Interview with Roseanna White

By: Carrie Fancett Pagels

Roseanna White www.roseannawhite.com

 is the author of A Stray Drop of Blood, Jewel of Persia and will release a colonial fiction, Love Finds You in Annapolis, Maryland in December, 2011.  She and her husband, David, own WhiteFire Publishing http://www.whitefire-publishing.com/  Jewel of Persia just released as a paperback and is available through Amazon (www.amazon.com) and of course WhiteFire Publishing! 

I met Roseanna through HisWriters, an online group for writers of European Christian fiction. Roseanna is also a member of Colonial American Christian Writers, a Yahoo group I started last fall and a contributor to the group blog, Colonial Quills (http://colonialquills.blogspot.com ).

Roseanna, welcome to Overcoming Through Time.  Would you share either the most difficult thing in your life you have had to overcome, with God’s help, or the most tragic situation or circumstance one of your character’s has had to get past?

For me personally, it was my fourteenth year. I lost five people close to me through cancer, including my great-uncle and my grandfather. It hit my whole family hard; I developed an intense hatred of hospitals, a huge respect for how humor can lighten a dark situation, and most importantly, a true understanding of faith. In that year I began reading my Bible daily, spending time in prayer, and talking about my faith in a way I never had before. It changed me forever in a lot of ways.

What is your favorite bible verse and why?

Talk about a hard decision! =) I have different favorites for different parts of my life. But one that always, always sticks with me is I Thessalonians 5:16-18: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of Christ Jesus for you.

I'm an optimist, but even so it's hard for me to remember that in ALL things, I need to give thanks. Even when I'd much rather grumble. ;-)

Formats Available: A STRAY DROP OF BLOOD is available in large print; you can contact me at roseanna[at]roseannawhite[dot]com for details about that. And both it and JEWEL OF PERSIA are available in several e-book formats that are compatible with many different readers. I'm also happy to send other versions to those whose software doesn't work with the standards. All you have to do is contact me, and I'll do whatever I can to help!

What has been the most important thing you hope your readers will get from your books and why?

My hope is for hope. ;-) That no matter what people go through, no matter how they've been hurt, no matter how hopeless a situation seems, there is always hope in the Lord.  I am a huge optimist, and when I asked my critique partner what was common to all my books, she said, “That no matter whether they're light and funny or deep and intense, it always comes back to hope.” If you visit my website, you'll see a heading of “Hope – In Spite of it All.”

As you researched your books, did you learn anything that particularly touched your heart?

My Biblical stories taught me so much about the rich culture and history of those events I grew up taking for granted. While working on A STRAY DROP OF BLOOD I came to understand how perfect God's timing was in when He sent Jesus—and what the first members of the church must have gone through when their souls stretched toward His saving grace.

While working on JEWEL OF PERSIA, I gave a lot of thought to salvation; it's the first book I've written that took place before Christ, so it's in a way a different kind of salvation—and in a way, exactly the same. Discovering those intricacies, and delving into the spiritual world that seemed to be at play when I considered my plot points, really deepened my own faith and made me that much more grateful for this amazing salvation Jesus offered.

In this latest work, do you have any topics useful for bibliotherapy, or therapeutic influence through reading about a disorder or situation?

My heroine is one of many wives in a harem, so she has to deal daily with what we would term infidelity in her spouse, but which was accepted and even deemed right at the time. On the surface this may seem to be one of the parts of the book we relate to the least, but I believe it still speaks to us today because so many people, even today's Christians, have to learn how to love their given spouse in the face of past relationships and intimacies and infidelity. Kasia struggles with this and hopefully shows how through faith one can choose forgiveness and, therefore, love.

Thank you Roseanna for agreeing to answer these questions. What a difficult time that must have been for you to go through at such a young age.  Yet, with your faith, you still have hope, which is such an encouragement!

Giveaway:  Roseanna has graciously offered a copy of one of her books in your preferred format.  Please leave a comment with your email address for a chance to win!