration camp because it kept the guards from coming into their room. Thanking God for fleas? Wow. It gave me a new perspective on my soft life.

Our "soft lives." That is so true. I cringe every time I see a teenager wearing a shirt that says, "The struggle is real." Young one living in America, you have no idea what "struggle" really is.

What Bible scripture has impacted your life the most, and why?

An important verse to me is Psalm 73:26: “My heart and my flesh may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” God gave me this verse during a frustrating time, and now it’s painted on the wall in my kitchen.

Hope, is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers about you, or anything we didn’t cover?

I came to the fiction party kind of late—because of fear, life circumstances…whatever. I’m grateful that God was patient with me. I’ve learned so much about God and myself, and I’ve met so many wonderful people on this writing journey.

If you have an idea that keeps niggling at you, I encourage you to pursue it. Don’t let people’s opinions or your age or fear steal your future. Wonderful things await you on the other side of fear.

Good advice!

Readers, if you want to find out more about Hope and her writing, you can locate her at these locations:

http://hopetolerdougherty.com/

https://www.facebook.com/AUTHORHOPETOLERDOUGHERTY/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13941031.Hope_Dougherty

https://www.pinterest.com/hopetdougherty/

https://twitter.com/HopeTDougherty

https://www.instagram.com/hopetolerdougherty/

https://www.bookbub.com/profile/hope-toler-dougherty

 

Thanks, Hope, for taking the time to stop by and share with our readers!

And Dear Readers, thank you for stopping by and helping make ABTS one of the ever-growing blog sites on the web!

Until next time, may God bless America, and more importantly, may America bless God!

Kevin

www.ckevinthompson.com 

P.S. - Looking for a great Christmas story? One that is more than just a silly, sappy, Christmas tale? If so, may I interest you in The Letters? Similar to A Christmas Carol, one reviewer said "the author skillfully wraps a sense of 'what happens next' in this cozy Christmastime story. It's a journey where we remember not all have peace on Earth and goodwill toward men. Yet, it's never too late to believe in the hope of Christmas." Based on the reviews posted on Amazon right now, both here in the US and in Canada and Australia, I don't think you'll be disappointed. It won an award, too, so others in the industry think that as well. :-)

THE WORLD IS A CRAZY PLACE

WHEN THE LIVING ARE DEAD AND THE DEAD ARE ALIVE.

Rachel Hamar—a Manhattan bank teller—lives nothing close to a Manhattan lifestyle. Residing in Washington Heights, NY, the only thing keeping her in The Big Apple is her mother—a long-time patient in a local psychiatric hospital. It’s December, 2014, and the twentieth anniversary of her high school sweetheart’s tragic death. She’s not sure how much more heartache she can endure, especially after being told earlier in the day she no longer has a job at the bank. A casualty of downsizing.

In the midst of spiraling depression, Rachel receives a mysterious letter in the mail. When she opens it, she becomes cautious and skeptical of its contents and discards it as a mistake, concluding it’s simply addressed incorrectly or a postal worker’s faux pas in the midst of a busy Christmas season. But another letter arrives the next day. And another the day after that. Before long, she is in possession of several letters. Each one more puzzling than the last.

Thinking that someone may be playing a cruel game, she contacts the police, and this propels Rachel and the two detectives into one of the most bizarre cases they’ve ever encountered. Is it a friend’s cruel joke? Is it some stalker’s perverse idea of manipulation? Or is it something more?