Saturday, October 23, 2010

Julie Lessman Interview & Signed book Giveaway!!!--You have more time to enter!!!!!!

Ok everyone we are adding one more day to this giveaway so anyone who hasn't entered yet you still have a little time so leave your comments!!!

Good morning all! After a bit of technical difficulty, here is my interview with the wonderful author Julie Lessman. Her newest release A Hope Undaunted is great and she is truly a lovly lady!
1. When did you start writing? And do you believe it is a calling?

Oh gosh, the first or the second time? :) The first was at the age of twelve after reading Gone With the Wind, when I wrote 150 pages of what today is my debut novel, A Passion Most Pure. The second time was some forty years later when God tapped me on the shoulder in a beauty shop (figuratively, of course) while reading a 2001 Newsweek cover article on how Christian movies, books and music were on the threshold of exploding. Now is the time to finish your book, the thought came, and I knew that meant the book I’d begun at the age of twelve. But romance? The "subgenre" that literary snobs (myself included) looked down upon? Yes, the thought came again, write for Me. Mmm … passion for God, an interesting concept. Thus was born my tagline and my ministry—Passion With a Purpose.
And a calling? I’d say anything as natural and essential as breathing to someone is a calling, wouldn’t you? Writing has always been lifeblood to me—first as a means of creating a world in which I was loved, and secondly as a means of talking to God after I was saved at the age of 23. But it wasn’t until my 50s that God “called” me to to draw people to an intimate relationship with Him through the “passion” of my words—both romantically and spiritually.
I thoroughly explain both my “calling” and how I came to it in a blog I wrote for The Seekers entitled “Life on the Edge …” (http://seekerville.blogspot.com/2009/05/life-on-edge.html), but basically I want to reach women like I used to be—raised in the faith, but living any old way they please. You see, according to the American Religious Identification Survey conducted by the Barna Group, “nine out of ten women nationwide (90%) consider themselves to be Christian.” The sad truth is that most of these women who do read romance wouldn’t choose Inspirational romance to save their soul, myself included at one time.
Why? Well, I can only speak for myself and my friends who wanted more heart-pounding, 21st-century realistic romantic tension interlaced with God’s precepts, which in years past, hasn't been overly prevalent in the Christian market. As a result, most of my friends, Christian and non, read secular romance, which, of course, generally promotes the world’s amoral lifestyle rather than God’s. What’s wrong with this picture? I mean if the world can take something that God created and use it to sell its amoral agenda, then why can’t Christians utilize this God-given passion to promote Him and His precepts? So, yes, I do believe it’s my “calling—to use passion the way it was intended—to teach people God’s precepts and therein, His love. It’s the cry of my heart, and I hope and pray that for my readers, my stories of romantic passion translate into passion for God.

2. Do any of your characters ever represent people you know in any way like attitude, features, or spiritual nature?

Okay, this is embarrassing—yeah, me. For instance in A Passion Most Pure, the heroine Faith O’Connor is basically my spiritual self. Of course we both have hot tempers and get our “Irish” up more than we should, but we also have an intimate relationship with God. Faith talks and prays to Him as naturally as if He is her best friend, but she gets angry with Him too. I like to say that she (and I) are emotionally engaged with the God of the Universe—we laugh with Him, tear up at His goodness to us, and worship Him with all of our hearts. As a matter of fact, Faith and I are so much alike in the spiritual aspect, that a good friend once told me that reading A Passion Most Pure was “like going to lunch with me.” I hope that’s a good thing!

Charity, the sister heroine of Book 2 A Passion Redeemed is my rebellious and “passionate” self, before I came to the Lord. I was a wild child of the seventies before Jesus got a hold of me (as he does Charity in Book 2)!

Lizzie (or Beth), the sister heroine of Book 3 A Passion Denied is my dreamer self. Lizzie is a bookworm bent on fairytale romance, just like I used to be as a little girl, sneaking downstairs to watch romantic movies after my parents went to bed. In her story, Lizzie has to learn (just like I did) that true romance, the kind that really satisfies, comes from following God’s precepts, not the world’s.

3. Do you feel the emotions of the characters when you write?

Grin … are you kidding?? I should have stock in Kleenex!! I am totally engaged with each and every scene I write, laughing one moment and sobbing my heart out the next. In fact, when I read the final galleys for A Passion Most Pure, I actually went through about twelve tissues! What a sap!! :)

Sometimes it reminds me of the first scene from the movie, Romancing the Stone, where Kathleen Turner is being chased by desperados in a Western movie, only to have the cowboy hero rescue her and then ride off into the sunset together. The next scene is Kathleen Turner at her keyboard, sobbing her eyes out over the scene she just wrote. Both my daughter and husband thoroughly enjoy mocking me with imitations of me sitting at the computer sobbing and mouthing the words, “It is soooo good!” J

4. What does it feel like when someone tells you that your book 'touched' them?

Oh-oh, we’re talking more Kleenex here!! I have to say that I’m pretty blown away by some of the e-mails I’ve received. Stories like the one from the 15-year-old who couldn’t talk to her mom about anything, she said, UNTIL her mom gave her my book and suddenly they had common ground in their mutual love of the story. Or the guy who contacted me to get a signed copy for a friend he wanted as a girlfriend. When he told her he wanted a deeper relationship with her, she actually made him read A Passion Most Pure because “that was the kind of relationship she wanted, with God in the middle!” Or the fallen-away woman who would not read Inspirational books on a dare, but picked mine up not realizing it was spiritual. She wrote that A Passion Most Pure rekindled her love for God and gave her hope again. I’m sorry, but for me, it just doesn’t get any better than that.

5. Tell us about your newest release A Hope Undaunted from the “Winds of Change” series.

Although the “Winds of Change” is a brand-new series, it does continue the saga of the close-knit O’Connor family in A Hope Undaunted, picking up with the youngest daughter’s story at the tail end of the Roaring 20s into The Great Depression. Anyone who has read “The Daughters of Boston” series knows that Katie O’Connor is a spunky, sassy little girl with a sharp wit and dry humor, but never more so than when she butts heads with her childhood nemesis, Cluny McGee. Here’s the jacket blurb:

What happens when the boy she loved to hate ...
becomes the man she hates to love?

The 1920s are drawing to a close, and feisty Katie O'Connor is the epitome of the new woman—smart and sassy with goals for her future that include the perfect husband and a challenging career in law. Her boyfriend Jack fits all of her criteria for a husband—smart, good-looking, well-connected, wealthy … and eating out of her hand. But when she is forced to spend the summer of 1929 with Cluny McGee, the bane of her childhood existence, Katie comes face to face with a choice. Will she follow her well-laid plans to marry Jack? Or will she fall for the man she swore to despise forever?

6. Is it a relief when you finish a book or do you miss the characters once the focus is off them and on the next book?

A relief in the sense that I am finally closer to meeting my deadline, of course, but NOT over finishing the story because YES, I do miss the character when the story is done! Keep in mind that I have been living/breathing these characters since after that appointment in the beauty salon in 2001, so they are family—CLOSE family at that because their thoughts, their words, their faith in God—are all mine at various points in my life.

BUT … one of the blessings of writing a series (or two) is that I can continue their story (and mine!) in the next book. However, it is a little sad to think I am now writing the final book in the O’Connor saga and to be honest, a part of me dreads letting them go. But God is preparing me because already I feel myself being pulled toward another new series. But I guarantee you, I will revisit the O’Connors now and then by rereading the books and then, who knows? Maybe down the road I’ll be able to pen a series about the O’Connor cousins during WWII and definitely a prequel to Marcy and Patrick’s story!

Thank you, Ashley, for hosting me on your blog. It’s been fun! And I LOVE to hear from readers, so they can contact me through my Web site at http://www.julielessman.com/, either by sending an e-mail via my site or by signing up for my newsletter at http://www.julielessman.com/sign-up-for-newsletter . My newsletter is chock-full of fun info on my books and there’s always a contest featuring signed book giveaways including one right now to have a character named after you or a loved one in my next book. Also, I have a cool feature on my website called “Journal Jots” (http://www.julielessman.com/journal-jots), which is a very laid-back, almost-daily journal to my reader friends that would give your readers an idea as to my relaxed style of writing. Then finally, I can be found daily at The Seekers blog (http://seekerville.blogspot.com/), a group blog devoted to encouraging and helping aspiring writers on the road to publication.

God bless and hugs,
Julie



AUTHOR BIO FOR JULIE LESSMAN

Julie Lessman is an award-winning author whose tagline of “Passion With a Purpose” underscores her intense passion for both God and romance. Winner of the 2009 ACFW Debut Author of the Year and Holt Medallion Awards of Merit for Best First Book and Long Inspirational, Julie is also the recipient of 13 Romance Writers of America awards and was voted by readers as “Borders Best of 2009 So Far: Your Favorite Fiction” at http://www.borders.com/online/store/ListView_best2009favefiction. She resides in Missouri with her husband, daughter, son and daughter-in-law and is the author of “The Daughters of Boston” series, which includes A Passion Most Pure, A Passion Redeemed, and A Passion Denied, as well as the recently released A Hope Undaunted, book 1 of her brand-new “Winds of Change” series. You can contact Julie through her website at http://www.julielessman.com/.

Thank you so much for the engaging interview Julie!!!



Now ladies and gentlemen, the lovly author as described above ;) has offered to giveaway an autographed copy of her latest book A Hope Undaunted to one of my wonderful followers. To enter all you have to do is leave a comment, preferably with a question for the author, and your email address and a winner will be chosen at random on Friday and announced Saturday morning!

30 comments:

  1. Good Monday morning ladies! Wonderful interview!

    Julie, I love when you said . . .

    ". . . I do believe it’s my “calling"—to use passion the way it was intended—to teach people God’s precepts and therein, His love. It’s the cry of my heart, and I hope and pray that for my readers, my stories of romantic passion translate into passion for God."

    Like so many others, I am thankful for your calling! Your writing ministry is such a blessing, and inspires each of us to come up higher in our relationships, and our ultimate relationship with the One Most High!

    Thank you for another opportunity to win a signed copy of one of your fantastic books!

    Love & Blessings,
    Michelle
    scraphappy71 at sbcglobal dot net

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  2. Thank you for the opportunity to win your book which sounds like a very interesting read.

    littleone AT shaw DOT ca

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  3. Great interview. Thanks for the chance to win this book! How do you pick the covers for your books?
    pbclark(at)netins(dot)net

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  4. I'm so excited about Julie's newest book. Sure would love the opportunity to win.

    Blessings,
    Jodie Wolfe
    digging4pearls(at)comcast(dot)net

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  5. Thank you for the give away. Please count me in.

    teresasreadingcorner at gmail dot com

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  6. MICHELLE!!! I do believe you may be doing some early Christmas shopping here, girl, going for these signed books, and I say "YEAH" to that!!! Thanks for your incredible support, my friend.

    POCOKAT ... Thank you SO much for coming by, and YOU sound like someone who hasn't read my books before, which is always a wonderful challenge for me -- to entice you to read them!! So, here's to a win, and may the "enticing" begin ... :)

    RUBYNREBA ... What an interesting addy!! Thanks for taking the time to enter this contest and how do I pick the covers for my books? Well, the my publisher actually "picks" them, but Revell has been gracious enough to allow me a LOT of input, for which I am MOST grateful.

    For example, for my debut novel A Passion Most Pure, the heroine’s hair was originally down, which looked like a prairie romance, so I explained that it needed to be up since this was 1916 Boston, and my artist graciously complied. I also asked her to make the hair more red and the eyes more green, which she also did.

    But the most important change was with the hero’s picture. The cover art originally had this namby-pamby picture of Collin and I almost started crying. I asked her if she had any other shots, and she said only one, but that everybody at Revell thought he looked too angry in that shot. I asked her to send it to me anyway, and WOW, it was exactly the look I was going for. Collin IS angry because he wants the heroine, but he can’t have her, so the smoldering look conveyed the romantic tension SO prevalent in the book. Thanks for your question, and good luck in the contest.

    Hugs,
    Julie

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  7. JODIE!!! That MUST mean that you liked A Passion Most Pure, I hope??? If you did and are prone to posting reviews on Amazon.com or CBD.com, I am running a random drawing for a complete signed set of all four of my books and a $50 gift card, so take advantage by checking out the contest tab of my website and scrolling down to the contest info.

    TERESA ... Thank YOU for stopping by to enter, and hopefully it will net you a win!

    Hugs,
    Julie

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  8. I'm trying to win...following you everywhere. Whew!! Getting worn out...dianalflowers@aol.com

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  9. I've been stalking Julie's giveaways since I read her first book, here's my question....how many stalkers do you have out there?!!! Is there a stalker book in your future, haha?!
    ~Lauri
    http://knitsandreads.blogspot.com
    l_meinhardt@yahoo.com

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  10. Hi Julie, I am still following you and hope to be a winner of your great book. Thanks for stopping by to chat and the info you have imparted to us.

    misskallie2000 at yahoo dot com

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  11. Thanks for the interview. Our stories do touch our hearts in many ways. I always like going back and rereading what I've written. Do you have a favorite character in particular, and why? Thanks for the chance at winning your latest book.
    cynthiakchow (at) earthlink (dot) net

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  12. Each time I enter a giveaway for Julie's book, she has revealed more about herself and I count that all joy. God has blessed her with a multitude of compassion, empathy and understanding for others without a flake of judgment toward anyone. The Christian walk she describes in her stories are exampled in her own walk with others. I count Julie's skill of storytelling and her friendship a true blessing of God in my life. Thank you for the giveaway and a golden opportunity to win this book. I hope I do.

    Blessings,
    Barb Shelton
    barbjan10 at tx dot rr dot com

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  13. Hi, ladies!

    Yet another amazing interview! I love love love reading and learning about my ALL TIME F-A-V-O-R-I-T-E author! And can you believe I was hooked with just one book--A Hope Undaunted?!

    @Ashley, please don't enter me--just showing Julie some loyal support!

    @Julie, I'm still praying for a North Carolina book signing! =)And lets talk...a guy got a girl he liked your book so she would be his girlfriend?! Oh my! I SOOOO want a guy like that! (If ya could, could you send Cluny my way-or really, ANY of the handsome and God loving men you write about will do!) And until I ever find one, I'm content to forgive my burdens (you know what they are!) and turn EVERYTHING over to God and sit down with your AMAZING books! Love ya!

    ***HUGS***
    ~Molly~

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  14. DIANA, LAURI, MISSKALLIE, CYNTHIA, BARB AND MOLLY!!!
    What ... are you guys carpooling or something???

    DIANA ... Keep it up girl, there's gotta be a win in your future!

    LAURI ... How many "stalkers" do I have out there??? Only a few with the endurance of you guys above, so thanks for the HUGE show of support. You've won once, I know, but the way my contests been going, there have been double, triple and even quadruple winners, so don't give up!

    MISSKALLIE ... Hang in there, girl, there's a win in your future ...

    CYNTHIA ... A favorite character?? Well, the one I enjoy writing about the most is Charity because she is SUCH a hoot, she makes me laugh all the time. As far as hero??? I absolutely LOVE writing about Mitch because he is one of my favorites and soooo cranky/grouchy in a lovable way. :)

    BARB ... what an incredibly kind thing to say, my friend, that "The Christian walk she describes in her stories are exampled in her own walk with others." Not always true, I assure you, but I do try ... I honestly do.

    MOLLY ... thanks for your incredible support, my friend, and I'm pulling for a "Cluny" for you too! And if I ever get even remotely close to North Carolina, guess who I'm calling right off???

    Hugs,
    Julie

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  15. Julie,

    I thought I try at bettering my chances at winning a hope Undaunted for my sister, but I do have well three questions......
    1.)Would you let them make all your books into movies?
    2.)If so, would you be involved in every way to make sure that get it right? (Cause I can't stand when they take a book and make it into a movie and change it into a totally different story.)
    3.) Is there ever someway you would consider coming to South Carolina for a book signing?

    Your Friend and Fan- Kayla
    happygurl1807[at]yahoo[dot]com

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  16. Julie,
    Hello again, my favorite author friend:)
    I have two new questions for you.
    First, do you have any book signings coming up in Ohio?
    Second, since you like tall male characters in your books, is your husband also tall?
    Thanks for the opportunity to win a copy of your book!

    chakasa58(at)gmail(dot)com

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  17. KAYLA ... GRIN ... movies??? Honey, if somebody wanted to make a movie out of my books, I certainly wouldn't stop them, but uh ... I think the chances are slim to nil. :) But if I was ever famous enough (also slim to nil!), I would hope that I would have some pull if they ever made one of my books into a movie. :)

    As far as coming for a book signing, I don't travel all that much unless it's to a conference (i.e. I think I may travel to a conference in Atlanta next year), so my getting to South Carolina does not look real promising. BUT ... I always post my book signings in my newsletter and if I have one out of town, I usually also send e-mails/postcards to my newsletter recipients who are from that town IF I have their address. So if I came to South Carolina, honey, I would make darn sure to alert you because I'd definitely want to meet you too!!

    Hey, CHARLOTTE, hello again! And like I told Kayla above, I do not travel that much, but if for some reason I do get to a town for a conference, I try to let my newsletter recipients who live in that town know if I have a book signing there. For instance, I just had a book signing in Indy at the ACFW Conference, so I had that posted on my website calendar and in my newsletter ... I think. :)

    Is my husband tall??? Oooo ... question!! Yes, he is, as a matter of fact -- 6"1 to my 5"3, so he towers over me, which I LOVE!! I look like a little peanut next to him, which I also love because he makes me feel petite and feminine. So I guess that explains my affection for tall heroes, doesn't it?? :)

    Hugs,
    Julie

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  18. Julie, how long does it take you to write a book from initial plotting to turning the book in to your editor?

    Thanks!
    Ann_Lee_Miller@msn.com

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  19. Hi Ann ... oh man, it's all over the map as it varied on each book, but the average is about 6-7 months to write and another 2 to edit/revise on my part (inluding getting feedback from my critique partners). APMP took about 8 months to write, APR 2 months (working a part-time job, I might add), APD took 9 months and AHU also 9 months. But the last two were complicated by surgery/health setback for me on APD and on AHU and AHR, surgery/health setback for my aunt (for whom I'm primary caretaker), so you never know what life is going to deal you, right??

    Hugs,
    Julie

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  20. I hope I'm not double posting (my first attempt was screwy). Anyway, thanks for this opportunity. Julie is one of my favorites :)

    Karin
    kvbwrite(at)gmail(dot)com

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  21. KARIN, you came by -- good for you!! And I just posted two more giveaways on my website calendar, so don't miss out on those too, okay?

    Hugs,
    Julie

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  22. YAY!!! JUST WON A COPY OF A HOPE UNDAUNTED IN PREVIOUS CONTEST!!! SO EXCITED!!! THANK YOU JULIE,AND PLEASE REMOVE MY COMMENTS FROM HERE TO GIVE SOMEONE ELSE A BETTER CHANCE TO WIN OR REDRAW IF I'M PICKED. I ALMOST GAVE UP...DON'T GIVE UP BARB!

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  23. GRIN ... DIANA, you are TOO CUTE!! SUPER CONGRATS on the win, girl. It's going out tomorrow if you send me your address ...

    Hugs,
    Julie

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  24. Lovely interview. Maybe I shouldn't entirely give up on that childhood book that's been rewritten and is now collecting rejections.

    sdeeth at msn dot com

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  25. SHEILA!!! Nooooo, do NOT give up on that early ms., young lady, because you NEVER know what God plans to do with it!!

    Because you are an aspiring author, I strongly recommend you check out the group blog I belong to called Seekerville, a blog devoted to writing and the journey to publication. This month we are celebrating our 3rd birthday with giveaways (books, gift cards, etc.) ALL month AND a KINDLE GIVEAWAY too.

    Our blog began when 15 contest divas kept bumping heads with each other in contests and then decided to join forces to pray and help each other get published. When we started only 1 of the 15 had a contract ... now 14 of the 15 are published, so we must be doing something right. I hope you will check it out at: http://www.seekerville.blogspot.com/

    You won't be sorry! Good luck in this contest!

    Hugs,
    Julie

    Hugs,
    Julie

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  26. I have heard such wonderful things about Julie's books and especially A Hope Undaunted. It is on my must read list. I would love to be entered into your contest. Thank you so very much.

    Smiles,
    Cindy W

    countrybear52[at]yahoo[dot]com

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  27. CINDY ... Hey girl, thanks for coming by, and you know what? You JUST got in under the wire, because I am getting ready to pick a winner, so good luck!

    Hugs,
    Julie

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  28. BARB!!! You did it, girl -- you finally won that book, so SUPER CONGRATS!! I had my husband pick the winning number as I usually do, but this time I did something I don't normally do, I counted backwards, and VOILA ... landed square on your name, so I'm not calling you backwards or anything, but HEY, who cares??? You won a book!!! :)

    Thanks to everyone who took the time to enter by leaving a comment, and please check out my website calendar because I have a few more giveaways listed there, okay??

    Ashley, thank YOU for hosting me on your blog, my friend!! It's been a blast.

    Hugs,
    Julie

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  29. I want to believe my prayers for Barb to win this morning had you count backwards!!

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  30. GRIN ... you know what, DIANA?? They just may have because all of a sudden I felt like mixing it up, so good joB!!

    Hugs,
    Julie

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