Spotlight - Christa Allan author of The Edge Of Grace

Join Christa Allan, author of the contemporary fiction novel, The Edge of Grace (Abingdon Press), as she virtually tours the blogosphere September 5 – 30 2011 on her second virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book!

About the book... 

When Caryn Becker answers the telephone on most Saturday morning, it’s generally not a prelude to disaster. Except this time, her brother David’s call shifts her universe. Her emotional reserves are already depleted being a single parent to six-year-old Ben after the unexpected death of her husband Harrison. But when David is the target of a brutal hate crime, Caryn has to decide what she’s willing to risk, including revealing her own secrets, to help her brother.  A family ultimately explores the struggle of acceptance, the grace of forgiveness, and moving from prejudice to love others as they are, not as we’d like them to be.

 About the author...

A true Southern woman who knows that any cook worth her gumbo always starts with a roux and who never wears white after Labor Day, The Edge of Grace is Christa’s second novel. Her debut women’s fiction, Walking on Broken Glass, released in February from Abingdon Press. She is under contract for three more novels that will release in 2012 and 2013. She has been teaching high school English for over twenty years, earning her National Board Certification in 2007. The mother of five adult children and the totally smitten Grammy of two granddaughters, Christa and her veterinarian husband, Ken, live in Abita Springs, Louisiana.

In her words...

TIPS FOR WRITERS

Having recently celebrated the release of my second novel, I feel woefully inadequate and truly humbled writing this post. But, it’s probably exactly what I need because I’m under contract for another novel.

 Writing on deadline. Ouch.  

I feel like I’ve been invited to prom by the cutest hunk in school, but he’s waiting to see my dress before he’ll actually escort me into the ballroom. It’s tough, though, to go shopping for prom dresses in the supermarket and truly difficult if you insist you’re a size 2 when there’s a missing digit in that number.

So, too, I discovered writing my novel involved more than my fingers tap dancing on the keyboard. Like, my husband appreciated dinner at least one night a week. I don’t live in a world where I step into a hermetically sealed luxury suite and depart with a completed novel. Life goes on, which means that the novel may not.  

The tips here, while not specific to writing, may help writing happen.

1.  If you have a family, remember to feed them.  Spend two or three days cooking freezer friendly meals. Eliminate washing dishes; use disposable containers. Label the contents. Post the list on the freezer door. They can scratch off as they use, so you’ll know when they’re about to run out.  

As far as I know, there are no documented cases of family members dying from eating too many frozen pizzas. Or sandwiches. 

2. Stop writing long enough to do something. Go outside and yank a few weeds, walk around the block, boogie across the room.  Movement is important to your brain and your brawn. 

3. The telephone is not your friend.  Warn those you talk to regularly that you’ll be in the writing zone, so you may not be answering their calls right away.  If you’re experiencing withdrawal, reward yourself with a phone call after a set number of words or pages.

4. The internet is your frenemy. Checking your email, Twitter, Google+ and Facebook are not research.  Follow guidelines for telephone rewards.

5.  Pray. Before, during, after.

http://christaallan.com/

Thank you very much Christa for your great words of wisdom~!!