An Interview with Debbie Fuller Thomas

Your story is about a mother whose daughter was switched at birth. How does Marty find out that her child was switched? Marty's daughter, Ginger, is the victim of a fatal genetic disease, Neimann Pick Type C, which often strikes every sibling in a family. Marty is concerned for her other 2 daughters, and when it's determined that she and her ex-husband are not carriers of the disease they know something's not right. Where did you get the idea for your story? My inspiration for the book came straight out of real life from a news story I heard about two families fighting over switched-at-birth babies when one child is orphaned. Of course, the circumstances and setting in my story are different, and the characters are completely fictitious. But I knew it would be a heartbreaking dilemma for any parent, especially for one who had suffered through the death of a child she thought was hers. Do you have a favorite character? I would have to say Andie, because even at 13-years-old, she doesn't become a victim. She's a little quirky, and she's had to mature quickly. Even though she's developed an attitude toward God and her situation in general, she keeps it to herself most of the time, and we understand her need to vent occasionally. On what level do you think women will identify with Marty, her biological mom? I think most moms would understand the panic of discovering they had the wrong child, and the guilt at not realizing instinctively that something was wrong all along. On another level, Marty is a caregiver who sets aside her own dreams to nurture her family. As women, we often set aside our dreams out of necessity, guilt or lack of support from our families, but like Marty, we don't have to abandon our dreams completely. The story is set at a drive-in movie theater. What led you to choose that setting? I think there's a nostalgic winsomeness about drive-in theaters and I want to encourage families to take advantage of the few drive-ins that are still in operation. I remember the smell of hot coffee when my mother poured cups from the thermos, and falling asleep in the backseat with my pillow and blanket. There's a sense of intimacy and togetherness that comes from being alone with your family, even though hundreds of other people are watching the same movie. I also used the run-down condition of the Blue Moon Drive-in as a reflection of the relationship between Marty and Andie and of the condition of their spiritual lives when they first meet. What is the meaning behind the title: Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon? Tuesday night is family night at the Blue Moon Drive-in. Andie needs a family, and the desire of Marty's heart is for her dysfunctional family to be a whole again. Who are some of the other interesting characters in your story? Andie is sandwiched in the birth order between Winnie, the needy younger sister, and Deja, an older teen who is bitter about the situation. Some interesting dynamics that take place when the three of them interact, especially when mom has to work long hours and there's too much unsupervised together-time. What is the message that you would like your readers to take away from Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon? I believe that God is our Father and that we were created to commune with Him on a deep level, but sin orphans us. When we're open to it, God is ready and willing to re-claim and restore us as his children. How did you begin your writing career? I operated a home day care for 6 preschoolers when my children were young, and I was in desperate need of a distraction to keep my sanity. So I began to write a novel during their naptimes. I finished it in about 2 years. It was my 'practice novel' which gave me confidence and helped me plot the blueprint for Tuesday Night. What advice would you give to someone starting out as a writer? Don't quit. I sold the first article I ever sent to a publisher and didn't sell another thing for 19 years. It's not going to happen overnight. It's an apprenticeship - a craft to be honed. When you're tempted to give up, remember the encouraging things other writers, agents or editors have said about your writing. If God has given you some talent, what acceptable excuse can you give Him for not using it? _______________________________ "I am passionate about good fiction, the kind that grabs you and won't turn loose. My hope is that my characters will capture you and that you will consider my stories old friends with whom you visit often." Debbie Fuller Thomas is available for interview Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon Debbie Fuller Thomas Moody Publishers June 1, 2008 ISBN: 978-0802487339 Debbie Fuller Thomas What others are saying about Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon: A wonderful debut novel! Honest. Real. Gritty. A compelling look at the hardscrabble lives and beat-up souls of a grieving, single mom and her daughters as they navigate their way to hope and healing to become a family again. I couldn't put it down! I LOVE Debbie Fuller Thomas's beautiful, descriptive writing. You will too. Highly recommended. Laura Jensen Walker, Author of Miss Invisible and Daring Chloe __________________ You'll be caught up in this story from the first page, and drawn along by Debbie Fuller Thomas' masterful writing. A beautiful, wise tale of a family caught in a predicament with no simple answers, Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon will linger in your thoughts for a good long time. Kathleen Popa, author of Saint Bertie and To Dance in the Desert ____________________ In Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon, Debbie Fuller Thomas takes every parent's worst nightmare and spins it into a deeply touching story. From the fragile seed of hope in Marty, to the fearful confusion of Andie, we see deep into the hearts of two families who have fallen victim to not one tragedy, but two. Compelling from the first word to the last, this is a story of the healing power of love, both human and divine. Sharon K. Souza, author of Every Good and Perfect Gift and Lying on Sunday

Chance to WIN!

NO FOOLING!

Wendy Lawton, Artist and Author, Celebrates Release of Her Seventh Novel With Fabulous April Fools Day Contest

(THE WOODLANDS, TX) What do porcelain, Pocahontas, and prizes have in common? Wendy Lawton, author, sculptor and literary agent is on a mission to find the next Daughter of the Faith for her highly successful middle grade series. In celebration of the release of The Captive Princess: A Story Based on the Life of Young Pocahontas, her seventh novel in the series, Lawton is offering a plethora of prizes for contestants who are chosen from among those who post suggestions on Crystal Miller's When I Was Just a Kid blog (http://wheniwasjustakid.blogspot.com/).

One lucky winner will receive all seven Daughters of the Faith novels ($49 value), while another will get all four books in the Real TV series ($44 value).The grand prize--an autographed Courage to Run doll and book, (value $695.00) will be awarded if more than twenty people comment before April 1, 2008, with suggested Daughters of the Faith characters.

Keep in mind that each character in this series is a real girl from the pages of history who took a stand for her faith (usually at great cost) while she was still a girl. Nominees should not be someone who grew up to do great things or who married a great man, bur rather a girl like Pocahontas, the Captive Princess, who stepped out in faith.

The Captive Princess: A Story Based on the Life of Young Pocahontas

Is there an American student who doesn't know some version of the story of Pocahontas-- whether the fabricated Disney version or the equally fictitious but oft-told love story between Pocahontas and John Smith? Wendy Lawton digs into the history and tells it entirely through the eyes of the young Pocahontas. And though the romantic accounts are the stuff of legend and lore, Pocahontas' faith story remains one of the most beautiful love stories in history.

What others are saying:

"Pocahontas has long been a favorite character of mine, and Wendy Lawton brings her to glorious life in The Captive Princess. Through Lawton's excellent research and vivid writing, walked out of the dense forest and into my heart. This book is a treasure!"
Angela Hunt, author of Uncharted

"I jumped at the chance to read Wendy Lawton's latest book, The Captive Princess, because of her previous stories. Again, she wove her literary magic. Always true to historical facts and able to infuse spiritual truths naturally, Wendy Lawton is a master storyteller."
Donita K. Paul author of popular Christian fantasy including The DragonKeeper Chronicles

____________________

WENDY LAWTON feels equally comfortable on a computer, at a writer's conference or with a cool lump of clay in her hand. She's been an artist, a writer and now, a literary agent with the respected literary agency, Books & Such.

No stranger to the literary market, Lawton has written seven books in her middle grade Daughters of the Faith series. These books were followed by a series of teen books The Real TV series and her nonfiction book, Impressions in Clay (Moody).

______________________

Wendy Lawton is available for interview or blog appearance.

Need Directions?

So…you wake up one morning with your drippy nose now stuffed tighter than a stomach after Thanksgiving dinner, and your throat is scratching worse than a bad case of hives. You figure it’s time to try this medicine everyone’s been raving about…Airborne. You bought it months ago and stuck it in your medicine cabinet thinking sometime in the future you’re going to need it. If it’s half as good as everyone says, you’re bound to be feeling like Superwoman (or Superman, as the case may be) in no time.

Now, if you’re anything like me, you’re not a morning person. Reading is rather difficult through bleary eyes and a brain whose waves won’t even wiggle for another hour. You pop the top, drop a tablet into your palm, and marvel at how large the bugger is. Looks like a super-sized TUMS. You figure it’s a chewable. Must be. They’re too big to swallow and you’ve been told they’re chock full of vitamins. You can chew vitamins, right?

You toss one into your mouth. Doesn’t taste too bad. But then… Man oh man. The thing starts to fizz. You soon resemble Old Yeller during his rabies scene. Foam is spewing. Big time. You fight for air as the foam fills every available space in your throat and sinus cavity and threatens to erupt onto the floor. In a panic, you grab the bottle in search of a warning label. That’s when you see it. (Cuz you’re wide awake by now.) The directions say to drop one tablet in a small glass of water, let it dissolve, then drink the juice. Ohhhhh. That information would have been helpful a minute ago.

Why would I be telling you this? Well, in case you haven’t figured me out by now, I take situations that happen and try to apply them to other areas of my life. As a writer, I have certain rules I must follow. I don’t follow them, I don’t get published. It’s as simple as that. If you think you can just sit down and write a story any way you want, a severe case of the blahs will set in and you’ll soon be foaming at the mouth from all the rejections you’ll receive. Yes, rules can be bent and even broken in the writing world, but you’d better know the rules well before you try to bend or break them. Best way to know the rules is to read. Read authors’ books, blogs, or websites. Buy some how-to books. Attend conferences. How ever you decide to learn, know the correct procedures for good writing.

And how would this foamy experience pertain to me as a Christian? It’s very similar to writing. As a child of God, I have rules I must follow. God has laid them out in His Word. If I read His directions and follow them, life will be a little simpler. Oh, that’s not to say life will be a piece of cake, smooth as silk, or any other cliché you want to use. We’ll all run across trouble from time to time, usually because of some bad decision we make, like not following directions. But we all get second chances, and third and fourth. Just because we think we know it all doesn’t mean we don’t have to follow instructions. But you know what? God loves us anyway, foam and all.

Reading. Yep. A good dose of it all the way around can keep us from trouble. I recommend it highly.

Endurance

The Badwater Ultramarathon. Just the name evokes difficulty. Then when you hear that it starts in Death Valley and ends on a mountain peak, it denotes near impossibility.

The equivalent of five marathons plus three miles, the Badwater Ultramarathon is the most demanding and extreme of all running events. The starting line is in Badwater, Death Valley, the lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere marked at 280 feet below sea level. The course covers three mountain ranges totaling 13,000 feet vertical ascent and 4,700 feet descent, and ends at the summit of Mount Whitney, covering 135 miles…nonstop.

Temperatures have been known to climb all the way to 130 degrees Fahrenheit. While running in Death Valley, participants try to stay on the white line of the shoulder of the highway. Why? Because the road is so hot, it will melt the soles of their shoes. The white line is ‘slightly’ cooler. Contestants have described their time in Death Valley as ‘running into a hair dryer’ or as being trapped in an oven with no door.

Runners have been known to hallucinate while on this marathon. One man also claims his shoe size will go from size 11 to 14 before the race is over. The average time to finish this marathon is 48 hours, while the time limit is 60 hours.

By now you may be asking what the reward is for finishing this race. A million dollars? Thousands? Nope. For those who finish under 48 hours, they’ll receive the coveted Badwater belt buckle. Those who complete the race in the required 60 hours will receive a t-shirt.

What kind of payoff is that, you ask? I think the real reason the runners are in this marathon is just for the satisfaction of being able to complete such a grueling race. I mean, can you imagine? 135 miles of the most awful conditions man can endure…and to say you made it. You achieved your goal.

I read this information with fascination. It brought forth two questions. 1. Can I say the same about my spiritual life? 2. Can I say the same about my writing life?

My favorite verses are found in Hebrews 12:1-3. “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.”

Are we consistent in our faith? In our spiritual walk? In the race set before us? Our goals? We may look at the list given in the ‘Faith Hall of Fame’ found in Hebrews 11 and say, “Yeah, but I’m not like them.” Yes, we are. They’re human, just like us. They made mistakes, just like us. Yet God used them for something special…and He can use us too. God never said it would be easy. Almost the entire book of Acts tells us to expect opposition. But God does promise to be with us through it all. As Chuck Swindoll said… “Faith does not change my circumstances. Faith changes me.”

You may look at the marathon runners and say, “Yeah, but I’m not like them.” Yes, you are. Yes, it takes training to do something like that, but what doesn’t? It takes training to stay consistent in your Christian walk. It takes training to be able to run a marathon. It takes training to write well enough to get your book published.

You can’t give up. Ever. I’m guessing that the runners who didn’t manage to cross the finish line of the Badwater Ultramarathon return for another go at that belt buckle. When we fail in our walk of faith, or when we receive a rejection letter, we need to return to that starting line and plan to go the distance. Like the Ultramarathon, there will be ups and downs. Valleys and peaks. But keep your eye on the goal. Who wouldn’t want to be able to say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.”

Playing TAG

Why, Jess Ferguson, you sneaky little bugger. You would pull a TAG like this to get me back on the blogging ball again. Well, I guess I should thank you because I needed to update long before now. So, I guess I’m supposed to tell where I was and what I was doing 10, 20, and 30 years ago. Shoot, you’re really testing my memory cells. Ummm…all right, here we go…

10 years ago – I had been married almost nine years and our sons were ages 5 and 3. My oldest going off to school. Yep, that’s a memory of ripping out my heart and stomping all over it that I’d rather forget. But we both survived. (grin) Writing was barely a gleam of an idea, especially novels. I think I had just started writing children’s devotions for an online ministry or at the very least been in the discussion phase of the endeavor.

20 years ago – Goodness, this seems forever ago. Makes me scared of moving on to 30 years ago. Let’s see…I hadn’t yet met my future husband. That would be a few months down the road. I was working in the payroll department for a title company near uptown Houston. Man, what to say about this time. Not much. My life basically consisted of working, eating, and sleeping and attending church on Sundays. I lived with my oldest sister at this time while her husband’s job sent him to Virginia for a while. Or maybe it was Georgia. Can’t recall for certain. Anyway, it was my sister’s best friend who would introduce me to my future husband. That’s when life got interesting.

30 years ago – Ye gads. This TAG is making me feel old. Thanks a lot, Jess. (kidding) Thirty years ago I was still such a young whipper snapper. LOL. Still attending school at Granada-Huntley High School in Minnesota. Playing basketball and running in track kept me busy. Oh, and my grades were pretty good too. (grin) Not much to say beyond that. Ya’ll remember high school, right? Education and friendships. Great stuff. But you couldn’t PAY me to go back there and do it again.

Well, that's about it. Hey! STOP YAWNING!

Wake Up Call

I’m not a morning person. I’m not great with nights either, but mornings are by far the worst. My eyes may be open but that doesn’t mean I’m seeing anything. Just ask the door I slammed my nose into one morning when I didn’t notice it was closed. And don’t dare ask me to do math. My husband learned that a while back and has never let me forget it.

This one certain morning was particularly bad. I woke up exhausted. I dragged out of bed, pulled on a pair of sweat pants because it felt a little cool, and went about making lunches for the boys. From time to time, and with growing desperation, I’d asked the Lord to help me wake up. To make matters worse, I kept hearing this strange humming. It would start and stop at odd intervals, and I couldn’t locate the source. Every time I thought I was close, it’d change locations. I finally gave up and went about the business of sending my kids on their way. After our goodbyes, I sat down, picked up my prayer list, and began my quiet time. My prayer started off by again asking the Lord to help me wake up. Then I continued on.

I was about halfway through my list when I heard the humming sound again. Seconds later, something latched onto my leg.

I flung the prayer list aside and grabbed whatever had hold of me. I jerked off my sweatpants right there in the office, keeping hold of my attacker, and headed outside…without putting on any other pants. Thank goodness we live out in the country.

Once outside, I very carefully proceeded to turn my sweatpants inside out. There sat a big ole’ bumblebee, staring me down and looking rather irate as it flexed its wings as if to prove its power over me. Or maybe it was a warning that it was about to lay me out. All I know for sure is, it had me scared.

(Okay, right about now I figure most of you are wondering how in the world a bumblebee got into my sweatpants. When I learned that running the dryer takes as much or probably more energy than running the air conditioner, I began hanging even the t-shirts and sweatpants out on the line after fluffing them in the dryer for only a few minutes. Now, on with the story.)

I shook the pants, but rather than dislodge the beast, it infuriated him. Seeing its wings now preparing for takeoff, I flung the pants away, unwilling for it to latch onto me again. It sat there looking at me for several moments before it decided I wasn’t worth the effort and buzzed away. Only seconds later, I heard a car coming down the road. I grabbed my pants and raced for the house.

So, why did I share this embarrassing story? To remind you that God answers prayer. It may not be in the way you think…and most times, it’s not. And it may not be answered right away…and most times, it’s not. But God most certainly answers prayer, in His way and in His time. And sometimes the answer is no. But He answered this particular prayer with a yes. Without a doubt, I was wide awake after that. I finished my prayer list without yawning once. But just a warning…be careful what you ask for. Or rather, how you ask for it.

JUST DO IT...NO EXCUSES

Or any other ad campaign that applies.

I’ve recently started writing again. No, it wasn’t a planned absence or even a wanted one. How many times have we all said, “Just wait till summer. I’ll have tons of time to write,” only to have those months become so busy, you wonder if you found time to sleep?

So anyway, things have finally slowed to where I can actually sit and write again. An addition to a scene came to mind. Cute. I could visualize it so well. I whipped it out and zipped it to my crit group thinking they’d love it. Oh, they loved it all right. Gushed all over it. Blood, that is. It came back RED. Actually, they loved the IDEA of the scene, but my writing left much to be desired.

I’d heard and read many times that we should always find time to write every day. Even if it’s just a little. But we really need to keep our fingers dabbling in some form of writing. Or better yet, dig deep, right up to your elbows and beyond, even if you break or chip a fingernail. Whether it be writing a chapter, a page, a paragraph, or editing, critiquing, or even reading a book in the genre of your current wip, do SOMETHING that’s writing related. No excuses…just DO it. My two month hiatus proved this. I wrote very little during the last two months and it showed in that scene.

It wasn’t long before I saw the parallel to my spiritual life. If we aren’t spending time with our Lord and in His Word on a daily basis, it will begin to show…in our spiritual walk, the way we act, talk, and even feel, the absence will be noticed.

My goal this year is to read through the Bible. I’ve done it in the past, but this year seems especially difficult. I hate to admit it, but sometimes I read just to keep up with the schedule. It’s too hard to get caught up if I get too far behind. But other times, when I didn’t allow distractions, the words really spoke to me. Without a doubt, we have an awesome God.

But the point is, the absence was noticed…by me, and I know God noticed. He wants to be first in our lives. Not just something we have to do when we can fit Him in. Time spent with Him makes the day go so much better. The feeling I get when I manage to finish a ten page chapter in one day is nothing compared to time spent with my heavenly Father.

So, similar to our world of writing, dig into the Word, up to your elbows and beyond. Break a fingernail, get a paper cut. Whatever it takes. Just do it…no excuses. And I promise, you won’t regret it.