This week I’m hosting Christine Lindsay with Veiled at Midnight (3 book series digital worldwide), Linda Wood Rondeau with A Father’s Prayer (digital worldwide), and Sharon Srock, Brandilyn Collins, Julie Carobini, Mary Demuth, Robin Patchen with Women of Heart, 5 author boxed set (5 copies if post receives 10 comments US only). If you want to enter the drawing for the book, please leave a comment on your post 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 (September 13th) evening.
Interview with the hero from A Father’s Prayer by Linda Wood Rondeau
1. Ethan Jacobs, tell me the most interesting thing about you.
Some people think I’m an interesting person because I’m a famous Country singer. My best-selling song is A Christmas Prayer. I’m rich and the tabloids say I’m talented. But, for me, that will be a side note in my obituary.
A year ago, I discovered I had a son. I wish I’d known about him sooner. But eleven years after his birth, I received a letter from his mother. The child’s name is Gibson Jennings, adopted by a minister from my hometown. He’s troubled. Not only is he autistic, but his adoptive parents died and the kid is being cared for by the Jennings’s biological daughter. She’s broke and the kid is getting into trouble. I wrote A Christmas Prayer when I found out about my son, asking God to get me sober. Now that I am, I plan to give Gib a proper home.
2. What do you do for fun?
I used to drink. I’m exploring alternative things to do for fun. When I was a kid, I liked to go tubing. Think I’ll try that again. Maybe I’ll ask that pretty reporter, my kid’s adoptive sister, to go with me.
3. What do you put off doing because you dread it?
I hate paperwork and shrinks. I’m about performing and writing songs. That’s why I have a manager. Pay him enough. But when it came to filing custody for my son, I did the work myself. The judge made me sign a gag order not to tell Gib I’m his father. Not yet. He’s had too many losses and with his mental limitations, finding out about me out of the blue might be harmful. She insists on family counseling and gradually informing Gib that I’m his father. The kid loves Country and apparently my music. How about that…I was the kid’s hero before I knew he existed. A shrink will have fun with that.
4. What are you afraid of most in life?
That I won’t be able to write another hit song. All my music was written when I was drunk. Can God help me write real songs when I’m sober? Even more than that, I’m afraid of rejection. I seem to have fallen for Gib’s caretaker, Alexis. She wants nothing to do with me. Guess she’s not much impressed by fame and fortune.
5. What do you want out of life?
Before I became a Christian, I had no real ambition. I fell into music. Ran away from Jasper Falls right out of high school. Went to Nashville and was discovered within a few years. I was a binge drinker so managed to keep life afloat…but still a drifter going from gig to gig, song to song, with no sense of permanency. I hope Gib will change all that for me. Give me a reason to settle down. What’s the point of having wealth and fame with no one to share it with? Now my prayer is that God will use me for good. I’ve made large donations to a charity in Jasper Falls to help troubled young people, but I think there’s more God wants me to do.
6. What is the most important thing to you?
Before I found the Lord, all I wished for was the next opportunity to get drunk. Strange how being a parent changes your outlook on life. Like having a 12 year old baby. The minute I discovered I had a child, my whole Universe rocked. Now, besides staying sober and living a life that pleases God, I want to make a good life for my son. I know he’s disabled, but he’s a great kid. He deserves the best I can give him.
7. Do you read books? If so, what is your favorite type of book?
Now that’s a mighty good question, pretty lady. When I was a kid, I only read comics. I loved Superman….nothing could phase him. I imagined myself him. Then I discovered my kryptonite was booze.
Now that I’m sober, besides my Bible, I read kids adventures. Guess I never grew up inside. And I still like comics. But they don’t make ‘em like the used to.
8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
All my wealth and success has not cured my shyness and insecurity. My father was supposedly Native American, but he never stayed long enough for me to get to know him. Try as I might, I still stutter and stammer around pretty gals. And Alexis, Gib’s sister, has me reeling. Seems no matter what I say or do, I can’t impress her.
9. Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?
I travel so much, I don’t have a pet. But if I get custody of Gib, I plan on buying a farm where I’ll have loads of animals…horses and dogs, too. A kid should have a dog. Alexis won’t let Gib have one. And he tells me he loves horses. So I’ll buy him a dozen horses of his own.
10. If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?
Sometimes I wish I could go back and change my wild high school ways. I’m sorry I got a girl pregnant and never knew about it. If I could go back, I’d want to have known the Lord at a younger age. I’d have become a gospel singer maybe. But regret is a waste of time. You can’t go back and undo the wrongs you did. As a Christian, though, I know God takes all our mistakes and weaves a beautiful tapestry. Might have snarls on the opposite side…and we have to live with those consequences. But, my absence from Gib probably turned out to be a good thing for him. The Jennings were good people and gave Gib a firm foundation…something he needed to cope with his disabilities. God also used my wandering years to give me a means to help Gib now. Although, I seem to be messing up real good on that score. Alexis Jennings will hate me when she discovers my motivation for being kind to Gib.
Check out A Father’s Prayer on Amazon
Watch for the upcoming release of FIDDLER’S FLING by Linda Wood Rondeau!
More than a romance.
Set in the beautiful Adirondack Mountains, Fiddlers Fling depicts the struggle of the human spirit to find absolution in good deeds rather than accept the unconditional forgiveness God offers the repentant heart.
