Interview With Author Staci Stallings

It is my pleasure to introduce eclectic and inspirational author Staci Stallings.

Hi Staci! Welcome to Patti’s Porch. It’s such a pleasure to have you here!

You have a new release entitled Coming Undone that's Free on Kindle today and tomorrow. Tell us about it.

Coming Undone is one of those books that should come with a box of Kleenex.  I should have invested in them before I started writing it.  I'd be rich by now. LOL.  It's the story of Ben Warren, a guy who's never really grown up because he didn't have to.  His theory is the less tied down he is, the better.  So he has dates not girlfriends.  An apartment, not a house. And a job he could take or leave.  He makes good money, has some good friends, a great car, and a lifestyle that's free and easy.  And then, the unthinkable happens.  He gets a call that his dad, his rock, his hero in life is in the E.R. and suddenly 

Ben's faced with decisions and responsibilities he never saw coming.

On the other side of the story, we have Kathryn Walker.  Kathryn is like so many women today--independent, good at her job, a friend to everyone, but no one's someone special.  She is the social worker at the hospice, and she's very good at what she does--which is helping families through the dying process of their loved one.  The problem is she's not married.  She's not even engaged or thinking about being engaged or really even going out on actual dates.  Oh, she wants to, but all the good guys are married and the others are in jail. So she's half playing the waiting game and half playing the "it's okay, there's a lot of good things about being single" game.  When the truth is, she's really started to think there's something radically wrong with her.

You have authored novels, devotionals, articles, and much more. Tell us about your writing journey.

What a journey! I wrote my first full-length novel in 1996.  I followed that one with five more until I found out I was going broke making copies of them for my friends at Kinkos. So I found a POD/trying to be a traditional publisher.  Got an editor and a publicist, edited the book, finally got it out, and then I realized a couple of things.  The editor had edited me--my voice, my style--right out of the book to make it "marketable."  My friends were like, "Well, it's a good story, but it sounds nothing like you.  What happened?"  Around that same time the publicist decided she now had the authority to run my life.  It was a nightmare! 

So I rethought my approach, spent a lot of time with God and just writing and finally decided to open my own publishing company.  Since then, I've helped two friends publish their books, and I've put out 7 of my own in print and 14 in Kindle and Nook.  I have several blogs as well as 30 total novels, 6 Bible Studies, and 8 collections of short stories that I will be publishing over the next several years.

What is your favorite type of writing, fiction or non-fiction and why?

They are different and helpful in their own ways.  One often feeds off the other.  Like the book I'm writing now. "More Than This" is the story of a dyslexic writer.  I didn't know he was dyslexic when I started it.  In fact, I'd written about 50 pages before I figured out why he was doing the things he was doing. During that same time, I found out my son is dyslexic.  I was writing about our challenges on my blog with the articles and then writing about the character going through some of the same challenges.  It's not an either-or thing.  All of them as well as all of my life experiences play in together and teach me truly incredible things about life and God.

Your website (www.stacistallings.com) carries many uplifting and inspiring messages for writes and non-writers alike. How did you know you had been called to this encouragement ministry?

I'm not sure I realized it until just recently actually.  I've always been a good sideline cheerleader.  In fact, when my daughter played volleyball, other parents wanted to sit by me because if they had a good play, I was encouraging them, and if they had a bad play, I was encouraging them, "That's okay.  Keep your head up!  You can do it!  Be ready for this one!"  That's just the way I am.  God has shown me over the years that I'm the same way with authors.  I've helped several authors become published authors (even through traditional means) and then multi-published authors and then award-winning multi-published authors.  And I take the same approach with them.  Praise for the things they are doing well, and we can work on the weaknesses together.  Interestingly, I'm the same way with my readers as well--point out the things that work, encourage, encourage, encourage.  Show how to work on the life weaknesses.  Encourage, encourage, encourage!  I truly believe God sent me here to build people up because the world was designed to knock them down and He knew they were going to need a friend.

I read your book, Cowboy, in electronic format several months ago. What do you feel the future holds for the ebook?

Kindle and Nook as well as Sony, Apple and all the others are exploding right now. I read something the other day that the ebook-market went from 15% saturation to 20% in six months.  The truth is, there are a lot of people who love to read, but carrying around books in this increasingly fast-paced world is just not practical.  But if I can read a book on my phone if I've got ten minutes at the doctor's office, I can actually read.  Versus thinking about the book that's still on my table and wishing I had it with me.  Now, you can take your whole library with you!  And I think based on the saturation-levels, it's only going to get bigger in the coming years.

Marketing is a huge part of a writer’s responsibility after publication. What marketing techniques have garnered the most success for you in promoting your work?

If you're a reader and you really don't care, please feel free to skip this question.  But if you're a writer... I am laying out marketing strategies in a course I'm teaching for a group of writers that I founded 3 months ago (it's hard to believe it's only been 3 months!).  The course is at: http://gnfmarketing.wordpress.com/  On there we talk about the macros of marketing (the big concepts like push vs. pull and content vs. promos).  As the course goes on, we will slowly work our way into micro-marketing, like how to write a great tweet, how to attract Facebook Fans, how to use Pinterest and KDP to get attention and sell books. 

I would say in direct answer to your question, however, the single best thing I've done is join hands with other Christian authors to cross-promote each other.  The group is called Grace & Faith Authors Connection, and right now we are 110+ members strong.  Through the group, we help and we learn and we teach and we encourage.  That has been THE thing that was the hinge on being an author with a few sales and being an author who knows what to do and how to do it and is now bringing in new readers and bringing back prior readers to make them actual fans.

What advice would you give to writers who are striving to break into the publishing world?

Don't be afraid to try.  So much of writing is about the willingness to get in the game.  Before you can write The End, you have to write the last chapter, before the last chapter, the first.  Before you write the first chapter, you have to write a paragraph, before a paragraph, a sentence.  And before you write a sentence, you have to write that first word.  You would be surprised how many people never write the first word.  Oh, they have a great story to tell, but they are so afraid of making mistakes that to put something down in black-and-white that might not be perfect is terrifying.  In that way, I think our educational system has failed us.  We've been graded and had our mistakes pointed out to us so often that we become afraid to even try.

So breathe! Understand that God gave you the desire.  Practice will give you the talent.  Find others who will encourage you and help you grow as a writer, not just criticize you. Once you do that, the only thing that's stopping you... is you! 

Staci Stallings, the author of this article, is a Contemporary Christian author and the founder of Grace & Faith Author Connection. Staci has a special surprise for you today and tomorrow only...

FREE ON KINDLE TWO DAYS ONLY!

Feb. 1& 2, 2012, Staci's novel

Coming Undone

"If you've ever searched for love, been afraid to love, or lost someone you love, you will love Coming Undone."

The story of two people trying to live life by the world's rules who find that loving someone only happens when you learn to love without asking what you're going to get in return. Available as a free download from Amazon today only!

http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Undone-ebook/dp/B005GGP3HI/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

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Have a God Day!

When I got my first Tracfone, I thought the T9 word feature was the coolest thing. I wasn't an avid texter, but when I did send out a text, the T9 word would seem to anticipate what I wanted to say as if by magic. I could craft a message with only a few taps of my fingers on the keys. 


However, T9 word was not smart enough to differentiate which combination of letters I wanted, so sometimes the wrong word would sneak into my message. My daughter's nickname is and has been "Seeds" since she was very young. (Maybe that's a subject for another post someday!). Once in a while, I would text "Seeds, are you there?" However, that combination of letters in T9 word also translates to "refer." I would get a "LOL! REFER???" as a reply.


Today, I've graduated beyond T9 word technology. I carry a Smartphone, which came with an entirely new technological feature called "Swipe." All I have to do is swipe my fingertip across the keyboard and it creates my message. However, like T9 word, the combination sometimes comes out all wrong.


Several times, I've texted "have a good day" only to find later that what I really sent to the person on the other end is "have a god day." I wonder if maybe that is not the message that was intended in the first place. After all, how can anyone have a bad day if they are having a "god day?"


God is creative, compassionate, omnipresent, forgiving, not to mention a host of other attributes.. If we are having a "god day," it is probably filled with joy, peace, patience, kindness, and  love. Who could ask for more than that?


The only thing that bothers me about the message is that I like to use a capital "G" when referring to God The capital letter doesn't make it into the message, but I think there is enough packed in to those four words to reflect the significance the message carries anyway.


Here's wishing all of you a God day! 


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Is God An Imaginary Friend?

A new billboard will soon be visible on the Interstate in Colorado Springs. It's message is this: "God is an imaginary friend. Choose reality: It will be better for all of us." The message with spark ire in some, fear in others, and indifference in many. Most folks probably won't even notice it as they zoom past it during the four weeks that it will be in place.

One of the members of the Boulder Atheists group that has paid for the sign hopes it will serve as a conversation starter, rather than being seen as controversial. I'm not surprised that such a message would appear on the highways of America. We do have the right to exercise free speech, but that's not the reason I am not shocked by this news. I heard a year ago that there is a message on buses in London that says “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

Our pastor has been preaching on truth these past couple of weeks and talking about Andy Anrews book entitled How Do You Kill 11 Million People?: The answer to that question is that you tell them lies, and you tell them with such skill that people mistake them for the truth. 

The great deceiver tells lies and he constantly recruits people who will listen to those lies and spread them to others. I don't believe the people who are erecting these billboards, one in Colorado Springs and two in Denver, are deceitful people. I believe they are people who have been deceived into believing a lie. I don't resent them, I don't hate them, and I don't fear them. 

I simply hope that their goal will be accomplished in that their message will generate conversation. I pray that through that conversation, people's curiosity will be piqued enough to motivate them to seek the truth.  

It is up to those of us who are members of the Christian community to meet the challenge and be sure they find it.

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Forgotten Places

Three bites into my carefully crafted turkey, ham and Swiss cheese sandwich, my husband pulls the four-step ladder my daughter had just returned over to the picture window, climbs up, and peers over the top of the vertical blinds. “We need to get the vacuum up here,” he says.


“Anything growing up there?” I respond around a bite of freshly sliced cucumber.


“Nothing would survive. It’s way too dusty.”


“I’m sure you’re right. I’ll get after it just as soon as I finish eating.”


“No, I’ll do it,” he replies. 


Sure, like he really needs to be balancing on a ladder with a vacuum in one hand a little over a month after open heart surgery.


Hubby descends the ladder and disappears into the spare bedroom, where I have stored all the boxes of Christmas decorations. He returns with the artificial Christmas tree box in tow. 


“Why didn’t you tape these boxes up?” he asks. 


“I thought I would do it tomorrow and get them out to the garage then.” That’s me, always the procrastinator. Heaven forbid I should get something done today that can wait until tomorrow!


Wordlessly, he retrieves a dispenser of packing tape. 


“Here, I’ll help you” I gaze longingly at the page of my book I’ve started to read.


“No, you go ahead and finish your sandwich.”


Yeah, right, like the guilt trip I’m on over the dusty sill and the untaped boxes have done anything for my appetite. I place the sandwich in the icebox on its paper plate and daydream about later.


We get the boxes taped and hubby proceeds to the garage with the first one. I know that when he goes to the garage he always finds something to do out there, so I don’t expect him back for at least a few minutes. OK, now that I’m up off the couch and my lunch is in cold storage anyway, I might as well do something, right?


I spend the next half hour vacuuming a quarter inch of dust and cob webs from the top of the blind, then for good measure, dust down the walls as well. Actually, accomplishing this seldom performed feat feels kind of good.


I’ve decided to attack some forgotten corner of my humble abode at least three times a week. I’d set a goal for every day, but I know how the every day thing works. Miss a day or two and I throw up my hands in frustration and declare myself a failure. Whether it’s cleaning finger prints off light switch plates or vacuuming under the bed, the little bit of satisfaction in completing small tasks will hopefully motivate me to greater accomplishments. 


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Friday the Thirteenth - Just Another Day?

The air is charged with excitement here on Patti's Porch as we anticipate our granddaughter's first basketball game of the season tomorrow.
"Are you coming to my game?" she messaged me.
"Of course we are!" I enthusiastically replied.
"We are so lucky because we get to play on the 14th instead of Friday the 13th," she observed. 
I responded with a chuckle, but then reassured her that I doubted the date would have anything to do with the outcome of the game. It is the skill of the team that will make the difference.
The brief interchange prompted me to speculate about the origin of the superstition surrounding Friday the Thirteenth. The conclusion I came to in my brief online search is that nobody seems to be able to attribute it to any one incident in history. I did learn that the fear of Friday the Thirteenth has its own special name: paraskevidekatriaphobia.  Let's hope no one ever draws that one in a Spelling Bee!
Whether you can pronounce the word, spell it, or read it without stumbling over it, the North Carolina Stress Management and Phobia Institute claims the date generates fear in the hearts of some estimated 21 million Americans. 
Yesterday, some people stayed home,  refused to go to work, or even spent the day in bed because of the date on their calendars.
I wonder how often we let our lives be ruled by a "Friday the Thirteenth" mentality.
It is easy to become victims of superstition, but I don't necessarily mean the "black cat walking in your path" or "breaking a mirror" kind. 
I'm talking about the beliefs that dominate our behavior. We refuse to travel the roads in life we would like to because we might end up going the wrong way or getting lost. We don't engage in the work we could be doing because we probably won't do it well enough. We stay in bed to avoid all the tasks we should be accomplishing because we don't get them all completed anyway. 
There are two more Friday the Thirteenths this year, but don't let a date on a calendar stifle your motivation, your participation, or your determination. Embrace each day and enjoy it to the fullest.
Oh, and if you do happen to be one of the 21 million who fear the date, take heart. In 2014, there's only one!
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