Into the Fire

Interviewer: Having a little fun today in our interview with Nicole Petrino-Salter. Let's talk about writing novels, shall we?

Nicole: Good idea. What would you like to discuss?

Interviewer: Most authors have a starting point in their writing endeavors, a place in time that they can pinpoint as to when it all began. Do you? 

Nicole: I could say I've written most of my life. As a youngster, I wrote stories, letters. Same in school all the way through my one year at the U of W. Then I went into a free verse mode of poetry for a while, had an old crinkled leather 3-ring zip-up binder filled with poems. However, I kind of went on a writing hiatus when I started working at the racetrack (in Thoroughbred racing). Seven days a week, devoting all my time to learning the horses and industry didn't facilitate a lot of writing endeavors other than a few poems. Skip ahead several years and many life changes – the most critical of which was becoming a Christian – and I wrote a few things.

Then when my pastor told me I didn't use my gift, I was shocked. "What gift?" I asked in all sincerity. "Your writing," he replied. I left, went home, and immediately told the Lord I'd use my gift, but He was going to have to tell me what to write because I had no idea what He wanted. Truthfully, it was like he stood in front of me and said very clearly, "I want you to write a Christian novel about horse racing." That's when it all "officially" began. 

Interviewer: That's a fairly decisive start. How long did it take you to write that first novel? 

Nicole: That first novel (Hope of Glory) became a saga that took 8 and 1/2 years to finish between 7 days a week at the track, homeschooling part of those years, and a bit of lay ministry at church. When I wondered if I'd ever complete what he'd asked me to do, he encouraged me with these words, also just as if he stood before me: "If you pick up the pen, I'll give you the words." He still encourages me with those words as a reminder when I'm feeling a little stuck. It was all written in longhand, no computer, and came out to be 700+ pages, 400,000k+ words. The production was a start-up vanity publisher and it was an amateur result, but the story was a comprehensive look at horse racing in the 80s. Of course it would be considerably shorter if done today! 

Interviewer: So how many novels have you written since that first one?

Nicole: Eleven, working on #12 currently. Nine are published in some form – either in print (soft covers) and for ebooks, some just available for ebooks, one just available in print only. My sole mystery (Race) is the only one also available in an Audio Book (the voice of Joseph Courtemanche). 

Interviewer: I assume they're all of, shall we say, a more normal length? 

Nicole: (smiling) Definitely, although they aren't of the 80K variety. I think the shortest one is 90K+. I prefer longer novels, so that's what I tend to write. 

Interviewer: Shall we continue this another time?

Nicole: That might be fun. I'm game if you are. 

Father, thank you for words, stories, novels. You have always supplied what I needed, and I can never thank you enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.