Authors On The Rise Interviews Rhonda McKnight

Authors On The Rise is delighted to bring you an interview with Rhonda McKnight. Please check out her books and Enjoy!

AOTR: Please tell us about yourself and your books.

McKnight: My name is Rhonda McKnight. I’m the author of two women’s fiction novels, An Inconvenient Friend (Aug 2010) and Secrets and Lies (Dec 2009) and a story in an anthology titled A Woman’s Revenge (June 2010). I own a free-lance writer’s service, Legacy Editing, and I’m also a partner in an independent publishing company, 3 Sisters Books. I have two sons and a goldfish that won’t die no matter how much we neglect him. I’m originally from a small coastal town in New Jersey, but I’ve been living in the Atlanta area for twelve years.

My latest release is An Inconvenient Friend. It’s the story of Samaria Jacobs. Samaria is a man-stealer whose plot to steal her man involves befriending his wife. She works at getting inside information so she can break up their marriage. What she doesn’t expect is to like the wife!

AOTR: Why did you write your book and where did the inspiration come from?

McKnight: This story just fell into my head literally, but once I started plotting I realized I wanted to write a story that showed how very wrong it was for the chicks on the side to insert themselves into marriages and the consequences of their choices for all involved.

AOTR: What do you hope people will take away after finishing your book?

McKnight: The message that God loves us all and we’re always welcome into HIS grace no matter what we’ve done.

AOTR: What important lessons or teaching were you trying to convey?

McKnight: Women need to get back to practicing sisterhood. We are doing some crazy things in the name of getting and/or keeping a man.

AOTR: Does your book deal with any important social issues?

McKnight: My first novel addresses several social issues, but this one doesn’t. However, it does include some issues that I think are very important inside the community of family. It highlights major concerns that have the ability to either make or break a marriage – communication, marital issues of infidelity and fertility. It also has subplots that involve relationships amongst women in the church, drug abuse, as well as familial financial dependency and emotional abuse. It’s chocked full of conflict.

AOTR: In one sentence tell a reader why they should read your book for their next selection.

McKnight: An Inconvenient Friend is a clever story that takes an old plot “cheating husband - messy mistress” and makes it fresh.

AOTR: If you had a chance to have dinner with any author dead or alive, who would it be and what is one question you would ask him or her?

McKnight: The late BeBe Moore Campbell. I’d ask her all about her writing process. How she plotted her stories and developed her characters. What stories did she want to write that she never will?

AOTR: What is the best advice someone gave you, and what advice would you give to someone right now who is going through hardships?

McKnight: The best advice I’ve ever received was from my mother and it was about graduate school. Years ago, I shared with her that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to graduate school, because I would probably be almost forty before I finished. She told me that if I lived long enough I would eventually be forty anyway, so I might as well be forty with the degree than without. It was great advice because it meant “It’s never too late to accomplish a goal.” BTW – I was forty when I finished the degree.
I tell people that God wants to see them live out their destiny and purpose. If they make a plan, work their program and don’t give up, they’ll realize their dreams.

AOTR: If you were not an author what career field would you be in?

McKnight: Ha, ha, ha! If I weren’t a training and policy specialist for a federal food assistance program I’d be a full-time author. Now, if I could do anything else other than write – I think I’d be marriage and family therapist.

AOTR: What do you pray your legacy will be?

McKnight: That I wrote great books that touched the heart of women.

AOTR: We wish you much success!

Rhonda's 10 favorite things

Day of the week: Friday and Thank God for it!

Holiday: Christmas for sure. Love bearing and sharing gifts with my family.

Food: Carrot Cake.

CD: Alone In His Presence by Cee Cee Winans

Town or city: Destin, Florida

Friend Why: Janice I. She always tells me the truth.

Quote: "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." Aristotle

Book: Passing By Samaria by Sharon Ewell Foster

Teacher Why: Donna Mitchell – 10th Grade Honors English. She taught me to think about literature, to synthesize story and to explore the motivation behind character actions. Those lessons help me in my writing today.

Hobby: Does being on Facebook count? I’d say playing with my newly natural hair.