What an honor to have Tessa Afshar, a recently-announced 2014 Christy Award Finalist, with us today! We’ll also announce the winner of Norma Gail’s book!
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First of all, I’m excited to welcome my new friend Tessa Afshar to you. Tessa and I were introduced to one other by mutual friend, Lauren Yarger, and we scheduled this interview over a year ago. Then just last Thursday I read that Tessa is a Christy Finalist! Talk about great timing!
Readers, as you read Tessa’s bio below you’ll see she’s not new to awards and nominations. Wow! I think you’ll agree that she knows a little about how to write quality books, and the good news is, this week you have a chance to win one! Just leave a comment on today’s blog and you’ll be in the drawing. Don’t forget to return next week to see if you’re the winner!
Congratulations, Tessa! I can’t wait to get started. First of all, can you tell us a little about yourself?
I was born in a nominally Muslim family in Iran and lived there for the first fourteen years of my life. I attended an English boarding school called Princess Helena College in Hertfordshire before moving to the United States permanently. My conversion to Christianity in my mid-twenties changed the course of my life forever. I struggle with loving the wrong things, like too much dessert with additional whipped cream, and not liking things that are good for me, like exercise and quinoa.
Hmmm…sounds like we like–and dislike–the same things! Tell us about your publishing journey.
I don’t mean to be annoying; I really mean this. I WROTE! I wrote until I finished my story. I stopped leaving projects half-finished, or coming up with excuses, or listening to the voices of discouragement in my head. When I was working on my first published book, Pearl in the Sand, I constantly had to resist negative thoughts: who will ever want to read a book about Rahab? No one will be interested in this book. I should just give up. I had to plod on and do the work because I had promised God I would be faithful to the project. To my shock, that book landed a contract within months of being completed and went on to win me “New Author of the Year” by the Family Fiction sponsored Reader’s Choice Awards, 2011. Sometimes the voices in your head are simply not true. They prevent you from fulfilling the destiny God has set aside for you.
How well I know those voices, Tessa. Your novel Harvest of Gold was recently nominated for the prestigious Christy Award. You’ve penned several critically acclaimed novels and the fans seem to want more. And yet I know you sometimes struggle with discouragement. Tell us about that struggle and how you overcome it.
In a recent interview, Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner, who has sold over 38 million books, wrote: “The temptation to give up, to surrender, is very, very strong. And you have to have faith in the work that you’re doing. You have to have faith that as dark and unlikely and as dreary as things may seem, that it’s worth pursuing.”
Most writers need to contend with the temptation to give up. Writing is hard. It means constant sacrifice. Even giants like Hosseini get to the point of wanting to throw in the towel on a certain project. So how do you resist that temptation? How do you hold on to a work that has potential, or even to the dream of writing itself?
While I don’t have a remedy for discouragement, I have several sources of strength to which I turn when discouragement descends. First, for me, writing is not a hobby. It’s not even a job. It is a call. I believe I was created to do this. The Bible says that God created us in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us (Ephesians 2:10). I believe, in my life, part of that work is writing. So what shall I say when things become hard or seem untenable? Shall I walk away from God’s purpose? Shall I ditch my destiny just because it’s hard?
Second, I have writing partners whose opinion I trust. If they felt I was wasting my time over a certain project, they would tell me. Just as they wouldn’t let me walk out the door with toilet paper stuck to my skirt, they wouldn’t let me work on a book that had nothing to offer.
Writing makes me myopic. It’s easy for me to think doom and gloom about my work. So I trust my critique partners to help me discern whether my perceptions of failure are accurate.
Third, I take a break. If I am under a deadline, that break might be for a few hours. If I have the luxury, I step away for a week in order to gain a fresh perspective.
Most of us struggle with some degree of discouragement. You don’t win victory by never having such feelings, but by resisting them. By overcoming and fulfilling your destiny.
Powerful advice, Tessa. Now, before we go, please tell us about your next project.
My next book, In the Field of Grace, a novel based on the story of Ruth is due out in July 2014. I have always been drawn to the Book of Ruth. Why does God choose so many outsiders to be in the lineage of His Son? Why this barren, destitute Moabite widow? There must have been more suitable candidates available in Israel that year! And yet God’s criteria for being chosen, loved, and redeemed are not ours.
Oh Tessa, I love the story of Ruth and often use it to encourage women that God can use all of us, no matter what we’ve come from. Thank you for the reminder. I can’t wait to read that book, either!
And thank you for joining us today at The Christian Writer’s Den. It’s been a joy to hear your story and learn from you!
Vonda, it’s been a pleasure visiting you on your wonderful blog.
Readers, be sure to check out Tessa’s bio below and then leave a message for her. Be sure to check back next week to see if you win a free book!
And for those who want to go ahead and order your own copies, here are direct Amazon links for Tessa’s books: Harvest of Gold, In the Field of Grace, Harvest of Rubies, and Pearl in the Sand.
Bio: Tessa Afshar’s book, Harvest of Rubies was nominated for the 2013 ECPA Book Award (formerly known as the Gold Medallion) in the fiction category. World Magazine chose Harvest of Rubies as one of four notable books of the year. Her novel, Harvest of Gold was nominated for the 2014 Christy Award. Tessa was born in Iran to a nominally Muslim family, and lived there for the first fourteen years of her life. She moved to England where she survived boarding school for girls and fell in love with Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, before moving to the United States permanently. Her conversion to Christianity in her twenties changed the course of her life forever. Tessa holds an MDiv from Yale University where she served as cochair of the Evangelical Fellowship at the Divinity School. She has spent the last fifteen years in full-time Christian service in New England.
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And Who Won Norma Gail’s Book?
What fun it is to give away another book this week! So who did Random.org chose as this week’s winner? It’s Rene` Diane Aube! Congratulations, Rene! Just contact me with your snail mail address and Tessa will send your book right out to you!
And for those who are ready to order your book, you can get Norma Gail’s Land of My Dreams here.
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Thank you for stopping by this week, my friends. I hope you were encouraged and learned something today. I know I did!
Happy reading and writing!
Vonda
