WHAT WERE YOUR GOALS WRITING STARRING ME?
As a writer, I want to create “escape and encouragement.” My goal is to point my readers to Christ while weaving a fun story with interesting characters.
WHAT WAS THE MOST CHALLENGING PART OF WRITING THE STORY?
Finding the time! I wrote this in between my kids’ basketball games and church activities, while editing First Date, preparing my AP English students for their exams, and directing “Beauty and the Beast.” It was a ca-razy few months! Thankfully, I have a gracious God, a supportive husband, and kids who can make their own Easy Mac
WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLES FROM THE STORY WHERE YOU DREW ELEMENTS FROM REAL LIFE?
Kara and I are a lot alike. I wanted to be an actress for most of my childhood. God changed that dream when I was sixteen, and I honestly have never wondered “what if…?” But it has been fun to see how God used those experiences to help me develop this story. I recalled lessons I learned onstage and off, and I would often weave tips I gave my own drama students as I wrote those aspects of the novel.
WHAT DO YOU HOPE READERS GET OUT OF YOUR WORK?
I want my readers to know how much God loves them, how he pursues them and helps them and guides them to exactly the places they need to go to, to the people they need to meet. I want them to close the book entertained and encouraged.
WHY DO YOU THINK STORY SUCH A POWERFUL WAY TO COMMUNICATE TRUTH?
Stories us give us characters who inspire, characters who disappoint, and characters who remind us of others. We see decisions – good and bad — through someone else’s perspective, and that helps clarify our own perspective. As a Christian writer, my prayer is that my characters and my stories encourage my readers to know God and to serve him with their whole hearts, knowing that the greatest joy and the most complete fulfillment in life comes from that.