What is the hardest part of writing your books?
The hardest part of writing, for me, is simply finding the time to work on it. Even though the story that became Purest Mercy has been a part of me for decades, it ended up taking six years to write the novel. My next book should not take anywhere near that long. But Purest Mercy was deeply personal for me, so I wanted to make it as perfect as I could.
What songs are most played on your Ipod?
I do not own an Ipod, but if I did there would be a number of songs featured there. Some of my favorites are U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”; Twila Paris’s “How Beautiful”; Crystal Lewis’ “Beauty for Ashes”; and Rich Mullins’ “If I Stand”. The names David Mullins, Bethany Lewis, and Amy Lewis Vincent are in honor of Rich Mullins, Crystal Lewis, and Amy Grant. I plan on having a character named Twila in my next novel. The music of these contemporary Christian artists has been so beautiful and significant for me in my journey.
Do you have critique partners or beta readers?
I have several close friends who received and critiqued certain parts of Purest Mercy as it was coming together. However, they all offered very few constructive criticisms; they mostly loved the story just as it was.
What book are you reading now?
I miss having the time to read, and am not reading anything right now. My current focus is mainly on getting the word out about Purest Mercy.
How did you start your writing career?
My writing career formally started when I was in my twenties and began working on the predecessor to Purest Mercy, a novel called Beauty for Ashes. That story came together over the course of 1999-2001, and covers the entire period that Mercy is there with the RCMC community. I did not have the money at that time to self-publish, and instead attempted to get Beauty for Ashes published the old-fashioned way; but though I sent it to several dozen agents and nearly eighty publishers, and received many positive reviews, no one was willing to take a chance on a first-time author, and eventually I set it aside. So, when I circled back to the story in 2015, determined to rework it more from Mercy’s perspective this time, I never even considered trying to get it published the old-fashioned way. I was determined to have it self-published, and this time, I was able to get it done.
Tell us about your next release.
I hope to have my next release done sometime in 2024 or 2025. It will be another Christian fiction novel, filled once again with supernatural, mysterious events, though they will not be in the same vein as the events in Purest Mercy.
Learn More about Purest Mercy – Purchase on Amazon https://amzn.to/3SbWhxM
Purest Mercy is a Christian fiction novel about the extraordinary ways that God can use the simplest, humblest people to achieve great miracles. In it, we meet Mercy, a homeless teenager on the run from horrific circumstances, who finds her place of belonging when she comes upon the Resurrection Christian Mission Church, and its dedicated pastor, Rev. Bethany Lewis. RCMC is a ministry specifically aimed at alleviating the difficulties and struggles experienced by homeless people, but they are strapped to the limit, and about to run out of food to serve the community…when Mercy’s prayers result in a miraculous trove of food.
But the miracles are only just beginning. As Mercy’s prayers begin to transform more and more lives with healing and hope, she falls in love with David Mullins, a homeless youth she seems to know from Another Time and Place. Mercy, David, and Bethany form a tight-knit family, drawn all the closer when a younger girl, Amy, joins them off the streets.
Then, one night, during an intense ice storm, Amy is attacked and left for dead at a nearby park…until Mercy finds her and, in a final act of selflessness, literally takes on Amy’s wounds, receiving the stigmata just as she loses consciousness. Frantically, Bethany gets the young people back to the parsonage, where Mercy dies the following morning: Good Friday, 2013.
The family, and the Resurrection community, are heartsick over the shocking loss. Until God, again through Mercy, proves to them once and for all that even death cannot separate them from the Love–and Mercy–of the Divine.
