📚 A Bookish Chat with 'Shine His Light 3' Marie McGaha & Giveaway | Author Interview | #AuthorInterview #BlogTour #Interview #Giveaway

Today we welcome Marie McGaha to The Writer's Life e-Magazine! Marie is the author of the Christian devotional, Shine His Light 3. This interview is part of her Shine His Light 3 Blog Tour by Pump Up Your Book. Enjoy!

Chaplain, author, editor and inspirational speaker, Marie McGaha lives in the beautiful Ozarks of southeast Oklahoma. After losing the love of her life, Nathan, Marie returned from the mountains of Idaho to their native home where she lives with a houseful of yapping furbies, pigs, chickens, and a horse named Horse! Shine His Light 4, the final book of the series, is due out spring 2023.

Website: www.mariemcgaha.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Marie_McGaha

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMarieMcGaha/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariemcgaha/

Welcome to The Writer's Life! Now that your book has been published, we’d love to find out more about the process. Can we begin by having you take us at the beginning? When did you come up with the idea to write your book?

Shine His Light 3 Instructions In Life is the third book in the Shine His Light series. Originally, the first book came about as entries on my blog, The Light of Jesus, He Reigns! Readers began asking for more, so I wrote more and am now on the final installment, Shine His Light 4 Life Happens, with a big surprise coming in the summer!

Who is your publisher and how did you find them or did you self-publish?

My publisher is DWB Publishing, aka Dancing With Bear Christian Publishing, which is actually my own company, so I guess I am self-published but in the best way possible. When I first opened DWB, it was because I had written a book that was very personal to me and I didn’t want another publisher to mess with it, so I decided to open my own company and to help other people get published. After about six months, there were many submissions, I couldn’t do it by myself, so one of my best friends, author Debbie Roppolo, came on as editor in chief, while author Val Muller became our cover artist. Then we added Christy Diachenko as our voice artist and trailer maker. Although it wasn’t planned, we are an all-female company, but each of us are writers first and foremost.

Do you believe a book cover plays an important role in the selling process?

I think covers definitely draw attention to a book, but they don’t determine whether a reader will buy the book. I’ve seen some books with awesome covers, but the content just wasn’t worth my time to read. I hope my covers are interesting enough to get people to take a look, but I really want the content to speak to people long after they’ve finished reading.

How hard was it to write a book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make the journey easier for other writers?

As an ordained minister and chaplain, writing devotionals is easy for me. Writing nonfiction is a little more difficult and involves a lot of research. I’ve been in this business for many, many years, long before the advent of computers and Amazon, and much prefer the ease of modern technology. When I first began trying to get published, the manuscript had to be printed out, boxed up and mailed to a New York publisher, and then the waiting began. Sometimes the wait could be six months, and sometimes, you’d never hear back at all! Now, there’s so many ways to get published, including self-publishing, that almost everyone is an author or knows one!

As a publisher, I get emails complaining about the submission requirements on our website, but there’s a reason for that. People who don’t care enough about following submission requirements are usually going to be difficult in the editing process. All the requirements on the DWB website are there for a reason and aren’t just random thoughts. We came to the requirements through trial and error. Debbie, my business partner, and I both have gone through the scrutiny of trying to get published, of being rejected, being contracted, and being edited, so there is nothing another writer will go through that we haven’t already faced on both sides of the fence. We are writers first and editors/publishers second.

What other books are you working on and when will they be published?

Right now, I’m concentrating on finishing up the Shine series, which will take me into late summer. I’ve been concentrating on devotionals the past few years, and then took a year hiatus after my husband died, but now that I’m getting back to living again and really wanting to write, there’s a novel working it’s way around my brain! I’m not sure what it’s about yet, but when the characters finally tell me their story in full, I’ll write it down as fast as I possibly can!

Thank you again for this interview! Do you have any final words?

Thank you so much for taking time to interview me. It’s been a pleasure.

Life is the journey we take on our way to Heaven. It’s not easy, it’s not pretty, and sometimes, it’s downright difficult. However, we have an Advocate unlike any other, Jesus Christ. In Shine His Light, the author uses scriptures and her own life lessons to help others get through the bumpy spots.

Release Date: September 2, 2022

Publisher: DWB Publishing

Soft Cover:979-8887963426; 137 pages; $6.99

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BCS7K29V

Marie McGaha is giving away one complete set of her Shine His Light Series - Shine His Light 1, Shine His Light 2 & Shine His Light 3

Terms & Conditions:

By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one complete set of the Shine His Light Series.
This giveaway ends midnight October 28.
Winner will be contacted via email on January 27.
Winner has 48 hours to reply.