9) Laughter is healing. It changes your perspective on what is going on in your life. Do you believe that this book will bring healing to people going through rough times?
Sally: That sure is my hope. It is my desire twofold that people going through this will know that they are not alone, that they have a sort of a safe place to let their feelings go. I tell the truth so people can have hope.
10) The lessons placed at the end of each chapter are awesome. What inspired you to place these in the book?
Sally: I had written a book called Monster Lies with a girlfriend. At the end of each chapter we had motivational lessons and it was received so well that I decided they had to be in this book, too.
Sally: Yes, I kept a spiral bound notebook. I was careful not to let anyone find it. Once I had to go back to my room and retrieve it so no one would discover it and read what was inside.
12) Once you decided to write this book, how did you go about it? Did you make an outline, or just write it all out, then go back and put it in the order you wanted?
Sally: I had taken notes so I just had to sift it out into chapter headings and stories. Then I compiled all the little bits together and bunched them together into chapters. Except for the flashbacks, it is a chronological story. In the end, I added what a really dark day would be like, then all the positive things God was doing in my life.
13) This is not your first book. Have you always loved to write?
Sally: No. As a kid I wrote poems. My first book, Monster Lies was written with a friend of mine. It was picked up by a small press publisher. The book is about making good choices. Just do something outrageous that you get to choose. Then I became involved with writers’ groups and conferences. At my first conference, the first 3 days I cried because I was convinced I was pathetic, then I won a prize. Before that happened I had always been afraid of writing. Then I became involved in adult writing classes. These finished taking away my fear of writing.
14) This book was published with BookSurge, a self-publishing company through Amazon. Were your other books self-published, or were they published through a commercial publisher? If they were, which way do you prefer to publish your books? Which way have you had more success?
Sally: Monster Lies was published by Beagle Bay Books out of Reno. The Baby Boomer Mini-Field Guides were published by Nightingale/Wimbledon out of London, England. The rest are self-published.
It is easier when a publisher takes on your book, but you end up doing the marketing either way. When you self-publish, your book is published immediately. With self-publishing, you get to choose the book cover, you get to choose any illustrations yourself. Commercial publishing can take up to 2 years and you don’t get to choose these things, they choose them for you. If you self-publish you get to keep all the money. That is a big bonus. I am thinking about starting my own publishing company soon.
15) Do you plan on writing more books? Are you working on one at this time?
Sally: Of course I plan on writing more books. There are several projects I am currently working on in my head. One of them is a children’s book based on the town I grew up in, a town in New Jersey. I am also working on a book with a friend.
16) You are great at making other people laugh. What fills your life with joy? What makes you laugh?
Comedians such as Jeff Foxworthy and Dennis Miller, books by Bill Bryson and Fannie Flagg, the Monty Python show, Steve Martin movies - these make me laugh.
Sally Franz, thank you so much for a truly awesome interview. If you would like to read Scrambled Leggs for yourself, I have provided an Amazon link below.
