Cindy Woodsmall ~ Author Interview

Cindy Woodsmall is a veteran home-school mom. For sixteen years, she was an active member of Gwinnett Christian Home Educators and thoroughly enjoyed working, laughing, and growing older with women of true character. She and her husband make their home in Georgia where her oldest child has a bachelor’s in nuclear medicine; her second child is a pre-pharmacy student at University of Georgia. And her youngest child, a preteen, writes, writes, and writes—and his imagination has come to Cindy’s rescue on several occasions. When the Heart Cries is Cindy’s debut novel and it hits the shelves on September 19, 2006.

What new book or project would you like to tell us about?


I’d love to tell you about the only project I have going on: A three-book series called Sister’s of the Quilt. Book one: When the Heart Cries will go on sale September 19, 2006.

The seeds for When the Heart Cries were sown through the fun, heartache, and confusion I had through the close friendship with a Beachy Amish Mennonite girl. That friendship lasted through most of elementary school and until I was fifteen when my family moved seven hundred miles south.

But one of the coolest experiences in this writing journey is that a door to making a new Amish friend opened. Miriam, an Old Order Amish woman, and I have so enjoyed this writing journey together. I’m thrilled that she not only opened her life, heart, and home to me, but she’s so excited about the story. She critiqued the entire manuscript for me and is more than ready for me to finish book two and send it to her. Everything about our relationship has been a blast!

To read the review of When the Heart Cries, visit http://novelreviews.blogspot.com/

Tell us about your publishing journey. How long had you been writing before you got a contract? How did you find out and what went through your mind?

Without exaggeration, stories hounded me from my earliest memories. But I never once considered writing. My parents didn’t take to creative outlets, so I did my best to avoid them. Consequently, day and night for many decades I kept pushing all stories and characters aside, feeling that I needed to stay focused on real world issues. But in the middle of a very transitional time in my life a blanket of creativity wrapped around me and refused to let go.

Ideas for stories became so loud it was nearly impossible to hear anyone standing in front of me talking. Possibly because of my upbringing or possibly because there is so much to do in a day, I never considered it might be God’s plan for me to write. Desperate for either relief or permission to write, I went to the altar one Sunday. I had no doubts that God would give me that much needed relief from the stories so I could focus on real life: family, prayer, home-schooling, and volunteer work.

But when I rose from the altar the story worlds were swirling harder and faster than ever. At that point I asked my sons to set me up a computer and I began writing. That was seven years ago.

So that I don’t bore you with a seven year journey, suffice it to say that through Karen Kingsbury, I learned of American Christian Fiction Writers. I’ve been to each conference and been blessed above all I would have ever asked or thought.

Do you still have self-doubts about your writing?

Absolutely! So, an editor liked my first work. It hasn’t hit the market yet. What if it doesn’t do as well as expected? What if the publisher put all this marketing behind me and soon enough they’ll regret it? Or what if the book sells really well and the publishers are completely pleased, but then they don’t like book two?

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

That depends: if you mean have I seriously considered quitting, no. If you mean have I had times where everything within me is screaming and writhing in pain, wishing I could quit and just walk away, yes. I think that generally writers are extremely passionate and because of that we HAVE to ignore our emotions a lot . . . or get ourselves into huge trouble.

What mistakes did you make while seeking an editor or agent?

We might need to ask them that question, since they’re generally an incredibly nice and diplomatic group of people and don’t wave it in people’s face what they didn’t like.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve heard?

Pray in order to stay in tune with your heart; it’s through the heart that God leads us. Attend conferences! (If you can’t attend conferences, buy the audio tapes or CDs when they become available and join an online group.)

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

Freelance editors will steal your voice. That may be true of some, and in any area that we’re seeking other people’s subjective opinions we need to be a bit careful— just follow your gut feeling and don’t be afraid of making a mistake. But Kathy Ide caused me to find my voice. And even now, if I can’t find my voice, I return to her and ask: what am I doing wrong in this chapter or scene?

What do you wish you’d known early in your career that might have saved you some time and/or frustration in writing? In publishing?

Hmmmm, I’d heard how slow the business moves, so I thought I’d have years and years and years to work through my deep-seated sense of reclusiveness. I think it’s wise to not assume things will go fast or slow but to put effort into being as spiritually, emotionally, and physically ready as possible to move to the beat of the publishing house.

Was there ever a difficult set back that you went through in your writing career?

Not yet, but it’s planet Earth, just give it some time.

What are a few of your favorite books?

Oh, wow, just a few?

I’d rather not start sharing that list if I can’t finish it. But, Nancy Jo Jenkins has a debut novel: Coldwater Revival that is beautifully written. Expressively speaking, if you’ve ever enjoyed canoeing or tubing down a river, absorbing every nuance that a God-given day can bring, then you’ll love this book!

What work have you done that you’re especially proud of and why?

That would probably be my volunteer work, where I’ve had a measure of success teaching children who struggle with learning to read.

Do you have a scripture or quote that has spoken to you lately in regards to your writing?

Psalm 127:1 Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman wakes but in vain.

For over two decades I’ve turned that into a prayer and beseeched God to perform His power over my children and now over my other endeavors.

Can you give us a look into a typical day for you?

I don’t have a good handle on this yet, but I average spending eight to ten hours a day writing and veer from that schedule for two days a week, Sunday and then whatever day needs me to set aside writing and run errands or be a mom. Because my goal is to work my writing around our youngest son, who is the only child we have that is still living at home, I may write during odd times. Like today, I’m taking him to the skating park with some friends, so I woke at two-thirty in order to get my eight to ten hours in before bedtime. Having this flexibility is VERY, VERY important to me.

Do you have a word or page goal you set for each day?

No. This is an area that I need to work on. Sometimes I spend my hours in front of my computer, but I haven’t accomplished enough fresh writing. I tend to spend too much time editing what I wrote yesterday or last week or last month.

Are you an SOTP (seat of the pants) writer or a plotter?

Both. I plot, research, plot, research, plot, research. But when I sit down to write, I allow the SOTP ideas to flow. Then I return to my plotting document, Microsoft Excel, delete necessary scenes and write in what I actually wrote in the story.

What author do you especially admire and why?

Because I’ve been a member of ACFW for so long and I’ve attended every conference, I have a long list of writers that I admire and love dearly. But since the first ACFW conference, Deborah Raney has been a constant encouragement to me through her writing, the one-on-one critiques I’ve received through ACFW’s conferences, and through her regular participation on our ACFW’s main e-Loop, but more than all of that, the reality of who she is outside her writing life spoke to me long before she knew I existed.

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

My favorite part is when the story finally starts coming together and my inner man knows I’m on the right track. That is such a euphoric feeling and it may take months of long, hard days to experience that awareness. My least favorite part is building a career that’s so dependent on subjective opinions. It’s a rough vocation to do your best and then it’s out there for the whole world to “rate the job performance” line by line.

How much marketing do you do? What's your favorite part of marketing?

So far, very little. But I’m reading a book on that right now. WaterBrook, on the other hand, has done a tremendous amount of marketing—including sending me the book I’m reading right now on how to market my book

Do you have any parting words of advice?

We all have lives and responsibilities that do NOT have to fit anyone else’s idea of what should be happening with our writing. We are His servants and should not allow other people’s opinions to dampen our joy in who and where we are. It took my husband and me a decade to conceive our youngest son; he’s no less important because he didn’t arrive on my and my husband’s timetable. Think about it, if he was born ten years earlier, he might not be able to be in the right place at the right time to accomplish a set purpose. That may well be the case for some aspiring author’s work.