Today I'm visiting with my interesting friend, Gail Pallotta, and we are sharing coffee and stories at my kitchen table. I wish you were here to giggle and have fun with us. Since you aren't, I'll let you eavesdrop on our conversation.
Oh! And by the way. Gail and I are both published by Prism Book Group. You'll find our books at this link.
Now to introduce you to my friend Gail, the award-winning author. She's a former regional writer of the year for American Christian Writers Association, and she won the Clash of the Titles in 2010. Her teen book, Stopped Cold, was a best-seller on All Romance eBooks. It also finished fourth in the Preditors and Editors readers’ poll and was a finalist for the 2013 Grace Awards. She’s published five books, poems, short stories and two-hundred articles. Some of her articles appear in anthologies while two are in museums.
Whew! Gail, you've been a busy lady. What is your personal life like?
I’m a wife, mom, swimmer and bargain shopper who
loves God, beach sunsets and getting together with friends and family. When I’m
not writing I enjoy making flower arrangements. I love to take trips with my
husband, especially to the beach.
I love trips too. My hubby and I just returned from a 3000 mile road trip. I'll tell all about it on another day. When did you start writing? Have you always written
novels?
I’ve enjoyed storytelling for as long as I can
remember. My first published piece came out in a newspaper a friend and I put
out in grammar school. However, I didn’t consider writing seriously until I
enrolled in my college’s first creative writing class. That makes me sound
ancient. LOL. I realized then I could possibly become a newspaper reporter,
copywriter, magazine editor or PR person.
I landed a job as an editor and later as a copywriter and
worked in the field until I married. Then I helped my husband with his business
and sent out freelance articles. My writing time was very limited. I can
remember stirring gravy and interviewing someone for a feature at the same
time. During those years, I published several hundred articles, but I’d always
wanted to write novels. Now that my husband’s semi-retired and my daughter’s
grown, I have time to write books.
I love gravy and it's one of the few things I know how to make. I can see myself multi-tasking by stirring the sauce and interviewing at the same time. Does your faith play a part in your writing? If so,
how?
Yes, most definitely.
People are motivated by what they believe, so at least
one, sometimes more, of my characters are driven by or rely heavily on their
faith. As in real life someone in the book might have doubts, or not have
faith. However, to me faith is such an important, integral part of life,
leaving it out would be like omitting something that sustains us, such as water
or food.
Breaking
Barriers, Love Is Not Easily Angered, is Book #8 in Prism Book Group’s Love
Is...Series, which is taken from I Corinthians 13: 4 - 8,
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves. Love never fails...”
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves. Love never fails...”
When I first heard about the series, I wanted to be
part of it, but didn’t know which Love Is...statement to explore. Years ago
when my daughter was reprimanded for wearing a cross to school and told school
isn’t a place for God, my heart broke into a million pieces. I wrote a manuscript
about people who are against Christianity and then stuffed it in a drawer.
After reading “it is not easily angered” several times, I pulled out that book.
It became the premise for Breaking
Barriers.
In the book, the heroine, the victim of those who seek
to destroy Christianity, loves her faith so much she’s willing to defend it
against the unsavory people attempting to wipe out Christianity—and her.
The hero not only brings romance to the story, but he
shows the heroine the difference in a consistent loving guy and an explosive,
angry person like her father who says he loves her, but acts as though he
doesn’t.
Oh my! Isn't it amazing how God uses our experiences for His good? Here's a book cover blurb to Breaking Barriers.
In this action-packed thriller gunshots ring out as Ann Jones enters church. She hides in the bathroom until they stop then stumbles into the sanctuary. The congregation lies dead in pools of blood. To rebuild the church she starts True Light Guardians. At the first meeting she’s attacked by a terrorist but rescued by James Crawford. He melts her heart, cold from her father’s abuse, and they fall for each other. She’s afraid to commit to love that might grow angry later like the type she knew as a child. James yearns to stop other attempts on Ann’s life, but can’t. Tormented by her constant risks, he breaks up with her. When an assault sends her to the hospital, an unlikely ally shares Ann’s plight with James, but he reveals a lead that puts all three of them in even more danger.
In this action-packed thriller gunshots ring out as Ann Jones enters church. She hides in the bathroom until they stop then stumbles into the sanctuary. The congregation lies dead in pools of blood. To rebuild the church she starts True Light Guardians. At the first meeting she’s attacked by a terrorist but rescued by James Crawford. He melts her heart, cold from her father’s abuse, and they fall for each other. She’s afraid to commit to love that might grow angry later like the type she knew as a child. James yearns to stop other attempts on Ann’s life, but can’t. Tormented by her constant risks, he breaks up with her. When an assault sends her to the hospital, an unlikely ally shares Ann’s plight with James, but he reveals a lead that puts all three of them in even more danger.
I think our audience would like a bit more. Here's an excerpt from Breaking Barriers.
Ann Jones smoothed the
front of her black skirt as she entered the narthex of the church.
Holy,
holy, holy, Lord God almighty... The powerful song resounded
from behind the sanctuary’s oak doors. Late for the service again, Ann hurried
past a flower arrangement of brown-eyed Susans on a mahogany table with a
picture of Jesus above it.
A loud
rat-a-tat-tat-rat-a-tat-tat ripped the air. Was that a gun? She shook her head.
The noise commenced again. Screams echoed from the sanctuary, and another round
blasted Ann’s ears.
She ran past the
receptionist’s desk to the bathroom, ducked into a stall, and crouched on the
cold beige tile floor. Tears trickled down her cheeks, and she shivered. More
bullets rang out. She buried her head in her arms to hush the noise of hate and
terrifying cries for help. Finally, a siren whirred in the distance, and the
shots stopped.
Shaking from head to toe,
Ann placed her hands on the wall opposite the sinks and moved them up, one over
the other, steadying herself as she stood. She took deep breaths, forced one
foot in front of the other, and plodded out. Her knees almost buckled as she
headed down the hall, the flowers blurring through her tears. She stepped to a
door at the sanctuary and stopped in her tracks, her chest so tight she barely
could breathe. She reached out to open it, and her hand trembled. What if she
could help someone, and she didn’t? She crept inside.
Shattered stained glass
lay at her feet in a pool of blood on the hardwood floor. She yelled, sank down
on an oak pew, sobbed, and shook. Dead bodies of close friends and
acquaintances littered the room, some still sitting in their seats, their
lifeless eyes focused on the altar. Others lay flat on the floor in the aisles
or between the pews. The minster was facing down in front of the altar. The
choir members slumped in their seats behind him, their heads lowered. A hand
touched her shoulder, and she jumped.
“I’m sorry, Miss Jones.
I heard the gun as I gathered the trash can in the men’s room. I dropped it and
came running. Before the shooter saw me I jumped in the closet and dialed 911.”
The misty look in the janitor’s green eyes faded. Then everything went black.
Ann woke with a paramedic holding a damp cloth on the
back of her head. He escorted her away from the massacre, but the memory stayed
with her, nagging her day and night. A passion to prevent such an atrocity from
ever happening again erupted inside her.
Wow! That excerpt will make everyone want the book!
Another of your books intrigues me. Anyone living with illness will appreciate this uplifting story.
Wow! That excerpt will make everyone want the book!
Another of your books intrigues me. Anyone living with illness will appreciate this uplifting story.
Blurb
An illness comes out of nowhere and strikes Suzie Morris. Her boyfriend dumps her. She has no living family, and her physician can’t diagnose the malady.
Suzie relies on her Christian faith as she faces the uncertainty of the disease, and turns to a renowned alternative doctor in Destin, Florida. She takes a job coaching a county-sponsored summer swim team. She’s determined to turn the fun, sometimes comical, rag-tag bunch into winners.
Her handsome boss renews her belief in love, but learns of her mysterious affliction and abruptly cuts romantic ties. Later he has regrets, but can he overcome his fear of losing a loved one and regain Suzie’s trust?
Suzie relies on her Christian faith as she faces the uncertainty of the disease, and turns to a renowned alternative doctor in Destin, Florida. She takes a job coaching a county-sponsored summer swim team. She’s determined to turn the fun, sometimes comical, rag-tag bunch into winners.
Her handsome boss renews her belief in love, but learns of her mysterious affliction and abruptly cuts romantic ties. Later he has regrets, but can he overcome his fear of losing a loved one and regain Suzie’s trust?
Gail, thanks for visiting with me. I know readers will want to find you. Where can they do that? online?
I love to hear from readers. I have several sites. Please visit with me.
My website is http://www.gailpallotta.com
My website is http://www.gailpallotta.com
My blog - http://www.gailpallotta.blogspot.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AuthorsandMore
Twitter - https://twitter.com/Hopefulwords?lang=en
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