Author Profile Interview
1. Tell us a little about yourself.
I am a wife and mother living in Northwest Montana. I love writing, but also balance it with homeschooling my three kids and working with teenage moms in a weekly support group. I've written three novels for Moody Publishing. I've also written one children's book "10 Minutes to Showtime" and my book for teen moms, "Life Interrupted: The Scoop On Being a Young Mom" was nominated for the Gold Medallion Award.
2. How did you become a novelist, and did you always want to write?
I never even thought about writing until I had a friend from church who told me she wanted to become a novelist. Hearing her dream, I realized it was something I could do too. My friend, Cindy, and I started attending writers' conferences together and submitting magazine articles and book proposals. It took years of hard work, but eventually it started paying off. Soon I started publishing articles, curriculum, and Bible Study notes. During this whole time I also worked on novels, without any success. And it actually took a story I heard while researching in Europe to change all that.
I was in Austria at Mauthausen Concentration Camp when I heard about 23 Americans who liberated a local camp. I also heard about the first person into the camp helping prisoners--a Nazi wife--and I knew it was a story I had to write. The result was my first novel, From Dust and Ashes. I've continued to write WWII stories inspired by true events. Oh, and as for my friend, Cindy Martinusen, she's also a published author of four novels.
3. What do you think is significant about Christian fiction?
For me Christian fiction is a 350-page word picture of the internal transformations that have happened within. For example, From Dust and Ashes is about physical liberation from a concentration camp, but for me it was also my story as someone who was imprisoned by sin and found a great Liberator for my soul.
So that, in a way, is the significance of Christian fiction. Stories are used to share the complexities of the human soul in a way readers can understand and enjoy.
4. How do you hope your readers react to the stories you write?
I hope readers will come away with a deeper understanding of the complexities of WWII. All of my novels have three or four points-of-view. For example, Night Song shows the war from the view of a young Czech boy, a female resistance worker, a US medic, and a Nazi officer. I hope that each of these stories will shed light on the war, but also show the fact that God's hope can be found in even the darkest circumstances.
5. What responses to your novels have affected you the most and why?
I love to hear from all types of readers, but I have two favorites--WWII veterans who are thankful that their stories are told and school groups who have read the books and discover they enjoy reading about history. They get so involved in the story they don't realize they're learning something!
6. How has being a novelist impacted your relationship with Christ?
I find myself depending on Jesus more and more--which is a good thing. When I'm writing a novel I'd be completely overwhelmed if I had to think about the whole book at once. Instead, I spend time with God and prayerfully consider what He wants me to work on next. Then, piece by piece, with His guidance and peace, it gets done!
7. Other than writing great novels, what other goals do you have for your life?
My goal is to impact people with my life, not just my words. I feel that it's important to me to be involved in my community, especially with needy people. That's why I work with teenage moms. My deadlines and writing worries seem to pale in comparison when there's a sixteen-year-old who wonders where to live and how to support her child. I've been working with these moms for four years, and I've witnessed amazing transformation in their lives. Many have given their hearts to the Lord, others are continuing school and getting good jobs. It's so worth it!
8. What do you like to do in your spare time?
Spare time?! I love reading, but most of the books I read are research books for my upcoming novels. I also love talking my dog on walks. The Montana countryside makes a pretty picture!
9. What can you tell us about your latest novels?
My newest novel, Dawn of a Thousand Nights, is different than my first two. Instead of WWII in Europe, this novel deals with WWII in the South Pacific, fighting against the Japanese. It was almost as if I were studying a whole new war. Also, my main characters were both pilots-which was a lot of fun to write about. But mainly, I was able to focus on some spiritual truths that transformed me as a writer.
10. What stories can your fans expect from you in the days ahead?
Currently, I'm working on my fourth novel about WWII. After that I'm focusing on a different time in history, The Spanish Civil War. Maybe it will mean a trip to Spain!
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