Meet and Greet Monday: Christa Allan

Book giveaway!
See the details at the end of this post.

With the exception of having spent some years in Texas, I’ve been a lifelong Louisiana girl. After college, I started teaching high school until the mommy years. I have five children, who are now 32, 29, 26, 26, and 24, a son-in-law, and two precious grandgirls ages 4 and 2. Twenty plus years ago I returned to teaching high school, and I’m hoping to graduate in the next five or so years! My husband Ken and I spend our time with our three neurotic cats, play golf, and dodge hurricanes.
Hello to Book Readers Central! My name is Christa Allan, and I’m so pleased to have the opportunity to chat with all of you today. As I write this, the wind is howling outside my windows, and it’s another chilly day in Abita Springs. The cats and I are hunkered down, and I’m doing my best to keep them out of my morning coffee!

I hope that my story gives every struggling writer hope that dreams can come true. God’s timing is more spectacular and His gifts more beautifully wrapped than anything we could imagine. Over five years ago, I would not have predicted that I’d be celebrating the publication of my debut novel. I encourage you to persist, even when all else seems to the contrary, because if God has planted the desire in your heart, He will deliver it to your hands.

Walking on Broken Glass was written over a period of three years. Hurricane Katrina accounted for a lapse of two years between (my) starting and finishing it. Our family, though truly blessed with no home damage, was displaced because of my husband losing his job. The business he had worked for ended up mostly in the Gulf of Mexico! For two years we lived in a city about three hours away from our home, and looking back, I realize God placed us exactly where we needed to be. It was during those two years that I connected with Jessica Ferguson, an ACFW member and now president of The Bayou Writers’ Group in Lake Charles. She and I had actually “met” online through ACFW before I even moved. She encouraged (challenged?) me when she told me that if I was serious about writing, I needed to attend a conference. Never doubt that God places people in our paths for a reason!

Between the decision to attend the conference and the actual conference date, everything that could go awry, did. My husband’s job opened up again, so I returned to my former job, but he had to work for two more months before leaving. I came back and lived with a friend for two weeks. I didn’t have an internet connection, so all of my work had to be finished at school. And since funds were tight, I attempted to print my own business cards. The school web blocker wouldn’t allow me on the site, then -- when I finally found a site it wouldn’t block -- my printer died! I left school late and, what should have been a five hour drive to meet my daughter who would eventually drive me to meet Jess, ended up being almost seven hours because of an accident. My cell phone died in the process, so I had to make the last few miles on a prayer because I’d never been to my daughter’s new apartment. Again, looking back, I believe that the one who doesn’t want us to succeed is always on the sidelines waiting for us to give in to despair.

Had I not attended that conference, I would not have met a writer whose critique eventually led me to Rachelle Gardner, my agent, who sold Walking on Broken Glass eight months after she sent it to editors.

My debut novel tells the story of Leah Thornton, a woman whose life looks pretty from the outside; she seems to “have it all.” But appearances can be deceiving because she’s a mess. She drinks to numb her pain and, until her friend confronts her with the truth, she thinks no one else has noticed. Leah admits herself to rehab, and the novel -- told from Leah’s point of view -- follows her through her recovery as she attempts to discover who she really is and what she’s willing to sacrifice to find out.

My prayer is that Leah’s story speaks to families struggling with addiction -- to tell them they’re not alone. God speaks to us through people in our lives, and we can find grace even at the bottom of an empty bottle. Alcoholism is a tough subject; one that many Christians are hesitant to discuss as an issue in their lives. As a person who has been a recovering alcoholic for over twenty years, I know that God can heal us. There is hope…even when our lives don’t follow the script we’d written for them.

I have two proposals Rachelle is now shopping. Like Walking on Broken Glass, these two novels will break open other areas that are not often at the forefront of Christian writing. My goal is not for my novels to be labeled as “edgy”; I don’t write for the purpose of sensationalizing. My passion is to comfort those facing issues in their lives, to let them know that being a Christian doesn’t mean immunity from the world’s problems. But if my words can pierce the façade, then people can see God on the other side.

View the book trailer either in the right column of this blog or a full-sized version here.

WHERE TO PURCHASE MY BOOK
Cokesbury
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Borders
Christian Book Distributors

FIND ME ONLINE:
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Book Giveaway: Leave a comment to this post and you'll be entered to a free copy of Walking on Broken Glass.