Please join me in welcoming Carol Nelson to the blog this week. This is her first time with us, and we’re so glad to have her. Before we get to the inspiration behind her book, Dying for Life, let’s hear a little more about it.

When Audra Knight’s gynecologist says, “I need to do a biopsy,” it numbs her to the core of her being. She’s young, she’s single, and she’s at risk for developing cancer. It’s not the time to be noticing Dann Day, the handsome new band-orchestra teacher at Chandler’s Grove Academy. But why should Dann consider her, anyway, with her unresolved anger issue, the way she’s strayed from church and God, and the fact that Heather Easton already seems to have claimed him as her own private property? No, she won’t get involved with him. It could too easily end in heartbreak, and she won’t put a man through that. Still…

That sounds very interesting. What inspired you to write the story?

Liz Tolsma remarks on her Home Page, “The stories find me—I don’t find them.”  And that’s what happened to me with Audra. I hadn’t written anything for a long time, but that’s a whole other story. My newly-retired husband had taken on the task of creating a website for our church, and he was loving every minute of it. I decided I needed some little diversion to keep me busy while he was discovering his new passion, but I had no idea what that might be.

I was still contemplating what I might do when I had a dream. In the dream, a teacher stood embarrassed before her blackboard. Someone, possibly a student, had linked her initials to those of another teacher in the school. When I awoke, the dream was still vivid, and I felt impressed that the Lord had just given me the plot for a story and writing it would be the little diversion I was seeking.

I’d love to say I dashed off the story, sent it to a publisher, and voila! it was sold. Hardly. It was rejected. But it was my story, not the Lord’s. Not yet. It was written by a Christian, but it wasn’t Christian writing. The story went through several rewrites, revisions,  and a title change before I knew Audra well enough to know that deep inside she not only wanted a new spiritual life, but she wanted something more in the life the Lord had given her here on earth. Even the book-cover art depicts her life emerging from deadness with new life.

The book still languished inside my computer for a long time. My husband encouraged my writing, but he didn’t live long enough to see it published. After he died, I felt the gentle nudge of the Lord to get serious with my writing. It was time to get Audra edited and published. And so, with the recent release of Audra – Dying For Life it’s time for Audra to live.  

Carol J. Nelson lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she spends most days writing Christian women’s fiction. Although she started writing in childhood, it took a lifetime to know what her heart truly desired and needed to write—stories that touch the fabric of women’s lives with hope, grace, and faith, combined with the little spice of clean romance women enjoy. She has three daughters, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. She served as an aid in a nursing home, worked in the purchasing department of a large corporation, spent time as the head cook at an all-you-can-eat buffet, and went full circle to become a care giver before settling in to her first love, writing. When she’s not at the computer, church, gardening, cooking, and playing cards and games keep her busy.

Buy link:Amazon
Social Media:Website
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Carol is giving away one print copy of Dying for Life. Follow the directions below to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you so much for joining us, Carol.