I’m delighted to welcome Amy Wallace to My Book Bag. Amy, I’ve just finished reading Enduring Justice, and I can honestly say I think it’s a tremendous piece of writing. (Just my humble opinion, but I know it’s shared by many others.) We want to talk to you a little more about that, but first, tell us about you. Who is Amy Wallace, the gal next door?

Thank you so much for the wonderful welcome! I appreciate the kind words about Enduring Justice too.

Who am I? To start with, I’m a wife, homeschool mom, author, speaker, president of a local writing group, co-leader of a young writer’s club, and avid chocoholic. Whew, good thing I don’t do all those things on the same day.

 Here’s a little more: I love crafting high-action suspense that delves deep into heart issues. In my spare time, I love teaching teenagers and writers of all ages, scrapbooking, playing basketball, watching University of Louisville basketball, and hiking with my family. The beach is my all-time favorite place to be. Chocolate is my favorite food. I collect teddy bears, tons of books, and dust on my furniture.

I knew you’d be the perfect, oh-so-interesting neighbor! Now we can talk about your books. How many do you have published?

I have three novels published in the Defenders of Hope series: Ransomed Dreams, Healing Promises, and Enduring Justice.

How long have you been writing? Was there an “aha” moment when you knew you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve been writing for about seven years now. It all started with some books I stumbled across at the library and then told my husband how I’d change. After about seven books, he told me to write my own. I said, “No way!” But then God and my hubby teamed up and shoved me into the writing journey through a dream that became the novel, Ransomed Dreams, a meeting with a federal agent, and a long series of God-incidences that made me finally see that being a writer is exactly what I wanted to be.

I haven’t had the opportunity to read Ransomed Dreams (first in your Defenders of Hope Series), but I loved both Healing Promises and Enduring Justice. In Enduring Justice, you handled a couple of difficult subjects very gracefully. How hard was it to find the right balance – realistically portraying subjects that are unfortunately all too real, without becoming overly graphic or distasteful?

Thank you for that! It was my prayer throughout writing Enduring Justice that God would enable me to write real and in such a way that readers didn’t focus on the pain but experienced the redemptive hand of God throughout the pages and beyond.

As I was writing, I sort of shut off all the outside and inside noise that said I was writing too much or not enough. I just prayed as I typed and stayed true to the message God laid on my heart~ that healing is a choice.

Did I cry as I wrote some scenes? Yes, even after four stages of edits and being close to memorizing some chapters. That’s when I knew I’d hit the right balance of truth and hope, pain and grace.

In this reader’s very humble opinion, you found the perfect balance. What inspired your subject matter in this latest book?

I knew from the first time I wrote about Hanna Kessler in Ransomed Dreams that she had a secret. But not until I started writing, did I realize how much of my story would infuse hers. Much of Hanna’s hiding was ripped from the pages of my life. And the self-blame. But my experience of abuse occurred as a young teen, not as a child. So in many ways, my journey of healing and what God has done in and through so many people touched by childhood abuse provided the inspiration for Enduring Justice.

So you have the privilege of turning a very painful experience for you into hope and healing for others. It has to bring some measure of comfort to you to know that!  On a personal front, I can say this book spoke to my heart in a very real way, and I want to thank you for pushing through your personal discomfort and pain and making the book a reality. What are you working on now – can you talk about that?

I have three projects in various stages: researching, creating a proposal, or writing chapters. All three are suspense and all three have characters I’ve come to love who wrestle with the meeting of emotional scars and deep truth.

Sounds like you’ll continue to bring us these wonderful stories for a good long while.  How much time do you spend writing?

That’s an interesting question to answer. On the actual writing, I spend about 15 hours a Saturday working on chapters. It takes me on average about 16 Saturdays to write a novel. I do research reading, interviewing, and editing during the week in the afternoons and evenings when I’m not homeschooling or doing other writer-related activities.

This is the first time I’ve heard of a Saturday writing schedule, but I love the idea of using one day exclusively for writing, while using other days for writing related projects.   Hope you don’t mind if I become a copy cat and try it myself.  What’s your best piece of advice for new and aspiring writers?

Be passionate about your subject and your craft as you write for an audience of One to the best of your ability. That’s so valuable for your heart and head. Publishing is a tough and painful career. It’s also filled with amazing opportunities to speak into the lives of others. So when you practice doing your best for the Lord, you’re well prepared when God let’s others in on it.

 Give us one writing tip that you personally find invaluable.

The absolute best writing tip I’ve ever received was to have a team of pray-ers who pray with and for me as I’m writing. I send out weekly updates and prayer requests to a small group of people I trust. They’ve prayed me through many difficult days where the enemy attacked and I wanted to give up.

Prayer partners are a wonderful tool in any endeavor, aren’t they? Now for that off-the-cuff stuff I mentioned. If you could ask any person, living or dead, a random question – what question would you ask of whom?

I have two national heroes: Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. I’d love to ask them how they balanced the weight of running a county with teaching their children well.

What books are on your bedside table right now?

My bedside table is too packed with my kids’ artsy gifts: miniature cards, a paper heart-shaped basket, and candles that books have no room. But they are stacked up in my linen closet, next to my bedside table, and overflowing from bookcases all over the house. Those that are getting attention right now are Painted Dresses by Patricia Hickman, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, and The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn.

What word annoys you more than any other?

“NO!” Let’s just say my inner child sometimes gets stuck at age two.

I have to laugh, because “no” is SO not a good word for me either. What “super power” would you like to borrow for awhile?

I’d love to have mind sight, the ability to see places where I’m not as well as understand what makes people tick. That could really come in handy for parenting as well as book research.

Great choice – useful and fun too. Share a grammatical pet peeve…go ahead, sound off.

I’m no grammar Nazi and try to be forgiving because I make my share of mistakes. But if I have to choose something that bugs me in books, it would be switching from past to present action and POV changes in the same scene so much that it’s hard to keep up with what’s happening.

What color crayon best describes you on a good day? Bad day?

On a good day, I’m a bright cerulean blue. On a bad day I’m stormy gray.

We hope you don’t see many of the stormy gray days. Thank you for hanging out at My Book Bag for awhile, Amy! Where can my readers find your books?

Thank you for a fun visit here!

Readers can find my books on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/159052747X Ransomed Dreams http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1601420102 Healing Promises http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1601420145 Enduring Justice

I’d also love it if readers stopped by the Dark Chocolate Suspense website: www.amywallace.com. While there, check out the cool book reader for first chapters to each of the Defenders of Hope books: http://www.amywallace.com/ej_chapter.html

 Thanks again, and we hope you sell a million!

Amy Wallace is a graduate of the Gwinnett County Citizens Police Academy and chapter president of an American Christian Fiction Writer’s local author group. She is also the contributing author of God Answers Moms’ Prayers, God Allows U-Turns for Teens, Chicken Soup for the Soul Healthy Living Series: Diabetes, and A Cup of Comfort for Expectant Mothers. Amy lives with her husband and three children in Georgia.