Dan Walsh is the author of The Discovery and of Remembering
Christmas and four other novels, published by Revell and Guideposts. I met Dan through some online groups, including ACFW and at the ACFW conference.
Dan,
welcome to Overcoming Through Time – With God’s Help. We appreciate your willingness to share your
testimony of overcoming with our readers.
Would you tell us about the most difficult thing in your life you have
had to overcome, with God’s help?
There are three things that
probably share that distinction. One would be losing my best friend to leukemia
(somewhat suddenly after a successful operation that doctors said would lead to
his full recovery). Another would be almost losing one of my children,
spiritually speaking, when for a lengthy season they appeared to be choosing a
destructive lifestyle (thankfully, God turned them around). And finally, it
would be the deceitful betrayal in ministry by someone I trusted and thought
was a friend. Hard to say which of these three was the most painful.
(Comment by CFP: I find
this very interesting since Dan was recently extremely ill and required
hospitalization. Tells us how sometimes other attacks are more difficult than those
on the body.)
What
is your favorite bible verse and why?
Probably Isaiah 26:3,
which says: “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you.
Because he trusts you.” This verse, and similar ones, have pointed me to the
most necessary thing to overcome the trials of life, including the three tough ones
I just mentioned.
Disability
friendliness: Is this latest release available in audio format or do you have
any other works available on audio? Do
your e-books have audio capability? Do you have any in large print?
Authors don’t usually
have a say in which of their books get made into audio versions. My first two
have been picked up by Oasis Audio and turned into audio books, but so far the
others haven’t. A few have also been picked up by other publishers and turned
into large print versions (I know The
Unfinished Gift and The Deepest
Waters have). All have been made available as Ebook versions (like Kindle
and Nook), which I do believe have audio capability.
Even though I don’t own an
Ebook reader, my wife does, and it’s one of the reason I encourage people who
need large print books to get one. You can instantly increase the font size for
every book to large print, if you have one.
What
has been the most important thing you hope your readers will get from your
books and why?
I like to write about the themes that matter most in life (by God’s
definition, not so much ours). Then I like to craft stories that
reveal God’s perspective on those
themes, played out in the lives of credible, captivating characters going
through big dramatic things (and occasionally some interesting small ones). Situations get pretty tough in the
beginning and middle of my books, and maybe even more so near the end but,
because I’m writing from a Christian perspective, I love endings that reveal
the power and lovingkindness of God, so that the reader is stirred to put their
hope in God for whatever they’re going through in real life.
As
you researched your books, did you learn anything that particularly touched
your heart?
In each book, I learn
things that deeply affect me. There’s that old saying “walk a mile in my shoes,”
which I suppose is suggesting in order to truly understand what someone else is
going through, we really need to experience it ourselves. That’s not actually
possible, since none of us can control all the circumstances we face, but I
think we can learn to empathize and care about others by learning to listen
well. And when we do listen, to listen to their hearts, not just react to their
words.
When I write, I
experience a good measure of this, because I have to get deep inside my
character’s hearts in order to communicate their experience in a way that
connects with my readers. I imagine it’s not unlike an actor “getting into
character” for a role. The result is a pretty good simulation of “walking a
mile in my shoes.” It’s not uncommon for me to feel deep affections and
emotions as I write certain scenes and chapters.
In
this latest work, do you have any topics useful for bibliotherapy, or
therapeutic influence through reading about a disorder or situation?
In The Discovery, one of the major themes is the destructive power of
lying and deceit, and the very real affect it has on our own soul and in the
relationships of those around us (particularly the people we love). This book
is really a “novel within a novel” as many reviewers have called it, because it
begins with a grandson discovering an unpublished manuscript written by his
late, mega-bestselling grandfather. As he reads this manuscript, so does the
reader. Early on, the grandson reads this: “In
the past two months, he had become aware of how heavy words become when you
carry them alone. Lies, spoken to someone you love, were heavier still.”
By the end of the book,
the man who wrote these words also learns how liberating it can be to finally
“speak the truth in love.”
How Readers Can reach Dan on the internet:
His website is www.danwalshbooks.com with buttons to follow him on Facebook or Twitter. On
the menu, he has a “Blog” and a tab for his “Books” with buttons
beside each book to order them from a number of online stores (like Amazon or
Christianbook.com).
GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment and your email to be entered
in this week’s contest. Drawing will be
late Saturday. Your choice of this
author’s books, choice of format*. Void where prohibited by law. *International
winners will only receive the book in ebook format not as a paperback.
