Interview with Tina Pinson

» Posted on Dec 22, 2010 in Blog | Comments Off on Interview with Tina Pinson


This week I’m hosting Tina Pinson with Touched by Mercy. If you want to enter the drawing, please leave a comment on one of the post during the week with your email address. I will not enter you without an email address (my way to contact you if you win). If you don’t want to leave an email address, another way you can enter is to email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawings end Sunday (December 26th) evening.

Interview with Tina Pinson:

1. What made you start writing? Probably out of necessity… I didn’t want to die. Okay, so maybe it wasn’ t that bad, but as a kid I used to get in trouble constantly for lying, writing gave me a place to tell fiction and not get in trouble. Actually I also got this desire to write a story. I dreamed a story and had to get it written down .

2. How long have you been writing? When did you sell your first book? I started writing in elementary school. I love words and making up stories. I didn’t receive a clear “call” per say, until I got frustrated and tried to stop writing. Then the Lord showed me that I was supposed to write. It didn’t matter if I ever was published, I was supposed to be faithful and write for him This year I finally landed a contract for two ebooks with Desert Breeze Publishing.

3. How do you handle rejections? I wish I could say I’ve grown thick enough skin over the years that rejections no longer faze me in the least, but that would be lying. While I’ve learned to handle rejection better, it still can sting. When rejection comes I try to remind myself that, in writing, it’s not really me they’re knocking, it’s my story, and sometimes they are only telling me things to help make my writing better.

4. Why do you write? I write because I enjoy it immensely. I also believe writing is part of what God wants me to do in life. I have a vivid imagination that used to get me in trouble as a child, but using it to write fiction allows me to use the imagination that was given to me

5. What would you be doing with your free time if you weren’t writing? I’d probably work on my gardening, drawing and other crafts. I already work, so I wouldn’t get another job or anything. I’d read more, maybe camp more. Maybe I’d run for a political office… NAH.

6. What are you working on right now? I’ve been working on the second book for my sci-fi time travel series. Counting Tessa is the first and I’m calling the second Regarding Rita. and playing around with a sequel to Touched By Mercy. And I can work on editing some of the books I’ve already finished.

7. Do you put yourself into your books/characters? I believe every writer pours a bit of themselves into every story they write. Do my characters ever resemble me in personality or looks? I would have to say yes. I use my emotions and personality often, but I also glean from the people around me.

8. Tell us about the book you have out right now. Touched by Mercy tells the story of one woman’s journey to grace. Samantha Northam comes from a background of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, having been molested as a child, I identify with Samantha.

The story was pretty much my rite of passage. Coming to a point where I believed God could find me lovely. I made it a bit harder on Samantha than myself, but I wanted to show the beauty of God’s grace on us, his arms around the brokenhearted. Samantha hadn’t done anything wrong, as far as the molestation went, but she spent years believing she had, and spent long years hating and being afraid to love. When her daughter, Angelina, is taken from her, she believes that it happened because she’s not good enough. She sets out to find Angelina, which leads her to the Orphanages of New York. She doesn’t find Angelina, but she is introduced to several needy children and some Nuns who begin to teach her about God’s love. Because of her wounds, Samantha doesn’t quite believe the Nuns, she still thinks she has to prove her worth to God. So Samantha sets out to ease the pain that the children of the orphanage suffer. When word comes that Angelina might have been found in Kansas, Samantha heads west, with plans to get her daughter and open a boardinghouse for stops on the Orphan Train. The west seems to hold all the answers to her dreams, but time and circumstances cause her to wonder if it has taken her far enough away from her past and her nightmares. And if she’ll ever be good enough in God’s eyes to become his child.

Touched By Mercy is a story about God’s plan for our lives, and how he can use and loves us even though we feel inadequate. It also tells shows how God places people in our lives to Touch us with his Mercy.

9. Do you have any advice for other writers? Hang in there. You may never get published. Or it may take years to get to published. Or you could published overnight. Whatever the case, stay true to who you are. Write with the heart and imagination God gave you. Because those are yours alone. You are not that other writer, learn from them, but believe in yourself and remember you are here for such a time as this.

10. How important is faith in your books? Faith is very important in stories to me. Faith keeps me writing, and faith gives me the hope that God will use the words I write to touch others.

11. What themes do you like to write about? My themes usually deal with forgiveness, grace and overcoming insurmountable odds. I like to share about a God who is bigger than any troubles, scars or sin my characters may have. He’s a God of second chances and a God that carries us sometimes, and other’s allows us to walk through valleys while guiding us. To help us grow. Having been a benefactor of that grace, I want people to know and understand the love God has for them. I try not to be too preachy, I hope. I want to show how you get from Point A to Point B with God. It’s a process and my characters get to go through it. A process that has been cathartic for me.

12. What is your favorite book you’ve written and why? I would have to say my very first book series, When Shadows Fall. I call it my Oregon with the Wind Saga. As the story starts in the East during the Civil War, and then the characters travel on the Oregon Trail. I love the characters and the journey.

13. What is your writing schedule like? Right now, my writing schedule is horribly sporadic. I try to take some time in the evenings and mornings when I can. But I sometimes miss the days when I could sit down and work on a story for hours on end.

My website — http://www.tinapinson.com/
Twitter:@Tina_Pinson
Facebook– http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=754617103
Purchase my books at:

Desert Breeze Bookstore.
Touched By Mercy http://tiny.cc/0rgkm
In the Manor of the Ghost http://tiny.cc/we4ul

Amazon:
Touched By Mercy http://tiny.cc/k5tgw
In the Manor of the Ghost http://tiny.cc/doc8w

Barnes & Noble
Touched By Mercy—available soon
In the Manor of the Ghost http://tiny.cc/oh767

Christian Books Distributors
Touched By Mercy – available soon
In the Manor of the Ghost http://tiny.cc/4u5h9

In honor of the release of Touched By Mercy I am running a contest, Win a Nook… Touch Mercy for the month of Dec. 2010. Check out my blog under the Touched By Mercy Contest page for the particulars.
http://tinapinson.blogspot.com/