Spice up your week
An Interview with Neta Jackson
Author of Stand by Me
Q. Stand by Me is the first book in your new SouledOut Sisters series. What inspired you to start this newest series?
You
mean besides the fact that if I don’t work, I don’t eat? (My husband
says writers never get to retire, so we keep writing!) But writing the Yada Yada Prayer Group novels was my way of sharing some of the things God’s been teaching me on this life journey—and the SouledOut Sisters
series is no different. Relationships don’t necessarily get easier, but
God’s been trying to teach me the reality of I Corinthians 12, not only
about the beautiful diversity within the Body of Christ, but also about
how much we need each other. So this novel isn’t so much about
“friendship” between women, but about coming to see that even those
folks that seem to annoy us most may have something to give that we
need.
Q.
Most authors start a new series with a completely different cast of
characters and setting but you have chosen to stay with the Chicago
setting and have carried many of the wonderful characters in your Yada Yada Prayer Group series to the House of Hope series and now to Stand By Me, your newest novel and first in the SouledOut Sisters series. Why did you decide to do so?
“Something old, something new . . .” I hear from a lot of readers who beg for more stories about the characters from the Yada Yada and House of Hope
series. I consider it a compliment, because they’ve come to care about
these characters and their families, living in a world that feels very
realistic. As in real life, “life goes on”—and readers want to know
“what’s happening”! So it was natural to pick up one of my secondary
characters (Avis Douglass) from the Yada Yada series, move her to
the forefront as one of the main characters so readers could get to
know her in a deeper way and then introduce some new characters to give
the storyline a freshness and keep us all on our toes.
Q. By now Avis Johnson Douglass, a primary character in Stand by Me
and one of the founders of the Yada Yada Prayer Group, is so familiar
to your loyal readers she might almost be considered a personal friend.
By any chance, is she modeled after a real person, perhaps even a friend
of yours?
Avis
was inspired by a dear friend of mine whom I call “my Avis” because in
many ways she has played a role in my life similar to the role Avis
plays for Jodi Baxter in the Yada Yada Prayer Group. However, I need to
emphasize that “Avis” IS fictional, and her life situation is not the
same as my friend’s. In fact, as the series developed—and especially in
this new series where Avis is a primary character and we see more of her
inner struggles—Avis’s story resembles the person who inspired her less
and less.
Q. Two of the characters in Stand by Me
are dumpster divers, one from a sense of social consciousness, the
other out of economic necessity. What made you decide to shine a
spotlight on this unique way of obtaining goods?
Many
of my story situations grow out of real-life situations I’ve either
experienced personally or that I’m aware of happening to people around
me. In our church we have a dear guy who thrives on dumpster diving (by
choice), rescuing food that he brings to church and passes out to
whoever needs it. But homelessness is also a reality for many in the
Chicago area, as are the “food deserts” where many of the poor live who
don’t have easy access to the abundance of big grocery stores most of us
take for granted. There are many complicated factors involved when it
comes to hunger and poverty in our cities, some of which I wanted to
weave into my story.
Q. In the beginning of Stand by Me,
Avis and Peter receive what appear to be mixed messages from God and
have a difficult time determining what He would have them do. Do you
believe it is common for Christians to misinterpret circumstances that
God often uses to guide and direct? If so, is there a way they can be
certain they are truly following God’s will for their lives?
How many times have we all prayed, “God, if you’d just show me clearly
what you want me to do, I’ll do it!”? But discovering the will of God
isn’t an exact science. Many things enter in—the truths of Scripture,
circumstances that God knits together, “open doors,” the “still small
voice” of the Holy Spirit, a prophetic word, confirmation from several
different sources—and more. Sometimes we act too fast when God wants us
to wait. But sometimes, maybe even oftentimes, God only shows us the
next step, not the whole direction, and wants us to move forward in
faith, believing He will show us the next step in His own good time.
(It’s easier to guide a moving ship than one dead in the water!) I often
pray, “Lord, this seems to be the direction you want me to move, but if
it is not, then stop me! Until then, I’m going to move forward in faith
with as much understanding as You’ve given me so far.” As for Avis and
Peter, as it is for any married couple, coming to unity on the direction
God is leading them is critical. So one partner may need to wait until
God reveals the same direction to his or her partner—or reveals why it
isn’t time yet or a needed course correction.
Q.
There are distinct signs of a romance blooming between Kat and Nick.
Will readers be given a chance to watch that relationship grow and
blossom in future books in the series?
Ha! Hang on to your hat. Would you believe a romantic triangle that gets very complicated?
Q. How many books will be in the SouledOut Sisters series?
At this time, I’m just planning on two.
Q. What are some of the challenges you face as an author?
Taking
longer than I’d hoped to write a manuscript, and ending up working
six-day weeks. I usually set myself a two-chapter goal for each week,
and if I don’t make it by Friday, I end up having to write Saturday,
too. Same thing when I need to write THREE chapters a week in order to
make my deadline like last week.
Q. What are you most hoping your readers will take away from Stand by Me?
Hopefully,
readers will think deeply about how much we need the other parts of the
Body of Christ, especially on a personal level—whether that’s a person
in our church with whom we think we have nothing in common, or the
“least of these” who have something important to give the rest of us or a
neighbor or co-worker who may attend a different denomination who is
nonetheless a sister or brother in Christ from whose life experiences or
perspectives we have something to learn.
As 1 Corinthians 12:21-26 says …
“The
eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say
to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ On the contrary, those parts of the
body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we
think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that
are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our
presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the
members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked
it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts
should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every
part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with
it.”
*THIS IS AN INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY B&B MEDIA GROUP AND COPIED WITH THEIR PERMISSION
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