Welcoming Leslea Wahl, Author of the Young Adult The Perfect Blindside

Thrilled to welcome Leslea and her novel, The Perfect Blindside! Be sure to comment and show her some loving reader support! :)  Don't forget to leave a comment and your email address for a chance to win a print copy of The Perfect Blindside!

Ministry through Mystery

Encouraging Teens to Use Their Gifts from God

By Leslea Wahl, author of The Perfect Blindside

Have I always been interested in writing for teens? Umm, no. I had barely even read any teen fiction in the few years since I was a teen. (Ok, it had been quite a number of years). Regardless, writing a Young Adult novel wasn’t exactly the obvious choice for a new post baby-raising career but when God calls – you answer. That sounds a bit dramatic and at the time I didn’t think of it quite that way, but from the beginning I knew God was leading me.

As a mother of three, I was often very frustrated with the things my growing children were exposed to through movies, television, music, and even literature. The societal messages that bombarded them didn’t always coincide with our faith. As my children grew and started reading Middle Grade and Young Adult books, I struggled to find ones that my kids were interested in and exemplified the morals we tried to instill in them.

Then one day I woke up and this story idea popped into my head. Characters and scenes just kept coming to me until I had to write them down. A few other odd things happened that made me certain God was leading me to write this story. So, I began working on it and luckily found a mentor who gently guided me along the way. Honestly, the learning curve was steep – mountainous is fact. I had no idea how to write a novel, especially one for teens. I cringe when I think of all the paper I went through creating all those rough drafts.

I kept plugging away and eventually, when my manuscript finally felt ready, I started sending it out to agents and publishers. But sadly, all I received in return was a pile of rejection letters. Despite the frustration, I didn’t lose faith and instead began to pray. After all, if this was God’s plan there had to be someone out there who would publish it.

Soon after my plea for guidance, came what I like to call my Eureka moment. I happened to came across a book that changed everything for me, a YA novel full of humor, mystery, adventure and unbeknownst to me at first, a Christian novel. As I read it, I realized this was exactly the type of book I wanted to write - a fun book full of mystery, adventure, humor, with a touch of romance thrown in for good measure. It occurred to me if I changed my story, I could include my strong belief that God has blessed us all with gifts and talents that we should use and share with others.

Sometimes I wonder if making me wait so long and slowly having me figure out this genre change was always God’s plan or if He finally had to break down and give me another sign because I was too dense to figure it out by myself. Either way, when I changed the format, I suddenly received more interest in the story and a publishing company soon approached me.

The Perfect Blindside was published in August of 2015 by Pauline Books and Media. In January the book won an Illumination Christian Book Award silver medal. I have no doubt that God led me on this incredible journey and I can’t wait to see what my next chapter will be.

About Leslea:

Leslea Wahl is the author of The Perfect Blindside, an adventurous mystery set in her home state of Colorado. Ms. Wahl is excited to continue her passion of encouraging teens in their faith with her second Christian Young Adult novel which will be released later this year. 

For more information please visit her website at www.LesleaWahl.com 

ABOUT her book:

He’s an egotistical snowboarder with a silver medal.

She’s a judgmental honors student with a flair for photography.

Slashed tires…. False accusations…. A coded text message…. 

When the sleepy town of Silver Springs, Colorado is threatened by a series of mysterious events, Jake and Sophie must put aside their differences to figure out what’s really been happening at the abandoned gold mine and challenge each other to become who God wants them to be.  

Thanks for joining us, Leslea! May God continue to bless your writing journey!
Readers, Don't forget to leave a comment and your email address for a chance to win a print copy of The Perfect Blindside!

Blessings!

A Warm Welcome to Robin Johns Grant

I'm tickled to welcome my friend, Robin, to my blog today! If you love great books, try her's!
Now, let's talk with her for a bit. Robin . . .

How long have you known that you were a writer?  Did you receive a clear “call?” Or have you just loved writing all your life?
I decided I was going to be a writer almost as soon as I learned to read. I loved books so much and couldn’t believe there were lucky people who made a living making up stories! The “calling” part…that’s harder. The road to make a success out of my writing has been so hard and I’ve struggled so much with whether it’s just a selfish desire that I’m praying for God to bless—or whether he has a plan to use it and I need to stick it out through the hard times for him. Wish I could say I have a definitive answer! (This might be a good place to give a plug for a whole blog post I wrote on this subject last week.)


What is the genre you write in?  Would you explain what it is?
Well…I have a nasty habit of combining genres. You never know what I’ll throw into the story next—but at least I keep you guessing and turning the pages! So far though, every story is some form of suspense with a love story thrown in for good measure. They’re all atmospheric and a little bit creepy. My first one, Summer’s Winter, was a romantic suspense about a Georgia college student and her obsession with a movie star. My current one, Jordan’s Shadow, is a little weirder, has more supernatural or fantasy elements, but is still a fun creepy suspense. I think my tagline, “Mind-bending mystery…love beyond the boundaries space and time,” sums it up nicely.


How do you spend your writing days?  Do you set goals to reach a certain number of words per day?  Can you give us a general idea of how long it takes you to write a novel?
I have absolutely no writing routine. I work full time and I’ve been one of the main care-givers for elderly parents for the last few years, and I just grab time when I can. So all of my novels have been multi-year projects. But I’m like the tortoise in the race. I keep plodding along. I keep working whenever I can snatch a few minutes or a couple of hours until I finish a project. Another complication these days is that, since I’ve published, I feel I could spend hours a day marketing and not have done enough. I’m not very good at focusing on writing and marketing at the same time. This summer, I’m planning on scaling back the marketing so I can try to write the sequel to Summer’s Winter.


What is the spiritual message in your latest book?  What can readers expect to get from reading it? 
First of all, I hope to give readers—skeptics, seekers, and Christians alike—a sense of the awe and wonder of God, of his majesty and eternity. I hope to do that with all my books, but the supernatural and fantasy elements of Jordan’s Shadow emphasize that. Also in this story, the matriarch of the family is a pragmatist who thinks that messing with supernatural foolishness is dangerous—psychologically, financially, whatever. And that supernatural nonsense includes the church. She forbids her family to have anything to do with such rubbish, but tragically learns about the “God-shaped vacuum” in all of us when she sees the effect her prohibition has on her family.


Where do you get ideas?  Character names?  Do you find your characters similar to you in any way?
Normally, characters occur to me first, and I start building situations and plot around the characters. Jeanine in Summer’s Winter is probably most like me—although she’s an idealized version of me. She’s what I wanted to be like when I was younger.

Jordan’s Shadow is the only book I’ve written that started with a premise.. I was thinking how parents start out with a baby, and they know nothing about what that infant will eventually become. Really, not even what she will look like when she grows up. Being the weird writer that I am, that got me thinking…what if the

mother saw her baby growing up and becoming more and more like someone she knew in the past? Someone she hated? Someone who had been dead for years. The premise was such spooky fun I couldn’t let it go, but I had no real plot and characters. That all took me years to build and was really difficult.


Do you have hobbies, special interests?  
I have so many hobbies and special interests that I’m constantly frustrated by my lack of free time. I love knitting and quilting and lots of other kinds of sewing. I’m also interested in a lot of geeky stuff like Star Wars (thrilled there’s a new movie coming out!) and Harry Potter and Hunger Games. Lately I’ve been combining my sewing and quilting and geekiness. I’m attaching a picture of my multi-fandom quilt.




ABOUT THE BOOK:

The Crosby family has a frightening problem. Is it psychological? Supernatural? Or something entirely unexpected?

In 1984, seventeen-year-old Rose and her fiancé discover an injured girl with no memory. The girl, Jordan, is in Rose’s life for a brief time but leaves her world shattered.

Twenty-five years later, Rose Crosby’s daughter Ginny can’t understand why her relationship with her mother has fallen apart. Ginny could swear that Rose is terrified of her lately. 

Then one awful day, Ginny overhears Rose confessing that she truly is terrified of Ginny—because to her, every day Ginny grows more and more and more like Jordan, the girl who's been dead many years. In fact, she swears that somehow, Ginny is turning into Jordan.

 

Is Ginny’s mom insane? Is there a ghost in their house, threatening to possess Ginny? Or is the demon in Rose's past, forcing her to confront what happened on that horrible day in 1984 when Jordan was killed?

As a new girl in a small town, Ginny doesn’t have much of a support system. Her old girlfriends from Atlanta have drifted away, and the only friends she’s made are, strangely enough, guys. Alec Matthews is gorgeous, but is he really interested in Ginny’s well-being? And then there’s Max Ferguson, the recently-born-again science nerd. He’s definitely on Ginny’s side, but is he a little too strange?

Strengthened by a deepening relationship with one of these two, Ginny undertakes a mind-bending journey of discovery—discovery about faith, eternity, and love beyond the boundaries of space and time. She will put to rest a mystery that has haunted her family for two generations—if she can survive.

BUY HER BOOK HERE:

Amazon

ABOUT ROBIN:

Robin Johns Grant published her first novel, Summer’s Winter, in 2014, and her second suspense novel, Jordan’s Shadow, has just been released. Summer's Winter won a bronze medal in the Romance - Suspense category of the International Readers' Favorite Book Awards, and Robin was named 2014 Author of the Year by the Georgia Association of College Stores.

Family and friends are happy that Robin’s imagination is finally paying off. She’s always had way too much of it. She started making up stories before she could write them down (dictating them to her mother) and always had her head in the clouds. She was obsessed with books and movies like Harry Potter and Star Wars and did a lot of crazy fan stuff, which helped her dream up Jeanine and Jamie’s story for Summer's Winter. It’s a romantic suspense novel, but as John Granger (author of The Deathly Hallows Lectures) said, it’s also “a romance-thriller about fandoms…and explores the important intersection of literature, spirituality, and imagination.”  

As a Christian, Robin can’t help but explore spirituality in her writing, but wants to do so in a way that reflects the awe and wonder of God and eternity.

With a degree in English, several non-fulfilling jobs under her belt, and a mid-life crisis coming on, Robin returned to school and earned a master's degree in library and information science. She now has her best day job ever as a college librarian, which keeps her young by allowing her to hang out with students.

With her wonderful husband Dave and formerly feral felines Mini Pearl and Luna, Robin lives in Georgia.  She is also surprised to find herself part owner of a pit bull named Pete, who showed up as a starving stray puppy at her mother's house.

CONNECT WITH HER HERE:

Website and blog:  http://robinjohnsgrant.com

Facebook: https://facebook.com/robinjohnsgrantauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/robinjohnsgrant

Happy Reading!
Blessings!

A Warm Welcome to Fellow Author, Michelle Dennis Evans

What inspires you? 
That’s a very broad question! So if I can answer it quite generally … Life inspires me. Where people come from, where they end up, crazy situations that seem hopeless but somehow God turns around miraculously to be something beautiful. I take those situations and let my imagination create characters and possible situations that might cause a person to get into that situation… I’m constantly inspired by the people God brings into my world.


Your second novel is about to be released in paperback, could you tell us a little about the uniqueness of Spiralling Out of the Shadow? 
Sure, this is the parallel story to book one in the Spiralling Trilogy. After writing Stephanie’s story in Spiralling out of Control, I needed to know more about Tabbie, Stephanie’s best friend. Tabbie is relentless in sticking by her friends when they take different paths to the one she is on.


Who would like to read Spiralling Out of the Shadow? 
Everyone who loves to read realistic stories. This novel isn’t as dark as Spiralling Out of Control yet it still deals with very real issues. A main themes is - unconditionally loving your friends even when you don’t understand why they do what they do.

Do you like to write in silence or to music? 
Ah, great question! I sway between both. Some days I’m so highly distracted, I flit from page to page and surf the internet. On those days to pull myself back in, I put on my Creative Mind playlist (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCED194CE2EDAD28A&feature=mh_lolz) This is a list of songs I’m forever adding to and deleting from.  When I’m in the last phase of editing, I tend to read aloud and that’s when I need silence. (One day my kids will understand this!)

How do you manage your time homeschooling and writing?
I constantly remind myself that my family and children are my first ministry, and writing is a gift that I love to explore. I tend to write at night after the family is fed and watered for the day :D Some days I juggle well and other days I drop balls all over the place.



Thanks for joining us, Michelle. Best wishes on a successful launch!

Blessings!