Interview with author Jackie Moore

Today I welcome author, Jackie Moore to Urban Christian Fiction Today. I'm sure Jackie is still recuperating from the book release party for her debut nove, Serving Justice which was this weekend.

Welcome to UCFT, Jackie. Introduce yourself to the readers. My name is Jackie Moore and I am a 50 year Christian Writer from Detroit. I'm a single mother of two boys and I have been writing for more than ten years. Christian Fiction and Romance are my first loves. Over the years, I have completed and published other Christian-related articles, stories, and novellas. I didn't discover a love for writing until a very good friend who knew I loved talking about God, asked me to write a few devotionals for her. Not only did I discover I rather enjoyed that daunting task, I was good at it.

Interesting title for the book. Tell us about the story. "Serving Justice"
What happens when a prominent and successful Chicago Judge falls in love with her driver? Angela Jenkins decided as a child that she would become a lawyer. Fighting injustices perpetrated against those who could not or would not fight for themselves ran like passion through her veins. Growing up, Angela was taught that putting God first in her life, respecting the rights and choices of others, and working hard, were the most important things a person should strive for. While in pursuit of her law degree, Angela meets Rhonda, Theresa, and Darlene who are there reaching for the same goals. Over the next two decades, an unbreakable bond forms and friends become sisters.

Angela finds the more successful she becomes, the more she begins to lose her connection with God and starts conforming more to the world, than to the word of God. When love enters her heart, she must decide if having a relationship is more important than what others, including her friends, have to say. Angela is forced to look at what’s important in her life and has to choose between allowing others to shape who she is or conforming to what God wants her to be.

What is the spiritual take away from this novel?
There are actually several. The foremost lesson is that we have to stop listening to the world around us and seek out that still small voice within; the voice of God. Success is futile when it’s not tempered by the word of God. We all make mistakes but we serve a God of a second chance. Finally, each of us needs to examine our reasons for believing in the things we do. Do we serve the greater good, our friends or ourselves?

Lots of aspiring writers want to be where you are right now, so tell us about your writing process? When I get an idea about a story I just free write. I enjoy watching people and listening to their conversations. Those observations tempered with the word of God, make for some very interesting stories.

Share a little about your journey to publication. As I mentioned, I started by writing devotionals. At first, I only wrote them to help out a friend. Then, I began receiving feedback from those whose lives had been touched by my devotionals. It was a very humbling experience. To know that something I penned actually blessed others. My readers and my friends encouraged me to do more. So, I began researching how to become published. I joined a few writing groups and did some research on becoming a published author. As a part of my journey in addition to the devotionals, I wrote for ezines and published a total of five short stories, one of which led to my being picked up by Elissa Gabrielle of “Peace in the Storm Publishing.

Share with us the feeling you had when you first held your book in your hands.
It was like holding my newborn baby. I had gone through the pregnancy and finally gave birth to my dream.

I asked Jackie some personal questions and she shared the following answers:
Favorite color: Yellow.
Favorite season: Summer
Favorite scent: Fresh cut grass and flowers early in the morning.
Beach or mountains: Beach

If you had one hour to spend with anyone, living or deceased, who would it be and why? My mother. My mother passed away more than 25 years ago. I would like to share with her the events of my life since she’s been gone. I often wonder if I make her proud and did she see the potential in my all those years ago.

If you had to go to a solitary place and could only take one Fiction novel, what would it be and why?“The Shack” by William P. Long. I read this book and there were so many lessons to be learned from it. I often reread a book if it’s really good because there are often new things to be discovered that you may not have seen the first time around. It is definitely one of those books that make you think.

Thanks for sharing with us today, Jackie. Tell us how we can find you on the Internet. My website is http://www.jacquelinedmoore.com/ and I am also on Twitter.com, facebook.com, myspace.com, blogger.com, iseecolor.com, linkedin.com and I go by the name of mamajacq. My email address is jackiemoore@virtuousliving.com and you can also find me at http://www.peaceinthestormpublishing.com/.