For the next few days, my guest will be Staci Stallings. Staci is a very diverse writer as you'll see from my interview with her below. But first, if you don't know a lot about Staci, here's her brief bio:
A
stay-at-home mom with a husband, three kids and a writing addiction, Staci
Stallings has numerous titles for readers, including five Amazon Best Sellers. Her books run from YA to adult, from
motivational and inspirational to full-out Christian and back again. Every title is a new adventure!
So what's Staci's latest book all about? So glad you asked!
Just out of college and completely alone
 in the world, Maggie Montgomery has one shot left to save her life from an abyss of
poverty and hopelessness. Clinging to the last shred of fuel and hope, she
arrives at the mansion of Texas billionaire Conrad Ayers. Although Maggie is
clearly not what Mr. Ayers and his wife have in mind for a nanny, they agree
to hire her temporarily until they can find someone more appropriate to fill
the position. However, Maggie's whole world is about to be up-ended by two
way-over-scheduled children and one incredibly handsome hired hand. As she
struggles to fit into a world she was never made to fit in, Maggie wonders if
she can ever learn to become a perfect version of herself so she can keep the
job, or is she doomed to always be searching for a life she can never quite
grasp? |
|
Keith Ayers despises his life. As the son of Texas billionaire Conrad
Ayers and the fiance to a Senator from Texas' daughter, it looks great on the
outside, but inside, he is dying. He would vastly prefer to manage and train
his father's racehorses. However, everyone else thinks that is beneath him.
He needs to get into industry and build on his father's success. Suffocating
under the constrictions of his life, he meets Maggie who begins to teach him
that wealth and power is not everything in this life. But can Keith defy the
most powerful men in Texas to follow his heart?
--Betty Anne Bantz
| |
AND NOW THE INTERVIEW.
Staci, what
genre do you write in? (Historical, contemporary, romance, etc.)
I
write Contemporary Christian Romance as well as Bible Studies and collections
of short non-fiction stories.
What
motivates you?
I
love to write. I love words. I love
stories, and I have come to be incredibly fascinated with how God puts them
altogether. To me, writing is like breathing and breathing is living. When I write, God speaks to me in ways that I
can't always hear Him otherwise through the static of life.
How
does your faith affect your daily life?
I've
been through some gut-wrenching tragedies in the last five years--my church
burning down, my brother committing suicide followed by my brother-in-law doing
the same two years later. Without God, I
wouldn't have made it. He is my best
friend, and there is nothing in the world that means more to me than that
relationship. It animates me, it gives
me strength and so much peace. As my
9-year-old son says, "Seriously Mom, what do people do that don't believe
in God?" I don't know. I really
don't..
How
much spirituality do you weave into your story?
I
often say that if you took God out of most of my books, there would be no book
left. In fact, I've gotten one-star
reviews that said the characters required "CONSTANT input from God." To me, that' s a compliment.
What
message do you hope to convey to readers, either in this latest book or in all
your books?
In
"Deep in the Heart," I think the message is: We all have hurts and scars--even if we've
gotten very good at covering them up.
We've all had painful things happen in our past, but it is not our past
that defines us. It's our present and
how we choose to use that present to shape our future that ultimately decides
our destiny.
Do
you believe there is evil in the world and, if you do, how do you portray it in
your novels (or do you portray evil in your novels?
There
is absolutely evil in the world, and it comes in many forms. Some evil will attack physically--for
example, in abusive relationships. The
evil in those relationships tears everyone in them down. Its goal is to confuse, harm, and
destroy. Other evil attacks more subtly
in the form of mental manipulation and emotional blackmail. In "Deep in the Heart," Keith is
being controlled by those in his life. Others
in the story use the shame of his past, the fear of his present, and this
dangling of "if you just do this thing I want you to do, then you'll be
good enough and I'll love you" to convince him to make disastrous
decisions for himself that he KNOWS are wrong.
That's the kind of evil that is present in most of my books--the kind
that may actually look really good on the outside, like it "just wants
what's best" for the character, but when you get underneath it, you see it
for the insidiousness that it is.
Is
or was there a person in your life who made a remarkable difference in your
writing? Who (if you want to disclose his or her identity) and why?
Several
of them actually. One was my second
grade teacher who recognized and pointed out my gift for writing. Then I had two teachers--one in 7th grade and
one in 9th--who were fabulous at grammar.
They gave me a solid foundation to build upon. Finally from 10th-12th grade I had a phenomenal
teacher who worked with me not so much in English but in journalism for contests.
I would write a story, she would bleed on it... but then she did one thing that
made all the difference... she sat down with me on every, single story, and we
walked through WHY she made each change.
In doing so, I learned not just the basics of grammar but how to write
and craft a story that stood out from all the others. It paid off too. I won the Texas U.I.L. Featurewriting contest
my senior year, and since then, I've gone on to have five books on the Amazon
Best Sellers' lists. So they must have
done something right!
What’s
next for you as an author? Any books in the hopper?
I
have a new book coming out at the end of May that I'm really excited
about. It's called, "To Protect
& Serve." It's the story of a
group of firemen and the women who love them.
I'm really excited to see what everyone thinks of this one as it has
been near and dear to my heart for a long time now. I'm so excited to get to
share it with the world!
Thanks
so much for having me, Andrea! It's been
wonderful!
Keep in touch with Staci:
Spirit Light Books--The Blog http://spiritlightbooks.wordpress.com/
Romance Novels: http://ebookromancestories.com
Follow Staci on Twitter @StaciStallings
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