Award-winning author Virginia Smith and I met online (where else?) several years ago, but then had the privilege of meeting in person at a dinner (at a French restaurant) with the agents and authors of the Books & Such Literary Agency. We hooked up again last year during the Friday night free time of the ACFW Conference in Minneapolis where Ginny and my son Ryan and I and several other authors went out to TGIFridays. (Appropriately named for a Friday night get together.) :)

Ginny and I share the same wonderful agent, Wendy Lawton, who was featured last month on Spotlight. I have found Ginny to be a warm and gracious and caring person with a wonderful smile and a great sense of humor. She’s as much fun in person as she is in her stories!

Virginia Smith is the author of eight novels, including Age before Beauty and Murder at Eagle Summit. In 2008 she was named Writer of the Year at Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference.

A popular retreat speaker, Ginny keeps audiences enthralled with her high-energy presentations. She and her husband, Ted, love exploring the extremes of nature – motorcycle riding, snow skiing, hiking in the mountains, and scuba diving in the warm waters of the Caribbean

Ginny is more adventurous than I. Travel is good, mountains are great, hikes can be fun too, but the rest…I’ll leave the motorcycles, skis, and scuba gear to her. :)

Ginny’s latest book Murder at Eagle Summit releases from Steeple Hill later this month – April, 2009.

Here’s the blurb:

A romantic ski resort seems the perfect place for a wedding. Until a murder on the slopes turns everyone on Eagle Summit into suspects. Liz Carmichael, the bride’s cousin, saw a shadowy figure on a chairlift in the middle of the night. But was it the victim or the killer? Liz goes to the police—and finds herself giving the report to her ex-fiancé, Deputy Tim Richards. After a three-year estrangement, she could finally make things right—unless the killer finds her first….

This book looks very intriguing! I love romantic suspense!

And here’s the video trailer:

You can purchase Murder at Eagle Summit at these three online bookstores:

CBD, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon. Amazon also features an excerpt of the book or you can also read it here. Or as a rare treat, you can listen to Ginny read the first chapter here. Enjoy!

I asked Ginny to give us some insight into how God is using her and her writing.

Jill: When and how did you know that you wanted to be a writer?

Ginny: : I first tried my hand at writing when I was in my early twenties, but back then I didn’t really consider writing novels – just short stories. Several years later I decided to write a novel, and did. Then another. And another. In all, I wrote dozens of short stories and six novels – two for adults and four middle-grade novels – before I finally wrote the one that landed the contract. Since I was 45 years old when I received the contract for Just As I Am, that means it took me more than twenty years from the first time I thought, “I think I’ll try writing a story.”

Jill: Boy, can I relate! We have more in common than our last names! :)

Can you share with me some of the highlights of your writing journey – something particularly memorable or humorous?

Ginny: In my mind I categorize the years of my writing journey as The Rejection Years. In all, I collected 143 rejections before my first publication. My first one was especially memorable. I’d written a science fiction short story that was, in my opinion, the most brilliant piece of literature ever produced. Definitely prize-winning quality. I packaged it up and sent it off to a science fiction magazine. The rejection letter returned with such force that it dented the mailbox. (At least it felt that way.) It was a form letter on which the editor had written a personal note. “I’m afraid the theme is a common one, and the language a bit overdone.” Ouch.

Jill: I think you’ve actually got me beat on rejections. But we could both probably paper a wall with them. :)

Tell me a bit about what you write now and what you hope/plan to write in the future. Do you have a favorite genre?

Ginny: I’ve written ten novels (okay, I’ve written sixteen novels, but only ten of them were actually contracted for publication!), and I’m still dabbling with different genres. I published two chick lit novels, Just As I Am and Sincerely, Mayla. Then I made a slight change to contemporary fiction with Stuck in the Middle, Age before Beauty, and the upcoming Third Time’s a Charm. My first mystery, Murder by Mushroom, was a cozy, and my mysteries since then have become increasingly more suspenseful. Murder at Eagle Summit, my latest release, is romantic suspense. And I just turned in a proposal for a romance novel. (And I’d appreciate prayers for that one!)

I do intend to concentrate on romantic suspense, contemporary women’s fiction, and romance in the future. At least, until the Lord gives me a really good idea in another genre. Say, science fiction. ☺

Jill: LOL! I loved your characters in Stuck in the Middle. The series should be a fun read for women. And like I said above, I love romantic suspense. I’ll look forward to reading your newest release.

Do you consider your writing a calling of God or something He has given you to do for a season?

Ginny: Writing is something God has given me for a lifetime. Now, publishing might be something He intends only for a season. I have no way of knowing what He’s got in store. But I can tell you that writing, to me, is an act of worship. It’s a time of intimate fellowship with my Lord, something we do together because I can’t possibly do it without Him. I crave the time I spend with Him in front of my computer, working out a plot, getting to know a character, learning lessons along with the people He makes real in my mind. As long as He keeps giving me contracts, I’ll keep publishing. But if the contracts ever stop, I’ll still write because it’s one way I worship Him.

Jill: That’s awesome, Ginny! I know what you mean. I can’t write without the Lord either – sometimes I find myself begging Him for help to understand my characters!

Are there people in your life who encouraged you, who are responsible for you realizing your dream to be a published author?

Ginny: My mother is the most awesome, encouraging person in the world. She’s read everything I’ve ever written, and since she’s also a writer, she offers invaluable advice for improving it. But the best thing she offers me is an unswerving support and faith in me.

Jill: It’s great to have the support of family!
Can you share one struggle that entered your life as a result of writing and how God helped you to overcome it, to make you more like Christ?

Ginny: It’s funny, but God uses every book I write to delve into areas of my life where He can change me. In Murder by Mushroom, for instance, the spiritual theme was about gossip in the church. Honestly, I’m not a gossip! But as I worked on that book and prayed about it, this character appeared who heard a really juicy bit of gossip and couldn’t wait to call the prayer chain to “get them praying for poor Esther.” As I was shaking my head over this unChristlike behavior, I realized I’d done the same thing. Maybe not with the same amount of glee, but I had been guilty of passing along gossip in the form of prayer requests. I was humbled, and realized anew how insidious and evil gossip really is – it can seep into areas that should be sacred.

Jill: So true. Likewise, is there a particular joy in this writing business/ministry that God has used to remind you that He is, in fact, using your words to His glory?

Ginny: After my first book came out, it was endorsed by the president of the American Christian Chaplains Association, and an outreach ministry started taking donations and providing copies to prison libraries. A few months later, I received a letter from an inmate in a Mississippi state prison telling me how much the book had moved him, and that he was using it as a discussion guide for a group of other inmates – and one of them had accepted the Lord. I’ll tell you, that letter brought me to my knees in awe. To think God could use something I’ve written to bring someone to a saving knowledge of Jesus is the most awesome and humbling thing I’ve ever experienced. And it made me so aware of the fact that, as a writer, all I can do is offer my labor to God. It’s not much, but He is a big God. He can take even the smallest offering and use it for His glory. Amazing.

Jill: What an awesome gift! I can think of no greater joy for a Christian writer.

Has writing opened opportunities for you to give your testimony and witness for Christ or minister to fellow believers? If so, can you give one example?

Ginny: From the time the first book was published I started receiving invitations to speak in churches and retreats, and that has made me more bolder and more outspoken about my faith than I ever was before. But honestly, my strongest statements come through the stories God has given me to tell. For instance, I received an email from a lady who had read Just As I Am a few years ago. That book was about a young woman with purple hair and facial piercings, and the overall theme is God’s unconditional love for each of us, no matter how untraditional we look on the outside. This lady told me she was in her seventies, and said the book really touched her. She said, “Your book made me look differently at that girl who sits on the back pew of my church every Sunday.” I thought, “Wow. That’s what it’s all about.”

Jill: Amen!

Besides the featured book Murder at Eagle Summit, here is a list of Ginny’s current and upcoming releases:

Age before Beauty
Available now from Revell!

Desperate to stay home with her baby, Allie Harrod launches a new career. True, she has no sales experience, but selling makeup can’t be that hard… right?

Link to purchase Age before Beauty: here

Scent of Murder
Available from Steeple Hill in June, 2009

When Caitlin meets the handsome owner of a scented candle factory, she is drawn into the consequences of a haunting crime from his past – and a deadly killer in the present.

Link to purchase Scent of Murder here

You can visit author Virginia Smith and get to know her better by checking out her website or her blog. You can also find her on Facebook.

Thanks Ginny, for joining us this month on Spotlight!