Welcome back, Christa. Why do you write the
kind of books you do?
Because when you’re the once-divorced, twice-married,
recovering alcoholic Christian wife of a Jewish husband, and mother of five
with a daughter with Down’s Syndrome and another in an inter-racial marriage,
and the sister of a gay brother…well, there it is.
I never intended to write about issues. They found me first.
And when I first discovered Christian fiction, I wanted, needed, characters
with whom I could identify. Sure, I found some novels with characters that were
alcoholics, or gay, or parents of special-needs children. But, generally, they
weren’t the protagonists or their situations didn’t mirror life as I saw it.
What I hope readers will take away from my novels is that we
never know, just by looking at people, what’s going on in their lives. So many
people look bright-faced, happy, and pretty on the outside that we’re duped
into believing they lead charmed lives. Like those families in the picture
frames sold in stores (who ARE those people, by the way?!). But turn those
pictures over, and what’s there…nothing. That’s not the life God planned for
us. He wants our lives to be framed by His love. We called to compassion, and
to consider that all those “pretty people” might just be waiting for someone to
take them out of their frames.
Besides when you came
to know the Lord, what is the happiest day in your life?
I’m hoping I haven’t lived it yet! Truly, the Lord has
blessed me with more than I could ever have imagined, and I’ve been grateful to
experience an abundance of happy days.
How has being
published changed your life?
Yipes…that’s a loaded question! In many ways, it hasn’t in
terms of my day-to-day life. I’m still teaching high school full time, still
coming home to cooking and cleaning and grading…The difference is that now I
have another full-time career, which is writing. So, publication is now one
more ingredient added to the gumbo of my life. In some ways, it’s increased the
pressure and stress because of deadlines, editing, marketing and all the
assorted collateral issues related to being a writer. But it’s also opened me
to a new world of writers and books and readers I wouldn’t have known otherwise.
What are you reading
right now?
Since I’m in the final writing/editing stages of a
manuscript, that’s the extent of my reading right now. Oh, with the exception
of the stack of student papers waiting to be graded (any one reading can feel
free to help with these!).
What is your current
work in progress?
My manuscript, which will be submitted March 1, is one of
the novels in Abingdon’s Quilts of Love Series. It’s entitled Threads of Hope: A career-driven magazine writer brazenly pursues meetings with
HIV-affected families in search of the career-boosting article she's been
needing, only to find something she wasn't looking for - a complete change of
heart after meeting a selfless man and the HIV-positive daughter he adopted
from Ethiopia.
What would be your
dream vacation?
A month in Hawaii , followed
by another month in Greece
How do you choose
your settings for each book?
I’m such a Southern girl that I just stay with what I know.
So, New Orleans and Houston have been the primary settings for my novels.
If you could spend an
evening with one person who is currently alive, who would it be and why?
Just one…honestly, I’d have to say my husband because
between his job and mine, plus the time I spend writing, our conversations are
sometimes limited to a dozen words or less…and when I’m on deadline, the poor
man makes himself invisible. I’d love to spend an evening together knowing
there’s nothing or no one else demanding our attention.
What are your
hobbies, besides writing and reading?
I’m not sure this qualifies as a hobby, but I find pulling
weeds in my garden quite therapeutic! Drinking Coke Zero and eating Blue Bell,
I’m certain, do not qualify. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I enter a
cheesecake-baking frenzy and buy cream cheese by the case. So, I suppose that’s
a hobby, of sorts.
What is your most
difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it?
I’m my most difficult obstacle. My little ADD self can
hop down all manners of bunny trails, and at the end, I’m exhausted from going
nowhere fast. Lately, I’ve been using something I’d heard about years ago, and
Mary DeMuth recently tweeted (or maybe Facebooked) about it. It’s called the Pomodoro Technique, and it’s made
a tremendous difference in my ability to stay focused. Here’s the stripped down
version from their website:
The
basic unit of work in the Pomodoro Technique® can be split in five simple
steps:
1. Choose a task to be accomplished
2. Set the Pomodoro to 25 minutes (the Pomodoro is the timer)
3. Work on the task until the Pomodoro rings, then put a check on
your sheet of paper
4. Take a short break (5 minutes is OK)
5. Every 4 Pomodoros take a longer break
What advice would you
give to a beginning author?
Read books that make you wish you’d have written them. Be
teachable. Read books about the craft. Joining American Christian Fiction
Writers and attending their conferences opened doors to writing and publishing that
I didn’t even know existed.
Don’t be afraid to write awful stuff. The awful is far
easier to rewrite or edit than a blank page.
And as for that adage about writing what you know…Well, I
don’t think Stephen King personally knew a high school girl with tele-kenetic
power who wreaked a bloody revenge. But he did know high school girls who were
bullied and teased, who had weird mothers, and he wondered, “what if…”
Stephenie Meyer had no personal experience with vampire love. Write what you
know doesn’t mean you’re limited to the 21st century and characters
who look like your siblings and live in Tallahassee
Know that only you can write the story God placed in your
heart.
Tell us about the
featured book.
Raised by her grandparents in 19th-century New
Orleans , Charlotte
Please give us the
first page of the book.
Grand-mere and Abram were
due home from the French Market at any moment, and Charlotte
“You know Abram will throw
you out the door, and after grandmother is finished with me, I may never leave
this bedroom. Forever a prisoner of this house.” Well, forever until the day of
her coming out party. Lottie knew there would be no missing that event, even if
she wanted to. And most days she felt exactly that way.
Henri yawned and stared
back at her.
“If your belly wasn’t so
full, you wouldn’t be so content.”
He stretched and blinked
a few times as if to say, “Whose fault is that?”
Of course, he was right.
Lottie reached for her mattress and pulled herself up from crouching on the
floor to have her one-way conversation with the calico cat that eluded capture
under her four-poster bed. She started feeding Henri the day she spotted him
wobbling after the milk lady’s cart. Miss Margaret delivered milk to Grand-mere, but the cat with the
pleading grey eyes stayed behind. Her grandmother begrudgingly relented when
Lottie promised he would never, ever cross the threshold into their house.
Still wearing her
nightgown, all she could do was peek through the muslin curtains. “Only two
houses away,” she whispered, as if the words might alarm Henri. She turned
around just as the cinnamon-striped cat started to make his escape and, in a
movement so swift she almost toppled into her armoir, she snatched him.
Even before Grand-mere made her entrance through the
wrought iron gate at the rear of the house, her basket sprouting colorful
vegetables, Lottie had deposited the cat on the front steps. She hurried
through the library and the parlor up to her bedroom, just in time to see Agnes
pick up the china saucer left under the bed.
Agnes looked over
Lottie’s shoulder and then behind to the gallery where Marie LeClerc could be
heard already discussing dinner with the cook. “Now, Miss Genevieve Charlotte,”
Agnes lowered her voice from its usual trumpet blast and set her chestnut eyes
right on Lottie’s guilty face. “You forget your cup this morning when you fount
the coffee?”
Without waiting for an
answer, which they both knew would be one step away from the truth, Agnes
slipped the saucer into the wide front pocket of her white apron. “I’m taking
care this,” she patted her pocket, “while you taking care of getting dressed
for the day.”
How can readers find
you on the Internet?
Website: http://www.christaallan.com
(I have a contact page there, so please feel free to use it!)
Facebook (My
author page)
Thank you, Christa, for the very interesting interview.
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Love Finds You in New Orleans, Louisiana
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