"Author Yvonne Lehman recently blessed me with the following interview. www.yvonnelehman.com - DiAnn

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:

Q: How long have you been involved in your particular career?

About 30 years.

Q: What prompted your decision to become a writer?

I was teaching a class of young women, ages 17
'til married, in Sunday school. Much racial disturbance was taking place around us. I felt I couldn’t teach brotherly love each week without showing it. However, the church wouldn’t allow me to invite young Black girls to visit our SS class. My faith in Christians & the pastor plummeted. After about 6 months of wondering if I should leave the church, I realized that God and I are a majority & if he wants me to reach out, he will show me how. I rededicated my life to Him. Then I noticed the ad in Decision Magazine (BGEA) about the School of Christian Writing. I realized I had written things for years & threw them in a box in the closet and I always re-wrote the SS lessons. I applied to the school and the rest is history (looooong history, but not enough time for it here).

Q: How has your line of work changed during the past ten years?

Writing rules have changed and I’ve tried to keep up with the changes, such as head-hopping, attributions after dialogue, one point-of-view per scene, etc. Also, as I learn more about God’s word, so do my characters.

Q: What aspects of your work do you enjoy the most?

When the characters come alive for me, I enjoy the work. I don’t know them when I begin writing. It’s like meeting a stranger that I know facts about, but not their heart, mind and soul. So, I write the facts until the characters come alive and take on a life of their own. I enjoy that. I also enjoy re-writing and making the story more interesting.

Q: What are the most challenging problems for writers?

Writing! Making time to write. It’s easier just to talk about it, want to, hope to, gonna do it someday, than to sit down at that computer and do it. If you have an idea, just start and don’t worry about whether or not it’s “good.” Good writing comes from practice, practice, practice and re-writing.

Q: What motivates you?

Various things have motivated me through the years. At first, it was the excitement of God having called me into writing and a whole new world opened up to me. I truly expected fame and fortune since this was a God-thing and I hadn’t known I should be a writer, nor did I have ambitions to be. Fame and fortune didn’t come, but the belief that God wanted me to do this remained. So I returned to college (had only a high school education at the time) and took one course at a time to learn about writing, English, and literature. I realized writing isn’t something God pours through you, it’s a business and profession you have to learn, regardless of how much “talent” you may have. When it’s discovered a child has a particular talent, that’s when the training and practice really begin. The same with writing. Anyway, as years passed and children came, there were times I wrote because I was a writer and also needed to make some money with it. We should make money with it because this is a business and a profession, just as preachers should make money. So, I’ve been motivated by my desire to write, God’s leading, opportunities that came unexpected, opportunities I made, money, seeing my name in print, touching another’s life with my insight or a scripture. What motivates me now is the fact that writing is a part of my life. I have an obligation to reach out to others with the talent the Lord has given me. I may not feel motivation at times, but I am obligated anyway. I am a writer and must do it.

Q: How did you get your first big break into the writing business?

Being accepted to the School of Christian Writing, winning their Award of Excellence in Christian Writing the following year which put me in contact with editor Bob DeVries who sat beside me on the plane back home from the School and he promised to read my book on race relations. After I finished the book, he had moved from Moody to get his doctorate and I tracked him down (didn’t know then that you shouldn’t chase an editor). He promised to read it after getting his doctorate. Later he wrote that if he hadn’t promised to read the whole thing, the book would be rejected. He suggested I throw away the first 3 chapters and gave advice on what to do with the rest of it. Later he became editor at Zondervan and published my first 2 books.

While all that was going on, waiting… I had opportunity to write a series of weekly columns for 3 months for the Illinois Baptist State paper. This was wonderful experience in cutting my column from about 2000 words down to 500 words each week. Also, this got my name out to other states whose papers reprinted some of my columns. I got no pay, but the experience and my name out were invaluable.

Q: For what achievement would you like to be remembered?

Writing good books that make a spiritual difference in readers’ lives as well as entertaining them.

Q: Are there things you haven’t accomplished yet that you still would like to accomplish?

Get my mainstream novels published, be recognized as a good writer whose work makes a positive difference.

Q: If you were not involved in your present work, what would you most likely be doing?

Probably teaching school and in church. That’s reality. In fantasy, I would be a ballerina and live in a castle.

Q: How keen is competition in your field?

Very! The competing is in the publishing end of it. The editors must pick and choose because they don’t have a slot for all the submissions they receive. That motivates us to higher standards and the need to keep learning the business. I used to pray for “my” books to be accepted, and I still do, but with a different motive. It was hard for me to pray that the editors would choose the books that would make the greatest difference in a reader’s life, even if it wasn’t mine. I prayed it anyway and it became a reality for me. I began to put myself in the place of the aspiring writer. They want to be published as much as I do. They too have a talent and a message and an obligation. We do compete, but more important is to cooperate with other Christians and as we grow in writing experience, help others who are trying to get into the business. That’s why I plan the writers conference.

Q: What is the secret to having satisfied readers in your business?

Entertaining them while teaching them something. Giving them a few “ah-ha” moments. Saying something in a different way, being honest, helping them see that the author or the character is a lot like them…human beings with problems in this life, in all areas.

Q: What trends are currently developing in your profession?

The “chick” or “hip”… more humorous, but serious, books for specific audiences. Also, I think a desire for “real” life is developing, instead of portraying plastic Christians, or that once you accept Jesus all is rosy.

Q: What is an average workday like for you?

6:30 a.m. Bible reading & prayer/ 7:15 a.m. plaster on a new face and dress/ 8-9:15 exercise at local health club/ 12:30 lunch & read or go out/ 5:30 p.m. supper & read or go out. 8:30 p.m. popcorn & read or watch a video. 10:30 p.m. go to sleep. Those are the easy parts. The rest depends on what I need to do, plus my procrastination. Sometimes I write.

Q: What kinds of projects are you currently involved?

I plan the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference held annually at Ridgecrest NC (April 17-21, 2005 – www.lifeway.com/christianwriters, take violin lessons-practice, associate with my children & grandchildren, taking a mini-course in Post-Macabees and one in Acting, reading books to comment on them, studying Grudem’s Bible Doctrine through one of my writers loops, live alone so have to take care of house, car, yard, burned-out-light bulbs, etc. all by my lil’ ol’ self, usher at the Lyric Opera, attend musicals, dances, operas at the Bravo concerts, eat lunches & dinners with friends and/or aspiring writers who buy my meal in exchange for critiques, have writers meetings. I bathe occasionally. Write down book & devotional ideas, write book proposals & send to my agent, read & answer emails which takes up half a day. However, when I have a book contract, all that fades into the background as much as possible and I write for hours and hours. I also eat and sometimes walk my dog.

Q: How do you get your characters?

From myself, my beliefs, my questions, my problems, my joys, my hopes, other people, settings, a thought, imagination, something I read. There are so many I can’t write them all. I felt my most recent book, Coffee Rings, expressed the various parts of me more dramatically than any of my other books. Of course, I’m a part of all of them. But this one had more characters—one is funny, one is insecure, one is fearful, one is experiencing cancer. I’m not the characters, and yet a part of me is in each of them. I think when we’re honest with ourselves and about ourselves, we write more “real” characters, which is what I want to do.

Q: Do people in your line of work have much time for families?

I think that depends on the person and the family and the age of the children. I believe family needs and good times should come first if a choice has to be made. However, one must make time to do what God has called them to do even if you can give only a small amount of time to it.

Q: Do you travel much?

I didn’t when I had a husband and 4 children. Now my husband is gone and my children are grown. I now travel to more writers conferences, more book signings out-of-state and this past spring traveled to Israel. I would like to travel more.

Q: Does your work put pressure on you?

Not really because I work best under pressure. If I have a contract, an advance and a deadline then that is another obligation I’m to fulfill which inspires me. I don’t feel as motivated to write without a contract. There’s a certain amount of pressure when a plot or character doesn’t seem to be developing the way I’d like, but I’ve learned that is just a part of the work of writing. If it were so easy, we couldn’t feel like we accomplished anything.

Q: How did you prepare yourself for your career?

Went back to school, once course at a time while raising children which took a loooong time since I had 4 of them. Always learning more about life, writing, God. Life is preparation. Dedication to writing is important. Even when not being published, the practice of writing is important.

Q: What type of reading do you like?

All kinds. I can’t say I have a favorite. There are so many styles and types of writing. I like certain stories for various reasons. I love the literary type. I also love the writing of beginning writers because so much of it is fresh and original. I do prefer fiction over non-fiction and books over short pieces.

Q: In regard to your profession as a whole, of what are you most critical?

I suppose I complain at times, but when I do it’s because I’m not accomplishing what I should be or would like to be. But that’s not the fault of my profession. If I want to accomplish more, then I have to put the effort into it. I think the publishers and editors are doing their best, just as we writers try to do. We’re all working for the same goal—to serve the Lord in our profession…and yet, there’s life with which to contend, and the matter of having to make money.

Q: What do you do when you need to get away from it all?

When I had husband, teenagers, a job, the house, the cooking, the cleaning… well, I could go on forever about those things, I got away from it all with my writing. I created another world and let the ending be whatever I wanted. Now that I’m alone, in a sense I am away from it all. Now, I get into it all through my writing. I create life and characters and the ending has growth of character and/or hope.

Q: Are there any professional associations that you belong?

ChiLibris, ACRW (ACFW), RWA, FHL, MWA.

Q: What are your short and long range career goals?

To get mainstream, as well as category, novels published.

Q: What sort of educational background do you have?

Bachelor of Arts, Masters in English Literature.

Q: How do you spend your weekends and off-duty hours?

I sort of do whatever I want whenever I want. I do like Saturdays when I don’t have exercise classes or other classes and can just stay home and catch up on miscellaneous or if involved in a project, write all day. I like the idea of that long day without any outside obligations unless it’s something in the evening I go to. Sundays are for church, going out to eat with friends, skimming the Leisure & Arts section of the paper, working the Jumble, Cryptogram, & Crossword Puzzle and read. I might or might not write or do miscellaneous. It’s a leisure day. Bet you thought all my days were leisure!.