ABOUT THE BOOK:
The Restorer’s Journey-Expanded Edition
The Restorer’s Journey-Expanded Edition
His choices have the power to save
or destroy.
With a loved one’s life at stake, Jake
charges through the portal into Lyric to stage a dramatic rescue, trusting that
the signs that mark him as Restorer will guarantee success. But everything
familiar in Lyric has vanished, swept away by deadly lies and a corrupt king.
As inexorable forces conspire to turn him from his purpose, Jake finds his path
leading to places beyond his courage.
While he confronts the temptation
to flee his calling, Susan struggles in brutal captivity. Can she gain freedom
before the enemy destroys her spirit, and will Jake choose to follow his
destiny before everything is lost?
(Book three in the groundbreaking
Sword of Lyric series, The Restorer’s Journey
won a Carol Award for speculative fiction. This new expanded edition
includes bonus scenes, a ten week devotional guide, and links to audio and
video extras.)
Welcome back, Sharon. Tell us about your
salvation experience.
I was blessed to learn about Jesus from a young age. Some of
my earliest memories are of playing on a swing while singing songs to Jesus,
looking up at the clouds and loving Him. In my early teens, I felt God’s
challenge to me to truly surrender my life to Him more deeply as my Lord. My
Bible still holds the yellowed paper of my letter to Him at that time. One line
reads, “I know I am a dumb little lamb and it takes a lot of Your patience to
keep me in the right direction, but You have all patience. Teach me, Lord, I
pray, to be a better child, and I will try my best to learn.”
He truly has guided my steps – through some very difficult
life experiences as well as joyous ones.
You’re planning a
writing retreat where you can only have four other authors. Who would they be
and why?
Since I write fantasy, I’ll indulge in the belief that I can
invite some time-traveling authors. I’d like to invite Francis Schaeffer (a
deep thinker with helpful ideas on faith and arts), C.S. Lewis (so I can share
with him how much of an impact his books had on me), Madeleine L’engle (because
I’ve appreciated her books about being a writer and would love to learn more
from her), and the apostle John (so I could ask him what it was like being
DIRECTLY inspired by the Holy Spirit in his writing, and also of course, talk
to him about his personal relationship with Jesus.) But as I look at that
group, I don’t think I’d get any writing done at that writing retreat. The
conversations would be much too fascinating.
I like the way you
think. I’d have to sneak into that meeting. Do you have a speaking ministry? If
so, tell us about that.
I love speaking to groups and used to do it quite a bit. I
have taught at writing conferences and spoken to writing groups, visited book
clubs, facilitated retreats, spoken for various church groups, guest lectured
at colleges, done book tours, etc. In recent years, I’ve had some health challenges,
so I’ve done a few creative speaking activities instead. I’ve spoken to a
retreat group via Skype, done radio interviews, and blog interviews, and
participated in a video series on faith and the arts. The extrovert side of me
enjoys interacting – even if I have to do it via Skype or phone.
What is the most
embarrassing thing that has happened to you and how did you handle it?
This isn’t writing related, but once I had a low tire on my
bike, so I walked it over to a local gas station that had an air pump. I
unscrewed the knob, and tried to attach the nozzle and pump air in. Instead,
all the remaining air bled out of the tire and it flattened completely. I kept
fumbling with it, trying to attach the air hose correctly. The most
embarrassing part is that I felt so inept – and humiliated that I couldn’t
figure it out, that instead of asking someone for help, I just left. I realized
later how strange it must have looked. I wheeled my bike in, attached it to the
air pump, drained all the air out of one tire, and walked away. Too silly! It
reminds me that asking for help is a good skill.
People are always
telling me that they’d like to write a book someday. I’m sure they do to you,
too. What would you tell someone who came up to you and said that?
We make time for the things that matter for us. If writing a
book matters deeply to them, they will eventually begin to do it. If it matters
enough, they will keep going and eventually finish the story. If they love the
characters with a passion that won’t let go, they will be willing to endure the
challenges of getting the book published so others can meet those characters,
too.
Tell us about the
featured book.
Restorer’s Journey-Expanded Edition is the third (and hopefully
not last) book in the Sword of Lyric series.
It was the most difficult to write. Although I’ve gotten
reader mail from people who say this book was their favorite of the series,
I’ll be honest, it wasn’t my favorite. It’s a bit darker in tone, and I think
Susan’s struggle with captivity and mind poison hit a bit too close to home for
me. Reading the book, you experience her suffering over a few days, but writing
it, I had to spend many months with her in that Rhusican prison, and that was
tough.
However, Jake’s storyline was great fun. He’s an idealist,
as am I. Seeing him confront the
disappointments in his quest, and also watching him overcome his weaknesses,
was inspiring to me. I have a lot of young readers, and I think they
appreciated watching Susan’s 18-year-old son grow into his Restorer role.
How can readers find
you on the Internet?
www.sharonhinck.com
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