Welcome to a new feature on my blog – Writer Wednesdays! Each Wednesday, I will feature an author – some old friends and some new friends! I’m so excited to say that all but about THREE SPOTS have been filled for 2020!!
Be sure and read to the end to find out about a GIVEAWAY!!
Author Interview
Today I’d like to introduce a new-to-me Christian YA author, Nancy Wood!
- What inspired you to write, initially, and what encouraged you to continue?
I’ve always loved to write. When I was a kid, I used to write “books” with terrible grammar and draw cut-out characters to entertain my family. As I got older, I doubted my abilities, but I could never quite let go of my passion for creating stories. I finally decided to go for it during my senior year of high school and wrote my first book called “Perfect.” It was so relatable to the people I shared it with, I started thinking about publishing. Being a Christian teen, I knew there weren’t a lot of good Christian YA out there, and I thought I could be one of the people who filled that void. Getting wonderful feedback on my little story kept me going, and now, six years later, I have two published novels and am in the editing stage of a third.
Congratulations, Nancy!
- Do you look on writing as a “calling?”
Definitely. I think the way I couldn’t let go of my desire shows that it was something I had to do. I truly believe God has blessed me with a gift that I can reach Christian teens with, who really need someone to help them through those confusing years. It fills me with unspeakable joy when I hear young girls tell me that my story spoke to them. I don’t know what God’s plan is with my writing, but I know He will use it in a way that brings Him glory, so I keep doing it, even when it’s hard.
Someone told me once that you should write what you’d like to read – this is so true!
- What is one story from real life that you’ve included in one of your books?
My first book, “Perfect,” is a fiction novel, but it’s based on my story. I was born into a missionary family and was raised a perfectionist, who always had to be the good example and could never make mistakes. I grew up scared to mess up and lonely because I couldn’t be myself. “Perfect” is about a girl just like me, who learns the hard way that God loves her for who she really is, and that she doesn’t have to be perfect.
My parents were volunteer missionaries for four years while I was a teen, so I totally get it! I still, at 55, have residual feelings of “impostor syndrome” where I feel that I have to be perfect!
- Salad or Sandwich?
Sandwich! I love bread! In fact, just leave everything else off and give me the bread.
Oh, Nancy, me, too. Although I’m TRYING to be good and eat more salads! LOL!
- What is your favorite Bible verse, and why?
That’s a hard question. I’m going to cheat and say two verses: Romans 8:33-34. This passage means so much to me, because it shows me that even when the devil tries to blame me for messing up, Jesus is the only one who could condemn me. And He’s the one who died for me and is interceding for me every day! I am free from the captivity of sin. How amazing is that!
What a comforting passage – especially for those of us with the “perfectionism” gene!!
- What is one thing you have to do to yourself before you go out in public?
Make sure my hair is acceptable. If that’s okay, I’m okay.
Same. That and mascara! LOL!
- What is your favorite movie and why?
I love the modern Great Gatsby. Strangely not as much for the story as I love the aesthetics—I love the music, the camera shots, the sheer beauty of the language they use straight from the book. It’s truly a piece of art.
I really need to watch that!
- A lot of interviewers ask for your favorite book. That’s just not fair! What has been the most recent book you’ve read that excited you or moved you in some way? Why?
I recently finished the “Scythe” series by Neil Shusterman. I don’t read a ton of sci-fi/fantasy, but the world this author creates is so thought provoking and exciting. Even if you are older and don’t read YA, books like that can be fun and challenge you to think about the what ifs.
I watch more sci-fi/fantasy than I read, but when I do read it, I love it! I’ll look for that series!
- Is there someone, alive or dead, who had a major influence on your writing life, or on your life in general?
As I mentioned before, I’m a missionary kid, born and raised in Hungary, so the person who really inspired me to write is Hungarian YA author Laura Leiner. The way she took everyday life and made it an exciting story motivated me to become the writer I am today. Her writing showed me that I don’t have to have some world-shaking idea to be a writer; I can just write about problems and insecurities we all deal with, and it can be fun and helpful to read. I think I still have a part of her in me with every book I write.
I love that you chose an author from your mission field! I always identified with Laura Ingalls Wilder. She took her everyday life and made it come alive for me!
- If you were on a deserted island with a laptop and no wifi, what are two programs or apps you would have to have on your computer?
No wifi?? (That’s my millennial self coming out.) I feel like all my apps need the internet. 😊 Definitely Microsoft Word, and the Bible app if I didn’t have a physical Bible.
Good call!! 😉
About Nancy:
Nancy E Wood was born into a missionary family and lived in Hungary until she turned twenty. Her whole childhood, she loved reading and stories, writing some of her own, but never believing she actually had the talent to be an author. Speaking multiple languages, she never thought she would be good enough in any to become a wordsmith.
Her senior year of high school, she was encouraged to write short stories, one of which turned into Perfect, a novel that couldn’t stay short. After sharing it with a few people, she decided to get it published a couple years later. She went to college in Florida, where she studied English and Music. After graduating, she married and moved to California. She published her second standalone book, I’ll Take the Lie, in the summer of 2019 and is currently working on a sequel to Perfect. She also runs a blog for young women, where she writes relatable and motivational posts that point to God. She has also done some speaking in different Christian schools and youth groups, encouraging teens to pursue Christ through some of the most difficult years of their lives.
Here’s a blurb for her 2019 release, I’ll Take the Lie:
Does the truth really set you free?
Paige Hall doubts it, after her boyfriend Justin tells her he’s over it, leaving her with a broken heart and crushed dreams. When Justin disappears, she can’t help but try to find out what happened to him. But when the more she searches, the more problems arise, she can’t help but wonder if it would be better to just accept the lie…
Connect with Nancy:
Social media:
Website: www.nancyewood.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nancyewoodauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nancyewoodauthor/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiQLzJRti_CBo1M4GUxL-YQ
Purchase links:
I’ll Take the Lie: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1099615119/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=nancy+e+wood+ill+take+the+lie&qid=1561814624&s=gateway&sr=8-2
Thanks so much, Nancy, for being on my blog! I can’t wait to read your books – and one lucky commenter will be entered to win an ebook of I’ll Take the Lie!!(comment between January 22 and January 28, 2020!)
Simply answer this question: What is the temperature where you live? (I ask this because it’s been C O L D here in Kentucky!)
Happy Wednesday, and see you on Friday!
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