Q&A with Sarah Price and a chance to win either a print book or ebook of Fields of Corn

An Amazon Top 100 Author
(December 2012, January 2013, February 2013, April 2013, May 2013)
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The Preiss family emigrated from Europe in 1705, settling in Pennsylvania as the area's first wave of Mennonite families. Sarah Price has always respected and honored her ancestors through exploration and research about her family history and their religion. At nineteen, she befriended an Amish family and lived on their farm throughout the years.

Twenty-five years later, she now splits her time between her husband and children in the NYC Metro area and a home that she shares with an Amish woman in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where she retreats to reflect and write. As a masterful storyteller, Sarah Price prides herself on presenting an authentic Amish experience for her readers. Many of her stories are based on actual people she has met and her own experiences living among the Amish over the years.

Visit the author's website and blog at sarahpriceauthor.com and befriend her on Facebook at http://facebook.com/fansofsarahprice.

Question and answers from Sarah Price!
1.When did you begin writing?
When I was eight, I began writing stories about gnomes in little blue journals. It was my first series and I still have those journals today. In fact, I used to read the stories to my children and I have them in my daughter’s book library. 

2. When did you first become interested in the Amish?
It was around the same time, when I was eight or nine, when my grandparents took me out to Lancaster. Since my family is Mennonite, I felt as though I was visiting long-lost relatives. Back then (yes, many decades ago), there were not a lot of tourists in Lancaster. It was well before Harrison Ford filmed The Witness and Beverly Lewis wrote her first Amish book. I fell in love with the Amish during that trip and studied them incessantly. Since this was before the Internet made access to information so easy, there were very few places where I could get books about these amazing people. 

3. What is it about the Amish that fascinates you?
That’s a great question! For many of my readers, they are drawn to the simple lifestyle of the Amish culture. For others, it’s the religion. For me, it’s a combination of both. Plus, given that I have now been visiting and staying with the Amish for over twenty-five years, I know them as people…real people with the same problems and concerns that non-Amish people have. They laugh, they love, they cry. Just like us. I suspect that many people have this image of the Amish as living idyllic lives…perfection and peace. In many ways they do…at least compared to the stress that we often face in the non-Amish world. However, they have their own stresses and worries, too. 

4 What was your first book that you wrote about the Amish?
That would be Fields of Corn. And I wrote that in 1988. Yes, 1988 which is almost ten years before Beverly Lewis’ first book! I remember that the People’s Place in Intercourse, PA refused to publish my manuscript and said it was unrealistic. That still makes me laugh because it was based on my own experiences spending a summer at an Amish farm. You can’t get anymore realistic than that! The scene, the characters, even the conversations were 100% true to life. Oh well. By the way, that “unrealistic” book made the Amazon Top 100 bestseller list multiple times. Life’s funny that way, I guess.

5 What inspires your writing?
People. I can sit on the porch of my house in Lancaster County and watch a buggy drive by with a young man holding the reins and two girls riding beside him, one smiling and one sad. Instantly, I see an entire movie in my mind, which becomes a book. When I met people or listen to conversations, I am inspired.

6 Speaking of inspiration, who inspires you from a literary perspective?
My all time favorite author was (drum roll) Laura Ingalls Wilder. To this day, I still re-read that series and get lost in her life story. I think my attraction to her is the rawness of America at that time. I find it simply amazing that they moved away from everything they knew to settle in the prairie. It reminds me of my Anabaptist ancestors that escaped persecution in Europe, sailing across the ocean to settle in Pennsylvania in 1705. From an Amish perspective, obviously Beverly Lewis because she was the first published Amish fiction writer. I also love Suzanne Woods Fisher’s books as well as Cindy Woodsmall. 

7 What’s next on your list?
This weekend, my short story, Gettysburg’s Chosen Sons (Helping Hands Press) is being released. That’s special to me because of the fact that I learned one of my Mennonite ancestors fought in Gettysburg. The gentleman on the cover is Gideon Nice, my great-great-great (maybe one more great) granduncle. So I based the story loosely on him.
Also, The Clothes Line, the fourth book in my Amish of Ephrata series, will be released over the next few days. This is the continuation of the story about Priscilla Smucker and how she is bullied by Susie Byler. This one touches on a few taboo subjects such as alcoholism among the Amish (yes, it DOES exist).
Finally, Plain Again…the third novel in my Plain Fame series. I fear if I don’t release that soon, my readers will come after me with pitchforks and torches! Seriously, I’m so excited that my readers have fallen in love with Amanda and Alejandro. It wasn’t easy to take an Amish woman and a Cuban superstar and successfully make it work. But I sure had fun writing it!
 Fields of Corn was the first Sarah Price book I read and I have been a fan of her 's since and here is my review of Field of Corn. This review is one of the first that I wrote so it is short but I think it covers what I think of the book!
I finished reading the book "Fields Of Corn" by Sarah Price and all I can say is I am amazed. This is a wonderful book. It has all the basics of life covered. I hope the rest of the series is as good as this one and if it is I will have a new favorite author . Oh did I say I really liked this book.

Sarah has agreed to answer questions from you the readers.
The chance to win will be from now until Tuesday the 18th at 9:00 Am eastern standard time.

The winner will be chosen by random.org and please leave your email so if you are the winner I can contact  you if I don't have your email I will pick another winner, so if you want to win make sure I have your email to contact you!

Let the fun began!