Kat Logic

Lena Nelson Dooley

This week’s Featured Author

• Katrina: Thank you so much for being with us this we, Lena.  I’ve read over your website and am just amazed at how you got started. I strongly urge readers to check out your site, even before we get started. It is such a blessing.  http://www.lenanelsondooley.com .  Now, let me begin by asking you a bit about your family if I may. Are you married? Any kids?
• Lena: I’ve been married to the love of my life for almost 44 years! We have two daughters, two sons-in-laws, two grandsons, two granddaughters, one granddaughter-in-law, and one great grandson.
• Katrina: 44 Years!!! And you say it was love at first sight. That is truly amazing, I must say. What is a typical evening like in your home?
• Lena: My husband and I like to spend time together. By the time he gets home, I’ve finished work and have his dinner ready. We spend quite a bit of time catching up on our days. We watch TV together if we’re staying home. Or we read at the same time.
• Katrina:  Does your family read any of your work
• Lena:  Yes, my husband, who really isn’t an avid reader, has read most of my books, but he’s tired of reading romance books, so now I don’t give them to him. My daughters have read most of the books and are planning to read the rest. One granddaughter has to read a certain number of books with a lot of pages, so she took the newest one and asked the teacher if she could read it. So now she is.
• Katrina: At what age did you realize you wanted to be an author?
• Lena: I’ve always written. I didn’t know that people didn’t write until I married a man who didn’t read or write, (not illiterate, just didn’t like it). In May of 1984, God told me to become a professional writer. You can read the story about how that happened on the main page of my website: www.lenanelsondooley.com
• Katrina:  Who has impacted your writing the most?
• Lena:   I have to say the members of American Christian Fiction Writers. They’ve helped me grow and mature in my writing.
• Katrina:  Where is your favorite place to write?
• Lena:  After my daughters married and left home, I turned one bedroom into an office. I like to write sitting at my desk on my desktop computer. I have a big, flat screen monitor, a curved keyboard, and a comfortable chair.
• Katrina:  I want to turn now to your relationship with the Lord. At what age did you come to know the Lord personally?
• Lena:  I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was seven years old. It was the summer after my mother died, and I was at a revival in a country church. Then when I was in my twenties, I came to know Him as Lord. He moved deeper into my life, and I can’t live without Him now.
• Katrina:  I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your mother at such an early age. That breaks my heart. Since that time, how has your relationship with the Lord affected your writing?
• Lena:  He created me with the ability to write. Then He called me to write for Him. All of my books have a strong message, subtly woven throughout the story.
• Katrina:  Thank you so much for joining us today. Next, we’ll be hearing about the business side of your writing career and what plans you have on the horizon.

• Katrina: Back with us again today is author Golden Keyes Parsons. Golden is the author of new release The Shadow of the Sun King, a Darkness To Light novel published by Thomas Nelson Publishing. Now, we’ve learned a little bit about your family. Today I want to hear more about your walk with the Lord and how that has affected your writing.
• Katrina:  At what age did you come to know the Lord personally?
• Golden:  I was fourteen and my boyfriend invited me to a youth retreat. I had been struggling for about a year  with the fact that simply being “good” and going to church did not make me a Christian. The Easter weekend of my freshmen year in high school, Jesus became real to me–and I’ve never gotten over.
• Katrina:   How has your relationship and walk with the Lord affected your writing career?
• Golden:  My relationship with the Lord is not something that I do, it is who I am, so it permeates my entire life. I cannot do anything by write from a Christian world view.
• Katrina:  Speaking of a Christian world view, tell us a bit about your latest release.
• Golden: Madeleine and Francois Clavell are French Huguenots in 17th century France fleeing the persecution of King Louis XIV’s Catholic government. They eventually have to leave their estate and France. Francois is sentenced to the galleys, and Madeleine takes the family to Switzerland for refuge. This is the first installment in a four-book series.
• Katrina: It sounds very interesting. Are any of the characters in the story modeled after you?
• Golden:  The book itself is based on my family genealogy. As I wrote, Madeleine took on many of my personal characteristics — independent, head-strong, determined.
• Katrina:  During your writing, are there ever characters that emerge uninvited?
• Golden: All the time The original Clavell family had two sons, but as I began to write their story, a daughter emerged–the youngest child. My editor tells me I am an “organic” writer. I have a general idea of where the story is going, but my characters take on a life of their own and tell the story.
• Katrina:  What are you working on next? Could you tell us a bit about it?
• Golden: I am working on Book #2 in the series, A Prisoner At Versailles. In the second book, King Louis sends spies into Switzerland (which he actually did) and brings Madeleine, now a widow, back to Versailles against her will. They were once in love, and the king wants to install her as one of his mistresses.
• Katrina:  Where can readers find your latest release?
• Golden:   Amazon.com, Christianbook.net, Borders, Barnes & Noble, KMart (at Christmas), Christian bookstores.
• Katrina:  Thank you so much for being here with us. It has been a pleasure and I look forward to hearing more later this week.
• Golden: Okay, thanks Katrina.

Golden

Golden Keyes Parson 

The writer who issues the challenge: Dare to take God seriously.

Golden Keyes Parson is this week’s Christian Author Tour featured author.  I am very honored to have Golden visiting with us this week . 

• Katrina:  Good morning and thanks for being here with us this week. It is such a pleasure to have you join us. To begin with, I’d really like to get to know more about you on a personal level..then we’ll move onto the business of writing.  Tell us a bit about your family.
• Golden:  Well, my husband’s name is Blaine. We have three grown daughters, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandsons. We have recently moved back home to Waco, TX.
• Katrina:  Wow…you have great-grandsons? You certainly look way too young for great-grandchildren. I’ll have to find out your secret.  How do you juggle your writing career with family?
• Golden:  I get up early and write for at least two hours a day. Our nest is empty, so it’s relatively easy for me to spend time on my writing career. We just retired from the pastorate, and that was difficult. I just had to learn to say, “no”.
• Katrina: How do you unwind and take time for yourself?
• Golden:  We love good movies, theatre and football, and being back in the town of our Alma mater, Baylor University, we look forward to being able to participate in alumni activities.
• Katrina: Does your family read any of your work? What do your children think of you being an author?
• Golden:  My first novel just released a few weeks ago and the kids and grand-kids are in the process of reading it now. My girls couldn’t be prouder.
• Katrina:  I’m sure. Now tomorrow, we will be discussing your walk with the Lord and how that has affected your writing. I can’t wait to read more. In the meantime, our readers can visit you at www.GoldenKeyesParsons.com and find out all about your latest release and your upcoming novel. It’s been great having you and we’ll be back tomorrow.