Fade To Blue--Interview With Julie Carobini

It is my pleasure to be hosting Julie today as one of her blog tour stops! Please give her a warm welcome. Every comment will be entered into a drawing to receive a free copy of her book, Fade To Blue.

Tell us a little about yourself and your background.

Sure! I write seaside stories filled with faith, flip flops, and waves of grace. My family and I make our home on California’s central coast, and I’ve written five novels plus hundreds of published articles on everything from parenting, to team building in the workplace, to Christian surf dudes on a mission.

How did you become interested in writing?

My father wrote magazine articles on the side, including interviews with entertainers such as Fred Astaire and Fred MacMurray. Always loved that! I too became an article writer almost twenty years ago, but I always yearned to create fiction. I wrote two novels that did not sell, but as they say, third time’s a charm, and my debut novel, Chocolate Beach, released in 2007 (re-released with recipes in 2011 as an eBook). By that time, I had a renewed faith in God as well as a redefined focus on the kinds of stories he was leading me to write.

Are there some specific lessons you hope readers will learn and apply to their lives after reading your book?

I hope readers get lost in the story and the beautiful setting, that they revel in God’s creation as much as I did while writing it. I also hope they experience the Good Shepherd’s gentle leading (Psalm 23), and fall in the love with the concepts of forgiveness, sacrifice, and grace—as much as they do the breathtaking locale.

What makes your book different than any other books similar to yours that are in circulation today?

Although I’ve been compared to some amazing writers—something that humbles me—I also know that God made each one of us uniquely. I knew you even before you were conceived. Jeremiah 1:4-5. One unique aspect of my books is the focus on God’s creation of the sea and everything in it. My characters have loved dolphins, sea lions, otters—even giant, glowing sea anemones. But they take that admiration a step further by drawing closer to the God who made such beauty.

As we close, is there anything else you would like to add?

Just that I hope people reading this are encouraged to follow their heart’s desires with the Good Shepherd as their guide. God took all the lows and highs in my life and created something new with them. Although I’d always wanted to write, I had no inkling that I’d be writing beach-themed novels one day. I just kept praying and writing and seeking until an idea popped into my head. I followed that idea, and now find myself talking about my fifth novel filled with ‘waves of grace.’ Be encouraged!

Thank you so much!
To hear more, check out this great video interview of Julie:

Social Media Monday: Jen Slattery

Everybody, I am excited to introduce you to Jennifer Slattery, my dear friend and coworker at COTT.

Jen, tell us about you:

I’m a wife, mother and writer who’s madly in love with Jesus and loves to see others experience God’s initiating, healing, life-transforming love in their life. I’ve found stories and dramas to be effective communicators of God’s love.

I agree with that. =) What do you write?

Wow, a bit of everything—freelance articles, Bible studies, radio dramas, inspirational fiction, devotionals. I write for Christ to the World Ministries, the Christian Pulse, Samie Sisters and Reflections in Hindsight.

lol, yes you really do write a bit of EVERYTHING. You are the busiest woman I know. What are you working on right now?

Again, a bit of everything. I am finishing a five part series on the life Joseph for Christ to the World, finishing a first draft a contemporary romance and working with another writer, Joanne Sher, on a fun, biblical fiction tween devotional series. I also do a fair amount of article writing.

How did you and I meet?

In person or via cyber-space? We met through April and a mutual invitation to join Clash of the Titles, then spent a good deal of time talking via email and skype. We first met in person, however, at the CWG writers’ conference in Denver. Of course, by then we were already great friends.

And I can't wait to see you in person again, too. What's the most exciting thing that has happened this year, relating to your writing?

Finaling in the Operation First Novel was a blast and opened a lot of doors for me at the CWG conference, but what I am most excited about is the contemporary youth program I’ve been assigned by Christ to the World. The series of dramas, which will be aired on radios around the world, will deal with intense, real-life issues today’s teens face, pointing them back to Christ. This series will be especially fun because my daughter will be helping me. I’ve always dreamed of writing with her, so it’s fun to see this dream materialize. Plus, I welcome the open-dialogue this series will likely stimulate.

I was a teensy bit green but so excited for you when you finaled in OFN. How has social media affected your writing relationships and/or marketing strategy?

Social media has provided a great support system and has eliminated the loneliness I used to feel as a writer. It’s also helped me connect with other writers who may be in need of encouragement, something I believe I’m called to do. As far as marketing, I do receive a lot of hits on my personal blog and bi-monthly column from facebook friends. It certainly is a cost-effective way to connect with readers.

What advice would you give to other aspiring authors?

Keep your eye on the goal and your heart surrendered to Christ. Don’t get so caught up in your inspirations and dreams that you lose sight of God’s big-picture plan. Ultimately, it’s all about working out God’s will. For some, that may mean writing a best-seller. For others, that may mean writing a Sunday school curriculum for your local church. God alone knows how best to work out His plan and has invited us to participate. True fulfillment comes from surrendered obedience.

Awesome. Can you share a snippet from your latest project?
Ainsley’s neighbor awakens the Cinderella hidden in her heart, but her self-absorbed fiancé won’t give up without a fight.

To Ainsley Meadows, “true love” is synonymous with irrational emotionalism. Raised by hedonistic parents who cycle through relationships like wrapping paper on Christmas morning, she runs from the irresponsibility demonstrated by her parents straight to the safe, predictable, and dull. Yet deep in her heart, she longs for more.

Three months before her wedding to a self-absorbed psychiatrist, a kind-hearted California hottie moves next door and awakens the Cinderella in her heart. But before she can accept true love, she must come to terms with who she is, including the similarities she shares with her mother. To find herself, she must forgive her mother and accept her for who she really is.

I can't wait to see how that one turns out. =) Thanks for spending time with us this morning. To my readers, make sure you connect with Jen and keep an eye on her--she's moving fast!
http://www.facebook.com/JenSlatte
http://jenniferslatterylivesoutloud.com/
http://reflectionsinhindsight.wordpress.com/
http://www.clashofthetitles.com/

Fiction Friday: Story Improv

I love these story improvs--and you seem to, too! Thanks for participating. At the end of this post you will find this week's Story Opening. Here is last week's complete story:

written by: Michelle Massaro, Jessica Patch, Katherine, Daphne Michele Webb, Gary L Wade, and April GardnerI died on my fifteenth birthday and it was so lame. I'm still getting the hang of being dead. Before you glamorize me as some sort of ‘self-healer’ or immortal vampire, let me tell you it’s not that cool. 

I wrote about it in my diary. My mom sent me to a shrink. I've been diagnosed with biophobia--the fear of living. As if! So here I sit surrounded by four white walls and Mario--he's afraid of dying. We're a real pair, but sometimes I tell him my story just for entertainment.

Mario, naturally, is an opossum. He plays dead all the time. It used to freak me out, back when we found him in the backyard, but now it just drives me crazy. I really hate it when I talk to him about how much I hate being dead and he flops over, his eyes roll in the back of his head and his tongue hangs out of his mouth. I'm tempted to pick him up by the tail and stick him in my brother's shoe when he gets like that.

Let me stop here and explain a few things before I continue. Yes, I am dead. I'm a dead Amish fifteen year old in space. Cool thing about this is that I can space walk around the station without a suit, if I could get outside these white walls, that is.

The bad news is those cosmic rays and micrometeorites are killer on my complexion. During my last "walkabout" a stray piece of space junk took off my thumb all the way to my wrist—it's been over two hours now, and only the bone has fully grown back. It itches like crazy!

"Michelle? Are you pretending to be in space again?"

"No."

"Are you pretending Mario is a opossum?" She gave me a pointed look.

I swallowed. "No way. Just playing scrabble, Nurse Banner."

I don't think she believed me, but she took the small white paper cup out. Meds. Again. I sighed but obeyed. Sometimes, Nurse Banner could be scary. If only I could walk through walls like ghosts. Not me I have limitations.

An idea came to me. What if they knew I was dead and were experimenting on me? What if these meds kept me from walking through the walls and out of here forever. I did lose blocks of time. It was possible.

"What are you thinking, Michelle."

"Nothing. Thanks for the chill pill." I smiled and hid it under my tongue, pretending to swallow.

Oh yes. I was getting out of here.

"Triskelion," said Mario after Nurse Banner left the room. As he placed the letters on the board, he added his points up. "Isn't it interesting that a word meaning three legs amounts to 14 points?"

The door clicked behind Nurse Banner, and a lock slid into place.

She peered at me through the tiny square window of the door. Did she think I couldn't see her? I wasn't THAT crazy.

Mario smirked from his corner of the room. He bounded a tennis ball against the floor. It bounced and hit the opposite wall before flying back into his palm with a thwack.

Nurse Banner said Mario didn't exist, but I had proof that he did.

"It. Is. YOUR TURN ALREADY!"

Of course Mario was real. If I were going to make up a pet opossum, I would make one that was more patient. I couldn't do much with these letters: U,V,C,I,O,V,Y. I had other things on my mind. "Do opossums dig?"

He rolled his beady little eyes. "Do you mean burrow?"
"Whatever. Can you dig through the ceiling or the floor?"
"Maybe. If I had your dessert for the next six months."
"It's yours. Game's over. Start digging."
----
Today's improv starter:

"Crikey--would ya look at that!"

Whatevah Wednesday: Childhood Attempts

Liz Curtis Higgs mentioned at the Writing For the Soul conference in February that she'd had dozens of notebooks filled with stories when she was a little girl. I've heard similar remarks from many of my writer friends. Somewhere along the way those dreams may get pushed aside and forgotten for many. It did for me. Until I rediscovered a passion for storytelling. I too wrote a story when I was young. It never got finished (much the way I feel about my current WIP, lol). It's typed out on small sheets of paper (book-size, you know), and I committed about a dozen cliches and no-no's. But ya know what? I was pretty good! If I say so myself.

So today I decided to show you Page One. Hope my crit partners still want me after reading this! (p.s. I'd forgotten all about this story when I named my daughter Amy. Imagine my surprise and delight when I found this years later.)

What about you? Tell me about one of your earliest stories.

I love seeing my besties drop by and I love making new friends. If you are usually a lurker, I want to meet you! For the next 28 days, when you comment on any post on my blog, you will be entered into a drawing for a $10 Amazon gift card. If you mention me and link back here on your own blog, you'll be entered a second time. Have a great week!