Friday Five « Daniel Darling, Author, Pastor, Speaker

Archive for the ‘Friday Five’ Category

Jan

2012

Friday Five: Laurie Alice Eakes

Today I’m honored to feature the talented novelist, Laurie Alice Eakes. She is a fellow client of my agent, Tamela Hancock Murray and an award-winning author. Her books have won numerous awards, including The National Readers Choice Award. She was also a Carol Award finalist. In the past three years, she has sold six books to Baker/Revell, five of which are set during the Regency time period, four books to Barbour Publishing, as well as two novellas to Barbour Publishing and one to Baker/Revell. Six of her books have been picked up by Thorndike Press for large print publication, and Lady in the Mist, her first book with Revell, was chosen for hardcover publication with Crossings Bookclub. She also teaches on-line writing courses and enjoys a speaking ministry that has taken her from the Gulf Coast to the East Coast. She blogs regularly here. Here latest book is A Heart’s Safe Passage.

Today Laurie was kind to take time out of her writing day to chat with me about the writing life:

Jan

2012

Friday Five: Ed Welch

Edward T. Welch, M.Div., Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and faculty member at the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF). He has counseled for over twenty-five years and is the best-selling author of some of the best, gospel-centric counceling books, including When People Are Big and God Is Small; Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave; Running Scared: Fear, Worry and the God of Rest; and When I Am Afraid: A Step-by-Step Guide Away from Fear and Anxiety.

His latest book is What Do You Think of Me and Why Do I Care?, Today, Ed was kind enough to stop by and chat for today’s Friday Five.

Jan

2012

Friday Five: Joe Carter

Joe Carter is one of the most articulate evangelical voices on the intersection of church, culture, and politics. Joe founded Evangelical Outpost in 2005. He is the web editor for First Things and an adjunct professor of journalism at Patrick Henry College. A fifteen-year Marine Corps veteran, he previously served as the managing editor for the online magazine Culture11 and The East Texas Tr

ibune. Joe has also served as the Director of Research and Rapid Response for the Mike Huckabee for President campaign and

as a director of communications for both the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity and Family Research Council. He is the co-author of How to Argue like Jesus: Learning Persuasion from History’s Greatest Communication.1) You’ve served in a variety of capacities in the conservative movement. What is your impression of the movement as it stands today?
The first thing that should be said about the conservative movement is that there is no conservative “movement.” The term movement implies that a there is cohesive group that is in agreement about moving toward specific political goals. While individuals aligned with conservatism tend to agree on a general set of principles, they often have radically differing views on where those lead. For example, social conservatives and libertarians are generally lumped together under the rubric of the “conservative movement, yet both groups differ on issues such as same-sex marriage.

The reality is that conservatism is comprised of numerous small movements, some that are flourishing and others that are stagnating. This inevitably leads to internal tensions since established conservative groups, politicians, and media are all fighting for the same attention and donor funding. When specific grassroots sub-movements begins to gain popularity, activists of all stripes try to co-opt it for their own purposes.

A prime example is the Tea Party movement in 2008-2010. Despite the fact that polls and surveys showed that it was largely a subset of the “religious right” movement, libertarians tried to claim it as their own. The media latched onto that spurious impression and tried to create a narrative that conservatives were ready to abandon social issues. Of course that was never true. Most grassroots conservatives are full-spectrum conservatives who don’t make sharp distinction between economic, social, and national security conservatism. This is why I’m optimistic about the long-term prospects about conservatism, despite the problems within the “movement.”

Dec

2011

Friday Five: Kim Vogel Sawyer

Christmas is the time when a lot of folks take some time off to rest and catch up on their favorite novels. Today I have the privilege of featuring bestselling novelist, Kim Vogel Sawyer. Kim’s books have received numerous fiction awards, including: ACFW Carol Award
Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, Inspirational Readers Choice Award, Heartsong Presents Contemporary Story of the Year (2006), and the Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence. Her latest books are A Whisper of Peace and Katy’s Decision.

Today, Kim was kind enough to stop by and chat about fiction and the writing life:

How did you get your start as a writer?

I actually entered publishing through a rather unusual route. I’d always wanted to be a writer, but a series of rejections in the mid-1990s discouraged me and I threw myself into teaching. But midway through my teaching career, my health plummeted to the point that I couldn’t teach full-time. About the same time, my dad chose to self-publish one of my books so I could see my publishing dream come true. The reader feedback from that novel gave me the confidence to purse publishing again, and the part-time teaching schedule gave me the time to write. Between March and November of 2005, I signed contracts for ten books with three different publishing lines. I’ve been writing full-time ever since.

What is the most valuable part of your background that has helped you in writing such great stories?

I think being an avid reader and being painfully shy helped me a great deal as a writer. I always told my students, the best readers are the best writers because they’re exposed to vocabulary, grammar, and story elements. You rarely found me without a book in one hand and a notebook in the other when I was growing up. Being shy, I stood on the fringes and became a keen observer of people. That contributed greatly toward character development. As a child, I often lost myself in story worlds–writing tales with strong, confident heroines very unlike myself and now as an adult I have the opportunity to bring story-worlds to life…but not to lose myself. Now, my goal is to point readers toward a deeper relationship with God.

Bestselling author Janette Oke has endorsed your work. Tell us about what how her endorsement came to be, and/or how she influenced your work.

When my novel, which I called Summer’s Joy, landed on an editor’s desk at Bethany House, she shared it with Carol Johnson, who had originally signed Janette Oke. Carol felt my writing style gave her the same feeling as a Janette Oke novel–a peaceful, uplifting feeling. So she shared it with Janette, who offered to endorse it. I was unaware of all of this until after Janette committed to endorsing it, which is probably good. Had I known JANETTE OKE was reading MY story, I probably would have had a nervous breakdown. LOL I truly feel blessed to have been kindly received by the woman I consider the “queen” of Christian fiction. I hope my stories are as full of warmth and Spirit as hers.

You are extremely productive and keep up a high quality of work. Can you offer tips for new writers on how to accomplish this?

I hope I maintain a high quality of work! That’s important to me. With the arrival of contracts came the realization that stories had to be completed by a certain date (i.e.–deadline). To meet the obligation, I began treating my writing as my “job”–a rather awkward transition for all of us after all the years of writing for fun–but I had to set aside a certain number of hours each day for WRITING. I enter my home writing studio at the same time I used to enter my classroom. I start with Bible-study and prayer to get my thoughts centered, and then I write. I am in my office a minimum of six hours a day. I encourage writers trying to break into publishing to establish a habit of consistent writing now, because when the contracts come, they’ll be ready to meet the challenge.

You talk a lot about your grandchildren. Tell us about them:

I have a quiverful of grandkiddos–six Sweeties, two Bugaboos, and one little Wugmump. They range in age from third grade to four months old, and when they’re all here at the same time it is happy chaos! I can’t wait for Christmas. Please feel free to visit my Facebook page.

Dec

2011

Friday Five: Charles Powell

Earlier this week I posted a review of Kathi Macias’ explosive new novel that puts a human face on human trafficking here in America. It’s a book I encouraged every believer to read.

Today, I continue the discussion about human trafficking with an interview of Charles Powell, coauthor with Dillon Burroughs of Not in My Town (also published by New Hope).

Charles is a justice activist, film producer, conference speaker, and founder of Mercy Movement, a grassroots movement to abolish human trafficking and slavery. Over the past three decades Charles has been trained in counterterrorism and police investigation, worked as a bodyguard for royalty, and lived undercover during the war on drugs. He now uses his unique background to investigate and stop modern slavery in the US and beyond. Powell lives in Northeast Georgia.

Not in My Town not only exposes the scourge of human trafficking in our midst, it also gives practical ways to fight it. Charles was kind enough to stop by for today’s Friday Five:

Read More

Dec

2011

Friday Five: Jennifer Schuchman

Jennifer Schuchman is a bestselling author and speaker. Her recent work includes a collaboration with former NFL MVP, Kurt Warner on his New York Times Bestseller, First Things First and a collaboration with Brenda Warner on her latest, One Call Away.

Jennifer has written or co-written numerous books, has contributed articles to leading evangelical publications and has garnered several prestigious writing awards.

I met Jennifer several years ago at the Write to Publish Conference where we were both sort of exploring the idea of publishing. It’s amazing how far God has brought her ministry.

Today I asked her to stop by and answer some questions about the writing life.

Nov

2011

Friday Five: Stan Guthrie

Stan Guthrie is an editor at large for Christianity Today magazine; he authored the “Foolish Things” column for CT. Stan writes opinion pieces for Crosswalk.com and BreakPoint.org. His articles have been honored in the Evangelical Press Association’s Higher Goals in Christian Journalism competitions.

Stan has appeared on National Public Radio’s “Tell Me More,” WGN’s Milt Rosenberg program, ABC’s Nightline Twittercast, WFMT, and many Christian programs, including Moody Radio’s “Chris Fabry Live,” “Inside Look,” “Prime Time America,” and “New Day Florida.” An inspirational speaker, he served as moderator for a debate with Christopher Hitchens entitled “Does the God of Christianity Exist, and What Difference Does It Make?”

Stan is married and has three children.

He is the author of several books, including his latest, All That Jesus Asks: How His Questions Can Teach and Transform Us. Stan was kind enough to stop by and answer questions about this book for today’s Friday Five.

Nov

2011

Friday Five: Alisa Harris

Alisa Harris is a former New York-based journalist who has covered education, poverty and cultural issues. She writes on the intersection of faith and politics for Patheos.com and recently released a book entitled, Raised Right, How I Untangled My Faith From Politics. I posted a mini-review here. Alisa was kind enough to stop by and answer a few questions for today’s Friday Five.