Welcome to David, my first ever guest blogger. He is 14 and a student in my writing class. David loves computer and video games, but isn’t too fond of Taylor Swift music. Since the age of seven, he’s been hooked on Legos and Star Wars. When he grows up, David would like to be a Lego designer.

David had the chance to ask author, Jill Williamson, a few questions.

1. What got you interested in your career?

I’ve always been a creative person. I started sewing in the fourth grade. I remodeled my clothes and dreamed of a career in fashion design. After years of that, I tried to start my own businesses. I made jewelry, handbags, and wedding gowns. I even tried quilts. I kept asking God, “What do you want me to be when I grow up?” And I hoped that it would somehow involve my creative side.

Around the time I became fed up with anything related to fashion, I was working part-time as the secretary at my church. Since my husband was a youth pastor and I spent a lot of time helping him, I felt God wanted me to use my story to reach teenagers. I spoke to our youth group often, but I figured if this was going to work, I needed to get in front of more teens somehow. So I researched being a speaker. I learned about “putting in time” or speaking for free to build my name. Still, I had two small children and not a lot of time to dig up speaking engagements.

I discovered that organizations sometimes hire speakers based on articles written by the speaker. The idea of writing an article appealed to me—I could do that from home—so I looked into writing articles. Then a new Harry Potter book came out, and another barrage of debates within the church community flared up as to whether or not the books were acceptable for Christians to read. The debate inspired me to write my own teen novel that all Christians would love. Yes, I was a bit naive. I have since learned that no one likes every book. But that’s how I got started writing fiction.

2. Do you have any fears about your writing?

Sure. I worry that people won’t like my next book and that my career will end. The publishing industry is a business, so if books don’t sell well, publishers tend not to buy more books from those authors.

I also worry that I’ll make a huge mistake in my story, that I will miss something important in my research. I try to take care when I research things, but sometimes it’s hard to find the right information.

3. How many books have you written?

I’ve written nine books, five of which have been sold.

4. What’s your favorite book that you’ve published?

To Darkness Fled (Blood of Kings, book 2)

5. What do like about that book?

I love Achan. He stands up for what’s right, even if it gets him hurt. He’s sarcastic and heroic. And I love Vrell. She is smart and an emotional basket case. I love the tension in that story, how it keeps going. How things unfold. How everyone is dying for Achan to find out Vrell’s secret. And I love how it all comes out. I even love the agony of the ending.

6. Have you gotten any awards for books that you’ve published?

I have. My first novel By Darkness Hid (Blood of Kings, book 1) won a Christy Award, an Epic Award, and it was also named as one of Voice of Youth Advocates Best Science Fiction Fantasy and Horror Novels of 2009.

Thank you to Jill Williamson for being part of this project. Please check out her website by clicking here.

My planned blog post was an update on my yearly goals. Boring! I think instead I’ll give you a glimpse into my crazy life.

The week began with twin lambs. Now most years lambing takes place in the coldest of weather. I’m usually trekking back and forth to the barn as icy rain assaults me and wind chills any part of my body that the rain missed. This year the weather has turned mild, but the lambs don’t seem to be as thrilled as I am. They keep dieing.  Well, not all of them, but half. Many years we get by without losing a single lamb. One of the twins didn’t do so well and I spent an afternoon tube feeding it and trying to convince the little guy to live. She had other plans. Heartbreak aside, it looks like we’ll still have enough lambs for the girls to take to the fair.

Speaking of fair, Ryan is bringing his steer home after the first weigh in on Saturday so the steer pen needs to be ready and the feed for the beast needs to be bought and hauled home. Hopefully we’ll have room for another ton of hay on the trailer so we won’t need to make another trip for the horse.

Thursday found me hooking up the stock trailer to take our dear Bella for a riding lesson. She’s been a real pill and has decided that she doesn’t want to move when the girls want her to. After thirty minutes of brushing dirt off the horse that thinks mud is from rolling in, we took off. I took a wrong turn and spent way too many minutes trying to back the trailer into a tiny place so I could turn around. We made it to the stables though and the lesson was fabulous. Bella even exerted herself (a little).

In other news, our house is 112 years old. With an elderly house comes surprises. This week’s present came in the form of a plugged drain line. After much work from my husband, we finally called in a plumber. The verdict wasn’t too sweet. Apparently a great portion of our drain pipe is made of a special kind of material called Orangeburg. I won’t go into the details, but I will say that this is not a good thing. The pipe needs to be dug up and redone. The plumber cleared the plug and we thought we could get to this project in the near future. Surprise! Last night the clog reappeared. This morning I was in the backyard digging up the drain line. Okay, I’ll be totally honest. I was in the backyard wearing my robe and green rubber boots, digging up the drain line.

So why do we live like this? It sounds like a lot of work and it is, but what I didn’t mention is the sweet lambs that I can see from my window. They chase each other around the field adding the occasional twist in the air. And I didn’t tell you how proud my oldest daughter was of that stubborn horse of hers and how big her smile was when she cantered. I left out the satisfaction I got from finding the pipe way down in the dirt and the thrill of turning that trailer around all by my self.

All this work leads to a feeling of accomplishment and a life full of adventure. And it sure beats doing the dishes!

Generally, I’m very much a letter and word kind of girl. I leave the numbers to my accountant husband and life has a way of remaining balanced. There is this one exception though. Stats. I love to watch the stats on my website. I check them throughout the day. And those graphs. Those are a lot of fun too. I can see in one peep of my eyes how today compares with all the other days this month, or week by week, or month by month.

That brings me to some very exciting news!

January 2011 is a new record month for hits to my website. Yay! (Balloons and confetti here)

Since you’re reading this you must be one of the lovely people that has made this moment a reality. Please stand up and give yourself a hand.

Thanks! And do come back soon.

The girls are charged to cut into this years big project. They, along with three of their friends, are making quilts for their beds. The patterns have been chosen, the calculations made, and today we took a trip to the fabric store.

My girls scoured the racks evaluating each and every possibility. Aleasha needed six fabrics and Emma only three. If you knew my girls you’d see how very classic this is. Emma is simple and to the point. She chose bright colors that match her personality. Aleasha is more serious. Her pattern is complicated, and the colors are deeper. Regardless of how different the selections, both quilts will be beautiful like my girls.

I must mention the best part of the fabric store trip. We didn’t take any of the boys. You can count the seconds on one hand from the time we step through the doors until my boys (including my husband) are begging to go.

Maybe the girls project will inspire me to finish the quilt I started in 1999. No that’s not a typo. It’s been twelve years. These moments sure do make me take a look at how fast time goes by.

Keep coming back to see how we’re doing. Next big step, cutting.

Have a great week,

Christina