Our featured author of the month is Carol Stratton. Welcome Carol! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I have been married to my first husband for thirty-five years and we have four children-two boys and two girls. We also have two grandchildren and two to come (twins). I grew up in Northern California and as a child never moved.
When I married my husband, we headed back to the Midwest and logged in quite a few moves which gave me fodder for my devotional book. Being in the Witness Protection Program you have to relocate frequently. (Oops, I think I just blew my cover.) According to my mother, (a loquacious woman herself), I started talking at age one and haven’t come up for breath yet…hence my love for writing and speaking. The Almighty just give certain people a lot of extra words.
Sometimes talking has gotten me into trouble as when I got married and kept whispering stuff to my husband-to-be at the altar.(believe me, it was nerves). To my chagrin, the pastor actually shushed me.
I love all instruments with strings and have played violin, viola, guitar and now mandolin. One of the beauties of living in North Carolina is that you have access to live blue grass music. I could listen to good mandolin music forever. Can you say Chris Thiele?
Other hobbies include hiking, cooking, gardening talking with friends and having garage sales that make no money before moves.
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer and what inspired you to write your first book?
I got the bug early when my sixth grade teacher submitted my essay to our local paper. It was a thrill to see my words in print. Still is. I am still humbled someone will publish my stuff.
How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?
Written or published? I’ve only published one. My Middle Grade novel has thirty-three rejections and I have two other books in the drawer. But for the writer, hope springs eternal. Writers must be the optimists of the world.
Tell us about your latest book.
[easyazon-image align=”right” asin=”B007SXMBCW” locale=”us” height=”160″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51byODlqwBL._SL160_.jpg” width=”108″]Changing Zip Codes: Finding Community Wherever You’re Transplanted is the book I didn’t originally want to write. I thought I was a children’s author. But I kept going to writing conferences and had other writers pushing me to write about relocation. This book is a forty-day devotional for those who are newcomers or soon-to-be newcomers. It comes from my twenty-two moves, many with husband, four children and dog in tow. I know what it’s like to try to break into a new Bible study (hard), or try to ring doorbells and introduce myself to neighbors. Moving is not for the faint-heated but when we have God’s heart beating inside of us in the form of the Holy Spirit, we can do it. One of my favorite verses is “In Him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 18:27
What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Well, I’m always writing, but often in my head. I also love to pop in the kitchen and try new recipes. Pioneer Woman’s blog is one of my favorites. And of course, I love having people over, especially my grandkids.
As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
I wanted to be Tina the Ballerina (still not sure if there ever was a dancer with that name) or a Broadway singer and actor. I grew up hearing my parents play records of some of the great musical comedies and I loved to sing.
What books have most influenced your life most?
When I was little I loved all things by Beverly Clearly or Robert McCloskey (Make Room for Ducklings) or any of the Laura Ingles Wilder books as I wished I could have been a pioneer. When I became a Christian at age sixteen I discovered C.S.Lewis’s Mere Christianity, The Great Divorce and Catherine Marshall’s Christy, and Beyond Ourselves. Some of the older classic writers dig deep to give the reader meat for their soul. Currently I have read the Mitford series by Jan Karon and was captivated by her sweet characters. I get tired of edgy. There’s too much edgy in real life. For helping counsel women, the book Kitchen Table Talk is very practical and written by a dear friend, Muriel Cook. Finally a very thought provoking book I love is Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. It reminds us our calling is one of being a servant- a foreign concept in our diva society.
Where do you get your ideas?
Really from everyday life. Non-writers notice the quirky old man with the red beard and placard on the sidewalk and walk on by. We writers look at him and wonder what kind of story he has lived. We pay attention to unusual characters, funny stories and bittersweet incidents that infuse out daily routine. If you write, you always see potential material and nab it to be stored away in your mind. Many of my devotion stories come from my life or from begging someone to “Tell me the rest of the story.” We writers love stories and why not? Jesus our Lord was the supreme story teller.
Things to add:
If you think you’d like to write, start on in. You will either get tired of the tedium of rewriting, submitting and being rejected or you will hitch up your belt, point to the enemy and say, “You’re not discouraging me yet. I have a message to share and I won’t quit.” God often tests us to see how committed we are before we see any success. But, the sweet reward of our words helping encourage, instruct and point readers to Jesus Christ as the author and finisher of our faith eclipses any previous literary failures we might have had.
Get Carol’s Book:
Great gift for those who are moving or have recently moved!
Paperback: [easyazon-link asin=”0984765557″ locale=”us”]Changing Zip Codes: Finding Community Wherever You’re Transplanted (Volume 1)[/easyazon-link]
Kindle: [easyazon-link asin=”B007SXMBCW” locale=”us”]Changing Zip Codes: Finding Community Wherever You’re Transplanted, An Inspirational Guide for the Unemployed, Uprooted, Cast Off, Deployed, Transferred, and Outsourced (Relocating)[/easyazon-link]
Connect With Carol Online:
Facebook: Carol Stratton: https://www.facebook.com/carol.stratton.73
Facebook for book: https://www.facebook.com/ChangingZipCodes
Twitter: @carolgstratton
Website: http://www.changingzipcodes.com/
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/carolstratton/
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