Well, she began writing 20 years ago,

and now, Denise Hunter is the author of more than 20 romance

novels.

Her prolific career began one afternoon during nap time.

Take a look.

Denise Hunter put her desire to write books on the back burner

while she took care of her young family.

In 1996, she started writing when her kids took their naps.

Two years later, her first novel was published,

and she's been writing ever since.

Denise delights readers by sharing her faith in every love

story, one of those "the Convenient Groom,"

has been made into a movie for the Hallmark Channel.

I am engaged!

Please welcome to The 700 Club for the very first time, Denise

Hunter.

Denise, it's a pleasure to meet you.

Thank you so much for having me.

I love Hallmark movies, so I was excited that one of yours

is being made into that.

When is-- and this is called "The Convenient Groom."

Is this your latest romance novel?

No, it's not.

I wrote that several years ago, but it's set in Nantucket.

And I was just so excited when Hallmark picked it up

for one of their movies.

And is it in production right now, or are they done?

They're finished with it.

It aired in June as part of Hallmark's June Weddings

series.

Oh, I missed it.

I can't believe I missed it.

I'm addicted to those movies.

Me, too.

I mean, they're fantastic.

And they have happy endings, you know?

They are.

And they're wholesome, and they're clean,

and you don't have to worry about your children

watching with you.

So you've written 20 romance novels.

Are you in love with love?

I am in love with love.

I'm just intrigued by everything about a love relationship,

what draws people together, and what keeps them apart.

And particularly, I'm interested in the issues

that we might have from childhood

that keep us from developing healthy love relationships.

So I like to explore those in my novels.

And you say that you weave your Christian faith

into every romance, every story that you do.

How do you do that?

Well, it's just part of my life.

Oftentimes, I will weave in the things that I'm dealing with.

A lot of times, I've noticed that fear

is a common thread in my books, and I

think that's partly because, every day when I sit down

to write, there's a certain amount of fear.

It's a creative process.

So it's not like it's something that you just go in,

and you mindlessly do every day.

And I have to depend on God to give me the words to say

and the ideas.

And it's a constant trusting in Him.

So the fear is that you'll sit down,

and there will just be a blank screen there or a blank piece

of paper.

Yes.

I have a deadline every six months, so I stay on track.

I'm very disciplined about my work.

I don't wait until I'm inspired.

I sit down, and I do it every day.

And so I know I have to stay on track

if I want to keep a career, so I have

to depend on God every day to just put the words on the page

and give me the right ideas.

So your publisher, Thomas Nelson,

they want a book every six months?

They do.

And, you know, my publishers have

been super with me about working with my schedule,

because I was a stay at home mom.

Still am.

I have a senior in high school, but they've

been really great about allowing me to write in my own pace.

But right now, my children are older.

They're growing up, and I have the time

to write a book every six months,

and so they've been really great.

Thomas Nelson has been just an amazing team

of people to work with.

When I first open "The Convenient Groom,"

you start with a scripture.

And this is the forward.

And it's Zephaniah 3:17.

And you say that God laid the scripture on your heart

even before you started writing, and Zephaniah 3:17

is "The Lord your God is with you.

He is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you.

He will quiet you with his love.

He will rejoice over you singing."

And that just ministered to me, even

before I started this great romance, which, by the way,

is very good.

I had a hard time putting it down.

It was, like, 1:30 in the morning.

I'm like, I've got to go to sleep,

or I'll never be able to interview you.

So you really do put your faith, and your characters--

some people say that your characters often

have the attributes of God.

Right.

I never really intended for that to be part of my work,

but I've had a lot of readers that

have read my whole body of work telling me

that my stories remind me of Christ's extravagant love.

And a lot of times, I think my hero kind

of symbolizes Christ's love for us.

And if you look at the Bible, I mean,

Jesus is often talked about as the bridegroom and we,

the children, as his bride.

And that's just a lovely picture.

And somehow it's worked its way into my novels.

That's right.

And you have your own love story.

You grew up in the church.

You became a Christian at the young age of five.

You met your husband when you were 17?

Is that right?

Yes.

In church.

Yes, in church.

I was practically-- are they doing the--

Oh, no.

No.

I was just looking at the picture of you

guys [INTERPOSING VOICES].

Oh, my goodness.

That's an oldie.

I was married when I was 20, but my faith goes all the way back

to childhood.

I was practically raised in the church,

and I was there-- if the doors were open, there I was.

What does your husband think about you writing

all these romance novels?

Does he often inspire some of the characters?

Well, he would have you believe that he inspires them,

but having a good imagination also helps.

But, no, he's an amazing husband,

and he is a wonderful example of a godly husband.

We talk about romance like it's some nebulous thing,

but, really, romance is just an outward expression of love,

and he's really good at that.

Now, one of your novels, "The Convenient Groom,"

already came out.

I cannot believe I missed that.

Can I get it on Amazon?

Can I buy it?

Are they going to rerun it?

They are probably going to be rerunning it.

I know that it's coming out on DVD, but I'm not sure when.

So another one of your books will also

be part of the Hallmark Channel's Countdown

to Christmas movies.

Tell us about that one.

Well, "A December Bride" is about an accidental engagement

that becomes very public, and they

have to pretend to be engaged as she's trying to save her career

and he's trying to win her heart.

Are you still writing this one?

No, that one's already finished.

And they're in production with this.

It's actually in post-production.

They've already filmed it, and my husband and I

got to go and be on set for a day.

What's it like when you go to a movie set,

and you see your book coming to life with actual actors

and the whole set?

It was quite magical.

The people on the cast and crew were just so friendly.

And I got to meet David Winning, who

directed both "The Convenient Groom" and "A December

Bride" and Mara Dunbar, who produced both movies, so it was

pretty amazing to just watch my scenes come

to life on the screen.

Well, you are living every girl's fantasy,

I think, getting to write novels and be in movies.

Do you want to act, too?

Oh, no, no.

We do-- my husband and I have this little, brief five seconds

of fame in "A December Bride," but that's plenty for me.

A little cameo?

Yeah.

A little cameo.

I'm happier behind the computer, though.

All right.

Well, we can't wait for your next one.

This has been so much fun meeting you.

And you can pick up a copy of Denise's book "The Convenient

Groom" wherever books are sold.

Plus, be sure to watch for her novel,

"December Bride," on the Hallmark Channel's

upcoming Countdown to Christmas.

And to hear more from Denise, you can go to our Facebook page

for a Facebook Live interview.

That's at Facebook.com/700Club.

God bless you, and thank you so much.

Thank you so much.