Joyce Magnin: Called To Write? God Will Accomplish It!

Everyone's Story welcomes author Joyce Magnin. I had the pleasure of meeting Joyce at the Greater Philly Writers Conference. Through the past three years I've rejoiced in the sidelines watching her career grow and was thrilled when Joyce accepted my invitation to appear on my blog. This week Joyce offers an encouraging word to all who have accepted the challenge to write and publish their work. Please check out her fun book trailer and her generous book giveaway. Joyce looks forward to hearing from you.

Book Giveaway:
Joyce is offering one copy to one randomly chosen commenter the choice of one of the following novels: CAKE, HARRIET BEAMER STRIKES GOLD, HARRIET BEAMER TAKES THE BUS, BLAME IT ON THE MISTLETOE, OR GRISELDA TAKES FLIGHT. The winner will be announced here on Friday, November 15th, between 5-6 PM EST. For convenience, please leave your contact information within your comment. Thanks! 

   

I Owe It All To The Martians, Well Sort Of by Joyce Magnin

That’s right, the Martians. Here’s the thing, I never wanted to do anything else in life besides write. I guess you can say I was born with it. By the age of three I was totally and irrevocably word struck. Smitten with words and what they could do. I remember sitting on the floor or at the table reading the headlines on the back of my father’s newspapers. I loved words and stories and books. By the time I landed in kindergarten I was reading pretty well and reading whatever I could get my hands on.

Then in third grade something spectacular and amazing happened. My teacher, Mrs. Nichols asked us to write a story. (Oh Boy!) I wrote an imaginative piece entitled The Day The Martians Came. It was a story of how men from Mars came to earth to knock over Fort Knox. Apparently, Martians eat gold. Mrs. Nichols loved my story and asked me to share it with all the classes at Westbrook Elementary. Yikes! When I was a kid I had a terrible problem with sweaty palms—I’m talking Niagara. So by the time I made it back to third grade I had perspired so much that my story, written in pencil was nothing more than a gray smear. I cried. But Mrs. Nichols comforted me. She told me that my story wasn’t really gone. She said my story and a lot of other stories were in my heart. She told me that I had been gifted with words and would some day write books.

I remember that moment so clearly to this day. I remember it as the day God reached down from heaven and set the gift and desire to write inside me. I held the hand of God that day.

Sure, it’s been a rough haul. I was an overnight success but it was a decades long night. I worked hard, read a lot, honed my craft, went to school, joined critique groups, collected rejection slips, cried. I even tossed a keyboard out the window once because I was convinced I would never be published. But then it happened and all the fear and struggle and wondering melted away. I knew it was all about God’s timing—not mine.

But when you are in the thick of trying to find success, it’s hard to believe that. So, if you are still waiting for that first contract, I’m not going to say, don’t cry, don’t get frustrated. I know you will. I’m just going to echo the words of the poet, Rilke. If, when you go to sleep at night and close your eyes and all is dark and quiet and you can look into your deepest heart and say, I am a writer, then by all means write and don’t give up. If you are called to it, God will accomplish it.

Joyce's Ah-hahs To Tweet:

Author Joyce Magnin: If you are called to it, God will accomplish it. (Tweet This)

Everyone has a story: author Joyce Magnin shares about Martians and God (Tweet This)

Want a great and fun read? #BookGiveaway of author Joyce Magnin (Tweet This)

Author's Bio:

Joyce Magnin is the author of nine novels including the popular and critically acclaimed  Brights Pond novels, the Harriet Beamer books, Maybelle in Stitches (Quilts of Love series) and two middle grade novels—Carrying Mason and Cake—Love, Chickens and Taste of Peculiar which was awarded the coveted Kirkus Star. Joyce is a frequent conference speaker and instructor. She also does school visits and runs a small editing/critiquing business.

Find Joyce on the Web:

Blog

Facebook

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If you would like to book Joyce for your event or for editing services please email her directly at jmagnin56(at)gmail(dot)com

Jordyn Redwood: An Author's Take On Letting Go-Letting God

Everyone's Story welcomes back the amazing Jordyn Redwood. One thing I've come to respect Jordyn for--and there's many--is her willingness to be honest with herself and to share this with others. And that's why I'm glad that this popular and beloved author of medical mystery thrillers for the Christian market chose to share with us the inside story behind writing her newest release, PERIL.

Can you relate? Both Jordyn and I are looking forward to hearing from you!

Also, check out the book trailer and the cool Giveaway offer. 

Book Giveaway:
Jordyn is offering one print copy of PERIL to one randomly chosen commenter--USA ONLY. The winner will be announced here on Friday, November 8th, between 5-6 PM EST. For convenience, please leave your contact information within your comment. Thanks! 

Blurb of PERIL:

Medical mystery thrillers with a chilling diagnosis—the only cure is to keep reading! Dr. Reeves implants superior memory cells into soldiers’ brains with amazing results—until negative symptoms appear. When his daughter is taken hostage by enraged research subjects, can he discover the answer they demand before Morgan’s life is in serious PERIL.

Kismet by Jordyn Redwood

I have a confession to make. I’m a control freak. Not just a neat and tidy type but more giving my daughter a lecture when she rearranged some Christmas decorations and I told her she couldn’t because she wasn’t paying the mortgage.

Yes, that did happen. I could say that there were other things going on at the time but . . . sigh.

So, now we’ve established I’m a bad mother and a control freak! And yes, I’m saving up for her future counseling sessions. As a person of faith, I do believe God has a plan for my life but my hands are clenched just as tightly as they can be around the steering wheel.

My nature lends to the job I do. Every day, I bring calm control to chaos as a pediatric ER nurse. It’s expected of me. However, as a Christian, I’m supposed to “Let go and let God.”

Easier said than done.

However, what I have noticed is that when I do surrender to His little nudgings—things seem to work infinitely better but I still have that cold-dead-hands grip on my life.

I always loved to write. In high school, I’d written countless short stories, scenes and even a couple of what would be called novellas. I didn’t always write things that were honoring to God. I did want to be published but my parents said I needed to go to college and get a real job.

So I went to nursing school. I really wanted to be a flight nurse and that was my sole drive for the next ten plus years. I stopped writing during pursuit of this one goal.

And that goal didn’t happen. Out of my frustration—I started putting pen to paper again and considered getting input to see if anyone thought those words strung together were good or just the dismal musings of a person dissatisfied with her life.

I don’t believe God wastes anything. During pursuit of my unrealized dream, God used several interactions to speak to my heart about what I was writing. Now, I wasn’t a closet Fifty Shades of Gray writer but what I was writing wouldn’t necessarily point people to God.

Maybe it would even pull them away.

I thought—if I put words out there—I’ll be responsible for the effect they have on people and do I want to explain to God why some people stopped believing because of something I wrote.

From then on I began to write with a Christian worldview in mind.

My stories partly reflect what I struggle with. In Peril, my latest release, it is about Morgan’s struggle with controlling her own life when everything is out of control. She’s suffered a horrible loss she feels she should have prevented, her health is in decline and her marriage is breaking apart. This control freak is thrown into a hurricane. The novel is about her learning to relinquish the grip she has on the steering wheel.

My hope is if I write it enough then perhaps I can do the same.

What’s amazing is how God uses kismet or fate to weave these threads over the years to get to one person at the right moment.

I got this note from a reader (the best thing as an author) that Peril helped her realize she needed to “Let go and let God.” and I shared my own struggle with her about being a control freak and this was her response:

“You see, before the foundations of the world began, God knew I'd be going through something on September 30, 2013 and He also knew He would give you the words to write and also give me the book and I would be reading just that passage at just this time. Wow. What an awesome God we serve.”

He truly is. Think about it. The years. The people. Those little moments that led up to that moment of inspiration for one person.

I think those moments are designed.

What about you?

Jordyn's Ah-hahs To Tweet:

Visit with #MedicalMysteryThriller author Jordyn Redwood on Everyone’s Story. #FreeBooks (Tweet This)

Author Jordyn Redwood shares the story behind her novel PERIL. Can you relate? (Tweet This)

Jordyn Redwood: Can a “control freak” let go and let God do His wondrous work? (Tweet This)

Author Bio:

Jordyn Redwood is a pediatric ER nurse by day, suspense novelist by night. She hosts Redwood’s Medical Edge, a blog devoted to helping contemporary and historical authors write medically accurate fiction. Her first two novels, Proof and Poison, garnered starred reviews from Library Journal. Proof was shortlisted for the 2012 ForeWord Review’s BOTY Award, 2013 INSPY Award and the 2013 Carol Award. You can connect with Jordyn via her website at www.jordynredwood.com.

Find Jordyn At:

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Jordyn's Other Appearances on Everyone's Story:
Thankful For The One Moment She's Graced With
Recognizing God's Lamposts On The Journey

Kathleen Rouser: An Author Bridging The Past To The Present

Everyone's Story welcomes author Kathleen Rouser this week as its new guest. Kathy breaks into writing for the Christian historical fiction market with her novella THE POCKET WATCH in the release of Brave New Century. I've had the pleasure of knowing this talented author and lovely woman for a while now and must say that I can always count on her for a pick-me-up. When you read her interview replies I believe you'll agree that Kathy has great insight and a sense of cheer. Kathy is looking forward to hearing from you--she'd love to know what you enjoy reading about in a novel and what is it about history that captures your heart as it does hers.

THE POCKET WATCH by Kathleen Rouser

Isabel Jones, an orphan, receives a ruby ring from the mother she never knew . . . a lost pocket watch ties her to Daniel Harper, the doctor who saved her life. He doesn’t realize the importance of redeeming time until she almost dies during an influenza epidemic. Will he be compelled to help her find her lost past? 

                                  Questions for Kathy:

Kathy, your novella, THE POCKET WATCH, is part of the anthology Brave New Century. Whether the turn of the 19^th or 20^th or now the 21^st each century, with all its changes, asks each one of us to be brave. How are your characters braving changes?

Thank you for having me on your blog this week, Elaine. It’s a blessing to be here.

People living at the dawn of the 20^th century had some particular changes to brave, especially women. Women’s suffrage became a mass movement, for one. Middle class women were still considered the guardians of morality in society and the home. They had begun to affect change through organizations like The Women’s Christian Temperance Union. The automobile was still a new mode of transportation. Electric lighting began to replace gas lighting in homes.

Despite all of these exciting changes, my heroine, Isabel Jones, is facing something else. She has been raised in an orphanage and wants to know who her birth parents are. When she is given a ruby ring that her mother left for her, knowing her past becomes even more important to her.

Like many young women of the day, her world is small and protected. She aspires to one day marry and have a home of her own. She’s content to stay and help with the care of the younger orphans, but the director of the Protestant Orphan Asylum of Detroit has bigger things in mind for her. Mrs. Pleasance finds Isabel a position as a companion to an invalid. Leaving the orphanage each day to face the world and meet new people stretches Isabel to grow and change.

 

The hero, Dr. Daniel Harper, is charmed by Isabel, when he rescues her from an oncoming automobile. But he’s been betrayed and heartbroken before. He would rather bury himself in charitable work than risk that again. When a lost pocket watch ties them together and they both are caught up in caring for the orphans during an influenza epidemic, Daniel must decide whether to help Isabel find her family.

Kathy & husband Jack

Does Kathy, the wife and mom, brave things differently than the author Kathy? Any “secret weapon” up your sleeve?

I’ve found that no matter what area of life, career or personal, the best thing to do is cling to the Lord. I need to spend time in the Bible and pray for His help and strength often. I don’t subscribe by the adage that God doesn’t give us anything we can’t handle. He allows us to experience things that we can’t handle, so that we cling closer to Him. I guess that’s my secret weapon!

What is it about reading and writing about historical time periods fascinates you the most?

There’s just something about period clothing and genteel manners that seems more romantic to me. (Think Jane Austen’s novels or Lucy Maud Montgomery.) It fascinates me to think about how people, just like you and me, lived without modern conveniences, and how their decisions are influenced by their times. They often had more obstacles to overcome than we do, but had full, though often shorter lives.

Exploring those differences and putting characters in a historical setting allows me to escape as I write. I hope it would also give readers a chance to enjoy a slice of life in another time period. 

How do you believe your contemporary readers will relate to your stories set in yesteryear? Any common denominators of the two eras?

Despite the difference in time periods and changes in societal values, people are people. We often have the same goals as our predecessors: Safety, food, a home, peace, happy marriages, good family relationships and friendships. And of course there is the spiritual element. We all have that longing for the eternal, for a relationship with God, available only through His son, Jesus, because we are eternal beings and long to be part of something beyond ourselves.

I would hope that as readers see my characters facing challenges and learning how to trust God, they would be encouraged to apply the same thing to their lives.

Please share with us the highlights of working with your small press, Prism Book Group.

The nice thing about working with a small press like Prism Book Group is that they are open to new authors and different kinds of stories. The editors make sure their authors are networked through an email group and Facebook page, so that they can help promote one another.

Our acquisitions editor, Susan Baganz, has been delightful to work with. Owner/editor, Joan Alley, designs the covers and gives authors input on the decisions being made over them. It’s been a fun process. 

Lilybits sharing Kathy's office

Any tips for working in collaboration with other authors?

The days of the Internet and email makes working with authors who are many miles apart much easier than it was in the past. When Lisa was looking for people to contribute to an anthology of romances set in urban areas in 1900, I figured this was a good match for me. This was the era I had set a full-length novel in. I had also done some research on the city of Detroit for it.

It turned out that each of our heroines were orphaned or abandoned before or during the beginning of their story, unbeknownst to me. That had to be orchestrated by the Lord, I’m sure! Attempting to follow His leading, prayer with writing, being flexible on decisions about the manuscript can all help authors work together. I have been very thankful for the opportunity I’ve had to work with Lisa Lickel, Paula Mowery and Teena Stewart. It’s been a great experience. The people make a big difference.

You’re also now represented by a fabulous agent, Linda Glaz of the Hartline Literary Agency. Is obtaining an agent truly a must for the pre-published author?

Linda is wonderful. Her clients know she’s in their corner.

I didn’t feel ready to look for an agent until an editor had asked for my full manuscript. Options for pre-published writers are growing with the new smaller publishing houses starting out. However, an agent is wonderful for opening doors, which are otherwise closed, except at conference appointments. Write, keep honing your craft and don’t worry if it takes awhile to find the right agent.

Would you like to share with us on your current work in progress?

Sure. I’m currently working on the second novel in my “Hearts of Stone Creek” series, with the working title, A Good Medicine. Here’s the blurb: A widow and a pharmacist find a remedy for their lonely hearts comes from where they least expected.

It’s a historical romance set early in the 1900s. Maggie Galloway and Thomas Harper meet after their sons’ wind up in a fistfight. Since Maggie and Thomas are opposites, contentions arise between the two, before they turn to sparks!

As an aside, Thomas is the older brother of Daniel Harper, the hero in The Pocket Watch. Maggie is the sister of the male protagonist in the first novel in the series, As Rumor Would Have It, Ian McCormick.

I’ve also been working on a biblical novel dealing with both the birth and adoptive mothers of Moses.

Is there a certain passion/issue you’re longing to write about or a genre you’d like to try?

One of our pastors once mentioned a book, Under the Overpass, by Mike Yankoski, in a sermon. The author and a friend had decided to be intentionally homeless for a time, so they could understand the experiences of the homeless. They developed great compassion for these people, seeing Jesus in them.

I read the book and researched what circumstances could lead to a young man becoming genuinely homeless. I came up with an outline for a contemporary women’s fiction with a hero who is a homeless veteran. It is a heartbreaking issue for some veterans as they deal with PTSD, substance abuse and unemployment. I’m hoping to eventually be able to further develop that manuscript.

And, a bonus question for you, Kathy: What would you like to ask your future readers and fans?

What issues would you like to see portrayed in works of fiction?

Thank you again, Elaine, for interviewing me.

Kathy's Ah-hahs To Tweet:

Love #HistoricalFiction? See how it comes alive for author Kathy Rouser. (Tweet This)

Tricks author Kathy Rouser, of THE POCKET WATCH, uses to bridge the past to present. (Tweet This)

Author Kathy Rouser shares author-collaboration tips. (Tweet This)

Everyone has a story: Kathy Rouser shares her publication story. (Tweet This)

Author Bio:

Kathleen Rouser has loved making up stories since she was a little girl and wanted to be a writer before she could even read. Kathleen’s debut novella, The Pocket Watch, part of the anthology, Brave New Century, will be published by Prism Book Group this November.

She studied communications and English during her first college years and recently graduated with an Applied Science degree. Kathleen has been published in Homeschool Digest and An Encouraging Word magazines. She currently enjoys writing devotional articles for a local women’s ministry newsletter and interviewing authors for the Novel PASTimes historical fiction blog. Her desire is to bring to life endearing characters, who resonate with readers and realize the need for a transforming Savior in their everyday lives.

During a long career as a home school instructor, she reared three sons, with her husband. Along with her sassy tail-less cat, she lives in southeast Michigan with her hero and husband of 31 years, Jack, who not only listens to her stories, but also cooks for her.

Find Kathy At:

Writing, Whimsy and Devotion (personal blog)

Novel Pastimes (co-blog)

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