Interview with Darlene Franklin - Surviving Disability and Suicide of a Loved One

Darlene Franklin

Powerful Interview with Darlene Franklin

By Carrie Fancett Pagels

Darlene Franklin is the author of Golden Dreams (now on preorder, releasing September 1^st) and of more than 20 titles, including the three books in her current series, Maple Notch Dreams.

Darlene, welcome to Overcoming With God.  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? (transparency appreciated!)

I have had a lifetime of difficult things, including growing up with a mother with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and then raising a daughter with the same diagnosis. And yes, I have wondered if I also suffer from it, but I’ve never been told so. Right now is another difficult time. I’ve had to move into a nursing home, which has meant giving up 90% of things I’ve accumulated throughout my life. I’m in daily (hourly?) pain. I have had to accept limitations.

But by far the hardest event I’ve had to overcome was my daughter’s suicide, five years ago. In fact, I have theorized that earlier difficulties made me strong enough to survive the worst parent’s fear.

So I guess that was the first step in overcoming: toughening up my faith muscles through career disappointment, an abusive stepfather, a broken marriage, my son’s troubled teen years, and so on. Everything served to give me a rock solid confidence that God loved me. Period. That He loved my daughter. Period. And everything else, all the grief and anger and numbness, couldn’t drag me under that foundation.

How appropriate that I am writing about overcoming today. Because just this evening, I wrote a devotional about overcoming, based on Romans 8:35-37.  The New Living Translation saw we have overwhelming victory despite all the terrible things that happen. How does suicide equal to victory, let alone stomping on the enemy?

Well, of course, it doesn’t. If someone had dared to suggest that five years ago, I would have exploded.

Perhaps the victory comes in how we respond. How did I survive?

Nothing new, but only magnified coping strategies already in place. I struggled with sleep. I dreamed and awoke to the reality of the empty bunk above my own. I read, nonfiction now instead of my usual mysteries. books.  Joni Woelfel’s book, Meditations for Survivors of Suicide, made a huge difference. I have since had a piece about my daughter published in the book Too Soon to Say Goodbye. People who had suffered a similar loss reached out to me. I’m a writer, so I wrote; my blog grew out of that experience. I let music flow through me and over me, singing with the choir when I could, even if it meant crying in front of the congregation.

Gradually I returned to a normal routine. I worked reduced hours, thanks to an understanding boss. My mother and I dined out, one by one returning to the places we had visited with Jolene. We buried her ashes. We learned to laugh again.

And to top it all off? God gave me an amazing, life-affirming gift: my granddaughter Jordan was conceived at the time my daughter died. She was and is life from life.

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?  (Thank you – we offer this information to our readers with difficulty reading books in regular print format.)

Unfortunately, I don’t have any audio books. I do have one book in large print: Beacon of Life.

Golden Dreams by Darlene Franklin

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

My hero in Golden Dreams won the U.S. National Figure Skating championships and was headed for the 1928 Olympics—until he had a career-ending injury. Physical disabilities often lead to emotional distress. Losing your dreams for the future is a horrible experience.  Believe me, I am struggling with that right now, as I’ve lost a lot of independence. I put most of my characters through the wringer. They lose parents or children. (One of them was even lynched.) They lose their homes or a way of life. I have a number of heroes who fought in various wars, and returned home with internal and external scars. I find their internal struggles more motivating then external problems.

Two books deliberately take characters through a deep grieving process to an acceptance: Romanian Rhapsody, where the hero loses wife and child in childbirth; and A Ranger’s Trail, where the heroine’s husband was lynched, and the murderers never brought to account.

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

Darlene's Blogs: 

http://mydailynibble.blogspot.com/

http://christianfictionhistoricalsociety.blogspot.com/

Sales links:

Amazon 

Barnes & Noble 

Christian Book Distributors 

Family Fiction

Giveaway: Winner's choice of any of Darlene's books in paperback or ebook as available (ebook only for international winner.)  If you are an OWG follower put OWG.  Answer this question: Do you know of anyone who has been affected by suicide in their family or attempted suicide? Do you have any questions for Darlene about going through this tragedy?

Suzanne Wood's Fisher's "The Letters" - new Audiobook

The Letters by Suzanne Woods Fisher

Suzanne Woods Fisher possesses something no one else has--her voice. That certain Suzanne voice that defies description and when I've tried I've mangled it.  And the narrator of this book does a superb job of capturing the Suzanneness that I love. I purchased mine on audible.com and I've also got a CD MP3 audiobook as a giveaway for one lucky reader!

In "The Letters" you're introduced to a household of characters and some from nearby and some from out of the area.  But even with all the cast of characters each one has his or her own voice and  unique traits.  

Even if the listener doesn't agree with the choice the doctor's wife makes (or choices) by the end of the story you'll find yourself accepting them and seeing how it could work.  This secondary plot line was extremely well done.

Rose Schrock is a special heroine and Galen King a subdued but persuasive hero for the story. Loved how Suzanne had this one twist with the step-daughters "boyfriend." And the plot line with the underlying medical condition. 

Bibliotherapy Aspects:

Spoiler alert

One of the characters undergoes brain surgery.  The manifested symptoms of the disease prior to the proper diagnosis would be important to someone dealing with a brain tumor or someone who wonders if a family member may have dementia or another cognitive disorder.

A crime was committed during the story--theft. And crime had been committed before the start of the story.  The aftermath of dealing with crime committed by a love one is covered well in this book.

Death of a spouse, possible suicide. Death of a parent are aspects of this novel.  Both are woven tightly through the plot.

My recommendation:

Listen and ENJOY!!!

Giveaway:  A CD/MP3 audiobook of "The Letters."  You must have capability to play the CD which will not play on a normal CD player.  Although a computer can play it I do not recommend that.  Many new car sound systems will have CD/MP3.  I purchased a CD/MP3 player after I bought one of these by accident and had to listen on my computer (the problem for me was starting and stopping it, which didn't work out well on my old PC which was only a year old at the time.) This is a brand new, unopened CD/MP3. Answer the following question: Have you used Deeper Shopping yet to order any of your Christian books or materials?  If so, why or why not?  Leave your email address, too, unless you are well known by us.

Interview With Murray Pura by Carrie Fancett Pagels

Murray Pura

Murray Pura is the author of The Face of Heaven and The Wings of Morning and a dozen others books that include fiction and nonfiction titles. Website: www.murraypura.com

Murray, 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?

That would have to be my mother’s suicide. She was the only other Christian in my immediate family and a depression, spread over many years, that she could not shake, led to her taking her life. Dealing with that has been a God journey of many years.

What is your favorite bible verse and why?

*It changes from time to time because the Christ journey changes. But I love Psalm 139:12. It is always meaningful to me in rough times:

English Standard Version (©2001) Even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

Disability friendliness: Murray’s books are available in Kindle format which allows print size to be increased and also audio capability of text-to-speech.

The Wings of Morning by Murray Pura

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

*Ordinary people going through extraordinary events and experiences can overcome with the help of others and the very real help of God. This God help comes to them in ways that are both easily recognized and not so easily recognized (the “angels unawares” idea).

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

*In The Wings of Morning I was very moved by how the Amish were persecuted during World War I and how they withstood it without retaliating, suffering silently like Christ before his persecutors. In The Face of Heaven, in which I deal with the American Civil War, I was very touched by how often soldiers from one side took care of the wounded from the other side.

The Face of Heaven

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

*The biggest dilemma for the hero and heroine is the book is knowing that if they do what they believe is right it will alienate them from their family and friends, perhaps permanently. In addition it will go against deeply ingrained ideas in their own hearts and minds about the evil of war and violence. Thus when they choose to proceed and risk division with their families as well as within their own hearts there is a great deal they must work through on a daily basis. The greater part of the story deals with this ongoing struggle. The reviewer in Publishers Weekly recognized this about The Face of Heaven: “The war is merely a backdrop to the personal conflicts of these young Christians who feel compelled to follow their convictions despite the impending consequences.”

MURRAY PURA BIO 

Murray was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His first story was published

in Teen Power in the USA when he was 16 and earned him the princely sum of

Murray's Daughter was the model.

$25.00. His first novel was released in Toronto in 1988. Since that time he has published five more novels, two collections of short stories, and a number of nonfiction titles including Zondervan's books Rooted and Streams. He has been a finalist for the Paraclete Fiction Award, the Dartmouth Book Award, the Kobzar Literary Award, and the John Spencer Hill Literary Award. In June of this year he won  the Word Guild Award for his novel The White Birds of Morning (Toronto's Word Guild Award is the Canadian equivalent of the Christys). Murray pastored for 25 years and wrote on the side. He now writes full-time and currently publishes with Zondervan, Harper One San Francisco, Barbour, Harvest House, and Baker, among others. As well as his homeland of Canada, Murray has lived in Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Israel, and California, and currently makes his home in southwestern Alberta near Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. He and his wife Linda have two children, Micah and Micaela. The Face of Heaven, Number 2 in Harvest House's Amish-American Snapshots in History series, is Murray's most recent book.

Murray's books can be purchased through Amazon, at CBD,  also available through Barnes and Noble, and other bookstores.

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

GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment and your email to be entered in this week's contest. Drawing will be late Saturday. Your choice of Murray's books, choice of format*. Void where prohibited by law. *International winners only receive the book in ebook format, not as a paperback.

Interview with Ann Gabhart

Ann H. Gabhart is the author of The Blessed and of Angel Sister, The Outsider, The Believer, The Seeker among others.

Interview by Carrie Fancett Pagels

I met Ann through ACFW and Laura Frantz, a mutual friend.

Ann, 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 characters has had to get past?

I have lived a blessed life, but even in the most blessed life, there are tragedies and hard times. When I was a young married woman expecting my first child at the much too young age of seventeen, my aunt who was more like a very dear grandmother to me, killed herself. She suffered from chronic depression and the doctors had suggested shock treatments. She couldn’t face that possibility and so she ended her life. I think suicide has to be the hardest death to grieve. And I did grieve deeply for months. Even now more than forty years later, I feel a great sadness when I think of how she died. I can’t keep from thinking I might have done something to help my aunt out of that dark valley, but death is final. That hard path gave me a great appreciation of how precious is the gift of life.

As to my characters, the poor things, I put them in major fixes in every book.

What is your favorite bible verse and why?

It is so hard to pick one verse that I like more than others. I have at times answered this question by picking the verse John 21:25 as a favorite just because of how it boggles my imagination to consider all those things Jesus did that John didn’t write down. John said “And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” (NKJ)

But I also love Mark 9:23 where Jesus says, “All things are possible to those who believe.”

So many beautiful, inspiring, wise Bible verses.

Disability friendliness:

Is this latest release available in audio format or do you have any other works available on audio? 

The Shaker books (The Outsider, The Believer, The Seeker, The Blessed) and Angel Sister are available in large print and also as audio books. And by the way, the reader on Angel Sister does a fantastic job. (CFP: Thanks and I have downloaded two books from audible.com!)  

Those books as well as my Hollyhill books (The Scent of Lilacs, Orchard of Hope and Summer of Joy) are available on Kindle or Nook or other e-readers. My only non-fiction book, Angels at the Crossroads, is also available as an e-book.

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

Encouragement. I think we all need to be encouraged and lifted up. When people read my books and see how my characters overcome problems with the help of the Lord, then I hope they will be encouraged to trust the Lord to help them in their daily problems too.

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

I have researched so many different time periods for my books. Of course I had to do a lot of research into how the Shakers lived, but I think the research I’ve done on wars has opened my eyes to the courage of the average man and woman as they went to war and faced tremendous hardships. But perhaps most touching was the personal research into my mother’s background that became the background for my novel, Angel Sister, set during the years of the Great Depression. Walking down memory lane with her brought her childhood to life for me.

In this latest work, do you have any topics useful for bibliotherapy, or therapeutic influence through 

reading about a disorder or situation?

 Angel Sister deals with alcoholism and Post Traumatic Stress from WW I. All my books have issues that the characters must overcome - often times family relationship issues. I also take my characters to war in many of my books and so the characters are faced with life and death decisions and how they respond to those. In The Blessed, Isaac considers suicide due to his grief over the death of his wife. 


CFP: Thanks so much, Ann.  And I am betting that your books all do have themes that I could consider useful for bibliotherapy (which I always note on my own reviews). Suicide is a tragedy and something that leaves behind a mark on loved ones' hearts.  When I was in grad school, research showed electroconvulsive therapy to only be effective because the patients were either so traumatized by it that they would never want it again or were so impaired by it that it could not be.  Was I ever disappointed and outraged to hear that psychiatrists are using this again, supposedly only for patients with severe entrenched depression.  We know how that usually works out, though...  And some of this being done in our own VA Hospitals. Sorry, but that pushed one of my buttons to read about Ann's poor auntie.  

Giveaway:  Leave a comment for a chance to win one of Ann's books.  We have a review on Wednesday by Diana Flowers, also.  Giveaway will be done next weekend.