Spotlight on Cheryl Wyatt and A Soldier's Family

Here is Cheryl again, with her second book in her Wings of Refuge series. She's a great friend and I've loved sharing the 'debut author' wind with her. :)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cheryl Wyatt's closest friends would never dream the mayhem she plots during announcements at church. An RN-turned-SAHM (stay-at-home-mom), joyful chaos rules her home, and she delights in the stealth moments God gives her to write. She's convinced that having been born on a Naval base on Valentine's Day destined her to write military romance. She stays active in her church and in her laundry room. Both of her debut novels (Books 1 and 2 in her Wings of Refuge Series from Steeple Hill) have received Romantic Times Top Picks.

A SOLDIER'S FAMILY
by Cheryl Wyatt
Published by Steeple Hill / Love Inspired

Buy Your Copy Today!

ABOUT THE BOOK

On A Crash Course With Love

She was the woman of pararescue jumper Manny Pena's dreams. But he'd stuck his foot in his mouth the last time he met Celia Munoz. Now, grounded after a parachuting accident, he was desperate to make amends with the beautiful widow.

But Celia wasn't having it. The last thing she needed was another man with a dangerous job—even if he had given his life to God. Yet

Manny's growing commitment to her and her troubled son began to convince her that perhaps she should take her own leap of faith.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

First off, thanks so much for having me, Tiff! Congratulations on the release of your debut books too!

1. This is your second full novel and one that's garnering some great endorsements. What gave you the inspiration for this story?

I had a serious injury which required extensive reconstruction of my hip bone, socket, head of my femur and part of my pelvis. From injury to progression from wheelchair to walker to cane to full weight-bearing and release from PT (Pain and Torture...errrr I meant Physical Therapy) was about three years. Very tough time as I was in constant excruciating pain. So I took my pain and PT woes out on poor Manny. LOL! This book was birthed out of that hard season for me. Only I'm sorta jealous because he got to injure himself in a skydiving accident. At least he did it having FUN! LOL!

2. How much of your own experiences influenced the characters of Celia and Manny? What aspects became traits that were theirs and theirs alone?

Definitely I struggle with controlling my tongue as does Celia. That's something I battle with, though not as much. My husband and I have worked with youth, as does Manny. But other than that, everything is completely made up. LOL!

3. What themes exist in A Soldier's Family that you hope the reader sees? Are there any themes that weren't overt but developed as the story progressed?

I don't ever really set out to put themes in my books. In fact, most of the time, others (editors or critters) end up pointing out the theme or takeaway value of my own books to me. LOL! So definitely the themes of not letting fear lead us around by a leash, as well as not letting guilt or past mistakes paralyze us into thinking we've been disqualified from God using us, definitely are prevalent. Though I didn't consciously set out to do that, it just sort of happened.

4. What were your most difficult parts to write? Your favorite?

Most difficult part to write was the part about Manny's nightmares, because it was a stretch to write something that is one of my deepest fears...losing a child to drowning. I know people who have and that scene was torture for me. I didn't want to mentally and emotionally put myself in that place to have to imagine it, but for impact, I did. Very hard and I don't like to revisit it. But the contrast of the Hope of Heaven and healing God can bring, I hope will touch people who've lost a child to any type of accident.

The next hardest part was painting Celia's father and previous church to be spiritually and physically abusive. I've been blessed with a very functional family, and parents who are decent and loving. Never having been where Celia was with her parents, made that part hard to write. I also have a wonderful church family who I have fashioned Refuge Community Church after. So the parts where Celia endured spiritual abuse at the hands of her father, being one way at church and a different man at home, was difficult. I've had reader letters from people who have endured what Celia did, and to know God is using the book to bring some amount of hope and inner healing, humbles me. Makes me glad that theme came through when I didn't set out to have it be so.

5. When is your next book coming out and what is the story?

My next book is titled Ready-Made-Family and will release April 1 of 2009...a year away. It is book three in Wings of Refuge but each book can stand alone. Since there is a gap between books two and three, I will be keeping readers up on happenings in fictional Refuge and the first two books' characters. I'll do this by having the cat who skitters through the series (Psychoticat) be a questblogger once a week. I'd love folks to drop by and support him as he laments things like being forced to lounge around on fancy aztec tile and stare and people's hair ankles all day. And also, he's sure to mention Celia forgetting his tuna AGAIN. These blogs will bridge the gap between the second and third book. My blog address is http://scrollsquirrel.blogspot.com

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Thank you, Cheryl, for being in the spotlight with us.

Readers, leave a comment for your chance to win a FREE autographed copy of A Soldier's Family.

If you wish to comment but don't want to be entered, say so when you post. Make sure you also leave your email address (name at domainname dot.com/net) or that it's available for viewing in your blogger profile. Wouldn't want you to miss out on winning a book. :)

And if you want to make certain you don't miss anything, check the box that says 'email follow-up comments to:" when you leave a comment and type the email address where you'd like them sent. That way you'll be notified of any comments and will know when I announce the winner.

This week, the contest is open to anyone worldwide.

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Spotlight on Cheryl Wyatt and A Soldier's Promise

Today, I have the privilege of introducing another brand new author to you, and be part of her multi-site blog tour during the month of January. She is also a client a mine, just like Jill from last week. It's great when our worlds intertwine like this and we can share our joys and successes in a variety of ways.

See the list of other places Cheryl will be stopping at the bottom of this spotlight.

Enjoy!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cheryl Wyatt's closest friends would never dream the mayhem she plots during announcements at church. An RN(registered nurse)-turned-SAHM (stay-at-home-mom), joyful chaos rules her home and she delights in the stealth moments God gives her to write. She stays active in her church and in her laundry room. She's convinced that having been born on a Naval base on Valentine's Day destined her to write military romance.

Prior to publication, Cheryl took courses through Christian Writers Guild. An active member of RWA, FHL and ACFW, she won numerous awards with multiple manuscripts. Visit her on the Web at www.CherylWyatt.com. Sign up for her newsletter for news and chances to enter contests with great prizes. Hang with her on the web at Scrollsquirrel.blogspot.com. You can also find her skittering around Steeple Hill's message boards as "Squirl" at www.steepleHill.com.

A SOLDIER'S PROMISE
by Cheryl Wyatt
Published by Steeple Hill, Love Inspired

BUY YOUR COPY TODAY

ABOUT THE BOOK

"My name's Bradley. I'm eight and have cancer. I want to meet a Special Forces soldier more than anything. Well, almost anything. Having a family would be nice."

U.S. Air Force pararescue jumper Joel Montgomery promised to make a sick child's wish come true. Well, not the family part—not with Joel's past. And so despite vowing never to set foot back in Refuge, Illinois, Joel parachuted onto the boy's school lawn to a huge smile. But another smile unexpectedly stole Joel's heart: that of Bradley's beautiful teacher, Amber Stanton, who was trying to adopt the boy. And trying to show Joel it was time for new vows.

REVIEWS

Romantic Times Review Quote

TOP PICK!

"Cheryl Wyatt infuses A Soldier's Promise (4.5) with kindness, compassion and love. Plus, each character in this strong story is multilayered. When young Bradley, a boy dying of cancer, writes to the Air Force Pararescue team, he gets to meet jumper Joel Montgomery, who connects with Bradley and feels an instant and shared attraction to the boy's teacher, Amber Stanton. This absolutely fantastic debut novel proves that while challenges and boundaries are not always easily resolved, they're definitely worth the work."

---Robin Taylor-Romantic Times Reviewer

BORDERS/BOKSAMILLION.COM QUOTE:

"Wyatt pens a warm, romantic tale in which a USAF pararescue jumper teams with a special needs teacher in order to make a seriously ill child's wish come true. As they bond over the child's plight, they also find themselves falling in love."

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

1. You've chosen pararescue jumpers as the principle heroes in your new series. This is also your first book. Congratulations! What gave you the inspiration for this story?

I have been fascinated with pararescue jumpers (PJs) and what they do for years. When I heard Jason Cunningham's story, it inspired me to write about these brave men who risk their lives "So others may live.". He died trying to save other soldiers. I love the PJ creed because it reminds me (on a much smaller level) of what Jesus did for humanity in dying to save us. The fact that they are so elite and are required to go through rigorous Special Forces training and that not many make it through that, commanded my respect. Not many people have heard of PJs. So I wanted to feature them in a series. My only disappointment is that many of the rescue scenes have been cut on revisions because the high-action detracts from the romance. I'd wanted to show what PJs do and how they stand apart from other careers. My editor realizes this so the next book or two should have more actual rescue scenes in it so people can actually see what they do. I do alter some things for the protection of the Airmen, such as I intentionally describe aspects of their uniform wrong so they can't be duplicated by someone with ill intent who may happen across one of my books.

Also, this particular story line was inspired by two friends who lost their daughters to leukemia after valiant battles. The thing I kept thinking all through their heart-wrenching plight and flight was how incredibly courageous their little girls (ages 8 and 9) were, even up to the moments of their deaths.
Talking to their mothers, who were literally living every mother's nightmare, I realized one thing: If courage could cure cancer, these two girls' faith and fight alone would have eradicated it from this earth.

So, to honor these girls' memories and their courage in the face of this devastating illness, I decided to write about a little boy with cancer. Only in my story, I could control the outcome. You'll have to read the book to find out the ending, but suffice it to say that I'd hoped and prayed with everything in me that Brandy and Nanette's precious girls' story would have ended as happily as did Bradley's, Joel's, and Amber's in A Soldier's Promise. In fact in a sequel, I have a secondary character mention that very quote, only he says it in regards to Bradley, the child suffering cancer in the book.

If courage could cure cancer, that child's fight and faith alone would have eradicated it from the earth.

I wrote this book from my heart for every family and every child who has had to face childhood cancer.

2. How much of your own experiences influenced the characters of Joel and Amber? What aspects became traits that were theirs and theirs alone?

The whole orphan aspect is definitely from my heart. The fact that Joel went on a humanitarian mission to Asia was based on my trip to south India in 2005 following the tsunami. Amber's trait of running every day is definitely hers. But since I was in a wheelchair and on a walker during much of the revision in this book, I made her be able to do things I couldn't and was frustrated about at the time. So she ran every evening at 6 and I got it out of my system, since I couldn't even bear weight on my operative leg to walk. LOL! The fact that Amber has a heart for abandoned things also comes from me. Joel's sense of loyalty and humor probably came from some aspects of my experience and character. But his bravery and struggles with unforgiveness toward his uncle, and his difficult childhood, as well as Amber's dad being gone all the time were completely foreign to me. It was hard to write about their pasts because my upbringing was far different. We had some tough times as any family does, but my parents pressed through it and we're still a family. A strong family at that. Amber's family...how I portrayed them in Joel's eyes at the hospital...is how my family is. Willing to champion one another's dreams and work at relationships, etc. You'll have to get the book to know the rest. LOL!

3. What themes exist in A Soldier's Promise that you hope the reader sees? Are there any themes that weren't overt but developed as the story progressed?

There was a whole theme with the yellow flowers that I hope people pick up on. They're prophetic perennials (LOL) in a sense because they wilt as Bradley gets sicker. None of the other children's flowers n the class are dying. Teacher Amber is distraught about this. Joel mentions to Amber in an early scene that she may want to transplant the flower in better soil and suggests that maybe it will thrive then. These flowers represent Bradley, and Joel's statement actually foreshadows something that happens later on in the book. Folks will have to read the book to find out what. Big grin.

The whole promise aspect was an accident. I didn't realize that theme until the vision team at Steeple Hill asked me what I'd think about A Soldier's Promise being the title. They summed it up better than I could. LOL!

4. What were your most difficult parts to write? Your favorite?

Most difficult part is eeking out the mess draft. Getting the actual bones of the story down. And the synopsis. Once that part is finished, it's more enjoyable. But eeking that first draft out feels like torture by sugar sometimes. Reminds me of those old washing machines where the women had to push the clothes through these tight rollers and s-q-u-e-e-z-e the dirt out. It was hard work and time consuming and took a lot of effort. That's what pushing the rough draft out feels like to me. LOL!

My favorite part is the layering. Sharpening sensory perception. Deepening point of view. Thinking of hooks. Layering in a strong core of emotion. Finding just the right words for a particular scene or sentence. Creating vivid word pictures that are unique. I also love turning stereotypes on their heads and making the book be as anti-cliche as possible. I like to place my characters in comedic situations too or have them say unexpected things that will catch my reader off guard and help them genuinely laugh.

5. When is your next book coming out and what is the story?

My next book comes out in March, 2008, and can be pre-orderd now on most online booksellers. It is book two in my "Wings of Refuge Series" and titled A Soldier's Family. Book two features another Airman on Joel's (hero in A Soldier's Promise-book one-Wings of Refuge) team named Manny. We also revisit the fictional town of Refuge, Illinois in the story. Celia, the best friend and co-teacher of Amber (heroine-book one) is the heroine. Manny is in Refuge to recover from a skydiving accident, and he befriends Celia and her troubled teenage son. This story is about second chances and about believing in God's goodness, and also about not letting fear or guilt rule our decisions and outlook. For more info on when the rest of the books will release, readers can visit my Web site and sign up where it says, "Join Cheryl Wyatt Author Mailing List."

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Thanks, Cheryl, for being in the spotlight with us.

Readers, leave a comment for your chance to win a FREE copy of A Soldier's Promise. If you simply wish to comment but don't want to be entered, say so when you post. Make sure you also leave your email address (name at domainname dot.com/net) or that it's available for viewing in your blogger profile. Wouldn't want you to miss out on winning a book. :)

This week, the contest is open to anyone worldwide.

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Follow Cheryl on the rest of her blog tour:

Jan-23 Sally Bradley
Jan-24 Pattie Reitz, and her blog
Jan-25 Deena Peterson
Jan-26 Shauna Sturge
Jan-27 Dineen Miller
Jan-28 Marjorie Vawter
Jan-29 Donna Fleisher
Jan-30 Michelle Rodgers, and on ShoutLife
Feb-29 Margaret Daley