What Does It Take To Write A Thriller?

An excerpt from TELEVENGE ...

The rain fell in torrents the last time I saw them. I was a grown man. A beautiful man, made in God’s perfect image. It was a hot July day. I remember because it was my birthday. Approaching their peeling porch steps, I flung my suit jacket over my shoulder, undid my tie, and rolled up my sleeves. While one aunt shook with a palsy and the other chewed a cud of something between her gums, I sat on a step and read from the book of Leviticus. “A woman that hath a familiar spirit, a wizard, shall surely be put to death, they shall stone her with stones; her blood shall be upon her. I’m going to preach,” I said.

They stared through me, like a couple of deaf mutes.

I’d come to pick a bone with two old women; to rid myself of an infected snakebite, a poison that had infiltrated even the most anointed parts of my life.

“Can you understand? I’m an overcomer! Quench not the Spirit, saith the Lord! Don’t you see? The audible voice of God speaks to me and through me daily. I once was lost, but now I’m found. You chastised me, but He chose me. I crossed over into the Land of Milk and Honey and I found it. I found the sweet honey in the rock. Sucked out the sweetness and emptied the cone, tasted and seen that the Lord is good. He found no guile in my mouth, no He did not. I spend my days speaking in tongues, yes, true, the tongues of angels, and fall asleep easily every night with God’s words inside me, His anointing upon me.”

A violent storm erupted. Lightning cracked amid a fast and furious rain. I grabbed them up, two rail-thin old women, dragged them inside and kicked the door closed with my heel.

 

 

 ... a novel not for the faint of heart ...

When Your Candle Burns At Both Ends

“My candle burns at both ends it will not last the night; but ah, my foes, and oh, my friends - It gives a lovely light.” Edna St. Vincent Millay

How many times have I quoted this poem, but never have I felt the force of it until now.

It’s November! So much has been happening … here’s the latest update, in case you haven’t seen it! (And be sure to see the pictures at the end of this post!)

A very nice review from Publishers Weekly!

“Cable's unflinching fictional exposé of the dark side of televangelism has a human victim in the person of Andie Oliver. … Cable, a former member of a megachurch, places Andie's desperate struggle against the oppression of (Reverend) Artury's church, its brutal inner circle, murderous practices, financial fraud, and (husband) Joe's abuse. This powerful story, skillfully written and with well-drawn characters, reveals the classic entrapment of vulnerable people in the name of a vengeful god …” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

The hurricane is over in most parts of the US, but I think mine is just beginning. I’m leaving again tomorrow for two weeks of book signings and interviews throughout the south … Atlanta, Georgia, the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Outer Banks, and Mobile, Alabama.

Please pray for me next Wednesday, Nov. 7^th. In one day I’ll have a live interview with WYRQ FM in Little Falls, MN at 8:00 am EST, a blog post on http://blog.juliealindsey.com/, an interview on CBS Atlanta TV (which will air on Sunday, Nov. 11^th  at 10:30 am)  an interview with Vipp Jaswall on Fox News Radio http://radio.foxnews.com/category/podcasts/the-vipp-jaswal-report (to be announced as to air date) and a book signing at Charis Books in Atlanta at 7:30 pm Nov. 7^th.

You would think I was twenty-five again, and running after my career! My twenties are gone by the wayside, by I’m still chasing that dream.

My appearances, past and future, as well as radio interview links, book trailers, and book excerpts can be found on my web site. www.pamelakingcable.com. The blog tours are also online with links to some really great book bloggers.

What has been a thrill are the reviews. My status on Amazon and my Alexa rating climbs higher every day. The book has gone national and international in a month. I'm humbled. Grateful. And now there are rumblings from the movie industry. So who knows where this road will take me. I'm grateful for my family, a great publisher, and readers I hear from each and every day along the way.

I’m consumed by it all. Actually, I work even harder on the road. Moving in and out of one hotel after another, setting up a desk area, working on my laptop instead of my home pc, trying to get enough sleep, eating food I'd rather not. Who said it was going to be easy? It wasn’t easy for Southern Fried Women, and it’s even tougher now. The schedule is heavier, with bigger venues, and more media interviews. But Televenge is moving at a steady pace. The climb is daunting at times. We’re always praying the weather cooperates. And all the while, I’m still writing. I’m still editing the finished second novel, and writing the first draft of the third.

Still, I can’t imagine doing anything else. After the holidays, we head west. All the way to California and back. Speaking and signing books. Below are priceless memories along the way …

And it's only just begun ...

Blessings to you and yours.

 

I'm Booked for Fox News Radio!

I’m most fortunate and thrilled to have been booked for an important interview with Fox News Radio, New York City. Mr. Vipp Jaswall will be interviewing me next week about the business of televangelism, my life, my beliefs, and my book.

Vipp will focus on specific points of interest including …

• If you had only one choice whom would you choose? God or family?
• Should your pastor dictate your belief for a guaranteed one-way ticket to Heaven?
• If you believe in separation of church and state, do you also believe in separation of church and culture?

As soon as I am made aware of the date of this pod cast I’ll let you know, as well as give you a specific link to click that will take you right to the interview, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, please enjoy the pod casts on Vipp Jaswall’s page. You’ll hear conversations that will provoke questions only you have the answers to. He really makes people think. I love his peanut-butter fudge voice. Smooth and rich with a touch of salt! It’s like getting interviewed by James Bond!

 Here is the link: http://radio.foxnews.com/category/podcasts/the-vipp-jaswal-report

 

 

A Writer's True Passion Comes From Anguish

 



I listened to David Wilkerson last night. A well-known fire and brimstone evangelist whose messages stir the emotion and bring most either to their feet or their knees. Clips of his sermons are posted on You Tube. You can search for him there.

"True passion comes from anguish," he said. His words flew into me like a fiery arrow, illuminating my past. Wilkerson's message centered around anguish and how todays church is void of it. He's a big believer in, Cryin' Holy unto the Lord. He professes the church has gone soft, that we're basically a bunch of babies who want to be soothed and coddled. That we no longer tarry for hours before the Lord, prostrate at the altar. That God wants to see our anguish over the state of the world and our Godless nation. Wilkerson has that pastor voice. You know what I mean? He's learned how to wail when he speaks, allowing us to hear his heart as it breaks for the sins of mankind. And if you've grown up as a fundamentalist, it moves you. Even if you've never sat in a tent revival, I think it would move you.

Whether or not you agree with Wilkerson's message, you have to agree that true passion is definitely born from anguish. As a writer, I believe the heartaches and hardships we experience give us plenty to write about.

The kind of anguish I'm talking about is not about a fender-bender in the parking lot. A bad grade on a test. Losing your wallet. Or a fight with your spouse.

Anguish, suffering, agony, grief, sorrow and angst ... comes from a break in your spirit. A temporary disconnection with yourself and the world around you. The loss of anything dear to you creates real, gut-wrenching anguish. The kind you feel down to the soles of your feet. Buckets of tears. Nobody wants to experience it. Nobody wants to go through something like that, and I hope and pray you never do.

But if you do, what you do with that anguish, how you channel it, will determine your future in many ways. And if you're a writer, it can propel you into another level. I've read books where I know, without a doubt, the writer has suffered at one point in his/her life. You can feel it in the way they put the story together. Raising the stakes isn't so hard, because they've lived it.

Not a pleasant topic to blog about, but I think it needs to be said. Personally, I hope I never see another drop of anguish as long as I live. I've had my share. David Wilkerson can wail as long as he wants about anguish, but I never want to experience it again. Ever. It's not a pleasant place to go to.

I want you to remember this, if you've closed the door on your anguish, the memories of it ... and if you're a writer ... you may want to revisit that dark place. Your writing changes. Something inside you clicks and literary takes on a whole new meaning.

My passion was truly born from the sorrow, grief, and the anguish of my life. Now, at least I can say, the joy of the Lord is my strength. At some point the tears have to stop. The river of sorrow has to trickle to nothingness. We have to move out of that place and use what we've learned to write the story of our life. It's not something we want to think about, anguish, but be thankful for it. It's made you who you are.

And despite the fire and brimstone, that's a good thing.

Blessings to you and yours.

Would You Drink the Kool-Aid?



 

 

Isn't is amazing that you know to what I am referring?

'Drinking the Kool-Aid' in urban slang, has nothing to do with that wonderful, fruity drink we guzzled by the gallon when we were kids. It refers to the 1978 cult mass-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. Televangelist, Jim Jones, took cyanide and some kind of sedative and mixed it with Kool-Aid to poison his massive following at Jonestown. It may have been Flavor Aid, but no matter what he used, we know what it means when somebody says, "Don't drink the Kool-Aid!"

I watch a great deal of religious TV, mostly because it's what I write about. Some of it moves me, most of it—does not. Watching one particular televangelist recently, I was moved to tears. Not because of what he was saying, singing, or pushing. It was the faces in the crowd that kept me glued to the screen. Each face was wet with tears. Those precious people, reaching out for hope, for a healing, for God. Their hands raised, these folks had come to that great arena to worship, receive a blessing, and touch the hem of their Creator. It grieved me so, I eventually had to change the channel.

I sure hope that televangelist knows the tremendous responsibility on his shoulders. I wonder.

The new face of televangelism is still pretty much the old face. One of prosperity messages and miracles. The difference is that the audience has grown by mega leaps and mega bounds. In a bad economy, a great majority turns to God for help. They’re attracted by those prosperity messages. The problem as I see it, televangelists can lead sheep to the slaughter like nothing and no one else. They can bring out the tears and sell God better than Tony the Tiger sells cornflakes. They can whip up a batch of Kool-Aid, knowing millions of honest hearts would drink it. And for some reason, we Christians are hesitant to hold our pastors accountable for what they say and do. They don't have to be perfect. In fact, I'd prefer if they were not. But we tend to overlook these rock stars of religion, and confuse the human with the divine, believing every word they speak comes from The Almighty.

Many years ago, I never missed church. I believed, tithed, raised my hands in every service, answered hundreds of altar calls, and gave love offerings instead of paying my light bill. I trusted and obeyed. Sowed my prosperity seeds and read every prosperity scripture over and over again. I gave out of my need. For years I lined the pockets of a pastor who traveled around the world, taking my husband with him, leaving me to suffer alone at home. Until one day I asked myself this question. Do I feed my kids or pay my tithe? I fed my kids.

For years I had loved my preacher, believed in my pastor, and gave everything I had, including my spouse, to the televangelist my pastor had become. In the end, it didn’t matter because I rebelled and “sealed my fate.” I was rejected, divorced, and eventually homeless.

Is there such a thing as a good televangelist? No doubt some possess honest hearts with admirable intentions. But it’s tough to retain those intentions, that good heart, the humility required and pay for expensive TV time. I speak from experience. Be careful. Don’t be a gullible Christian. The wolves are still out there. And so is the Kool-Aid.

 

Blessings to you and yours.