Interview With Lisa Wingate

Lisa Wingate at Book Signing

Lisa, welcome to Overcoming With God.  We appreciate your willingness to share your testimony of overcoming with our readers.  

Well aside from dealing with empty nest -- I'll be the first to admit that it was just plain rude of these boys to grow up and actually want their own lives -- I think I struggle with something many women struggle with. It's hard to separate other peoples' judgement from God's judgement. We're supposed to shrug off the one and base our opinions and our self-evaluations on the other.

In life and in publishing, that's not an easy thing to do.

The publishing process doesn’t end up being only between you and God, and neither does life.  Every worldly concern enters, other people bring in their personalities and opinions, and it can be bruising.  

I struggle with all of that, quite honestly.  I’m a youngest kid in the family, and I had two older brothers picking on me all the time (I wouldn't trade them now, but I would have then).  I bruise easily.  Many writers do—that sensitivity is part of what makes you a writer.  I’ll ignore twenty-five good reviews and be hurt over one bad one.  That’s just human nature, for many of us, especially as women.

On the other hand, I know I’ll never write the perfect story, because everything I write comes from a point of imperfection,  from a vision through the dark glass.  But God is so capable of taking the imperfect things we create and using them in absolutely perfect ways.  A story is an endless possibility.  You never know when your story may hold the hand of someone else through a dark night of the soul.

Would you tell us about one of the most difficult things in your life you have had to overcome, with God’s help? (transparency appreciated!)

I think I've sort of combined Question 1 with Question 2. It's a lifelong struggle, really. I'm always working on it. I don't like it when people are mean -- does anybody? I struggle to let it go and trust God to be work on other people while I work on me.  My snap reaction is more toward wishing they'd get a dose of salmonella in their next hamburger. (Oh, did I say that out loud?)

Which, of course, only means I'm still working on me. It's also a good reminder that I need to put into the world what I want to take out of it. If I want kindness, I need to put in kindness. 

Wildwood Creek by Lisa Wingate

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?  

Yes.  All of my books are available in audio (thought sometimes the audio release is a few months behind the book release) and in large print. We've also given approval for Library For the Blind to offer audio versions.

The Prayer Box by Lisa Wingate

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

Both The Prayer Box and Wildwood Creek deal with women, children, and families recovering from abuse.   Wildwood Creek is brand new, but The Prayer Box is already being used in bibliotherapy, as is the concept of prayer boxes, themselves. The act of taking time to write prayers on paper, put them in a prayer box, and close the lid is symbolic (and therapeutic) as a means of releasing those things to God.  Prayer boxes can go pretty much anywhere a greeting card can go. They're useful for bereavement, new marriages, and family communication, among other things, and can be life-changing.


Bio:

Lisa Wingate is a journalist, inspirational speaker, reviewer for the New York Journal of Books, and the author of over twenty novels.  Her novels combine elements of history, romance, mystery, and women's fiction with nuggets of Southern culture, from the sublime to the humorous. She is a seven-time American Christian Fiction Writers Carol award nominee, a Christy Award nominee, an Oklahoma Book Award finalist, a Christianity Today Book Award nominee, an Inspy Award nominee, and a two-time Carol Award winner. Her works have been selected for Booklist’s Top Ten List in 2012 and in 2013. Recently, the group Americans for More Civility, a kindness watchdog organization, selected Lisa along with Bill Ford, Camille Cosby, and six others, as recipients of the National Civies Award, which celebrates public figures who work to promote greater kindness and civility in American life.

Links:

My website: www.Lisawingate.com

Twitter:   http://twitter.com/#!/lisawingate

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lisa-Wingate-Readers-Circle/132187520154779

Pinterest:  https://pinterest.com/lisawingatebook/

http://us-mg5.mail.yahoo.com/http://www.youtube.com/lisawingate

Thank you, Lisa, for agreeing to answer these questions! And congrats to Lisa for The Prayer Box being a finalist for ECPA Christian book awards!

Giveaway: This week we'll be giving away winners choice of any of Lisa's books, including her new releases (choice of format, international winners--ebook only.) Lisa has graciously added a signed copy of her paperback Firefly Island (USA only) to our giveaway this week! 

Are you sensitive?  How has God given you grace?

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Interview with Beth Vogt by Carrie Fancett Pagels

Beth Vogt

BETH K. VOGT, welcome to Overcoming With God.  I am very pleased to have made your acquaintance several years ago as part of the My Book Therapy Voice Ezine, which we both contributed to and was recently discontinued.  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?

I’d like to tell your readers about one of the most difficult things I’m facing right now in my life: vertigo. My first episode happened two years ago (January 2010), and I’m still dealing with periodic vertigo, which can last anywhere from a few days to several months at a time. Most days, I am able to function – drive, write, live my life normally so no one even knows – but there are times I can’t even lift my head up off my pillow without the world tilting off course.

There have been times I’ve pulled the blankets up over my head and cried because I’m just so weary of the dizziness. And then there are times I laugh and joke about having my own personal mental roller coaster. I’ve had close friends and family pray for my healing – and God knows that I believe he can heal me of this. But I also know that, for now, He’s called me to walk this time of vertigo out with faith, trusting that He loves me and hasn’t deserted me, even if I don’t know from day to day if I’m going to wake up and feel like I’m standing on firm ground or on a rolling ship.

My husband and I start each day reciting Psalm 118:24, “This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.”  And I also decided not to waste this experience, so I gave one of my characters in my upcoming novel, Catch a Falling Star, vertigo. My husband said when he read one particular scene he was a bit nauseous, so I know I got it right.

 

What is your favorite bible verse and why?

Different verses have been “favorites” during different seasons in my life. But one that first spoke to me about God’s love for me is Colossians 1:13, which says “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.”

Wish You Were Here

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? 

WishYou Were Here and Catch a Falling Star may become available on audio at some point – the sooner the better! I also learned about ensuring my website is accessible to the visually impaired, thanks to Edie Melson and her blog, Write Conversation (http://thewriteconversation.blogspot.com/2012/07/is-your-blog-accessible-to-visually.html). So I am using her recommendations as I update my website and blog.

Catch a Falling Star

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

We are each called to reflect God to others in our unique way – and mine is as a writer. So I hope that readers, wherever they are in their faith walk, are brought one step closer to God as they read my novels. With each story I write, I tackle real-life issues, such facing our mistakes and life not going according to plan – I just wrap them up in a romance.

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

I learned how dependent I am on both God and others to be the writer I desire to be. I knew writing a novel wasn’t easy and the hard work didn’t scare me. But writing a good novel – now that was scary. And then writing a second novel, and upping my game, that petrified me. I’m blessed to have Rachel Hauck and Susan May Warren as wonderful, godly mentors who pour both their writing talent and their faith into my life. And I also had three very close friends praying for me as I wrote Catch a Falling Star. Their ministry was invaluable. There’s more to writing than what we see.

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

As I mentioned before, I like to write about real life and so a number of topics useful for bibliotherapy show up in both Wish You Were Here and Catch a Falling Star, including:

·         Parental abandonment

·         Parental favoritism

·         Cutting

·         Perfectionism

·         Unhealthy romantic relationships

·         Adoption – and the issues that show up between adoptive children and their foster/adoptive parents

·         Divorce

·         Death of a parent

·         Sibling relationships

Author Bio: Beth K. Vogt is a non-fiction author and editor who said she’d never write fiction. She’s the wife of an Air Force family physician (now in solo practice) who said she’d never marry a doctor—or anyone in the military. She’s a mom of four who said she’d never have kids. She’s discovered that God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” Her contemporary romance novel,Wish You Were Here, debuted in May 2012 (Howard Books), and Catch a Falling Star Releases May 2013. An established magazine writer and former editor of Connections, the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth is also the Skills Coach for My Book Therapy, the writing community founded by best-selling author Susan May Warren. 

Thank you, Beth, for agreeing to answer these questions.  Have a blessed day and keep on writing!!

Giveaways:  We are giving away four copies of Beth's books this week.  Beth is giving away two copies of Wish You Were Here and one copy of Catch a Falling Star.  We are giving away an ebook of either of her books, which helps open the contest up to international readers. We will be giving away throughout the week, for each post.  To enter, answer each post's question and leave your email addy if we don't know you well.  

Question: Have you ever suffered from vertigo?  What happened and how did you deal with it?  Please offer up a prayer for Beth, also--thanks!