Please welcome Marie McGaha author of Shine His Light
Shine His Light
by Marie McGaha
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GENRE: Christian devotional
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INTERVIEW:
1. What or who inspired you to start writing?
I began writing as soon as I learned my ABC’s! As a child, I wrote little stories and poems, and when I was 13, I wrote my first full length novel, a romance about a teacher from Boston who goes to teach in a small town in the wild, Wild West and falls in love with the town marshal. Of course, I no longer have a copy of it, but I wish I did so I could see what my 13-year-old mind conceived romance to be!
2. What elements are necessary components for this genre?
My current book, Shine His Light 3 Instructions in Life is a devotional, so my research is in the Bible, and includes a lot of prayer.
4. What expertise did you bring to your writing?
I’ve been writing for so long, it’s second nature. I began submitting to publishers in the old days, pre-computers! In those days, you had to type everything, box it up, mail it to a New York publisher and wait six months or longer for a rejection letter! Sometimes, they never bothered to even reply, or you’d get the manuscript returned unopened! Since those days, I’ve tried to hone my writing skills and have become both an editor and publisher.
5. What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?
I was widowed after 23 years of marriage and never expected to fall in love again, but I met Daniel, a wonderful man and pastor. It was literally love at first sight! We just got married on February 4!
6. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?
Book 4 in this series is due out this spring, and I have a huge surprise for summer 2023!
8. Can you give us a sneak peek into this book?
Sure! Here’s a little excerpt!
All of us feel like outcasts sometimes, and we have all done things we are ashamed of, but the thing with God is, He has seen every evil thing we’ve done, and He still loves us. God is the only One we never have to prove anything to. We don’t have to dress a certain way, talk a certain way, wear make-up, or do anything to try and impress Him the way we’ve had to do with people in our lives. God knows the innermost secrets, the hidden things we wouldn’t dare tell a living soul because we know they would kick us to the curb if they knew the real us.
But long before we come to the point of confessing our sins to God and accepting Christ as our Savior, He already knew our innermost secrets and the darkest thoughts we have had. Yet, He doesn’t care. He loves us anyway, with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3), and the wideness of God’s love is immeasurable, incomprehensible, unbelievable, and all-encompassing. His compassion for us is beyond measure and His love is truly a “reckless, raging, fury” because there are no lengths He will not go to, no depths He will not sink to, and no sin He will not forgive in order to have us by His side.
11. What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)
When I first began submitting, it was romance novels. I love writing historical, American, romance, so the very first book I was contracted for was a sweet romance. But there was one caveat, the publisher wanted explicit sex. So I wound up writing several erotic romances, and I was so excited about being published, I fell into it very easily. The problem with that is it led me away from my religious beliefs and I was very aware that it wasn’t what God wanted from me and not the reason He had given me the talent to write. I would tell people now to never compromise their beliefs or who they are, even if it means not getting the contract.
12. Do you outline your books or just start writing?
It depends on what I’m writing since I write both fiction and nonfiction. With fiction, I usually begin with the bubble plan and then translate it into an outline. I do this with pen and paper because it gives me time to think and plan. For devotionals, I don’t really plan to write them, and they usually come from life experience that I’ve used the word of God to get through.
13. How do you maintain your creativity?
Since I write fiction and nonfiction, it gives me a break from writing one when I’m on the other one. The past several years have been spent on the Shine series, so I haven’t written fiction in a while, but I hear the whispers of a character or two roaming around in my brain, so there might be another novel in the making!
15. Are your plotting bunnies, angels or demons? When I write fiction, I love the voices in my head! The good ones tell me what to write and who everyone is, but I have to admit, I love writing the bad guys more than the good guys!
16. Anything else you might want to add?
Thank you for having me. I truly enjoyed answering your questions! If anyone would like to contact me personally with comments or questions, please send an email to church.hereigns@gmail.com
BLURB:
Life is the journey we take on our way to Heaven. It's not easy, it's not pretty, and sometimes, it's downright difficult. However, we have an Advocate unlike any other, Jesus Christ. In Shine His Light, the author uses scriptures and her own life lessons to help others get through the bumpy spots.
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EXCERPT:
When I was a kid, the series “Star Trek” was the greatest sci-fi show on TV, with the most up-to-date special effects. People disappeared in the transporter, we saw the Enterprise fly through the stars at warp speed, and of course, we saw really strange people and creatures from other planets. Sometimes, the planets were inhospitable and wouldn’t support life as we know it, so the crew moved on.
Of course, it didn’t take long for technology to leap forward and when I watch the old “Star Trek” episodes now, the special effects seem so antiquated, they’re something we laugh about. We can take what is already there and turn it into something better, something brand new and more efficient but we can’t take nothing and turn it into something. Only God can do that.
When God’s Spirit hovered over the face of the waters, He did not think it was inhospitable or that nothing could ever come from it. God looked at the waters and thought, I can make dry land. I can make light. I can take some of that dirt and form a human being. And that is exactly what He did. But He did not stop there, He formed a human being from a pile of dirt and then, He did something remarkable, He breathed His own Spirit into that pile of dirt and gave it life. That pile of dirt became the first man—a living, breathing, moving, thinking person. And God said it was “very good.” Up until then, everything created was called “good,” but man and woman were “very good.”
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Chaplain, author, editor and inspirational speaker, Marie McGaha lives in the beautiful Ozarks of southeast Oklahoma. After losing the love of her life, Nathan, Marie returned from the mountains of Idaho to their native home where she lives with a houseful of yapping furbies, pigs, chickens, and a horse named Horse! She attends Family Praise & Worship and is very grateful for her church family and their support. Shine His Light 4, the final book of the series, is due out next spring.
Amazon Buy Link
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BCS7K29V
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMarieMcGaha/
https://twitter.com/Marie_McGaha
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariemcgaha/
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE
Marie McGaha will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
RAFFLECOPTER:
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f4462
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like a good read.
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