Enlightened: My Personal Journey with Christ Through Scripture Journaling

Enlightened: My Personal Journey with Christ Through Scripture Journaling, is here!
(And I need reviewers!)

If you'd like to review this book, and you are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, please let me know. We can discuss the details. Email me at kathy@ariverofstones.com.

Get it at Amazon
or send an email to kathy@ariverofstones.com
and I will autograph and send you a copy!

Is it Time?

Kathryn Elizabeth Jones has been a lover of journaling since the time she was a teenager. But the journaling that began as a keeper of secret thoughts, daily activities, and hopes and dreams of the future, one day changed direction in focus and feeling the moment she realized what personal revelation could truly mean for her.

Although personal scripture reading began at about the same time, it was much later, while Kathryn was reflecting on the power of the Kirtland Temple dedication, that the Lord’s voice was heard, and Kathryn wrote of the experience.

Connecting personal revelation to scripture study and prayer as a conduit for an even stronger relationship with Jesus Christ is the premise of this book.

May it enlighten your life and may your own path be made clear as you take the Lord’s hand, listen to His words, and follow His voice.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Jon Thompson author of Revelation

Tell me a about yourself. What got you started in writing?

Winning! In middle school, I won a grade-level writing contest, and I was hooked. The story went on to lose at the district level, but I never forgot the thrill of seeing my story and my name up on the bulletin board.

How and where do you write? Do you prefer a lap top or do you prefer writing freehand?

C - I write primarily on a desk top computer with a full-size keyboard, owing to clumsy fingers and sloppy eye-hand coordination. I also write on an Alphasmart, an instant on keyboard with a small LCD screen. Alphy as I call it is especially useful when I wake up with an idea that I have to get down now, or it will be gone, and so I write in the dark with my eyes closed. About the only time I write with pen and paper is in groups and when I am out and about and a thought hits me, then I record it on one of many ever present notebooks I carry. Some people worry about their clothes matching, I worry about which notebook will fit into the pocket of what I’m wearing. You will often see me wearing a vest, it has big pockets.

What's your favorite part about writing? Your least favorite part about writing?

My favorite part is having complete control over my stories and my characters…What? Oh... My favorite part is how I have some control over where the story begins, and how the characters seem to come alive and direct the middle and end.

My least favorite part is when my fingers stumble across the keyboard and every other word is misspelled. Then it seems as though half of my time is spent hitting the backspace button and going back to change them, to some close proximity of a real word so at least I can figure out what I meant to write when I come back to edit.

How do you come up with your characters? Why would readers want to get to know them?

Some of the people in my stories are created intentionally from an amalgamation of people I have known. Some are fantasy people I wish I knew, and others are people with traits that I think it would be interesting to know. Then there are those whom I am disgusted at the thought of knowing. Still others float in from somewhere else and pop up in my writing.

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Wallen in my book, Revelation, was a pop-in. He wasn't planned, and he kind of pushed his way in. Since he is a lot bigger than I am, he stayed. I grew to like him despite his intrusion, and he is now a main character.

I hope readers will want to get to know the people in my stories because they are like your neighbors and friends… With a twist. A person you would go have ice cream with, take in a ball game, and have no idea they were only figments of my imagination, and may not be quite human.

What types of marketing do you do to promote your writing?

I promote on my personal and author facebook pages, I maintain a writer’s blog, I conduc giveaways on Goodreads, countdowns on Amazon Kindle, speak to groups, and attend book fairs. And thanks to Kathryn Jones, this blog’s author, I have added video trailers to my marketing mix. :)

How do you schedule your writing time? When do you write?

I have a timer that counts down or up. I set my writing time based on how much time I have available. And I am constantly working to get better at keeping my posterior planted on the cushion in front of my keyboard.

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What are you currently working on? Do you have a new book out?

I am currently working on Retaliation, the second book in my YA Almost Human series, on a mystical book about a man who finds out he has a rare, fatal disease, and his exploits to find a way to survive by seeking out the only option for a cure, and on a rather snarky private detective novel.

Do you have a project on the back burner? Tell me about it.

Always. I am ruminating over a YA novel about BB the Dinosaur Hunter, and another BB novel recounting his experience when he finds out what the ancient petroglyphs in the desert surrounding his home are all about.

What would you tell a beginning writer who wants to publish but doesn't believe he/she has enough talent?

Talent is overrated. Becoming a good writer involves reading widely, learning how to write well, and writing…a lot, and then writing more, and reading more. Never stop reading, and never stop writing.

Write every day, and don’t give up on a project you think has promise. It may not ever be good enough to show it to anyone else, but you develop tenacity by completing your projects.

If your first and second drafts are so awful you’re embarrassed to show them to anyone, don’t. And know that you’re on the right track.

Edit. Rewrite. Revise. Remember, you don’t have to show anyone your writing until you, and your writing, are ready (Unless you’re in school and the teacher wants your homework. And that is great training for meeting deadlines.).

A last word; at some point you need to realize none of your writing will ever be perfect, but it’s good enough to share with the world.

***

Thank you, Jon!

Learn more about Jon:

http://jethompsonauthor.blogspot.com/

Read the character interview here

CHARACTER INTERVIEW: Michelle Thorn from Revelation

Tell me a little about yourself (where you live, who you are, what you look like, what you hope 

to achieve, etc.)

My name is Michelle Thorn. I’m fifteen years old, I lived with my parents in our home overlooking the ocean on the Oregon coast. We were a pretty typical family, my dad was an auto mechanic, my mom a travel agent, and I was part of the high school team on our way to the state soccer championship. I don’t like bullies, and since I am stronger and faster than the senior boys, I don’t have to, and I don’t have to let them pick on my friends either. The day I ran into Doctor Carlos Safine my life went from, “Wow, hope I do well on my math test,” to “Wow, I hope I live through tomorrow. Now my biggest hope is to someday return to a normal life.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Sports. Soccer, basketball, martial arts, and surfing. That’s what I used to like to do. Nowadays, I’m lucky if I can go for a run. The closest I am able to get to sports is sneaking through the forest, but I do get a lot of time practicing loading, unloading and field-stripping a variety of weapons. And my big, I mean really big friend Wallen is teaching me more than I ever wanted to know about all sorts of military stuff.

What is your favorite color and why?

Green. It’s the color of life. The forest is full of life, and even the air is green when you get deep in the trees.

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What is your favorite food? Why is it your favorite?

Pizza. Because it’s like, the all around food. If I’m feeling down, pineapple and onion. If we just won our soccer game, mushroom and black olive. When I pass the math test I've been stressing over for a week, Greek pizza with feta cheese, red onions, green peppers, and green olives. Oh, and chocolate-chip cookies, because they are the food of the gods, from the time they begin to perfume the house to the time those chocolate chips melt on my tongue, it’s like the sweetest expectation. And they have all your basic food groups, wheat, milk, chocolate, and sugar.

What would you say is your biggest quirk?

I don’t deal well with frustration. If I’m frustrated, I’m not going to hide it, you will know if you've done something so ignorant that it irks me. And it won’t be pretty.

What is it about your antagonist that irks you the most, and why? Share a line in the book 

where this irk is manifested.

I believe in fair play, on the soccer field and off. Homeland Security Chief Danson crossed lines that should never be crossed, proving he is anything but fair. “She’s a single mom with a blind daughter. Why does it have to be taken care of? If we kill her, are we any better than Danson or his Homeland Security goons?”

What or who means the most to you in your life? What, if anything, would you do to keep

him/her/it in your life?

My parents. Lots of kids at school rag on their parents, some only have a mom or dad. I’m lucky, I have both my parents, and they’re pretty cool. They give me enough freedom to enjoy life, and enough structure to keep me close. I would do anything to keep them in my life.

What one thing would you like readers to know about you that may not be spelled out in the

book in which you inhabit?

I’m a team player. I may argue with my teammates, but in the end, we are all on the same team. When I am in a game, the team matters more than individuals. We win or lose as a team, and even though I am faster and stronger than any of my soccer teammates, we agree on a strategy and stick to it. When I decided to join Dr. Safine, I began to see him and the other Newvers as teammates.

If you could tell your writer (creator) anything about yourself that might turn the direction of 

the plot, what would it be?

Even more than my team, my family is one of my top priorities. If anyone hurts any member of my family, I will hunt them down and make them pay.

Ask me any question. I've always wanted to know what a character thinks about writers like 

myself. I'll answer the question at the end of this interview.

Why do readers want us good guys to go through so much pain and suffering, I mean, do we really deserve to be beat up so much?

This is a question I've been asked before, but my answer bears repeating. Characters are just like real people in the sense that they must go through the bad and experience the good. If a book held off in the "pain and suffering" department, the character wouldn't be able to learn and grow, just like a real person wouldn't. 

***

Thank you, Michelle!

Learn more about Michelle and her creator at the following site:

http://jethompsonauthor.blogspot.com/