A REASON TO STAY - Kellie Gilbert - One Free Book

Dear Readers, Kellie Gilbert is one of my very dear writing friends. She was in my critique group for awhile. I love her books. The stories are contemporary and deal with hard issues, and her writing draws me in from the first word. This book is a the top of my to-be-read pile, because I’ve been working on publishing the Christmas book I shared with you a few days ago.

Welcome back, Kellie. What are some of the spiritual themes you like to write about?

I love to feature strong female protagonists, often women who work in various professions, who encounter life-changing circumstances they never see coming. Like in real life, these characters must examine the props they use to feel loved and secure, the ways they replace what only God can truly provide. My books typically don’t have strong spiritual threads, but the themes and metaphors are certainly there.

I also like to write about marriage, and the choice couples must make to stay together when so much in our world tries to tear apart life long and God honoring commitments. That is the particular theme of the book that just released—A Reason to Stay.

What other books of yours are coming out soon?

Like I mentioned, A Reason to Stay just released this week. This is the third in a four-book collection of novels in the Texas Gold collection. Each of the books is set in a metropolitan area of Texas. This book is in Houston.

Next June, the final book What Matters Most will debut and will showcase a political backdrop set in Austin.

If you could spend an evening with one contemporary person (not a family member of yours), who would it be and why?

I would like to spend an evening with President Obama—just him and me. I have a few things I’d like to share with him. *winks*

Now a historical person, but not Jesus.

This may be cheating a bit, but I’d love to meet and talk with John, the author of Revelation. I’m intrigued with the idea that he spent so much time with Jesus—ate with him, traveled with him, slept near him. Yet, when he saw him for the first time in glory, he fell as though dead. So . . . what was THAT about?

How can you encourage authors who have been receiving only rejections from publishers?

Oh, this is one of my favorite topics. Never before have authors had so many wonderful options. Despite any changes in the publishing industry as a whole, there will always be readers. So, my encouragement is this: WRITE! And be BRAVE! Do things you haven’t tried. Embrace new opportunities. And think out of the box. There are authors making great incomes and building readerships in unique new ways.

So—be a Tigger . . . not an Eeyore. Most especially, if you are a believer and write for Christ. My goodness, what is there to be afraid of?

Tell us about the featured book.

This story is so very close to my heart because it features a young mismatched couple (she’s an ambitious news anchor and he’s a championship bass fisherman) who fall in love, marry, and then the real world sets in. Family tensions, work situations, priorities . . . all the things that pull couples apart come at them with full force. Soon, they believe they’ve made a mistake. Despite loving one another, they believe the lie that if you’re not happy all the time, you shouldn’t be married.

Lena—you and James have such a wonderful marriage and relationship. But I bet you can tell readers that bond didn’t happen overnight, or even easily. Two becoming one can take a lot of work, much compromise and mostly—a commitment to stay.

A Reason to Stay is my testament to marriage.

You’re so right, Kellie. In over 50 years, we went through a lot of tough things that could have pulled us apart, but I praise the Lord for helping us grow through them. Please give us the first page of the book.

EXCERPT from A Reason to Stay (Baker/Revell):

There’s no need to fix something that isn’t broken.

At least that was what Faith Marin’s mother always said. And goodness knows, her mother was never wrong.

Unfortunately, the station’s executive news director had expressed the exact opposite sentiment in his office yesterday. “Okay, listen. I’m not saying what we’re doing isn’t working. I’m only suggesting we might have to consider changing things up a bit. No one else is going to keep Faith Marin’s star shining. You have to do that for yourself. Right now, your Q score remains high, but you and I both know this is a nearsighted business. Viewers are fickle, which is why we spend an inordinate amount of time and money keeping the Faith on Air brand fresh and relevant.” Clark Ravino pointed at the stack of Nielsens on the corner of his desk. “And sometimes a bit of recalibration is in order.”

“Are you saying the show’s brand needs recalibrated? Or mine?” He’d been getting a lot of pushback on her series after folding to her campaign for the station to take a risk on quality programming, instead of the popular morn-porn shown on nearly every other station in their market area. Personally, if she had to see Miley Cyrus gyrating half naked one more time, she would be sick to her stomach.

The devilishly handsome man sitting across from her slowly placed his starched shirtsleeves on top of the desk and steepled his fingers. “To be honest, the answer is both.”

“Oh, c’mon, Clark. Are we really going to be another butterfly station, never landing long on anything serious, instead fluttering on to the next pretty flower that smells good? And then the next?” She’d had this argument with Clark on numerous occasions. “Look, whoever is coming up with this nonsense is simply not giving women enough credit. Our viewers are smarter than that.”

He gave her a patient smile. “You’re missing the point.”

She scowled. “We went over all this last month. You agreed the show was getting too fluffy, that we needed to incorporate stories that significantly contribute to women’s lives.”

He tapped on the stack again. “The demos are telling us otherwise. The Most Valuable Viewer age is getting younger every day. I don’t need to tell you the station’s news shows subsidize the entire rest of the day’s programming. Even a tiny drop in household rankings is material when it comes to advertising dollars.” He pointed to the ceiling. “You can argue all you want, but that’s what matters upstairs.”

From across Clark’s desk, Faith squared her shoulders and looked her producer directly in the eye. “So the line you fed me months ago over dinner at Brennan’s was bunk? You said if I agreed to stay on the morning desk, you’d help make Faith on Air Houston’s premier morning show, that you’d let me do the kinds of stories that would position me to move on to a national market.”

Clark held up his palms. “I know what I promised. I think what we have here is simply a perception problem. We let our ratings slip, and so does your viability in the top three DMAs. You think the honchos in New York, LA, or Chicago aren’t interested in market percentages?”

He stood, came from around his desk, and placed his hand on her shoulder, but not before letting his fingers casually brush against her neck. “I’m on your side, remember?”

Faith had played that entire conversation over and over in her mind, losing valuable sleep last night. And it showed in her reflection in the makeup mirror this morning.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

My website is www.kelliecoatesgilbert.com Links to all my social media accounts are on the homepage. I’d also invite readers to sign up for my newsletters so they get notices of all future releases.

Thank you for hosting me, Lena. You are one of my favorite people in this industry!

I will always want to feature you and your books on my blog. 

Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.
A Reason to Stay - Christianbook.com
A Reason to Stay: A Texas Gold Novel (Texas Gold Collection) - Amazon
A Reason to Stay (Texas Gold Collection): A Texas Gold Novel - Kindle

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