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5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Michelle Larks, Author of The Legacies

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Michelle Larks, author of The Legacies
(Urban Books/Kensington)


michelle larks the legacies on amazondotcom

The Legacies is a tale of two young people from very diverse backgrounds who meet and fall in love while attending college. Noah Stephens is a minister’s son, and Morgan is the daughter of a drug distributor. The two encounter many bumps in the road as deathbed promises, secrets, and betrayal tear at the very foundation of their relationship. God has love for all of his children regardless of our stations in life. He sends angels to Noah and Morgan that help direct them to the path to righteousness.

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write The Legacies?

Michelle Larks: Actually, the idea to write The Legacies just popped into my head. I wanted to write a novel that would appeal to a younger audience. My novel Keeping Misery Company was aimed at an older market, thus The Legacies was born.

JP: What sets The Legacies apart from other novels in Christian Fiction?

ML: The Legacies is different from other Christian fiction novels because it delves into controversial subject matter: a relationship between a minister’s and drug dealer’s children. Can they co-exist and fall in love? Can the relationship remain strong despite a lot of adversity?

JP: The Legacies is similar to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. What has been your reader’s response to you mixing a family steeped in drugs with a family steeped in religion?

ML: My reader’s response has been good for the most part. One of the points I was trying to make in the book is that we are all God’s children regardless to how we began life.  I also wanted to exemplify how life doesn’t also goes as our parents plan.

JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take for you to start and finish The Legacies?

ML: My writing process is just let the thoughts  flow, literally. I am an early bird, so I tend to write early in the morning on my trusty laptop computer. I will start with an idea, and ways to enhance the storyline just pop into my head. It took me three months to write The Legacies.

JP: What’s next for Michelle Larks?

ML: As you can tell from The Legacies, I don’t shy from controversial topics. My next book, Til Debt Do Us Part, is the story of the lead soprano of a church who battles a gambling addiction and how that hobby nearly ruins her life.

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5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Shelia Lipsey, author of My Son’s Wife

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Shelia Lipsey, author of My Son’s Wife
(Urban Books)


shelia lipsey headshot my sons wife book cover

(click on the pictures to see this book on Amazon.com)

First Lady Audrey Graham believes she’s found the perfect woman to become her son Minister Stiles Graham’s wife. Sweet, sensitive, kind, and of course a fine Christian girl, First Lady Audrey couldn’t ask more of lovely Rena Jackson.

But skeletons start to unravel and fall from the closet when Audrey and Stiles discover that Rena is really in love and committed to the troubled, rebellious, ex-con, Frankie. The old adage of what’s done in the dark will come to the light is definitely proven in this latest Lipsey novel.

My Son’s Wife is a time bomb of sinful revelations set to explode with twists, turns, entanglements and sinful revelations that only a loving God can make right.

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write My Son’s Wife?

Shelia Lipsey: Joey, I write my titles. My Son’s Wife was a title God placed in my spirit long before a story was crafted around it. When I felt that it was time to write it, I did my usual thing: prayed over what it was supposed to be about, dreamed about what it was going to be about and sat down at my computer to write My Son’s Wife. The thoughts, storyline and characters were given birth.

JP: What sets My Son’s Wife apart from other novels in its genre?

SL: My Son’s Wife, like my other two novels Into Each Life and Sinsatiable are based on real people. My motto is “I write perfect stories about imperfect people”. My Son’s Wife though Christian fiction delves deep into the world of judgment toward other people, what other people think about our chosen lifestyles and how we are condemned by one another. It is a story of redemption, faith, and one of God’s noncondemnation and people’s holier than thou attitudes. It’s different because it’s about real, everyday issues people face.

JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that lead to My Son’s Wife getting out to the public?

SL: I am fortunate to have a wonderful publisher who makes sure my books are distributed nationwide including venues like Walmart and any place books are sold. Of course that is just the beginning because I work hard to bring notoriety to my books because I know they are life changing stories. I market my book anyway I can: through the internet, radio shows, eblasts, book signing, speaking events, postcards, bookmarks, any and every way I can keep my name and the name of my titles out there. That is what I am dedicated to doing.

JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take for you to start and finish My Son’s Wife?

SL: My writing process as I stated earlier is book titles. I have accumulated a bank of book titles that come through me in different ways. I can hear something that catches me and I’m inspired with a book title. From the book title, I write my story which surrounds that title. It usually takes me about three months to complete one novel.

JP: What’s next for Shelia Lipsey?

SL: I am being blessed abundantly in this industry by God’s favor over my life and my literary career. My fourth novel with Urban Books will be released to the public September 2009. I have also been blessed to ask to contribute a short story to a new anthology titled Bended Knees. The name of my story in Bended Knees is called Against the Grain. This Christian fiction anthology is being published by Hollygrove Publishing and it will be released October 2009.

I have founded Living Your Dreams Now foundation. We will host our first annual Living Your Dreams Literary Arts Seminar March 21 2009, in Memphis, Tennessee. I was recently named Public Relations Director for Victorious Magazine which is going to be a great, top of the line magazine publication with the first issue coming out January 5, 2009. Victorious Magazine (www.victoriousmagazine.com) is a magazine focused on bridging the gap between non Christian and Christian women.

Website link www.shelialipsey.com
Myspace link www.myspace.com/shelialipsey

Shelia also can be found at:
http://www.twitter.com/shelialipsey
http://www.shelialipsey.blogspot.com
http://www.livingyourdreamsnow.net

P.S. Join the Joey Reviews Newsletter at http://joeypinkney.com/joey-reviews-newsletter.html

P.S.S. If you want to be feature in a 5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… series, email me at joey.pinkney@gmail.com or http://myspace.com/joeyreviews