I saw a cartoon recently. The principal of an elementary school was on the PA system, holding the microphone. The clock on the wall said 3:00 p.m. She said, "I know you all are excited, but please refrain from throwing books and running in the hallways. If you could at least wait until the students have left for the day, it would be greatly appreciated."
I'm hearing shouts of joy across the nation as students walk off campus for the last time in the 2021-2022 school year. Some of those exclamations are from the kids. Most are from the teachers. It's been two years of "Quarantine Hades." Two years many would just as soon forget and never relive. They are so excited to head into summer with the prospect of starting next year in a "pre-pandemic" state of mind.
Then, of course, you have the somber, tragic moments, such as what occurred in Uvalde, Texas, that demonstrate for the nation once again how much teachers and other staff members are truly on the front lines as well. You don't have to wear PD Blue, Fire Engine Red, or Military Green to be on the front lines.
Therefore, as you transition into summer mode, remember your child's teachers in your prayers. Remember the other school staff members as well. In a day's time, they often spend more time with your child collectively than you do in a normal weekday.
And when you think of it, pray for us writers too. Developing stories readers want to read is hard work, as our next guest points out. And believe it or not, many writers out there are or have been in the teaching field at some point in their lives.
Our featured author in this summer quarter has been a friend and mentor of this writer for several years now, and I am so happy and humbled to have her as a guest on ABTS.
So, pull up an Adirondack chair, grab a glass of sweet tea or lemonade (or mix it into an Arnold Palmer), and please welcome author, speaker, organizational president, contest organizer, and all around Grand Poohbah (just ask Mark Hancock about this title), Eva Marie Everson!
Eva, in ABTS style and tradition, give us a quick bio. In fifty words or less, who is Eva Marie Everson?
Eva Marie Everson is a multiple award-winning author and
speaker of both fiction and nonfiction. She is the president of Word Weavers
International, the director of Florida Christian Writers Conference, and the
director of all Blue Ridge Mountains CWC contests, including The Selah Awards.
She and her husband live in Central Florida where they enjoy their children and
grandchildren.
Before you ever got a notion of
becoming a writer/author, how old were you, and what were you doing in that
time of your life?
Like
most writers I’d always had the notion of being a writer/author, but instead of
choosing that path educationally, I went into nursing. In 1992, I contracted a
disease that “sent me home” and kept me there for the next five years. But it
was during this time that the Lord opened my eyes (and all the right doors) to
the possibilities of entering into the publishing arena.
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: “That’s Life” by Frank Sinatra
When the words aren’t
flowing, what is your favorite comfort food and why?
Cheez-Its.
Oh, now, I can relate. If I'm not careful, I can inadvertently perform a magic act during a sporting event or movie and make and entire box disappear.
Eva, in ABTS style and tradition, give us a quick bio. In fifty words or less, who is Eva Marie Everson?
For all the pet
lovers out there, answer this question: Do you have any?
I loooooooooooooooove dogs (better than people!). And I’ve
had quite a few. Right now, we have a cat, Vanessa. Or, she has us. Vanessa was
my brother’s cat. When he died in 2019, one of his last concerns was over his
cat. I promised him that I would take care of her and give her a wonderful
life. I have kept that promise.
You have something in common with Mark Twain. He has been quoted saying, "The more I get to know people, the more I like my dogs."
Everybody seems to
have a bucket list. Do you? If so, what’s on it? If not, why not?
I do. Recently it became so short because I fulfilled so
many of the items that I decided to add to it . . . you know . . . without a
bucket list, it gets a little scary. 😊
Still on the list (but not inclusive):
Be driven down the 7-mile Bridge in the Florida Keys at
Sunset
Return to Ireland
Vacay in Bryce Canyon
Return to Bennington, VT
Do you have a crazy,
interesting, behind-the-scenes story about the publishing world you’d like to
tell your readers without boring them to death with industry gobbledygook?
I made an appointment to speak with an editor while at my
first Christian Booksellers Association Convention back in 1999. We set the
time for 2:00 the following afternoon. I arrived about 1:45 (always early!) and
began a conversation with a man who sported a long ponytail, John Lennon
glasses, and a safari-style jacket. He seemed a quite scholarly and so
comfortable in his skin standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. I
asked if he was with the publishing house, and he said he was . . . in a way.
We were standing next to a display of books that were to be signed and given away a little while later. I pointed to them and said that I’d heard a lot of good things about the author . . . that he was a great speaker and writer and that I should get a copy of his latest book. The man gave me a copy of the book “on him.” I asked if I should wait until the book signing (which was scheduled for 2:30), and he said that I could come back and get it signed then.
About that time, one of my friends rounded the corner of
publishing house booths and, upon seeing us, went wide-eyed. “Ohmygoodness!”
she squealed. “Robert Benson!” I assumed she meant the stack of books. The man
beside me then moved in such a way that revealed his name tag from beneath his
jacket. Yep, it was Robert Benson, who not only became a great spiritual
influence in my life, but he is also a man I call “friend.”
Do you ever receive
negative reviews from readers? If so, how do you respond when you see them?
Of course. And they hurt, especially when the review is a
misunderstanding or what I feel is horribly unfair. For example, one reviewer
of DUST
said that there was sex on every page. Well, that’s not possible. For one,
the book is over 400 pages . . . and I don’t know that much about sex. For
another, there is not sex on every page. However, at the core of the
story, we have two couples—one who, as young-and-in-loves decided to “wait
until they get married.” This is not easy, but they manage to keep their
relationship pure. As the years go by, and while they experience heartache as
any couple would, they are blessed within their marriage. The other couple are
in the throes of an affair. Everything they touch is destroyed, including
themselves. Now, this is not the WHOLE of the story, but it’s in there. So, I
have to wonder if the reader was not so affected by those two choices perhaps
because of her own life story that this is what resonated with her.
I have also had reviews that lead me to realize that the
reviewer has had a very cloistered life. That’s great for them. I did not and
most people I know have not. I write about those characters. I write
about those lives, lives that get caught up in the muck and the mire of
life but who find the goodness at the end of it all.
But my favorite is this one: I’m giving it one star because
I didn’t have time to read it.
What?
I wish reviewers understood how hard we work at what we do
and how much their words can cut. I also wish they understood how a one-star
review based on not reading it or their misunderstandings can hurt us as
well. Or, if they simply don’t understand the industry (the reviewer who said,
“I’ll never read her work again because she doesn’t capitalize the pronouns for
God” which was followed by others saying, “Thank you for warning me.” Well,
dear reader, that is the choice of the publishing house, not the author . . .).
But I digress.
Oh, I loved the one about my first Blake Meyer book being a "cliffhanger" (it was the first in a six-book series). The reviewer wrote it as a "warning" to all those readers who might get snookered. Now, every time we watch a TV show, and it leaves the viewer "hanging," I shout out, "Cliffhanger!" I guess you could call it passive-aggressive author therapy. Ha!
Return to Ireland
Vacay in Bryce Canyon
Return to Bennington, VT
We were standing next to a display of books that were to be signed and given away a little while later. I pointed to them and said that I’d heard a lot of good things about the author . . . that he was a great speaker and writer and that I should get a copy of his latest book. The man gave me a copy of the book “on him.” I asked if I should wait until the book signing (which was scheduled for 2:30), and he said that I could come back and get it signed then.
Eva, what are you working on right now?
Forty years ago, I read a Dear Abby column that told a story
so unimaginable, I tucked it away in my storyteller’s brain only to bring it
out every so often and “work on it.” I built my characters, my setting, etc.
for years before I started writing in earnest.
Beth Bettencourt is the story of a 28-year-old woman
who, one November morning in 1962, wakes to the sound of a man snoring in her
guest bedroom. She calls the police but, the following day during his
arraignment, feels guilty after realizing this stranger in town, Marty, had
simply gone to the wrong house. Beth changes his life by giving him a place to
stay and work (he’d just been released from the army), and he changes her life
by forcing her to come face-to-face with her past and present demons.
Marty is everything she never knew she needed . . . but is
he everything he claims to be?
That sounds interesting...and November of 1962, eh? That's a great month and year...just sayin'...
Has your writing
crossed over into other areas? If so, how? If not, will it?
I write both fiction and nonfiction, books and articles, for
adults and children. I didn’t intend for it to be this way, but that’s the way
my career evolved. Then again, there is the being president of Word Weavers
International and the director of Florida Christian Writers Conference. I never
intended it to be this way, but God moved in another direction than the one I
saw fit. 😊
As a writer, what is
“success” to you? And has that “definition” changed over time as you have
traveled down the writer’s path?
Success does change and should change over
time. Success, initially, is getting at least one thing traditionally
published. Then, it’s getting another thing published . . . and then it’s
getting better at what I do. My last book should be better than
my first book. Success can then also be having one of my books named as a
finalist for an award and then, with that accomplishment, winning that award in
subsequent years. Success can then move on to being recognized favorably by
those within the industry. Finally, and most importantly, success comes at the
end of this life when Jesus says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
What’s the craziest thing you have
ever done?
I
tend to have a daredevil mentality. Not like I would jump out of an airplane
without a parachute, but that I don’t always see the consequences “if things go
south.” Back in 2007, while traveling the land of Israel with my friend Miriam
Feinberg Vamosh for a book we were writing about Israel—a Jewish woman and a
Christian woman traveling, photographing, and writing about the land
together—we went up to the Church of the Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor. While
there, Miriam said, “There is a wonderful scripture that says, Tabor and
Hermon sing for joy at your name. Sometimes,” she said, “on rare occasions,
you can see Mt. Hermon from Tabor.”
I
looked northward and, there in the sky, I could see the snow-capped glory of
Mt. Hermon. I said, “Like now?”
Miriam
was stunned.
I
knew I had to get not just a good photo of the moment, but a great photo
of the moment. We went up this staircase on the side of the church, but the
view, while fine, was not impressive. Then I spotted this ancient wall that, if
I could somehow get to the top of it, and then shimmy to the middle of it, I
could get the most wonderful photo ever. I pointed this out to Miriam, who said,
“How are you going to get to the top of the wall?”
I
said, “With your help.”
So, here I was, being hoisted up an ancient “I hope this doesn’t crumble from under me” stone wall by my friend. Once I got to the top, I sort of straddled on top and reached down for my camera. Then, with that secured around my neck, I began to shimmy along the wall’s edge until I got to the middle. I took several photos, then shimmied back, straddled on the wall again, handed the camera back to Miriam, and then said, “Now, how am I going to get down?”
I
rolled onto my belly and, clutching the wall, headed feet-first. My arms
stretched until Miriam caught my feet, and then I let go and came tumbling
down. No one was hurt in the process and the photo that we used in the book (Reflections
of God’s Holy Land, A Personal Journey Through Israel, Thomas Nelson, 2008)
was amazing. I still sit in awe of that moment whenever I look at the photo.
Why do you live where you live?
I
live in Central Florida because my husband’s job moved us here in 1992. I
remain here because this is where two of our three children live and three of
our grandchildren as well. I’m not a fan of Florida heat, and I could probably
list a few other places I’d rather be, but this is where God planted me, so I’m
gonna sit here and bloom!
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?
Because
I’m the president of Word Weavers International, I gravitate toward books on
leadership and, in particular, being a godly leader. The book Discipled
Leader by Preston Poore, was an icing-on-the-cake kind of book for me,
especially seeing as it came during the pandemic. The style was conversational,
which I appreciate, and showed the successes and not-so-successes of a man
truly trying to live, work, and lead according to God’s principles.
When you are looking for a book to
read, what are the things that are important to you?
If
you don’t grab me within the first page (and sometimes two pages), you won’t
keep me long enough to know if the rest of the book is good. There are too many
good books out there to waste my time on a book I had to struggle to read.
A
title catches my attention first, then the subject matter. But if that first
page doesn’t grab me . . . our time together on Planet Earth is done.
What Bible scripture has impacted
your life the most, and why?
Moses
said, “Now show me your glory” (Exodus 33:18).
Eva, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule and allow our readers a chance at getting to know you.
So, here I was, being hoisted up an ancient “I hope this doesn’t crumble from under me” stone wall by my friend. Once I got to the top, I sort of straddled on top and reached down for my camera. Then, with that secured around my neck, I began to shimmy along the wall’s edge until I got to the middle. I took several photos, then shimmied back, straddled on the wall again, handed the camera back to Miriam, and then said, “Now, how am I going to get down?”
Kevin
