I joined the Keep The Faith blog tour and I cannot believe I forgot to publish this post. Don't you think extending the time to express our love for Nico and Faith is always a good idea? (excuses, excuses!)

I opted for an author interview and the awesome Ana Tejano answered some questions for us:

What was your inspiration in writing Keep the Faith ?

The first time I wrote Faith’s story in 2010 for National Novel Writing Month, I had this thing about translating Bible characters into chick lit, so originally, she was my Job. Later, when I visited it again, the main inspiration was my last heartbreak. Hehe. I knew from the start that Faith was going to be that character who will be going through this.

In Keep the Faith, religion kind of plays a pivotal role in the plot. Do you intend to inject about faith in your future novels?

Yes. I grew up with a lot of Christian contemporary romance/chick lit and later I started looking for something in the local setting, and something Catholic. I’ve read a few (like…4 haha) but they are more paranormal/fantasy and I really wanted something that was romance. So I thought, if no one’s going to write this, then I will. It’s not so much about a religious conversion, but more of just writing about people whose decisions are also influenced by their faith.

All of your books, though descriptive of abs and physique, are pretty wholesome. Was this intentional? Do you see yourself writing something with higher heat levels?

It’s intentional because I don’t think I can write something with higher heat levels? I don’t know, haha. I remember trying to write something before then just meh, it was terrible so I trashed it. I admit the faith aspect plays into this, too, because I want to figure out how that would play into these kinds of things. Mina shared this really great article in the #romanceclass group about this and I think this is the direction I’m heading for. I’m not totally closing the door…to Level 1. Haha.

By writing romance, I imagine that you have also read a lot of it. Who are your favorite authors?

Lately I’m loving Tessa Dare, but I know I should read more of her books! I love Sarah Dessen of YA romance, and Emery Lord, too. Kristan Higgins is my go-to contemporary romance author as well. Locally, of course I love Mina V. Esguerra because I started reading Filipino romance in English with her books! I also really enjoy reading books by Chris Mariano, Tara Frejas, Carla de Guzman, and Jay E. Tria. :)

If you could have been the original author of any book, what would it have been and why?

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen. My favorite of all Dessen books, and one of my most re-read ones. It’s just…perfect for me? I liked the characters, the conflict, and how everything fell into place later on. And maybe because I have a crush on Wes, haha. I’ve yet to see if I still like it after another reread, but yeah, I wish I wrote this.

What does literary success look like to you?

Being read, and your book speaking to someone in a personal way. Being awarded something with a name is awesome, but a reader choosing your book to read even for a short time is success for me, because out of the many books out there, yours was chosen. And there’s nothing like getting feedback from a reader telling you that they could see themselves in your characters.
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