AUTHOR: Kathryn Jones
BOOK TITLE: Conquering Your Goliaths: A Parable of the Five
Stones
PUBLISHER: CreateSpace
Why
don't you start with telling us a little about yourself? What genre do you
write in and why? When it comes to genres, it’s hard to peg. My first book, “A
River of Stones,” published in 2002 was a middle reader that had to do with
divorce. Now, some ten years later, I am writing Christian Fiction, but even ten
years ago, the middle reader had an element of religion in it, so perhaps
that’s the genre I fit best in: Christian Fiction whether the reader is young
or old.
Tell
me about your current book which you are promoting. My new book, “Conquering
Your Goliaths: A Parable of the Five stones,” is about a woman by the name of
Ms. Virginia Bean. She’s just lost her job that she’s held for numerous years.
She’s concerned about not only getting a job but getting the right job for her.
In the interim, she meets God, and he helps her with the process. The five
stones not only represent the qualities that David needed to defeat his
Goliath, but the qualities that Ms. Virginia Bean will use to defeat hers and
get the job of her dreams.
How long have you been writing? I
have been writing since 1980, the year I got married. I guess that makes me old
and full of experience. :)
What got you interested in writing,
and what inspired you to write your first book? I was pregnant with my first
daughter and needed something to do. I was pretty sick and needed something to
take my mind off morning sickness. My first story was called, “Weebles Wabble.”
It was terrible, but I keep it to remember where I began.
Do you outline before you write? If not, what’s your initial
process? I do very little outlining, preferring to be inspired by the
characters. Outlining has a way of keeping me in a box. I tried it when I first
began writing and then got stressed out if the characters wanted me to do
something else. So now I primarily listen to the characters.
What comes first: the plot or the
characters? The plot. I have an idea for a great story and then the right
characters come into play that fit the setting.
Which of your characters do you love/hate/fear/pity the
most and why? I love to get into the head of the main character. I like to see
how he/she changes throughout the story. I like to see how the main character
reacts to hardship. In my “Conquering Your Goliaths” story, Ms. Virginia Bean
turns out to be a bit like me, only a bit more daring.
What was the hardest part of
writing your book? Doing what the characters wanted and not what I wanted.
There is a particular character in the story that I wanted to do a certain
thing, but it just wasn’t meant to be. The ending was a real surprise for me
but the right one for Ms. Virginia Bean.
Did your book require a lot of research? How long does it take to write
a book for you? Yes, I had to do some research. When you read the book you’ll
see that I needed to know a bit about the story of David and Goliath as well as
some of the meanings behind Biblical words. This particular book took me about
four months to write, but then, this book is only a little over 100 pages long.
What are some of the challenges in your writing process?
Editing is always a big deal. I edit a few times myself, and then I have readers
and writers edit for me. Even then, there will sometimes be editing issues.
Describe your writing space. I
have an office next to the family room that I close off when I’m working. The
space has 3 desks, 3 computers and a long table for mentoring sessions. I have
a lot of stuff that should probably be cleaned up. I try to keep my desk clean, and it’s a real trick. My husband is a painter as well as one of my editors, and
so he has piles of stuff in the room as well. My dream is to have a big enough
space to not only do my writing but to teach classes on writing and publishing.
What do you like to do when
you’re not writing? I read. No surprise there. I also like to go out to eat and
spend time with friends. I have a great husband who takes me places, and we have
a date night religiously every week.
What books or authors have influenced your writing? C.S.
Lewis has been a huge inspiration as well as King James—I love the Bible!
What so you see for the future of publishing and e-books? More and more
authors are going to see what great things can happen when they take the bull
by the horns and do the work themselves. It doesn’t cost much to put a book out
there, and authors are going to see the wisdom in doing the work themselves.
E-books are going to become more and more popular, but I hope that there will be
readers who will still read the old-fashioned way like I do.
What are your current books out right now and what are the
books coming up for
release? I have three books
currently: “A River of Stones,” “Conquering Your Goliaths: A Parable of the
Five Stones,” and the “Conquering Your Goliaths: Guidebook,” which I will be
using for Idea Creations Workshops. My next book out is “Scrambled,” my first
cozy mystery.
What is your marketing plan? To
talk to as many people as I can about my book, to gather reviews and be a part
of interviews like this one. I am speaking at writer’s conferences, book groups, and other gatherings. I am also working hard to get my Idea Creation Workshops
going.
What advice would you give a new writer just starting out? Keep moving
forward. Times will get tough, and you’ll wonder if it’s all worth it. It is.
Where can people learn more about you and your work? Please visit me at
my website at: www.ariverofstones.com. If you
buy directly from my site, I’ll send you an autographed copy of my book. Read my
reviews at Amazon.com and Barnes
& Noble.com where you can also purchase my books.
EXCERPT:
Ms. Virginia Bean didn’t know what to say. She’d come to this strange place for an interview and all she’d managed to get was a rock? But she held out her hand and took the rock anyway. It was warm and light in her hand and she felt suddenly younger than her 35 years.
“Now, this stone is special,” said Mr. Spurt. “If you listen closely, the stone you hold will tell you what you need to know.”
“That’s crazy,” she said without thinking.
The man smiled, lighting up the room. “Not crazy, special. If you listen, you will not only hear what you need to do, you will begin to have the faith to do it. Listening is the first stone of five from David’s bag.”
“The first…what?”
She sounded like a broken record, one of those vinyl disks that nobody used anymore to play music. Everything was so high-tech, so other-worldly, so…
“Your mind is racing,” said the man. “When you slow it down, you can hear. See this room? Feel how quiet it is?”
Ms. Virginia Bean tried to slow down her feet. She tried to grip the arms of the white chair and suddenly realized there weren’t any arms.
The old man laughed. “You don’t need to be afraid, Virginia, all you need is a listening ear; a moment that you can hear the voice.”
“From the stone?”
The man nodded and stood. Ms. Virginia Bean followed; it was the right thing to do. She held the warm rock in her right hand, and as she did, something happened.
“You are also beloved,” a voice said. It came from the stone.
The voice startled her, but only for a moment. Something like light ran up her right arm and entered her heart. When the feeling ended, she was still holding the stone and the man at the desk was gone.
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