1--What is the title of your latest release?
SOMETIMES YOU STAY
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
When digital content creator and professional traveler Cretia Martin accidentally loses the tools of her trade on Prince Edward Island, she’s forced to stay put until she can replace them. But the longer she stays, the more she discovers that her life on the road can’t provide true friendship—and love.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I was so excited to return to the Red Door Inn on PEI’s fabled north shore. North Rustico is one of my favorite places in the world, and I loved getting to write another book set there and visit some old (fictional) friends.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Definitely! Cretia has a wealth of stories from her trips around the world, and I’d love to hear those and compare hilarious travel stories.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Nomadic. Adventurous. Hopeful.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I would personally make a very terrible travel content creator, especially one who can pack everything she owns into a carry-on. I’m a notorious over-packer, and I bring more clothes on a weekend writing retreat than Cretia does to travel the world!
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I generally edit while I’m writing so that my “first draft” is pretty clean. Then, of course, I go back and edit it many more times.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I’m not much of a high-class foodie, but I do love a plate of BBQ pork nachos and a fruity slice of cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
My writing space is wherever I happen to be when I have time to write. I write at restaurants, coffee shops, libraries, and my living room couch. I love writing in restaurants—maybe because a kind server keeps refilling my diet Coke. Or because when I get stuck, I can people watch a little bit. But I’ve learned over the years to write wherever I am. I don’t have to be in a specific location or with total silence. I can and do write in all sorts of environments.
10--Who is an author you admire?
So many of them! I’m endlessly inspired by my fellow authors and honored to be part of a great writing community in Phoenix with Sara Ella, Lindsay Harrel, Jennifer Deibel, Ruth Douthitt, and more. I think the authors who inspire me the most are the ones I know personally—the ones I know about their personal struggles yet see them press in. This includes the authors who have yet to publish books but keep querying agents and keep telling stories. These are the ones who have experienced enormous loss and continue to write inspiring stories. These are the writers who decide to take a break after personal tragedy to care for themselves. I admire these women and often go to them for advice and encouragement as I balance my day job, personal life, and writing career.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Many! But it was the books of Gilbert Morris—specifically his House of Winslow series—that inspired me to write. I devoured his books in junior high, and those books made me want to tell my own stories.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
The call for my first novel, The Kidnapping of Kenzie Thorn, was definitely my most dramatic. I had been rejected by a publisher four times—for the same book. And with each rejection, they gave suggestions for improving my manuscript. Ten months we went and back forth. October to July. By the time we hit the heat of summer, I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to happen for me. There was no saving this manuscript, and I was going to have to start over and pitch an entirely new one.
I was on a work trip in Orlando in the bowels of the convention center—where I had almost no cell service. Then suddenly a voicemail showed up on my phone. From a 212 area code. New York. I barely had time to listen to it between appointments. It was the editor I had been working with. She wanted me to call her back. Only I couldn’t get a signal where I was at.
As the day finally came to a close, I trudged out of the basement and looked again at my phone—certain the editor was calling to tell me this was the end. There was nothing to be done to salvage my story.
Except it wasn’t. When I got her on the phone, she said the words I’d been dreaming of since I’d started writing the book two years before. “We want to publish your book!”
It was a long road and took a lot of perseverance, but that contract led to another and another and eventually more than twenty novels with my name on the cover. I’m so thankful I didn’t give up—even when it was hard.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
I’m a big fan of Regency romances like Julie Klassen’s books and also Old West romances like Karen Witemeyer’s.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Beauty and the Beast—the animated version.
15--What is your favorite season?
Fall. Especially in Arizona. It’s the first sign of cooler temps and the chance to be back outdoors.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
For years I was on book deadlines. My books were almost always due August 1st, and my birthday is the end of July. So, I would spend my birthdays writing—and refusing to see any of my friends and family. But then I asked for a change in my deadlines. I spent my last birthday in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada, watching the musical Come from Away in the town where it takes place. It was a magical experience!
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I’m terribly far behind on just about everything, and my list of books, movies, and “TV shows to watch” out of control. I loved the first season of Night Agent last year, and I’m so eager to watch the second, which just released.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Mexican food.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
I think the answer to that is writing. But I also love going to the movies and playing board games with my family.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
That’s a great question, and one I don’t even know the answer to! I’m working on a few projects right now, but I don’t have anything finalized yet. I’m hoping to release another Fourteeners Football Rom Com (a follow up to Sidelined by Love) in the fall of 2025. But I still have to write that.
A Red Door Inn Romance
He was never going to leave the island, and she wasn't going to stay. But she would always wonder if she walked away . . .
For digital content creator Cretia Martin, home is wherever her carry-on suitcase lands. And it's constantly landing in new places as she travels the world. She's never been interested in settling in one spot—after all, houses are just places that collect junk and tie you down. But when she literally bumps into local dog breeder Finn Chaffey on Prince Edward Island and all the tools of her trade end up in the harbor, she can't exactly leave until she gets things sorted out.
Finn is horrified by the part he played in the accident and offers to help, arranging for Cretia to stay with a friend at the beautiful Red Door Inn. The longer Cretia is forced to remain in one place, the more she discovers what she's been missing with life on the road—and the more she wants to see Finn and his business succeed. But helping him means staying put, the one thing she always swore she wouldn't do, and risking the only thing she's never put on the line—her heart.
Christian | Romance Contemporary [Baker Publishing Group, On Sale: May 20, 2025, Paperback / e-Book , ISBN: 9780800747121 / eISBN: 9781493450633]
By day Liz Johnson is a marketing manager. She makes time to write late at night--that’s when she thinks best anyway. Liz is the author of more than a dozen novels, a New York Times bestselling novella, and a handful of short stories. She’s a Christy Award finalist and a two-time ACFW Carol Award finalist. She makes her home in Phoenix, Arizona, where she enjoys exploring local music, theater, and doting on her nieces and nephews. She writes stories of true love filled with heart, humor, and happily ever afters.
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