Yvonne Lehman – Story Behind the Story Interview – Part 1 of 2

Shannon here: Inspirational author, Yvonne Lehman shares insight into her Christmas Moments and Precious Precocious Moments. Comment on any post dated Nov 18 – 20 to enter the drawing. Winner’s choice of  Hearts that Survive, The Knight’s Bride, Precious Precocious Moments, or More Christmas Moments. Deadline: Nov 28th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Yvonne:

 
Q. You’re a novelist, so why did you start writing non-fiction?
A. I’m only writing a few of the articles. the Moments Series are compilations from an average of 50 authors.
Q. Why did you decide to have compilations about moments?
A. I didn’t decide. It’s one of those things that just happen. In 2013, after classes at the Blue Ridge Conference at Ridgecrest, several of us were sitting in the lobby. Cindy Sproles told of his God showed up in an unexpected, miraculous way concerning her prodigal. Then I shared how God showed up in the Ladies Room at the Presbyterian Church (and I’m a Baptist!) for my miracle. Others began relating their stories. I said, “Somebody…should put these in a book.” Well… my inquires led to that “somebody” being me. That book turned out to be Divine Moments.
Q. Then that one was so successful you decided to do another?
A. I don’t know how successful it was financially because the authors get no payment, one free copy, and all royalties go to Samaritan’s Purse. But yes, emails began coming in about how the articles were so beneficial and inspiring for readers, and lives were being changed, people being led to the Lord, and it seemed only right that another book should be done and that was Christmas Moments.
Q. You felt led to continue, then?
A. Not particularly. My daughter, Lori, was asked to teach her Sunday school class. The lesson was to be on “words.” She asked if I would help her and talk about the value of words since I’m an author. During the class, members began to tell about how “words” had affected their lives. Lori said, “Mom, your next book could be Spoken Moments.” I hadn’t planned another book, but that led to the third one, Spoken Moments, that has articles about the negative and positive power of words.
Q. You’re on a roll, now, it seems?
A. You could say that. I’m realizing how important these articles are to readers. Also, some of the authors are well-known, successful writers who love to share. Others are being published for the first time or early in their writing career. And, Samaritan’s Purse continues to benefit which means the entire world benefits. So the most current one is Precious Precocious Moments. Some articles are written by adults telling of their childhood experiences or about their own children. Some are written by children.
Q. Will there be another Christmas Moments book?
A. Yes. This one will be released mid-November and it’s called More Christmas Moments.
Q. What’s the next one?
A. I am now acquiring articles for Stupid Moments which reveals our ridiculous, funny, embarrassing, and humiliating incidents. Also, these may be faith based, such as the foolishness of one living apart from the Lord, or holding onto unforgiveness too long.
Also, I’m acquiring for Christmas Moments Book #3. These may be true stories with a focus on Christmas or a fiction short story with the focus on Christmas.
We all have those special moments. It’s good to share them.
For submissions to Stupid Moments and/or Christmas Moments Book #3, authors can put the title in the
subject line, and attach to an email to me yvonnelehman3@gmail.com.
About Yvonne: Yvonne is author of more than 3,000,000 books in print, founded and directed the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference for 25 years, and is now director of the Blue Ridge “Autumn in the Mountains” Novelist Retreat (http://ridgecrestconferencecenter.org/event/novelist. She has joined Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas as Acquisitions and Managing Editor of Candlelight Romance and Guiding Light Women’s Fiction. She earned a Master’s Degree in English from Western Carolina University and has taught English and Creative Writing on the college level.
Recent releases are a novella in Name that Tune in A Gentleman’s Kiss (Barbour) and The Stranger’s Kiss in the Knight’s Bride (Barbour). Her 50th novel is Hearts that Survive – A Novel of the TITANIC (Abingdon), which she signs periodically at the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge TN. Her non-fiction compilations (Grace Publishing) are Divine Moments and Christmas Moments (2014), Spoken Moments, Precious Precocious Moments, and Christmas Moments Book #2 (2015). She blogs at www.christiansread.com and Novel Rocket Blog.

 
About the book – More Christmas Moments: Christmas! For many people the holiday season is steeped in traditions such as decorating, family gatherings, food, Christmas programs, parties, giving and receiving gifts, cards, carols, Christmas eve services. The authors who contributed to this book share their personal stories of the Christmas season. Some of their stories are about happy childhood memories, the joy of the season, the beauty and excitement of the holiday. Others depict change…the difficulty of facing Christmas, the sadness of loss and grief, the hurt of some memories. Yet all of their stories are encouraging and inspiring because they show how, no matter what their circumstances, the authors came to understand that in order to have a meaningful Christmas, we must open our hearts to the wonder of Christ’s presence.
Question for readers: Have you ever thought somebody should do something and you ended up being the somebody?

Come back Nov 20th for Yvonne’s interview with characters from Hearts That Survive!