Kathy, thank you for allowing me to take over your blog for the week, and thank you for taking the time to read a little about my work in three sections: Team A.N.G.E.L. Series; ‘Tis The Season, A Holiday Anthology: 2020 Season; and Cruising (Adventures of Chief and Sarge Book 1).
Team A.N.G.E.L. Series:
Strength From Within; 5 Grace Restored Books; 3 Holy Flame Trilogy Books); 4 Divine Legacy Books
My books are Christian/Fiction, but, “They’re not your mama’s Christian/Fiction.” In my books, the spiritual realm crosses into the physical. Where there is dark, there is light. Where there are angels, there are demons. The underlying group is called: A.N.G.E.L. (Available to Nurture God’s Eternal Love). They get assignments from Michael, The Archangel, and then sh out into the world to help people. Some of the characters cross-over storylines within these series. This enables you to get more of another character’s storyline in another series! A portion of the proceeds from these books go to charities, so you get a good read, and help a charity at the same time!
What makes these books different from other books?
These are not your mama’s Christian/fiction. There is action, adventure, and suspense. Men and women have equally enjoyed the series. Strength From Within, Grace Restored Series, and Holy Flame Trilogy all take place at the same time. The Divine Legacy Series jumps forward twenty-years, where the next generation takes over the divine legacy from Team A.N.G.E.L.! These edge-of-your-seat adventures will challenge your heart and mind.
What do you hope readers will take away from your book?
There are many messages within the pages of the books. What you pick up depends on where you are in your life. For those who say the Bible is too old to apply to life now, I do my best to give a different perspective of how to apply the Bible to modern life. Take the challenge and see what you may learn.
What qualifies you write these books?
I always write from the heart. I have a myriad of life experience that I translate to these pages. I write what God lays on my heart. He takes care of the rest.
Basically, there are two kinds of writers – planners and pansters. I am a pantser. This means I basically write by the seat of my pants. When I start a story, I never know how it will end. Many times the characters took over, taking the story a completely different way than I thought.
‘Tis The Season, A Holiday Anthology: 2020 Season
Anthologies run the gamut of themes or specific genres. The requirement for this anthology was it had to be a holiday themed story. My sister and I run Texas Sisters Press. We initiated and published this anthology, choosing a unique group of authors to include, with the idea readers would get an interesting mix…and it worked! Each story had an individual cover at the front, and a little something about each author at the end of their story.
The diverse group of authors each brought their unique perspective to the holiday season. This book is a huddle on the couch with a cup of hot cocoa and enjoy type read. Authors wrote their own stories, with their own spin. My story, Christmas Wish, like most of my stories, has a Christian bend to it. Nothing supernatural about this one, just a lot of heart!
Cruising (Adventures of Chief and Sarge, Book 1)
Children’s books have their own classification, with as many types as adult books. As for the Chief and Sarge books, multiple things make them unique. First off, are Chief and Sarge themselves. I grew up military brat in a family with a general bend toward the Navy. My husband, a retired Navy Senior Chief, was a Navy Corpsman. He worked closely with the Marines as their doc. We found Sarge on a military base, wearing a USMC kerchief, so we named him Sarge, after the Marine side of things.
People fell in love with Sarge, and because of that, we felt Sarge needed a brother. We got him a big brother – Chief (named after Navy Senior Chief). Sarge is a stuffed monkey and Chief is a stuffed koala. We take them on real trips, taking photos along the way. People fell in love with Sarge because he is a naughty little monkey, often getting into places he shouldn’t go. This allowed kids to travel with Sarge. When we added Chief, it added another element of fun! We have taken them to military bases, on cruises, to the Grand Canyon, drag racing, etc.
What do you hope readers will take away from this book?
The Chief and Sarge’s books stand out because: 1) The pictures and story in the book are photos of the people we meet and the experiences we’ve had. These pictures are on their web page and social media; 2) Not many children’s book authors have this unique spin. It is kind of like the idea of the grade school ‘flat Stanley’; 3) Fun facts! I always enjoy adding fun facts to the back of the books for all members of the family to enjoy! One family told me they use them for a game! I love that idea!
I hope this book gives kids some adventure and exploration of our world! Some kids lack the benefit of traveling while young. These books (there will be more) allow little ones to momentarily take a trip with Chief, Sarge, and the Serenity Acres crew to places around the globe! I hope this sparks the imagination of children everywhere to explore our world, and realize the world is bigger than their home or school! Adventure is out there!
What qualifies you to write this book?
Honestly, as you can see from above, I am generally not a children’s book author. However, I do love to travel, and I enjoy the imagination of littles! What qualifies me is that I was a little kid once, so I understand traveling, adventure, and exploration. Sometimes that is stifled in children, and they lose their zest for life before they graduate from high school! I hope and pray this ignites a passion for reading and travel in the kids who receive these books!
My sister, LM Mann – of mannwrites.com, is a children’s book author. As I wrote the book, I had her review it multiple times before we agreed it read at an appropriate age level. Finding just the right illustrator, Waleed Ahmad – skyitservices.com, was a challenge. He did an amazing job converting real-life photos into cartoon form! I’m grateful I found him!
What advice do you have for other authors?
Write from your core – whatever that may be. You were given a story to write. Write it from your heart. Write the book you want to read. Do not write to the latest fad. Write from your heart and core.
Tell us a little about yourself.
I am an author, blogger, podcaster, and farmer. Life is never dull around us! We own an apiary (bees), with a garden and orchard. We talk about this in the blog: The Journey To Fruitfulness on my website. I talk about our joys, mistakes, successes, and epic failures. I apply the lessons we learned to our spiritual walk. I also have a podcast: The Journey Is Real where I talk to real people about their passions, and the journey that brought this passion to their heart. As for the author portion, there are always stories bouncing around my ADD brain! LOL! Life is honestly never dull!
Where can people get your book?
Everything mentioned above can be found on my CJPetersonwrites website. Sign up for my bi-weekly email, which allows you to stay connected with my insane world! I love to hear from my readers. Feel free to email me as well. Thank you for allowing me to invade your blog for the week, Kathy. And, thank you for taking the time to read about my work! I look forward to hearing from you!
God bless, C.J.
“While the stories are fiction, the journey is real.”