Author Interview: Lynn Coleman

Plug time. What book or project is coming out or has come out that you’d like to tell us about?

Fighting for Bread & Roses is the first book in the Lindsey Taylor Mystery Series. It is two mysteries woven together in one novel. There is a historical mystery as well as a contemporary one. Lindsey the contemporary character is a historical mystery writer who stumbles into her fair share of trouble when researching her books. Anna Lopizzo's death during the "Bread & Roses" strike of 1912 fascinates Lindsey.

And then there was Jenna Waverly, who supposedly had drowned in the frozen Merrimack River. Was her death really an accident or might it have been suicide? Or did someone kill Jenna?

How long had you been writing seriously before you got the call?

It started as a desire to write fiction for the Christian market, after a couple years of playing around with it, I felt confidant of the Lord’s call for this new direction in my life. It was after that call that I seriously began writing and studying the craft of writing Christian fiction.

Tell us about the call.

My call was an eye opening experience. I’m not a natural writer. When the Lord called me to write fiction, I didn’t have the skills and I still have trouble with some like grammar and sentence structure.

But it is out of my inability that the Lord has given me the ability, the gift, to write for Him, to share Biblical truths in an entertaining yet encouraging fashion.

What’s the best advice you’ve heard on writing/publication?

Now that’s an easy question, read what you want to write. Know the genre, know the publishing houses and what they produce to understand what they look for in a novel.

What’s the worst piece of writing advice you’ve ever heard?

I chuckled at reading the question but it took a bit to try and figure out the “worse” advice, I suppose it was when someone told me my work was great and I should self publish it rather than go the conventional route of finding a publisher. This was very early in my learning the craft of writing and even I knew I had a lot to learn. I believe that if I had given into those comments I would have not studied the craft as much as I have now.

What’s something you wish you’d known earlier on that might have saved you some time/frustration in the publishing business?

You know I don’t know if there is anything I wish I knew before I started. Everything about writing is a learning stage. From the first scribbling of words on the page to the time spent in crafting those words just right.

With regard to the publishing business I’d still have to say the experiences are teaching me more than the knowledge I had before I began. I learn best by hands on experience, I’ll read and listen to learn more, but I’m still basically a hands on kind of learner. I have to do, in order to really learn. I hope that makes sense.

Do you have a scripture or quote that has been speaking to you lately?

“Be still and know that I am God;” Ps. 46:10a

It’s only the first part of the verse but what the Lord has been impressing upon me is spending more time alone with Him.

Being alone with God means many different things for various people. To me it means spending more time reading the Bible, in prayer and in quiet solitude and just waiting on hearing His voice.

Is there a particularly difficult set back that you’ve gone through in your writing career you are willing to share?

Writing is difficult, its very nature requires the author to dig deeper into themselves, their characters and the various circumstances of life. If we can look at our set backs as opportunities to strengthen our commitment to writing for the Lord, then “It’s all good,” as Karen Ball was recently quoted saying at this year's Write to the Heart Conference in Nashville.

What are a few of your favorite books?

Eyes of Elijah by Brandilyn Collins, knocked my socks off.
Whispers from Yesterday by Robin Lee Hatcher, is probably my most favorite of hers.My newest favorite has to be Terri Blackstock’s Last Light. Wow, what a powerful book.

What piece of writing have you done that you’re particularly proud of and why?

I’m not sure I can answer that. Each book has had it’s own achievements for me,but since my newest one is a switch in genres I suppose that would be the current one at the moment. Fighting for Bread & Roses.

Can you give us a view into a typical day of your writing life?

I generally am in my office by 9 AM and I work til lunch. I’m not a morning person so I tend to do book keeping, email, any business related issues I can handle that morning. If there is time, I’ll work on research for a novel.

I finish the day in the afternoon, or in the evenings depending on my husband’s schedule. When writing a novel I try to write 3k a day.

If you could choose to have one strength of another writer, what would it be and from whom?

The quiet and strong spirit and humbleness of Francine Rivers.

Do you have a dream for the future of your writing, something you would love to accomplish?

To be the best writer I can be for the Lord and not myself.

Has there ever a time in your writing career you thought of quitting?

Lots, its all part of the business. It doesn’t matter how accomplished you are, there are days when you want to walk away from it. But the reality is, you can’t. Once you are called there is a burning passion in your bones that from time to time may die down to cool ember,s but they will be rekindled.

What is your favorite and least favorite part of being a writer?

Favorite is being god of the story people behave in the manner you wish them to. They solve their life’s problems within the pages of your story.

My least favorite would be editing and yet I say that tongue in cheek. Because I love the process of reworking the words for better pacing, structure and to be more engaging.

Parting words?

Thanks for inviting me to participate in this interview. I suppose for those new writers who are reading this, I would challenge them to question themselves and why they don’t want to change, edit their work. And for those accomplished writers who might be reading this, don’t forget to feed your spirit and develop your relationship with Jesus Christ, he is the source of life and life more abundantly. After all, what’s wrong with tapping into the ultimate Creator?