Author Interview ~ Maureen Lang

Maureen Lang is the recipient of RWA’s Golden Heart Award and ACFW’s Noble Theme (now The Genesis). She’s an active member of RWA, ACFW, CAN (Christian Authors Network) and several workshop/critique groups both face-to-face and online. She lives in the Midwest with her husband and three children.















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

I’m very excited to tell you about PIECES OF SILVER, my Inspirational historical from Kregel that is out as of March, 2006. Liesel Bonner has never had her patriotism questioned—until America joins the First World War and Germany becomes the enemy. Now anyone with a German name is suddenly suspect. Worse, Liesel realizes the man she thought she was going to marry isn’t at all who she believed him to be. She suddenly faces an impossible decision: remain loyal to America and betray this man, or be loyal to him and betray America. Only the handsome federal agent who turned her life upside down can help her now.



Tell us about your journey to publication. How long had you been writing before you got the call you had a contract, how you heard and what went through your head.

I’d been seriously pursuing publication for about three years before receiving an email from Kregel stating their desire to publish my book. That first moment was wild: giddy, I suppose, quickly followed by disbelief, then back to giddy in between prayers of thanksgiving. I called my husband, then my mom, in between re-reading the email to make sure I’d read it right.



Do you still experience self-doubts regarding your work?

The older I get, the more I realize there is a whole generation of women out here who have self-doubts in just about every area of life. I’m hopeful the next generation coming up has less of this, although I’m sure that insecurity will be replaced by some other flaw since we’re all human! Basically I do suffer from self-doubt in my work, mostly when I’m away from writing for a while. I forget the enjoyment I felt while creating. Then I might read something that’s particularly well done and think mine can’t possibly compare. But when I’m in the midst of a project, these feelings are almost never there. I just enjoy writing too much. Which is why, I suppose, I like to work so much!



What’s the worst mistake you’ve made while seeking publication?

Probably not following through with every opportunity to submit work to an editor I’ve met at a conference. This is like throwing away a chance, not to mention the money spent to attend that conference. I’m also a bit slow about submitting things, I tend not to like simultaneous submissions, and I probably take too long to get over a rejection so that slows down the submission time, too. I admire people who have proposals out everywhere, who have the organizational skills needed to follow up on things, who somehow get answers to inquiries where I’m more a wait-and-then-wait-some-more kind of gal.



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

I once heard Robin Lee Hatcher say when she finishes a book she’s not sure she has another one in her. Imagine that, after so many successful books! But that’s exactly how I feel when I finish something. Can I do it again? Sometimes I’m not so sure. But just knowing I’m not the only one to have felt something like this makes it seem less daunting and more common, easier to get over.



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

I recently heard one writer tell another to start submitting her work before the book was finished, just to get it “out there” and give her more incentive to finish the project. For a first-time author, this is horrible advice. Publishers rarely buy on contract from someone without a track record, and I firmly believe submitting something before it’s ready is literary suicide for that particular project. Do it enough times to the same editor, and it’s literary suicide for that author.



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

That I would still have to clean the toilet after I got published. Translation: life doesn’t change much after a dream comes true. There are still problems, some new, some old.



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

Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

I just love the Bible – it has the most beautiful language ever written. But more than that, Scripture proves to me that God has designed us to be receptive to the power of the written word. Now obviously God’s Word is the MOST powerful, but it stands to reason He wired all of us up to be speakers and hearers of words that touch others. Isn’t it an awesome thing to use words to touch another life?



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

My debut Inspirational, PIECES OF SILVER, is actually my second entrance in the publishing field. A long time ago I wrote secular romances, but I became a single parent and suddenly couldn’t find the energy or the time to continue in a field that didn’t pay very well. Years later, when life settled down again, I thought I might take another stab at it. By then I was remarried, with another child on the way.

But that baby turned out to be my precious Grant, who has Fragile X Syndrome. We learned he was mentally retarded when he was around seventeen months old, and for a time I thought I would never write again. Life was just too hard to consider wanting to experience it through writing along with just getting up in the morning.

But God drew me back to peace, and I knew when I started writing again this time nothing would stop me. I hoped to be published within five years of that time and there were moments in those first couple of years that I wondered if God intended for me to write professionally again. Maybe He wanted the writing to be just between us. Those doubts, while real, never lasted long so I’ve kept at it and now I can’t imagine NOT writing for as large an audience as possible.



What are a few of your favorite books? (Not written by you.)

Peace Like A River by Leif Enger is probably the strongest writing I’ve ever enjoyed. I also love Eve’s Daughters by Lynn Austin, W. Dale Cramer’s Bad Ground, and Deeanne Gist’s A Bride Most Begrudging. And tons of others! I love books!



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

Well, I am proud of the book that’s out now, PIECES OF SILVER. I think the plot works well, and it was a lot of fun to put the characters in tough places and then make things worse for them. Hey, the light won’t seem bright unless you’re in a black moment, right?



Do you have a pet peeve having to do with this biz?

How long everything takes! It seems all I ever do is wait! I hate waiting!



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

I’m up early and I start the day with breakfast, a short quiet time with the Lord, then email. After that I get my boys off to school, and then I sit down to write. I must admit I’m happiest when I’m in the midst of a project. Between books I’m restless, a tad bit crabby judging by the fact that I don’t want to be around myself so I’m sure most others feel the same. I normally write from 8 in the morning until 1 in the afternoon, then I break for lunch and if I get another half hour in before my son comes home around two, I’m lucky.

Then I’m busy with family and house demands, so my day is pretty much over. I do end the day with some reading, however, which I also consider part of my writing life. Usually I’m researching something and have a history book or two checked out from the library, but I also use the evenings to read fiction. It’s so important to keep feeding your mind with good writing!



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

I would love to possess the concise clarity of words that Leif Enger uses when he creates an image that zings from his book indelibly into the reader’s mind. He doesn’t waste a word; they’re all right where they’re supposed to be.



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

I want to do what every other fiction author wants: to touch others with a story or a character, to have someone read my book and say: “Yes, I’ve felt exactly that way, too.” There’s a connection, a sort of community for that moment, even though I’ll never meet that person. But, in heaven, we might meet because we’ll have the time to meet absolutely everyone eventually, and maybe we’ll have that sense of community again and it’ll be even better because we’ll be in heaven. Does that sound silly? I hope not, because I have this feeling heaven will be one huge community with an intimacy we can’t achieve down here.



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

Before receiving my first contract – yes, just ask my husband! It’s not worth the pain of rejection. I’ll just write for me and God. But since getting my first contract with a Christian publisher? No, not yet, although I suppose it’s a bit early with only one Inspirational under my belt. Ask me again in a few years, and I might have a different answer!



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

My favorite part of being a writer is writing. Creating a story out of my imagination, where things seem to fit together as if they’ve been there all the time, waiting for me to discover them.

My least favorite part is contemplating speaking in front of an audience. I’m scheduled for a couple of events this year, and I’m already worried about it. I’ve been writing for many years and I know I have lots to share, but I would prefer to just write out the speech and have someone else give it.



How much marketing do you do? Any advice in this area?

I’ve had some promotional items made up which were fun to put together – pens and sticky notes, a post card with an image of the great cover Kregel gave my book. I mailed a post card to many bookstores in my state and the surrounding ones, and it was actually more fun than I expected. I’m not sure of results since this is my first venture into this sort of thing, but for a first book – I definitely recommend it because it all helps you to believe it’s really, finally, happening. I also have a couple of book signings scheduled, but I’ll only do those with other authors so we’ll at least have each other to talk to!



Parting words?

I’d like to encourage other writers out there to keep at it. I know everything in this business is harder than it first appears, that it takes longer, that the competition is tougher than ever. But writing itself, if you’re wired for it, is the real blessing. God can teach you things about yourself, about this life He’s given you, about Who He is, all through the written word. There’s nothing else like it, because it’s just you and Him and that computer. And that’s all you need for writing.