This week I’m hosting Sharon Dunn with Montana Standoff, Rebecca Ondov with Horse Tales from Heaven (US and Canada only) and Kimberly Johnson with The Christmas Promise (US only). If you want to enter the drawings for the books, 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 (Nov. 10th) evening.
Interview with Rebecca Ondov:
1. What made you start writing? One snowy day I pulled a pile of mail out of my mail box and while I walked back to the house I opened my Guideposts Magazine to an ad which read something like,”If you have a story to tell…” It went on to say that Guideposts was looking for stories and the top 15 winners would be flown all-expenses paid to New York. They’d put the winners up in a mansion on the Long Island Sound and fly in some of the top Christian authors from around the world to personally tutor them.
Immediately after reading that ad, God spoke to my spirit and told me to write a manuscript and submit it. I gasped and replied, “But God, You don’t know who I am. I hate writing. I’m no good at it. Besides if I write—then someone will read it and I’m an extremely private person.”
After refusing to listen to God over the next couple months, I finally plunked out a story the night before it was due then posted it the next day with the words, “God, I only did this for You. Please don’t ask me to do this again.”
Long story short, God only asks me to do the impossible—that way I know that He’s the One working through me. Out of 5400 manuscripts I won and tied for the top. That was my humble beginning of learning to cherish the gift God had given me.
2. How long have you been writing? When did you sell your first book? I’ve been writing since 1992 for magazines, trade journals, and doing business writing. I sold my first book, The Once in a Blue Moon Boot Bus, in 2000.
3. How do you handle rejections? The same way I handle my successes. You see, it’s really not about me; it’s about what God is doing through me. I have to remember to keep the focus on the goal. I don’t stop to lavish in praise or to languish in failure. I keep chugging forward.
4. Why do you write? To inspire and encourage my readers so that they pursue their own adventures with God—by stepping into blazing faith.
5. What would you be doing with your free time if you weren’t writing? No hesitation—I’d be horseback riding on a Rocky Mountain trail.
6. What are you working on right now? I’m proofing the galley of my next book that will be released April 1, 2014 entitled Great Horse Stories: Wisdom and Humor from Our Majestic Friends.
7. Do you put yourself into your books/characters? Definitely!
8. Tell us about the book you have out right now. I’ve corralled my true hair-raising tales of my Wild West adventures, which I experienced during the 15 years I worked from the saddle, into Horse Tales from Heaven: Reflections Along the Trail with God and Heavenly Horse Sense: Inspirational Stories from Life in the Saddle. They’re written in a devotional format and have captured the hearts of the young and old—even teenagers!
9. Do you have any advice for other writers? Invest time each day with God, asking Him what He’d like you to write—then listen and follow through.
10. How important is faith in your books? It’s the core of what I write.
11. What themes do you like to write about? I love to share about the struggle of living a life of faith leading to the discovery of the richness found in God—faith, hope, love, kindness, goodness, mercy, grace, etc.
12. What is your favorite book you’ve written and why? Horse Tales from Heaven: Reflections Along the Trail with God touches my heart in a special way because I share some mind-blowing miracles God did in my life. Those miracles impacted me so deeply that I was changed from the inside out.
13. What is your writing schedule like? In Western lingo, “From can’t see until can’t see.” In other words, from too dark in the morning (when the rest of the world is still sleeping) until after everyone else has gone to bed. In the middle of the day I work a full-time job.
14. How many more years do you see yourself writing? Now I can’t imagine not writing. I cherish the friendships I’ve developed with my readers and it’s the most satisfying thing I’ve ever done—to encourage others to Be Inspired with Blazing Faith.
