Kara Isaac’s contemporary inspirational romances are rom-com adventures designed to appeal to a wide audience of readers – even those who don’t share the same faith walk.

Hi there, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Wellington author Kara talks about combining writing laugh out loud funny love stories with her other life as pastor’s wife, mother of three  and public servant.

Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode

Why Google Street View is a writer's best friend

The part Bridget Jones Diary played in getting her started

How a "Wellington Mum" got published by one the Big Five 

How long she was writing before she got published

The two authors she is binge reading right now

And the mind attitude that's the secret to her success

Where to find Kara Isaac:

Website: www.karaisaac.com

Facebook and Twitter https://www.facebook.com/KaraIsaacAuthor/ and @karaisaac

What follows is a "near as" but not word for word transcript of our conversation, with links to important points.

Jenny: And now, here's Kara.  Hello there Kara, and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us.

Kara: Thanks so much for having me

Jenny: Beginning at the beginning . . . .Was there a "Once Upon A Time" moment when you realised you had to write fiction or your life would somehow be incomplete? Was there a catalyst?

Kara: I've been an avid reader for as long as I can remember so I've always loved books my whole life. I'd never really thought about being a writer until I was in my twenties and I was having a coffee with a friend. I was complaining to her about how I wanted to read more Christian fiction but I just couldn't find anything that I personally related to.

There was a lot of fiction - historical set romances and at that time 'Chick Lit' was coming on to the market following Bridget Jones' Diary and a lot of books were coming out that featured a 'thirty something year old heroine' desperate to get married and settled down   - and that wasn't my cup of tea either.

She looked at me and said "If you can't find anything you like, why don't you just write something that you would".

I laughed it off, but then six months later I was on holiday and had some time on my hands. I thought I'd open a Word document and have a crack and see what happens, and I never really expected that I'd fall in love with writing and creating characters and stories, but I did. That was the beginning of 2006, so I haven't really looked back since then.

Jenny: That's fantastic. That's now more than 10 years ago which is quite a reasonable apprenticeship isn't it?

Kara: Yes, it's certainly felt like it that's for sure!

Jenny: You’ve so far published three books in the contemporary inspirational romance genre as “stand alone” novels – not strictly speaking a series, but cleverly linked in the way they are set up – They all feature “international couples” – one either Kiwi or Australian and the other American  and the conflicts those boundaries create – and the first two have common characters . . .. Firstly what made you choose that genre? And secondly that “set up?”

Kara: There's a couple of things in there - I guess the thing that particularly draws me to inspirational romantic comedies is I love books and stories that make me laugh, and I guess the inspirational component is I like stories that explore questions of faith and life and why people make the choices that they do, and how that affects them.

That was the right marriage for me as a writer; maybe one day I'll branch out somewhere different.

It wasn't a clever marketing thing when I started writing Close ...