
Welcome to 2025! This month, I am spotlighting Tina Susedik who is not only a fellow author but a very dear friend to me. We have shared quite a few adventures and usually manage to get together with another author friend every fall for what we like to call a “writer’s retreat”.
I started off with what Tina referred to as some tough questions…
Other than writing, what are some of your other hobbies and interests?
I love to camp, hike, bike, garden, read, do some crafts, do jigsaw puzzles (with the help of my cat, Nikki.) It depends on the season of the year. I live in Northwestern Wisconsin, so in the summer and fall, I spend most of my time outdoors – even when I write.
If you could spend the day with anyone—living or in spirit—who would you spend it with and what would you talk about?
It would be more than one. I’d love to sit down with all of my grandparents to learn more about their lives before they came to America after WWI.
I’d also love to spend time with my writer friends. Of course, we’d talk about writing.
Of all the events in your life, which one made the greatest impact and why?
Years ago, I had a car accident that ended my teaching career but kick-started my writing. To see what I was capable of physically doing, I was sent to a rehabilitation center for a bunch of testing. One of the tests was to write a description of this beach scene. I guess I did what I didn’t realize I was good at – I wrote a story. After, I was standing on one side of the room watching the two testers looking at my paper then at me, then back to the paper. I thought I had done something wrong. They finally came over to me and said: “You should be a writer. No one has ever written a story about this scene before.” They set me up with a special chair, keyboard, etc. and had me start a desk-top publishing business. But it went farther than that. I now have forty-seven books in print including children’s books, history and military books, and of course, my romantic mysteries. If I hadn’t had the accident, I probably would have taught much longer and not written anything. It was God’s way of telling me what my next step in life was going to be.
Most authors are readers as well. Do you write the same genre of books that you like to read, or do you write about what is most popular in the market?
I generally write what I like to read, although there are some paranormal authors I enjoy, but I don’t write them. Anything I read though, must have mystery/suspense in them. Everything I write has mysteries in them.

What gives you inspiration and ideas for your books?
Things around me. Things people say. Sometimes things on TV. I got one idea from a billboard, another from a sign on a balcony in South Dakota which became the first book in my Darlings of Deadwood series, “The Balcony Girl.”
Do you like to set your books in fictional places, or do you prefer setting them in actual places? Why?
I do a mix. With fictional places, you don’t have to worry so much about having a setting accurate. But, with my historicals, I make sure everything is accurate – which plays into what a lot of authors, and me, love – research!!
What kinds of scenes are the easiest for you to write? What about the most difficult?
Wow, that’s a hard one. I know the most difficult are when I have to get a character out of a situation they got themselves into. I’m a panster, which means I don’t plot out my stories. I let my characters tell me what to do. I know it sounds strange, but it’s true. One time one of my characters got abducted. I sat in my chair and thought, “Now what do I do? How do I get her out of this situation.” My female characters are strong women who get themselves out of situations. As for the easiest. When I have a particular scene I need to write, the words seem to flow.
If I met you in an elevator and you discovered I was an avid reader, give me your elevator speech:
“I love to read, too. What is your favorite genre?” If they tell me and I write in that genre, “I’m an author and that’s exactly what I write. Who are some of your favorite authors? I’m always looking for new ones to read.” This is the time when I give them my card or tell them about an upcoming event they may be interested in. If they read a genre I don’t write, and I know an author who does, I’ll share their name.

More about Tina…
Tina Susedik is a multi-award-winning, multi-published, Amazon best-selling author who has been researching and writing books since 1997. She is published in non-fiction with military and local history books. She has also published children’s books and romantic mysteries. She loves to add humor to her books, putting her characters in interesting situations, and finding humorous ways to get them out of them. With forty-plus books and short stories under her belt, she loves to use her knowledge of the writing craft to help other authors as an editor.
She lives in northwestern Wisconsin with her husband of fifty-one years and adores her five grandchildren. In the spare time she has, Tina loves to camp, hike, bike, garden, scrapbook, do jigsaw puzzles, and, of course, read, read, read.
Where to find Tina:
Facebook: Tina Susedik, Author
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/Tina Susedik
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