Monday's Meet the Author: Dr. Debra Holland (Plus Enter to Win a Gift Card)

This Monday's guest is Dr. Debra Holland.  Debra is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. For twenty-five years, she’s counseled individuals, couples, and groups. She specializes in communication and relationship issues. We all need to talk to her!!  Besides helping people to live happily-ever-after, she also writes romances and we all know they end happily-ever-after.  

Debra is a three-time Golden Heart finalist and one time winner.  Like so many other writers, Debra decided to take the plunge this year and go Indie as the e-book revolution continues to bless writers with a place to market their books and become successful without an agent and (gasp!) a publisher.  And, Debra has become one successful writer.

In April, she published her Golden Heart winner, Wild Montana Sky, a sweet Western historical. She followed up with its sequel, Starry Montana Sky. Four months later, the books have sold 22,000 copies and continue to sell. An e-book is forever. She has also published her first two books in a fantasy romance trilogy, Sower of Dreams and Reaper of Dreams. Debra has a wonderful blog and she does share her sales figures on her blog which is a great help to those who are thinking about becoming an Indie. Debra's nonfiction book, The Essential Guide to Grief and Grieving, from Alpha Books (a subsidiary of Penguin) will be out in November. She has a free ebooklet available on her website, http://drdebraholland.com:  58 Tips for Getting What You Want From A Difficult Conversation. You can also buy her books and follow her on Twitter and Facebook from her webpage.

And, here's her answers to our probing questions:     

1.What movie best describes your life?

I really had to think about this because my life’s been pretty good. I’ll choose Chariots of Fire because I love the movie and it’s about striving for a huge goal and succeeding. I’ve accomplished several big goals in my life that aren’t ordinary--obtaining my Ph.D, becoming a black belt (I’m 2^nd, almost 3^rd degree) and writing a book (then 8 more.) Now my big goal is having a successful self-publishing career.  

2. What is the one thing you need to do but hate doing it?

Writing. I’m not good at forcing myself to sit down and actually write. I’d rather read, and do so far too often. At least she is honest. She also had a smiley face here but something happened to it??? Sorry, Debra

3. If you were about to be served your last meal, what would be on your plate?

Yum. Bad for me food. Mexican Food and chocolate glazed donuts for desert.  

 4. If you could be any fictional character (books, movies) who would you be?

I never thought of who I’d want to be. I have thought of which hero I’d want. 1. Adam Sinclair in The Adept, by Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris. 2. Roarke in the J.D. Robb series.

5. What is your favorite kind of chocolate? 

Lindt Dark Chocolate truffles. I also love chocolate covered pretzels.

6. If you knew you were going to be sent back to high school tomorrow, how would you react? 

It depends on if I could go back with my knowledge and personality intact. If I could, that would be great. If not… actually high school was mostly a good experience for me. I still wouldn’t want to return.

7. What do you love most about being a writer?

Receiving fan mail from people who love my books and can’t wait for the next one to come out.

The Giveaway!  You want to win a $10 iTunes giftcard?  Leave a comment and if you'd like, answer one of the above questions.  A winner will be randomly chosen on Wednesday!