As a nurse, I do think it's important to consider the spiritual aspects of patient's lives and all that entails. What is their spiritual belief and does it have elements that are becoming more mainstream? When a patient is in crisis-- we need to consider these aspects.
As a pediatric nurse, I want there to be a love of books among children. But, how do we capture a culture that is obsessed with instant gratification? I don't want to lose the next generation of readers, particularly boys, to movies and video games.
Eddie has some interesting thoughts on these aspects and he's released an inspirational novel geared toward boys that deals with spiritual issues. He even offers advice to aspiring authors at the end of the interview.
Welcome, Eddie!
Tell us about your
upcoming release, Dead Man's Hand, with Zondervan.
First, it’s a fun, fast read aimed for middle school boys,
but we’re also getting nice reviews on Goodreads from teachers and mothers. But
my aim is to give boys a book they can enjoy, one taps into today’s fascination
with the occult. This is the first book in the Caden Chronicles series and each
story involves one element of the supernatural. Book one explores the concept
of ghosts, spirits and what happens to our souls when we die.
Zonderkids is a
Christian publisher, so the paranormal aspect is surprising.
I added the paranormal aspect because I want parents and
youth to struggle with eternal questions. We’ve created such a culture of
blood-letting through books and movies involving vampires, zombies and survival
contests, that the reality of death doesn’t carry the sting it once did.
In
high school my youngest son lost several friends to driving accidents. When
another friend recently died, we asked how he felt and he replied, “I’m numb to
it.” I fear that’s what we’re doing with our youth: desensitizing them to the
horrors of death. In
Dead Man’s Hand,
Nick and his family discuss spirits and ghosts and the afterlife because I
think it’s important for teens to wrestle with these questions before they’re tossed
from a car and found dead on a slab of wet pavement.
You're passionate
about getting boys interested in books. Why do you feel it's so important to
get boys reading fiction at an early age?
I fear we’re on the verge of losing the male reader. I don’t
mean men and boys won’t learn to read: they will. But the percentage male who
read for leisure continues to shrink and this could be devastating for our
country. We can’t lose half our population and expect America to compete on a
global level. Reading forces the mind to create.
With video the scene and
characters are received passively by the brain. There is very little
interaction; it’s all virtual stimulation, which is different from creation.
When you read, you add your furniture to the scene, dress the characters, add
elements not mentioned by the author. This is why readers so often complain,
“the movie was nothing like the book.” It’s not, because the book is your book.
The author crafted the outline of the set but each reader brings their emotions
and expectations to that book, changing it forever.
In general, boys would rather get their information and
entertainment visually. This is one reason books have such a tough time competing
for male readers. It can take weeks to read a book, even one as short as
DeadMan’s Hand. Meantime, that same story can be shown as a movie in under two
hours. So in one sense the allure of visual gratification is robbing future
generations of our ability to solve problems.
I believe Americans only posses
one true gift, creativity, and it’s a gift from God. Other nations build things
cheaper and with fewer flaws. They work longer hours for less pay. But the
thing that has always set America apart is our Yankee ingenuity. We have always
been able to solve our way out of problems. That comes directly from our
ability to create solutions to problems we didn’t anticipate. If we lose male readers
and fail to develop creative connections necessary for the brain to conceive of
alternatives, then we will lose our position as the world’s leader.
What advice would you
offer to parents to get their children interested in reading at a young age?
Watch for clues. If your child shows any interest in
reading, reward the activity with trips to book fairs. I remember in grade
school how excited I got when we were allowed to order books. All we had to do
was check a box, (or so I thought), and wham! A few weeks later boxes of books
showed up and the teacher began dealing them to the students. I didn’t learn
until later my parents had mailed the school money for those books. I still
have most of them.
But not all children like reading and you can create an
anti-reading environment if you push too hard. An alternative for boys are
comic books, graphic novels, or simply cartoon books. I read a lot of Charlie
Brown cartoon books and still remember the plot: Lucy has the football. Charlie
wants to kick the ball. Lucy promises she will hold the ball in place but at
the last moment… We know this story because it’s repeated, not in a novel, but
in a cartoon.
Do you have any
advice for aspiring authors?
Write devotions, don’t focus on the praise, book sales and
reviews. Forget about trying to find an agent and editor. Once you’re
successful, they’ll find you. Explore the wounds in your life and minister to
others through your writing. If God allowed you to be hurt, you can speak to
that with authority. The rest of us, cannot. Ask yourself where your passions
lie. I love surfing. If I could do anything, be anywhere, I’d be in a hut on a
beach surfing a point break alone. I love playing and hate work. This is
reflected in the types of books I write. I love pulling for the underdog, this
comes out in the ministry God gave me. Only you can write the stories God
dropped in your lap and if you do not, they will die.
***************************************************************************
Eddie Jones is the author of eleven books and over 100 articles. He also
serves as Acquisition Editor for Lighthouse Publishing of the
Carolinas. He is a three-time winner of the Delaware Christian Writers'
Conference, and his YA novel, The Curse of Captain LaFoote, won the 2012
Moonbeam Children's Book Award and 2011 Selah Award in Young Adult Fiction. He
is also a writing instructor and cofounder of Christian Devotions Ministries.
His He Said, She Said devotional column appears on ChristianDevotions.US. His
humorous romantic suspense, Bahama Breeze,
remains a "blessed seller." When he's not writing or teaching at
writers' conferences, Eddie can be found surfing in Costa Rica or some other
tropical locale. You can connect with Eddie at www.Eddiejones.org
What I would consider the major organs would be the brain, heart and lungs. Then I began to think about some of the minor organs (liver, stomach, etc...) that become very problematic if they aren't functioning correctly causing major problems for the patient.
Dee
J. Adams is
the author of the Adrenaline Highs series published by Carina Press. Her first
book, Dangerous
Race, was a finalist in the 2012 Golden Quill Contest. Adams also has
the distinction of being hired by Audible.com to narrate Danger
Zone and Dangerously
Close. Living Dangerously will be a May 2013 release. New York Times
bestselling author Suzanne Brockmann says: “Dee J. Adams delivers it all in Danger Zone: romance, intrigue, and a
cast of characters to fall in love with, authentically set in the gritty and
entertaining world of movie-making. This one’s on my keeper shelf!” You can
connect with Dee J. via her website: http://www.deejadams.com/
