Interview with Pepper D. Basham #7

About the Author

Pepper Basham is an award-winning author who writes historical and contemporary romance novels with grace, humor, and culture clashes. She’s a Blue Ridge Mountain native and an anglophile who enjoys combining her two loves to create memorable stories of hope. Pepper is also a mom of five, a speech-language pathologist, and a lover of Jesus and chocolate. She resides in Asheville, North Carolina with her family.

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The Interview

1. What top 5 books do you currently have on your TBR pile?
It’s been VERY tough to read since the beginning of the school year starting in August, so I have the SAME books on my TBR pile that I’ve had for a few months. A Name Unknown by Roseanna White, Impossible Saints by Clarissa Harwood, The Lacemaker by Laura Frantz, The Last Castle by Denise Keirnan, and The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller.
 
2. If you could travel anywhere in the world for book research (expense covered for you by an anonymous donor), where would you go and why?
Always the UK! I have this fascination and heart-love for that part of the world, AND since I love placing my books there, I’d love to stay for a while and really absorb the culture.
 
3. What inspired the idea for When You Look at Me?
I wondered what it would take, what sort of love, to help a broken woman heal. And as I brainstormed the possibilities, the whole idea of including two introverts who connect and communicate through music came to mind. Hopefully that will come across. 😊
 
4. What did you as an author take away from writing When you look at Me?
I love this question! It seems that God always has me writing books at just the time I need to learn something myself. This book is about being brave and stepping out into your dreams. There are some transitions going on in our family right now, and in my writing world, so it’s been a reminder that God dreams bigger for us than we can dream on our own – that His love is MASSIVE and POURED out on us – so we can trust His plan for our lives. His dreams for us.
 
5. What did your writing process for When You Look at Me look like?
Frantic? 😊 I write out of order so my process is kind of wonky. I had a few scenes in the middle written before I even had chapter two – and…it’s really important (as weird as it sounds) for me to write the kissing scene pretty early on in the process to know that ‘connection’ between them.
 
6. What is your current WIP?  What can you tell us about it?
I’m diving into a wonderful novella that takes place in 1913 Asheville, NC, particularly the Biltmore Estate. It’s an upstairs-downstairs romance with a little Cinderella-touch. ​