Welcome, James. Tell
us how much of yourself you write into your characters.
Right now, I can’t write a protagonist I don’t agree with or
who doesn’t share a similar worldview to what I once shared or one I share in
the present. Maybe I can later. But now, I have to be able to rally behind him
or her. I could try to write stuff I don’t agree with or what I’m not
experienced in, but I’m afraid it would come across as shallow, so I spare my
readers what’s shallow—at least I try. Some readers might say I’m the
shallowest writer they’ve read. But I hope not.
What is the quirkiest
thing you have ever done?
According to friends and family, I do something quirky
daily. I asked my family and they said I eat one item at a time on my plate.
There’s a pile of beans, corn, meat, bread, etc. I’ll eat the beans. When I’m
finished, I move to the corn, then when finished, I move to the next. It drove
my dad crazy while I was growing up. He said something about it in front of my
grandmother once and she answered, “Your dad did that.” (My grandfather
Lingerfelt died before I was born.)
“Daddy did?” my dad said.
“Yep,” Grandmother replied.
Dad never said another word to me about it.
This might not be as quirky, but I watch the sunset every
day. We have a 40 acre farm. The hill where our land ends just meets another
pasture with green fields as far as you can see. I write then
research/implement marketing strategies from about 9am to 6pm, five days a
week. So I want to be outside when I come home. At the pasture, I’ll lean
against the fence and watch the sun go down.
Sounds wonderful. When
did you first discover that you were a writer?
When I was in the third grade and we had to write a story as
an assignment. I loved writing it, sharing it, seeing my classmate’s responses.
My teacher read it to the class—the only story she read aloud. Oh, that did a
lot for my eight-year-old ego. I got a lot of satisfaction from it. I had
included some of my classmates in the story, wrote them in a fun, positive
light, made them heroes in the story, and they thought I was just peachy for
that. I still have it in my old desk. Maybe I’ll show it to my kids one day, if
I ever have any.
Tell us the range of
the kinds of books you enjoy reading.
I didn’t fall in love with reading until college. There, I
read everything from Pride and Prejudice
to The Count of Monte Cristo. Walden and A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers by Thoreau were fun
reads. I’ve read most of the classics. If I haven’t, I can tell you their
premise. I read all the Romantic and Victorian poets in college. I read a ton
of non-fiction, given my studies. Lots of self-improvement, philosophy,
theology, and family counseling books. But these days, I try to read best
selling love stories so that I keep sharp at what I’m best at writing—which is love
stories.
How do you keep your
sanity in our run, run, run world?
I just escape to a quiet place and read and write, because
that’s what I loved doing during my free time. That’s why I decided to try to
make a living doing it. I was a teacher and resigned to pursue this full time. There’s
hard days, for sure. My blog received 5.2 million views during its second year
running. I was proud of that. It gave me the affirmation I needed to keep
writing. My family also keeps telling me to hang in there, that things will
work out, so that helps my confidence a lot. They are very honest with me. When
I play the fool, they’ll tell me. My older brother, especially. I think he
likes calling me out on stuff, haha. When I need to get physical, I work out at
the gym. Working in our vegetable garden is awesome, but that’s seasonal. We
had a family garden growing up. I still enjoy it. The world disappears while
I’m out there in nature.
How do you choose
your characters’ names?
I try to think of names I like to hear when said aloud, but
they are also names that have good memories attached to them. I’ve never met a
Katherine or Elizabeth or a Shannon I didn’t like. And I like those names when
I hear them said aloud. Go ahead. Try it. Say them aloud, but slow, pronouncing
each syllable. So poetic, at least to me.
What is the
accomplishment that you are most proud of?
I’ve finally come to a place in my life where I’m content.
I’m 33 now, and I’ve realized that loving loved ones and pursuing passions and
goals keeps me loving life and being glad to be in the world. And that’s what
I’m doing full time now. I’m rarely in want of anything. But it took a long
time mentally to arrive there. I’m young, relative to many people, but inside I
feel like I’ve lived two or three lives already.
If you were an
animal, which one would you be, and why?
I’m going to pretend I’m in the third grade here. I’ve
always been fascinated with wolves as long as I can remember. I grew up on
stories like White Fang, Dances with Wolves, Legends of the Fall, the wolf’s connection with the Native
Americans (we have Cherokee in our family’s bloodlines). I also grew up on stories
about my Uncle Edwin and his wolves in Alaska .
He laid the path for the Alaskan pipeline for the engineers. He fought in WWII
and later moved to a cabin in Alaska
and cut off all ties with his family. He participated in sled dog racing across
the Alaskan wilderness and his sled dogs were Timber Wolf/Husky hybrids. He
discovered that mix produced the best sled dogs. He was killed by a gang of roughnecks on the Kenai
Peninsula (that’s what the locals claimed). It was 1992 and I was twelve
at the time. When my dad went to Alaska
to oversee the burial, he said hybrid dogs and wolves were living in my uncle’s
house. They never attacked but they growled and gnashed at my dad when he
entered the gate. No kidding. Dad brought home Uncle Edwin’s leather jackets.
Leather fringes hung from the sleeves like something out of a Davy Crocket
painting. I wish I could have met Edwin. The Alaskan and Montana wild has always fascinated me.
What is your favorite
food?
Dark chocolate. Hands down. When I’ve been good in my
nutrition, and I can allow myself a gorging session, I love gourmet Italian
food with a California
cabernet, merlot, or pinot noir. Followed by dark chocolate.
What is the problem
with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it?
Story structure. Now, I create general outlines just so I
know where I’m going and why. They’re not too detailed. I’ll write the outline,
then a first draft, let some trusted people read it, listen to their feedback,
then I’ll really write the story. I wish I had the self-discipline to have done
that the first time around. But I just wanted to start writing and see what
happens. That was the child in me. Over 120 pages went unused for The
Mason Jar. Ouch. Alabama
Irish (coming 2015) has been much easier and faster to write.
Tell us about The Mason Jar.
The protagonist, Clayton Fincannon, meets a girl in college,
they fall in love, but when she vanishes, leaving a Dear John letter. Finn
returns home to cope with the loss and all his unanswered questions. When love
and his securities crumble upon meeting the real world apart from his farm, he
enters a stage of dark, self-reflection and introspection. The hopes and dreams
didn’t unfurl as he imagined, or they didn’t unfurl at all. We’ve all been there.
If not, we will be at some point. Finn’s grandfather leads him to a place of
healing through letters left on his desk in a Mason jar. Do Finn and Eden see
each other again? You’ll have to read it. I’ve had women write to me, saying
they cried their eyes out in reading the letters the grandpa wrote. Some said
they found healing for the first time from failed loves that occurred over
twenty years ago. The book helps the reader find healing after failed, broken
relationships. I have that in all the advertising now because that’s what women
kept telling me. That’s why they love it. The vehicle of the messages is the
love story. But the messages they connect with are of hope, healing, peace, and
the encouragement to love again.
Please give us the
first page of the book.
A New Hope
Hundreds of hot air balloons tiered through the evening sky,
celebrating the 2014 Colorado Springs Balloon Classic. Purples, yellows, blues,
reds, solids, striped, every balloon imaginable lit up the sky. Couples walked
hand in hand, children pointed to the air in awe. In the distance, the sun
would soon be setting over the snow-capped mountains. At dusk, the pilots would
tether the balloons to the ground and pull the gas, blasting the flame and
illuminating the balloons. The bright colors pulsated across the sky, drawing
out the locals and people from all over the nation.
Eden left the veteran’s clinic with her stethoscope
hanging around her neck, and with her arm full of copies of the contracts. Her
last day at the clinic was finally over. She had been working toward that day
for years, and provided the final signature to give the board full executive
authority. Now, the clinic was no longer her concern and she could move on with
her life.
For a thirty-year-old girl, being a widow, then burying her
mother, and now taking care of her dad in his old age, life hadn’t been the
easiest for her.
The clinic’s board had rewarded her a handsome paycheck for
her work and part ownership of the clinic. They respected her a lot, as well as
her late husband who founded the clinic. Eden did enjoy the work, but there’s a
time in all of our lives when even if we want to hang on to the past, we know
it’s time to close that chapter in our lives and move on. And she needed to
move on. As a licensed nurse, Eden
had saved lives, helped heal men and women with various illnesses, and even
helped war veterans find new lives after they returned home.
Her phone vibrated in her purse. Joanna flashed on the
screen. Eden ’s old college roommate from Pepperdine University . They hadn’t spoken in ten
years, until last Christmas. I had to shut everything down, she reminded
herself. Pretend none of it happened. Back then, that was the only way her
nineteen-year-old heart could handle all that life had thrown at her.
“Hey,” Eden
said into her phone.
“Hey, just checking on you,” Joanna replied. Eden had told her about
Victor, his cancer, the depression pills her physician placed her on,
everything.
“Thanks. How are you?”
“Good. I haven’t told anyone about us reconnecting. But I
wanted to let you know that Finn wrote a book.”
“What?!” Eden
exclaimed.
“It’s about your time together. It’s beautiful, Eden . He says wonderful
things about you, lovely things. I even cried a few times. He changed your last
name, though, to ‘Eden Valmont.’ I think it was to protect your identity.”
“How did you hear about it?” Eden asked.
Sounds wonderful. How
can readers find you on the Internet?
My website is www.jamesrussell.org
which is also home to my blog. I’m also on Twitter as JRLingerfelt, and Facebook
and Google+ as James Russell Lingerfelt.
Thank you, James, for sharing this new book with us.
James Russell Lingerfelt's debut novel, The Mason Jar, is hot-off-the-press and causing quite the buzz. It's even been optioned for a feature film and is in pre-production.
Catch the spark by entering James' Kindle Fire giveaway!
One grand prize winner will receive:
James Russell Lingerfelt's debut novel, The Mason Jar, is hot-off-the-press and causing quite the buzz. It's even been optioned for a feature film and is in pre-production.
Catch the spark by entering James' Kindle Fire giveaway!
One grand prize winner will receive:
- A Kindle Fire
- The Mason Jar by James Russell Lingerfelt
Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.
The Mason Jar - paperbackThe Mason Jar - Kindle
Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)
Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.
The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.
If you’re reading this on Goodreads, Google+, Feedblitz, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link:
Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com
20 comments:
Sounds like an interesting book. Would love to win a copy.
I live in Indiana.
Smiles & Blessings,
Cindy W.
My prayers are with you today Lena.
This sounds like a wonderful story. I would love to win/read it.
California
lkish77123 at gmail dot com
Romance from a guy's perspective! That's something different!
Monica, Ontario
I love the cover of this book. I have always favored mason jars. I have wanted to read this book from the first time I saw it. Keeping my fingers crossed!
Melanie Backus, TX
I've seen this book around on the Internet this week. Already firmly on my list.
Mary P
QLD AUSTRALIA
The Mason Jar sounds wonderful!
From MS
plhouston(at)bellsouth(dot)net
I would enjoy reading this, Sunsets are wonderful! D Stevens from NEBR
Thanks for the intro to James, interesting to see a guy writing love stories... not the norm I would think.
Patty in SC
Enter me!!
Conway, SC.
Thanks for introducing us to another new author (new to me, anyway). I enjoy a good love story; this one sounds like another one I'd like.
pmkellogg56[at]gmail[dot]com
Kansas
This sounds like a great story told from a different perspective.
marypopmom (at) yahoo (dot) com
Maryann in NY
Sounds like a great book.I would love to read it.Jackie Tessnair N.C.
The Mason Jar sounds absolutely beautiful! I can't wait to read it!
Kristen in OK
kam110476 at gmail dot com
thanks for the chance to read this wonderful novel
karenk....from PA
kmkuka at yahoo dot com
Portsmouth, VA
Thanks everyone for your kind comments!
I wish I could reply to each of your comments individually, but I didn't see a feature (or I couldn't figure it out). I wish everyone could get a copy.
Come over to www.jamesrussell.org when you have a moment. All of you can reach me there and through the social networks.
All the best!
James
I think Mason Jars are beautiful! I'd enjoy reading this book.
Beth from IA
I think this book looks really good and intersting!
Sierra
Indiana
I can't wait to read "The Mason Jar"!
Caryl
TEXAS
This sounds like an interesting story.
Amanda T. from Michigan
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