Faithful (38 page)

Coming Fall 2011

cherished

The new novel from

Kim Cash Tate

Author to Author

T
HE
T
HOMAS
N
ELSON
Fiction team recently invited our authors to interview any other Thomas Nelson Fiction author in an unplugged Q&A session. They could ask any questions about any topic they wanted to know more about. What we love most about these conversations is that they reveal just as much about the ones asking the questions as they do the authors who are responding. So sit back and enjoy the discussion. Maybe you'll even be intrigued enough to pick up one of Neta's novels and discover a new favorite writer in the process.

A Note from Kim Cash Tate
: About a year and a half ago, I picked up
The Yada Yada Prayer Group
and didn't stop walking with those women until—reluctantly—I had to part after the last of the seven-book series. I was moved in so many ways by the women in that prayer group, but the woman who intrigued me most was the author, Neta Jackson. It's not too often you can pick up a Christian fiction book and find such a rich rainbow of diversity in the characters. I knew she had to be a phenomenal woman, and the more I read about her, the more my suspicions were confirmed!

I'm so thrilled to be able to feature Neta Jackson in this Author to Author interview.

K
IM
C
ASH
T
ATE
: If I'm not mistaken,
The Yada Yada Prayer Group
was your first adult novel. After a publication history in nonfiction and historical fiction for the young, what made you shift to women's fiction?

N
ETA
J
ACKSON
: I had no intention of writing women's fiction! I had written several kids picture books—the Pet Parables and
Grandma Aggie and the Bless You Bike Ride
— and had a lot of ideas for more “Grandma Aggie” books. But meanwhile, “life happens,” you know, and I'd been part of a racially and culturally diverse women's Bible study for several years that often met in our home, so my husband was privy to the dynamics and stories popping out of this group. One morning I woke up and he wasn't in the bed. That in itself was unusual—I'm
always
the first one up. But he wasn't in the house, either. I found a note on the kitchen table that said, “Got an idea for a story. Gone for a walk.” When he came back, he handed me a tape recorder. “Now you go for a walk and listen to this. God gave me an idea for a great story during the night—but you'd have to write it.” Ha! Guess what. It was basically the idea for a novel about a group of mismatched women from different races and cultures in a prayer group. Long story short—that's when
The Yada Yada Prayer Group
was born. It was supposed to be just one novel, but I was so naïve. Found out you can't put 12 feisty women in a novel and expect them to stay there. The stories just kept popping!

KCT: I have to tell you, after the first couple of chapters of
Yada Yada
, I was totally engrossed, inspired, and wondering . . . if you were a black woman! I thought,
Hmm, the way she captures the voices of the black characters, and there's no author picture on the cover, and well, the name “Neta Jackson”
could be .
. . When I looked up your website, my question was answered. But then I saw that you'd helped to write a book on racial reconciliation, and you attend a multi-ethnic church. You obviously have a passion for not only writing books that promote unity, but living it yourself. How did God work that into your heart?

NJ: Hmm. How long did you say this interview should be? Such a long, long story . . . which began way back in college when I attended a black storefront church on Chicago's west side. Talk about culture shock! Later my husband and I became members at this same church. It was the start of a journey God used to open our eyes to how divided the Body of Christ is—not only by denomination, but by culture and race and economics. Such a far cry from Jesus' prayer in John 17 that His disciples would be “one”! I have to admit, at first I thought we were “doing something great for God” by getting out of our comfort zone and relating to people across racial and cultural barriers. But the funny thing is, I began to learn so much about faith and worship and walking the Gospel from my brothers and sisters of color—especially the sisters in this women's Bible study that started over thirteen years ago—that I began to realize
how much I NEED them
. That passage of Scripture in 1 Corinthians 12 began to come alive in a new way—especially the verses about how much the different parts of the Body
need
each other. In today's world, most Christians acknowledge that the Body of Christ is made up of many different cultures and races and denominations, but I think we're still a long way from owning how much we
need
each other. You're right, this has become a passion in my life, to open our eyes to the blessings God has in store for us when we develop real relationships with our brothers and sisters across the barriers of denomination, culture, and race that so often keep us apart. It's my prayer that the Yada Yada novels are helping to do that in one small way. (Okay, okay, I'm getting off my soap box!)

KCT: Besides the black and white Americans in the prayer group, you included a Jewish woman, a Japanese woman, a Hispanic woman, and a Jamaican woman—all with authentic voices. Were those characters based on people you know? What caused you to want to cast such a wide net in terms of this rich tapestry of people?

NJ: Many of my characters were “inspired by” people God has put into my life, but I need to stress that all my characters and the details of their lives are fictional. The closest I've come to actually telling one person's story is Bandana Woman. (I dedicated
The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Down
, Book 2 in the series, to the real “Bandana Woman.”) Otherwise, all the characters and many of the events are
composites
of real people and events God has used to teach and shape me. (Example: I've had a “Stu” in my life who seemed to do everything I could do, but always did it better . . . or first . . . or whatever, and I'd end up feeling small or late or all thumbs. So I wanted a character who made Jodi Baxter feel that way.) Another friend from Zimbabwe taught me so much about praying Scripture—so I created a character that brings that quality to the Yada Yadas, even though her life situation is fictional.

KCT: The power of prayer is, of course, central to the series, as is praise and worship and the Word of God. You show us how God can enter into ordinary, flawed lives and change them profoundly. Have you experienced a prayer group like this in your own life?

NJ: Yes, as I mentioned earlier. An African-American sister and I were in an intentional “racial reconciliation” group in our church, and we also sang alto together in a Gospel choir. One day we confessed to each other that we got tired of talking about “issues” all the time. What we'd really like is a diverse group of sisters just to study the Bible and pray for one another, dealing with “issues” as they arose naturally from our life experiences. So we each began inviting others to join with us, committed to keeping the group ethnically diverse and keeping our focus on God's Word and prayer. We didn't really know what we were doing, but God has used this group to turn my life upside down (or maybe that's “rightside up”!). This is the group that inspired the Yada Yada Prayer Group series, even though we've had sisters come and go over the years—but we're still going strong!

KCT: I'm also loving your current series, the Yada Yada House of Hope, which features a new character, Gabrielle Fairbanks, with a sprinkling of familiar faces and places from
Yada Yada
. In the front of the book, it says Dottie Rambo's song, “I Go to the Rock,” inspired the theme and the titles for the series:
Where Do I Go?, Who Do I Talk To?, Who Do I Lean On
?, and, upcoming,
Who is My Shelter
? Could you tell us more? How did that song provide inspiration?

NJ: As you know from the Yada Yada series, I dropped a lot of gospel music into the story, which was one way of sharing how much God has used gospel and praise-and-worship songs to enrich my own worship life. As I was thinking about a new series, I thought it would be neat to use a gospel song as the theme and use phrases from the song for the book's titles. So the idea came first, the song came later. When I heard “I Go to the Rock” by Dottie Rambo sung by a local worship band—especially the phrase in the second verse, “Where do I go . . . when the storms of life are raging?”—I knew this was the song to undergird my story about a broken marriage and a homeless shelter. I got permission to use the song and was hoping to give Dottie Rambo copies of the novels in appreciation for her fantastic song—but she was killed in a tour bus accident in 2009. (However, I did meet Babbie Mason who also recorded that song, and was able to give
her
copies of the first two novels. Here's the serendipity part: we met at a fundraising banquet for a
homeless shelter
here in Chicago—the same shelter that inspired the House of Hope series. Babbie was the stage talent that night. Don't you love how God knits things together??)

KCT: What issues are you exploring in this current series?

What do you want your readers to take away?

NJ: First of all, I didn't set out to write about a verbally abusive marriage. I simply wanted to show that life can fall apart for any of us—rich, poor, or in between—and that it's not just drug addicts and prostitutes who end up homeless and broke and in need of shelter. I volunteer at a homeless shelter and am amazed at some of the stories I've been privileged to hear, as well as God's redemptive work putting broken lives back together. Actually, the song says it all:

Where do I go . . . when there's no one else to turn to?
Who do I talk to . . . when nobody wants to listen?
Who do I lean on . . . when there's no foundation stable? . . .
When I need a shelter, when I need a friend I go to the Rock.

(“I Go to the Rock” by Dottie Rambo. Used by permission.)

KCT: I've got another suspicion about you, that there's so much more bubbling in your heart and ready to spill onto the pages for readers to devour. Care to share a sneak preview of people or themes you're planning to explore next?

NJ: If you only knew how scared I am to end these two series and tackle something brand new! It's hard to say goodbye to my Yada Yada friends. But . . . I'm thinking about writing a “stand-alone” novel next—which will be a challenge for me, since my one-book ideas seem to end up spilling over into a continuing, “episodic” story. But there's a character in the House of Hope series I'd like to write about—the old bag lady, “Lucy”—beginning with her childhood back in the late 1930s and early 40s as part of a migrant family following the crops from state to state, and how she ended up on the streets of Chicago. But that's still just an idea, not a promise of “what's next.” My husband says writing Lucy's story would be good for me, because I'd have to cover decades of time—and so far my novels practically happen in “real time.” (The Yada Yada series covers only two years in seven books. And the four House of Hope novels—I'm working on the finale now—cover exactly eight months! In all four novels! Sheesh. I need to learn how to write with a broader brush . . . you think?)