I am absolutely delighted to interview the winner of the American Christian Fiction Wrtiers Genesis Award in Historical Fiction for 2009. Christine has been a faithful member of our Historical Writers Loop, and has blessed us with her posts and insights.
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself, your family, where you live, etc.
I like to describe myself as a Canadian Brit. Born in Northern Ireland that still belongs to England, I feel British and adore Queen Elizabeth. So I have a bit of a stiff upper lip. But there’s a schism, I also feel very Irish. So I’m feisty. As an immigrant I’m very proud to be a Canadian. But having lived across the entire country of Canada, close to the border of the United States, I also get misty-eyed when I hear the Star Spangled Banner, and feel in sync with my American brothers and sisters—especially those who follow Christ. Most of my school years were spent in the Niagara Peninsula where I grew up listening to the cool sounds of Motown music coming out of Detroit radio stations. And for the past 30 years, my husband and I have raised our 3 kids in British Columbia, about 50 miles from the west coast, and about 200 miles north of Seattle. We are now grandparents to 3 little boys, but I still enjoy the cool sounds of 70’s Motown.
2. Tell us about your call to write in the Christian arena. When you are actually writing, do you have a real sense of God’s presence or is it more “nuts and bolts” writing for you? (I’m not sure either answer is right or wrong.)
The call to write came shortly after the reunion with my birthdaughter—the child I relinquished to adoption 30 years ago. As I relived my original loss, my husband put a brand new journal and pen in my hand and said, “Write it.” The calling came with the spiritual and emotional healing the Lord brought me. But a year or 2 later I felt the Lord say, “Put the spiritual truth and healing you’ve experienced into fictional stories for others to read.
Each step I take with the writing, whether it’s taking another course on craft, spending more money on computers, going to yet again, a writer’s conference, or investing endless hours of time writing, I hold the desire to write, out on my open palm for God to remove or leave there as He pleases. By this time in my life I’ve learned there’s no sense butting heads with the Lord. So if God wants me to write and pursue publication then He must continue to show me it’s His will. But so far over the past 8 or 9 years, He’s given me permission to write in many exciting ways, big and small. So when I write, it’s very much the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the craft, but with the stamp of His approval. At the same time however, this is the way He wired me, so one way or another I’m going to arrange words on paper. I simply can’t help it—publication or not.
3. Do you consider yourself a Christian who writes good fiction or a writer who writes good Christian fiction?
For me everything is summed up in Acts 17:28—“In Him I live and move and have my being”. So I am a Christian who writes—I hope—good fiction.
4. I’m always interested in the everyday life of a writer. What is your schedule? And what are you usually wearing when you are writing?
The ‘what I’m wearing’ question makes me laugh. I gave up a wonderful job as an administrative assistant at Trinity Western University, a Christian university, because I felt called to write, and took an easier receptionist job with lower wages closer to home, so I could save my emotional energies for my calling. So Monday through Friday I get up around 6:30, have my devotions, then—still in my pajamas—turn on my computer and write until 9 am. Then I haul some clothes on, grab something to eat in the car, and drive to my job 20 minutes away. As soon as I get home in the evening, after supper, I try to spend another hour writing. That way—on a good week—I have 2 to 3 hours writing each day. On Saturday and Sundays I squeeze in 6 or more hours per day, but sometimes I get tired and it’s a little less. I hate it when that happens.
5. Name five of your favorite things and five pet peeves.
Favorites: Cats, Ice cream, movies, tea, and potatoes—what can I say, I’m Irish.
Pet Peeves: People driving while talking on cell phones, speeders, when people (myself included at times) who talk and don’t listen, people who talk behind me during a movie, and most of all—said with a heavy huff and a mischievous smile—needing a day job to financially support my desire to write.
6. When did you first realize that God was real? I’m not asking about your salvation experience, but when God first invaded your consciousness and you realized that He was more than just a religious concept.
Hard to answer as I grew up with a mother who constantly talked about God; but when I was a little girl about 9 years old, walking to church on a sunny Sunday morning and holding my little sister’s hand, as we approached the church I heard the bells chime, and something thrummed in my heart so that I remember it to this day. I just knew He was real, and not a story.
It is interesting to me that many of us have had a similar childhood experience. God is so faithful to reach out to us, even when we don't understand really who He is.
7. Now, tell us about when you came to Jesus and totally committed everything you knew about yourself to everything you knew about Him … where, when, how.
Even though I knew about Christ from a toddler, it wasn’t until I was thirteen that I realized I was capable of deep sin. I’d allowed a boy to kiss me and touch me pretty heavily, and later that night I attended a Church youth rally. As the call was made to come forward and accept Christ’s forgiveness and cleansing of our sin, I went forward, crying my eyes out. I couldn’t stand the sense of shame I felt and wanted rid of it. For several years I acted the part of a faithful Christian—taught Sunday School, was a summer missionary—but in my twentieth year I had a physical relationship with a guy I wasn’t married to. I very shortly became pregnant, and was so scared of what my unrestrained passions had brought about, that from that time on I wanted nothing that wasn’t God’s pattern for life. Getting pregnant, and then feeling the gentleness of God as he helped me through that hard time, and especially when I relinquished my child to adoption, I began to understand that I could trust Jesus and His plans for my life. As time went by, it didn’t seem like a narrow road, but one that grew wider with contentment, purpose, and a great deal of happiness.
8. What has been your toughest walk of faith?
Most people would think it was when I gave my child up for adoption. But the toughest time was actually 20 years later, when I searched for my birthdaughter and found her. Because the couple I’d chosen for Sarah were devout Christians, I figured when time passed and Sarah became a legal adult, they would welcome me with open arms. To my thinking we were all one big happy family in Christ. I envisioned Sarah’s family adding me and my family as a sort of extended family to theirs, that I’d sort of take on the role of an aunt to Sarah. I was very naïve when it came to the complexity of human emotions within the adoption circle.
When Sarah and I met shortly after her 20th birthday, her adoptive parents were devastated and couldn’t bear the thought of meeting me. Through tears and a sacrificial spirit, Sarah’s mom bravely encouraged Sarah to meet me. But their unhappiness caused a strain on my reunion with Sarah. The poor girl didn’t want to hurt her parents, but at the same time was curious about me, and after seeing I was a safe person desired a friendship with me. To make matters worse, I had these huge expectations of what our relationship would look like. Instead of just being happy to meet Sarah, I was in shock. “Her parents don’t want to meet me.” I felt rejected, not only by her parents but by Sarah too, that she seemed to have so little emotion for me while I had so much for her. I wasn’t really prepared for the fact that it would take time to build a relationship between us, and that it would not be the close family thing I’d imagined.
Bitterness began to corrode my heart. I blamed God for not doing a better job on warming their hearts toward me, and taking their fears away. When I first gave Sarah up as a baby in the hospital, the Lord’s presence had been so powerful, almost tangible, that I’d felt for sure He’d bless me in a super way when she grew up. When my high expectations didn’t pan out, I felt as though God had cheated me out of my firstborn. Looking back, I think the fact that we were all Christians, stopped me from totally grieving the original loss of Sarah as my child. I kept thinking we were all part of Jesus; making us family.
It was a rocky couple of years where I bounced back and forth, trying to trust that God had been good to me. All those years ago He had turned a sad situation into something good. Painful but good. Healing gradually came as the Lord showed me that even while it appeared my birthdaughter’s family would prefer to forget me, the Lord Jesus Christ never had, and never would, and actually neither had Sarah. Isaiah 49: 17-16a became my life words. “Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? Even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.”
But as the years passed, another long-standing prayer of mine has been answered. These past few months, Sarah’s adoptive mom shared parts of her story entwined with my birthmother story on my blog Christine Lindsay.com. We don’t visit; it’s still too hard for her emotionally. But these days I’m able to see past my own sense of loss to understand hers, and I ask myself, how would l feel in her position? I have complete peace now, and best of all my relationship with Sarah is very satisfying. And my 3 kids with my husband mean the world to me.
9. What went into your decision to write in your particular genre/time period?
I find it magical to step back in the past and envision characters walking, talking, living, breathing. My favorite author, MM Kaye, wrote sweeping, romantic tales of the British Raj in India. So I wrote one too. Well, at least I tried. Insert smile here. I’m just starting the research for my third novel which is set during the Second World War—a time of great sacrifice, hence the heightened sense of the romance of life. I’m just getting to know my characters who come from Washington State, just south of me, and who live in an exciting, dangerous time but their love for each other, and the love of God sees them through to a happy ending.
10. Do you read the reviews that are written about your book(s)? Do you believe and/or take to heart the reviews that are written about your book(s)?
I’ve only had a few articles published, and received a few comments—good and bad. The not so positive comments, I take with a grain of salt. I prefer a heavy critique anyway so I can improve my writing. But if someone hates what I’ve said because of a difference of opinion or point of view, then that’s fine too. We don’t all believe the same things. That’s why I write; because I have a point of view I want to share. Thank the Lord we have the freedom of speech in our two countries.
11. What is the message you hope people gain from reading your book(s)?
Always, always, always, to point people to Jesus Christ, and there are a million stories in which to do that. I can wrap it up in romance, danger, suspense, painting a scene, emotions, but the story must weave the reader’s heart to a deeper understanding of who Christ is, and of His incredible, sacrificial love for us. Without that message I have no reason to write.
12. What do you like to read? What is in your “stack to be read” right now?
Oy, do I have a lot of books to read. On my nightstand are Rita Gerlach’s “Surrender the Wind”, I’m expecting MaryLu Tyndall’s “The Blue Enchantress” to come any day. I want to get my hands on Laurie Alice Eake’s books, and I just bought a bunch of non-fiction books that I’ll be researching for my new novel—WW2 submarines, the experiences of folks in Tacoma and Bremerton Naval Yard during the war—on and on. There are about 8 new books, and I’ve only started the research!!!! Gasp.
13. What do you like most about being an author? The least?
Hard to say what I love the most about being an author; I love each aspect—research, plotting, characterization, writing the first to the sixteenth draft, then rewriting some more. I love the friendship and support of other authors, learning the craft and continuing to learn.
The thing I like the least is not getting enough exercise. Any spare minute, I’m sitting at my laptop, and getting chubbier . . . and chubbier . . . .
14. What motivates your writing?
Writing is a need, a purpose, something I must do. And I love ‘love’, what I call the romance of life. I see it everywhere; in young couples, old couples, moms and dads and their babies, middle-aged women like me being best friends with their mom, friends having coffee, people cuddling their pets . . . life I guess. And all of that is wrapped up in Christ. He’s the motivation.
15. Being an author brings opportunities to speak to different groups—book clubs, workshops, conferences. Do you enjoy public speaking or does it frighten you?
I have spoken in the past, even taken the Toastmasters course on public speaking. It didn’t used to frighten me, but speaking to large groups does now. It’s my hope the Lord will not ask me to speak in public again. Perhaps in smaller ways.
16. Let's talk a little bit about winning the Genesis award. Tell us about your emotions when you heard that you had won the Genesis award. Has that changed your perspective on writing at all?Tell us what has happened since then.
I was somewhat discouraged after finishing my second novel, to find that publishing houses were passing on them without even requesting the full manuscripts. It wasn't the fact that I wasn't being published---that doesn't bother me at all. But it was unbearable to think that I had made my 'faith-based' decisions to pursue this ministry in Christian publishing, when I may not have heard God's voice to do this, at all.
So I really, really needed confirmation. That's when I prayed an extremely audacious prayer that I admit to with some embarassment.
I asked the Lord to either let me win big and I would take that as confirmation to continue to pursue publication. But if He wanted me to do something else with my time, to let me not even be noticed at the Genesis awards. I asked Him to please not give me a lukewarm answer, but a hot answer or a solid cold answer. I figured He'd understand this as it's what He wants with our love---no lukewarm reponses.
Immediately after praying that, I felt badly. Who am I to ask such a thing of the Lord when my peers are worthy of winning big. And they too needed encouragement. So I rephrased my prayer that He would just give me what He felt was best.
So Saturday night while the conference took place in Denver, I'm sat on my couch at home, watching TV with my husband. I felt totally at peace, because I really believed I would not win. Around 9:30 I decided to check my email and saw a facebook message from a writing friend in Indiana. Crystal Millar said that she was crying with tears of happiness because I had won.
I speedily wrote back on Facebook. Won What? What did I win?
A few minutes later I phoned you, and you were on your way to your room in the Denver hotel to phone me. I couldn't quite believe it at first when you said, "You won, girl."
I wondered how you happened to call me at just the right time! I thought I had your phone number with me, but I had left it in the room. I was trying to get out of the banquet hall and to my room and kept getting stopped.
To be honest, the emotions I experienced were that of gentle peace. Our tender-hearted Lord understood the motivations of my audacious prayer---that it wasn't about winning---but that I needed confirmation that I had heard His voice.
As for the future, I do not know when the Lord will allow my work to be published. That's His business. It could be many more years yet. But for now, I have the peace that I did hear His voice and I'm doing what He wants me to do right now.
My agent and I did get some additional encouragement immediately after the win. Moody Publishing is taking a look at the book proposal, and should have an answer in about 3 weeks, if they will pass or perhaps request the manuscript to read it. So, we shall see. . . .
16. If you could shout something to the heavens, and not care who heard you, what would you shout?
Show me your face, Lord. I want to see you, feel you !! Come soon.
BEST-SELLING AUTHOR BETH WISEMAN AND I AT ACFW BOOKSIGNING 2009