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Author Interview,  Giveaway,  Hope-filled Fiction

Author Interview with Kit Tosello & a Giveaway

September 11, 2024 / 53 Comments

I’m thrilled to introduce you to debut author Kit Tosello and give you an inside look at her upcoming Women’s Fiction release,Ā The Color of Home. Be sure to comment below by September 17 for a chance to win a copy! (US winner can choose a paperback or ebook; International winner will receive an ebook)

Welcome, Kit! Start off by telling us a little about yourself and your family.

I grew up in the redwoods on the central coast of California. Twenty years ago, my husband, Garth, and I moved our family of five to an adorable little Oregon town on the sunny side of the Cascade Mountains. Iā€™m a kitchen designer turned writer and editor and a small business owner.

For the past nine years, weā€™ve operated a loose-tea shop in our quaint, Western-themed tourist town. In previous life chapters, we operated a video store, natural foods store, and coffee house. I love drinking our artisan teas and reading books, preferably together! Also hiking, exploring, and capturing images of nature with my camera. Our three grown children and two grandchildren top my list of greatest joys!

Youā€™ve had so many wonderful experiences. I love it. Who was your favorite book character as a child and why?

Iā€™m definitely a silver-lining, everything-is-somehow-going-to-be-okay kind of girl, which has, for the most part, served me well. So I adore Pollyanna. But Iā€™d also like to give a shout-out to another kindred spirit, Amelia Bedelia!

My daughter loved Amelia Bedelia books. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

At various times I dreamed of being a teacher, a flight attendant, and a cruise director. At some point being a novelist became a next-level dream, a dream I thought too audacious to even fully acknowledge to myself, let alone confide in anyone.

And look at you now! How and when did you start writing?

At heart Iā€™ve always been a writer. But I didnā€™t get serious about it until my mid-forties! My life was full of raising kids, our businesses, and often working outside the home as a kitchen designerā€”until the economic downturn. When I lost my job, my youngest daughter excitedly said, ā€œNow youā€™ll have time to write your book!ā€

I began with nonfiction: inspirational blogging, writing features for the local paper, contributing articles and devotions to various publications. Then, four years ago, a cancer scare woke me up to the fact that more than anything I wanted to finish my novel. While my doctors were ruling out cancer (which they did, praise God), I was finally becoming a novelist!

Iā€™m praising God with you that you didnā€™t have cancer and that your publishing dream has come true! IsĀ The Color of HomeĀ inspired by true events or personal history?

My main character, Audrey, is a Bay Area interior designer. Inspiration for her came partly from my years as a kitchen designer in California. At one time I struggled with panic attacks, so the younger me would very much relate to Audrey and the pressure to perform that plagues her as the story opens.

Audrey and I also share the tragedy of having lost our fathers while we were teenagers. My father died of lung cancer. So I wanted to explore the potential for transformation when a young woman comes to recognize her need to shed some of the emotional coping mechanisms she developed as a young person in crisis.

Audreyā€™s go-to coping method is to rigidly guard her heart, and to seek a sense of control over her life. But these things no longer serve her if she wants to live freely and wholeheartedly.

Also, every day on my walk I pass an old, abandoned farmhouse, formerly a bed-and-breakfast. This sparked my imagination to invent a redemptive outcome for it, and so was born the Sugar Pine Inn in The Color of Home. Another real-life inspiration was my own move from California to a friendly small town in Oregon twenty years ago, which gave rise to the fictional setting of Charity Falls.

I appreciate your transparency so much. I’m reading your book now, and the depth of what you just described comes through powerfully. What do you hope your readers take away fromĀ The Color of Home?

First, I hope theyā€™ll come away with a smile, feeling refreshed and hopeful. But Iā€™d love to think the story spurs readers to ponder the deeper meaning of home, as it has for me! Jesus whispers, ā€œMake your home in me just as I do in you.ā€ I think itā€™s worthwhile to ask ourselves now and then, Am I making my home in the right things? To allow our deepest longings as well as our deepest disappointments to usher us into a deeper experience of his presence.

Thatā€™s beautiful, Kit. Isn’t it cool how God can use a fictional story to impact our own? How did you select the names for your characters?

The moment Audrey came clear in my mind, her name came with her. On the other hand, thereā€™s a story behind her great-aunt Daisyā€™s name. Her character is loosely inspired by my aunt, a woman who championed my writing and inspired my love of books as a child. Her name was Marguerite. A marguerite is a type of daisyā€”isnā€™t that lovely? So her name pays homage to my own dear aunt.

Aww, thatā€™s so sweet. If you wrote in a different genre than your current one, which would you choose and why?

Iā€™m happy writing contemporary, but I also love historical fiction. So I sometimes entertain ideas for a dual-time novel, something that would draw on all the intriguing things Iā€™ve learned about my own family history and carry them into the contemporary realm.

The thought of attempting a dual-time novel both excites and terrifies me. LOL. How long, on average, does it take you to write a book?

First I have to let the characters live in my head for a bit. Then I try to get the story down without going back and doing much self-editing. But I constantly fail at this because I especially love revising. So by the time I finish, itā€™s a fairly polished draft. Then I set it aside for a few weeks before coming back with fresh eyes and tweaking it some more. Six months is a good block of time for the whole process.

Six months sounds so short to me. Iā€™ve worked on the two books Iā€™ve written for several years. Haha! What does a typical day in your writing life look like?

I write as early in the day as possible, with a matcha latte at hand. If possible, Iā€™ll write again or do other writing-related things after my mid-day power nap. But my duties at Suttle Tea and as a freelance book editor often demand I switch hats throughout the day.

Still, I have trouble shutting off the fiction part of my brain. So while Iā€™m out and about, I jot down random scenes or snippets of dialogue as they come to me. So, yeah . . . I may look normal and responsible on the outside, but thereā€™s usually a world of interesting things going on in my head!

I can totally relate! And now, youā€™ve got lots of promotion and marketing on top of everything else. I hope this interview will reach far and wide and you will gain some readers. Thanks so much for sharing on my blog. Congratulations again on your debut novel release coming up on September 24!

Comment on @KitTosello’s author interview by 9/17 for a chance to win her debut novel, #TheColorofHome. #giveaway

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Join the conversation. Does Kit’s novel sound like a story you’d like to read? What aspects of the interview resonate with you most? What questions or comments do you have for Kit?

Be sure to comment below by September 17 for a chance to win Kit’s book. US winner can choose paperback or ebook; International winner will receive an ebook.

Also, enter the Goodreads giveaway here for another chance to win Kit’s book!

The Color of Home book cover

The Color of Home by Kit Tosello

Click the book cover for preorder link

Audrey Needham, Bay Area interior designer to the rich and pretentious, is down to her last nerve. Her boss is impossible to please, her future is in jeopardy, and her great-aunt Daisy needs support as her husband descends into Alzheimer’s.

When Daisy enlists Audrey’s help preparing for a move to assisted living, Audrey risks her career to return to the idyllic small town of Charity Falls, Oregon, the summer stomping grounds of her childhood. But Charity Falls was also the place that broke her heart when her father was killed in a tragic fire at the Sugar Pine Inn thirteen years ago.

Despite Audrey’s intent to avoid emotional entanglement, the pull of home is hard to resist. Something should be done about the deteriorating inn. A local girl with an incarcerated father needs a friend. And handsome local do-gooder Cade Carter is coloring Audrey all shades of uncertain.

Join award-winning writer and debut novelist Kit Tosello in this lyrical and often humorous exploration of how God redeems brokenness and draws us to the life we’re meant to find.

Kit ToselloĀ is an award-winning writer of small-town, big-hearted contemporary womenā€™s fiction and devotionals. Her debut novel,Ā The Color of Home, releases September 24, 2024.

Youā€™ll often find Kit sipping matcha in the loose-tea shop she operates with her husband in Central Oregon, exploring the great PNW, or reading to her grandkids.

Connect with Kit: Website / Newsletter / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest / Goodreads / BookBub

Please share Kit’s interview on social media to help spread the word about her debut novel!

If you missed my 2024 September new releases post last week, find it here.

As a Jesus girl for more than thirty years, Deena Adams understands how important hope is to daily life, which fuels her passion to inspire others through hope-filled fiction based on true to life stories. She is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency and is a multi-award-winning writer, an active ACFW member, and ACFW Virginia president. Connect with Deena through her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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