We here at ckevinthompson.com hope everyone is doing well! We hope you're being allowed outside...able to do some shopping, besides groceries...able to work...able to walk on a beach or through a park or wherever, just as long as it isn't from the easy chair or sofa to the refrigerator! Right?
COVID-19 or not, it's a small world. I met our next guest through our publisher. My latest novel, The Letters, and her latest novel (which we'll talk about more in a moment) are both published by Mantle Rock Publishers (which was just bought by Scrivenings Press). In the midst of working with a new publisher, as an author, you tend to get to know the other writers, expanding that network, and just getting to meet some great people.
In the midst of getting to know our next guest, it turned out that I already knew her mother-in-law. I had met her back on 2013 at the Reader's Favorite Award Ceremony in Miami. Her mother-in-law was the president of RF! I have pictures of us standing on stage as I received my award.
Small world, indeed.
So, without anymore trips down memory lane, let me welcome to our Florida front porch my fellow MRP author, Neena Gaynor! It's warming up down here in FLA. We're getting into that summertime pattern of hot, rain, humid. Rinse. Repeat. So, pull up a chair, Neena, grab some iced tea, and give us a quick bio, would you? In fifty words or less, who is Neena Gaynor?
Hello there! I’m Neena Gaynor, a former nurse who has spent much of the last decade traveling with my husband, Wade, a former professional baseball player. After changing our address 29 times and moving a young family all around the US, I’ve learned to embrace the peace that only comes from the steady accompaniment of Christ. Today, I’m happy to be back in our old Kentucky home, beekeeping, writing, and being Mom. I’m excited to share about my newly released debut novel, The Bird and the Bees.
Where did you go to school?
I
graduated with my Bachelors and Masters in Nursing from Western Kentucky
University. It was also there that I also met my husband.
Smart girl. Got the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Science (Nursing), and got the "Mrs." degree too. That happens a lot, doesn't it?
I’m going to give you a shotgun
list of favorites. List your favorite in each category and then tell us in one
sentence why it is your favorite.
Favorite
Song of All-Time: Country Road – John Denver
Favorite
Non-Fiction Book (other than your own & besides the Bible): Mere Christianity – C.S. Lewis (Love that book! I use it as a quote in the front matter of my Blake Meyer series!)
Favorite
Bible Verse:
So hard to choose one! John 10:10 maybe?
Favorite
Movie:
Meet the Parents
Favorite
Actor or Actress: Audrey Hepburn
Favorite
TV Show:
Downton Abbey (My wife is watching that right now!)
Favorite
Novel (other than your own): Redeeming
Love – Francine Rivers
Favorite Author
(other than you): Wendell Berry
Favorite
Sport:
Baseball
Favorite
Team (Can be any sport, any level): WKU Hilltoppers!
Favorite
Subject in School Growing Up: English/Lit
Favorite
Subject Now:
Literature
Favorite
Teacher in School: Mrs. Burton- 4th Grade
Favorite
Time of the Year: Summer
Favorite
Place to Vacation: Clearwater Beach, FL (I have to admit, I have lived in FL most of my life, and I have never been to CB... Never been to Key West either... Guess I should get out more.)
Favorite
Drink:
Coffee (Yes! I love Coffee.)
Favorite
Food:
Watermelon (Uh, no...)
Tell us about what
project you are currently working on.
As a mother, I’m constantly reading children’s picture
books. I’m working on something that would share my delight and the importance
of honey bees. I’m particularly partial to my test readers, my two little boys.
They’re the ones with the great ideas.
What surprised you
the most during the research for the book you are currently working on?
The main character in
The Bird and the Bees has been propelled out the Appalachians to the
unfamiliar northwest shore of Pennsylvania. She’s skeptical and hurt by deep,
secret wounds in her past, and she’s guarded her heart by erecting walls around
any sort of vulnerability or hope for love. After I had already determined that
Larkin would be living in Presque Isle with a view of the
Writers get it. Others think we're nuts, I do believe.
How do you come up
with the names for your characters?
Choosing character names was an experience much like being a
parent, and I kept changing the names in The
Bird and the Bees as they would develop. I wanted the name to represent my
hopes for fictional lives. I ended up looking at baseball rosters and in
botanical field guides for inspiration. I also decided I either need more
babies or dogs or maybe just more fictional characters to name because there
are so many great ones out there. ;)
If you had one person you could
meet (think ONLY Bible characters here) and could spend as much time as you
wanted with that individual, who would it be besides Jesus?
If
I can’t choose Jesus, then I would definitely choose his mother, Mary. She was
the first to trust and follow Jesus, and is a model of faith through her total
surrender to the will of the Lord. She is the mother of Jesus, the spouse of
the Holy Spirit, and a daughter of God… I’d say the conversations could be
endless!
We know “Readers are leaders, and
leaders are readers.” Is there a book you’ve read in the past five years or so that
has helped you become a better you? If so, which one was it, and how did it
affect your life?
There’s
a short little read by Elisa Morgan called, She
Did What She Could. It takes the story of the woman who anointed Jesus’
feet with expensive perfume in Mark 14:1-9 and expounds on the words of Christ
that this lady “did what she could.” Morgan takes everyday examples of regular
women making choices not to do something crazy or impossible, but being active
and intentional in the moment. Maybe they can do something amazing like adopt a
child, or buy groceries for the person behind them, or say a prayer for the
homeless they see hurting. The point is there is always something we can do, we just tend to do nothing because we think
our offerings aren’t grand/won’t be remembered/seem menial. Doing even the
smallest act of service or sacrifice is a glorying Christ.
Sounds like the heart and soul of the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30). All the servant with one talent had to do was do something with it. Not hide it in fear.
Neena, it's been a pleasure having you on as a guest. Is
there anything else you’d like to share with our readers about you, or anything
we didn’t cover?
Writing
The Bird and the Bees took off when I
determined "the what" I wanted readers to glean from the gritty story of Larkin.
The theme of the book is the power of choice. I believe much of our lives are a
result of the choices we make, big and small. What we are experiencing right
now with the Coronavirus points to the fact that there are some things in life
we would never choose. I still believe we determine our response, and the best
response is always to choose Jesus. Choose Him in the moment. Choose Him every
day.
Amen.
Readers, thanks for stopping by and getting to know another author in our series, The Author Behind the Story. If you wish to get to know more about Neena's writing, you can find her in cyberspace here:
Kevin
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