Thank you for joining me for the third installment of Authoring Arrowheads’s 2020 Author Interview series. For March, I’ll be interviewing Christian historical fiction author, Vickie Valladares.

On the last Wednesday of each month in 2020, I will be hosting an author for an interview! These authors will range from indie friends I’ve made online to authors in my local area. Be sure to subscribe to never miss an interview!

Meet Vickie Valladares!

Vickie Valladares was born in New Orleans, La. God made Himself known early in Vickie’s life. Vickie’s mother and father suffered through several miscarriages before giving birth to Vickie. Her mother held very little hope for her pregnancy but got a word from God that her child would be a healthy baby girl and that her name would be Victoria. Vickie was born 4 months premature, weighing in at 1 pound. The doctors had very little hope to her survival but her mother remembered God’s promise.

Frustrated from her mother’s denial the doctor took a pencil and told Vickie’s mother, “If she lives, she’ll be a vegetable. She won’t be able to hold a pencil.”

6 months later Vickie was able to go home and has since lived a normal healthy life.
Her mother raised Vickie with stories of the miracle that God performed in her life. Her mother encouraged her to live for God since it was God that saved her life. Vickie was born with a passion for writing and began a discovery to her purpose in ministry when she began attending a Pentecostal church in Mississippi.

At eighteen she began writing her first book, her mother constantly encouraging her to finish what she started. Vickie lost her mother when she was 20 years old. The pain of losing her mother left her broken and confused but Vickie remembered her mother’s words and finished the story that she had started when she was eighteen.
Vickie is now married and living in Texas.

Interview with Vickie Valladares, author of The Call to the Broken

Q1: When did you first realize you love writing?

I was 7 years old. I decided to write songs for my uncle who was the worship leader at my church. It was my dream to be involved in his ministry since I couldn’t sing, I thought writing songs would be the next best thing. As I wrote cheesy love songs to God my mother, seeing this new interest in my life, decided to feed it. She taught me that song lyrics read without music was called poetry. And in order to get better at writing lyrics, I needed to read as much poetry as I could. She handed me a book of sonnets by Shakespeare. I remember reading the words as if they were in a different language. My mother helped me to understand certain words and phrases, the more my mother read Shakespeare out loud the more I fell in love with it. By the time I was ten I had memorized lines by Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, and Emily Dickinson.For years I carried around a red folder filled with notebook paper and there I would spend hours writing poetry. I never would have imagined that poetry would be the road to lead me into Christian fiction writing.

Q2: What inspired you to write The Call to the Broken?

There was a point in my history college class where we briefly talked about an awakening that happened with Christian faith during the early 20th century. The styles of preaching, praise, and worship were becoming more fervent, more emotional, and charismatic. I had some knowledge of the Azusa Street revival only because of my own religion. I became Pentecostal at the age of 15 and have heard some refer to Pentecostalism an “old time” religion because of our views on holiness and modesty. Many would say that if you were to trace the roots of the Pentecostal church it would lead you to the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles California. Where signs of tongues and fire we’re witnessed first hand. I wondered why it was not mentioned in this class.So, I opened a fresh page in my notebook and I started to write. After 10 years of research (and procrastination) I completed my manuscript.

Q3:  What writing project(s) are you currently working on?

 Currently working on book 2 of The Call Series and also working on a fictional story loosely based on my life.

Q4: Which authors (inside or outside your genre) have inspired your writing?

Francine Rivers, Stephen King, Ted Dekker, and Nora Roberts

Q5: What are your go-to writing snacks?

 Sunflower seeds, a cold Coke, and M&Ms

Q6: What is your favorite part about indie (self) publishing? What is your least favorite part?

I love that with indie publishing my work is mine. There aren’t a lot of other people involved trying to change or rewrite my work. My least favorite, is also having to do majority of the work yourself.

Q7: What advice would you like to share with first-time writers?

Don’t stop! I say I am a terrible writer because it will take me years to finish a manuscript. There have been so many times that I have gotten so frustrated with myself because of my lack of control or life just being the way that it is, that I cannot devote hours upon hours a day to writing. This has made me want to quit writing all together. But no matter how long it’s taken, I’ve managed to publish two books. It’s not a lot, but it is an accomplishment. Even when you’re frustrated, even when all you want to do is rip up your manuscript and set it on fire (I’ve been there) don’t stop. Don’t stop researching. Don’t stop writing. Don’t snuff out that urge to write even when it comes at inconvenient times. Someone needs to read the story that’s inside of you, even if it’s only one person, that person needs your story. So don’t stop. Don’t give up!

Thank you for stopping by, Vickie!

Connect with Author Vickie Valladares at:

• Facebook
• Goodreads
• Amazon

Check out her newest release,
The Call to the Broken!

Emalia Brookes is nine years old when she witnesses the events at the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles California in the year 1906. It was a madhouse of spiritual proportions. It was here that she received a calling from God. A calling to become a missionary. Little does Emalia know that this would change the dynamic of her life forever.

She is dragged away from the service by her mother and is forbidden from ever attending another Christian service.

Now, 7 years later, she is torn between her mother who demands obedience and her God who calls her to a higher purpose.

Emalia must make impossible decisions. What will it mean when she chooses the whisper of God over the demands of her family? Is the power she witnessed at Azusa still at work in the world? Will her faith that God will protect her be enough? Or is she throwing away everything on a dream that will never come true?

Set in early 20th century, this book will take you on an adventure of the miraculous and divine. With first hand accounts of the Azusa Street Revival told within a fictional tale that is packed with adventure, romance, and miracles. This 1st installment of The Call series will leave you begging for more!

View the Book on Amazon!

Talk to Me, Arrowheads!

Have you read The Call to the Broken? I loved Vickie’s debut novel, Love, Life, and Fairytale when I read it a few years ago. Check out my review for it here!

Aim high, stay strong, and always hit your mark.

-Allyson 😀