Marlo, describe yourself for our visitors.
Well, let’s see . . . I’m the author of seven books so far, including my latest novel, If Tomorrow Never Comes, which combines a love story with a surprise ending twist to create a new type of novel that I hope will impact readers at their deepest levels. Some of my other books include Beyond the Night (the first of my “love stories with a twist!”), Veil of Fire (winner of the 2008 ACFW Book of the Year, Colorado RWA Award of Excellence, Wisconsin RWA Write Touch Readers’ Award, Daphne Du Maurier Award Finalist, Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Finalist), and Empty Womb, Aching Heart- Hope and Help for Those Struggling with Infertility.
I also write articles and have had over 600 published in various Christian magazines, including Focus on the Family, Today’s Christian Woman, Decision, Moody Magazine, and Discipleship Journal. I’ve contributed to Dr. Dobson’s Night Light Devotional for Couples, Tyndale’s Book of Devotions for Kids #3, and Discipleship Journal’s 101 Small Group Ideas. And I’m also a speaker and a regular columnist for Power for Living.
I’m a California native, a small business owner, and a graduate of Stanford University (with a B.S. in Chemistry, of all things!). A couple years ago, I earned my Masters in Theology, with an emphasis in Biblical Studies, from Fuller Theological Seminary.
I’m a survivor of a 15-year journey through infertility and now live with my husband and five young children in a log home in Central California.
When I’m not changing diapers, doing laundry, or writing books, I love sipping Starbucks white mochas, reading the New Testament in Greek, and talking about finding the deep places of God in the disappointments of life.
How do you find time to connect with God?
Ha! What a question! With four little girls (from those few infertility treatment successes!), and a newborn little boy (our only non-treatment baby – there’s a miracle story for you!) life around here is VERY noisy, very busy, and very crazy! But I’m finding that God is available in the crazy times as well as the quiet ones. He knows my circumstances, and he can meet me here, in the ins-and-outs of everyday life. So, I’m learning to connect with Him not only in set-aside times of Bible study, prayer, and reflection, but also through the happenings of life. One of my little girls falls down, gets an owie, and comes running to Mommy to kiss it and make it better, and I am reminded that when I fall down, I too can come running to God to heal and comfort me. So, I am discovering that God wants to connect with me not only in special set-aside times, but in all times – crazy times and quiet times, confusing times and clear times, play times and do-another-load-of-laundry times.
Do you have a favorite bible verse and or quote you wish to share?
One of my favorite Bible verses is Ephesians 2:10. Here’s a translation from the Greek: “For we are his masterpiece, having been created in Chr4ist Jesus for good works which God before-prepared, that in them we may walk.”
I love the idea that each of us is God’s masterpiece – He has a beautiful vision for all of us. We are a unique creation with a unique life path that God has chosen specifically and especially for us. And part of that path are good works that He has already prepared for us (not “assigned” but “prepared” – they’re all ready for us and designed especially with our gifts and individuality in mind).
Who are your favorite authors? Favorite books?
Some of my old-time favorites are Hinds Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard, the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Newer favorites are the Harry Potter series and Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files books.
Some other favorite authors are Francine Rivers, Cindy Martinusen, Rene Gutteridge, Tricia Goyer, Angela Hunt, Randall Ingermanson, Karen Ball … and I’m sure I’ve missed a few. I love to read!
Tell us about your journey to publication.
When I was thirteen years old, I wrote a poem on the bus on the way to school. It was about an old tree, forlorn and desolate, standing alone in a field. I read that poem at every recess, tweaked it, polished it, and for the first time, felt the thrill of how the written word can convey profound beauty. That day, I fell in love with writing.
Shortly after that, I told my mother (with all the angst of a newly-turned teenager), “I will just die if I don’t write!” So naturally when I grew up I decided to get my degree in Chemistry. And, oddly enough, I didn’t die. I enjoyed chemistry. But always that desire to write was with me, in the back of my mind, saying “Someday, someday.”
Someday finally came. I started writing articles for various magazines and putting out proposals for book projects. I thought it would be easy to get my first book published, but alas, it took years of writing and honing my craft (6 years, in fact). And more than that, it took giving up my dream entirely. For me, I had to come to a place in my heart where I didn’t have to write to be content. I had to let go of that strong desire born at thirteen years old and embrace God’s will for me whether that will included writing or not. Only then, only when my dream had given way to God’s, was I offered a contract by Crossway Books for my first published book, Cry Freedom, in 1999.
Tell us about your current book.
They say you should reach for your dreams.
This time, they’re wrong…
Childhood sweethearts Kinna and Jimmy Henley had simple dreams—marriage, children, a house by the sea…everything they needed for happily ever after. What they didn’t plan on was years of infertility, stealing those dreams, crushing their hopes.
Now, all that’s left is the memory of young love, and the desperate need for a child to erase the pain. Until…
Kinna rescues an elderly woman from the sea, and the threads of the past, present, and future weave together to reveal the wonder of one final hope. One final chance to follow not their dreams, but God’s.
Can they embrace the redemptive power of love before it’s too late? Or will their love be washed away like the castles they once built upon the sand? The past whispers to the present. And the future shivers. What if tomorrow never comes?
How did you come up with ideas for this book?
If Tomorrow Never Comes began with a single image that popped powerfully into my mind – an old man, walking along a foggy beach at dawn, bending to pick up an old locket from the sand. The rest of the story grew from there. The funny thing is, when you read the book, you’ll find that Kinna finds the locket, not an old man. But originally the image of the locket in the sand was so intriguing to me that I kept th
inking about it until a story began to develop.
After that, I drew on my personal experience with infertility. In If Tomorrow Never Comes, the main characters are struggling with the fall-out from infertility. I’ve spent most of my adult life – 15 years – dealing with infertility and miscarriage. I’ve had some successes along the way, and whole lot of failure, disappointment and pain.
So, as far as plot-line goes – what happens to the characters and how they’re changed and challenged through the book – that is uniquely Kinna & Jimmy’s story. But the emotions, the fears, the questions they face are things I drew from my own experience.
The longing for a baby that seems like it will never be fulfilled. I’ve been there. Month after month of trying and failing. Turning into year after year. I’ve been there. Frustration. Doubt. Wondering how God could possibly love me in the midst of this. Been there. Having to pry my white-knuckled fingers off my own hopes and dreams. Been there. Choosing to love anyway. Choosing to believe anyway. Choosing to trust God anyway. Been there.
It seems that just about every deep and meaningful thing I’ve learned about God, I can point to my journey through infertility and say, “Yeah, infertility taught me that.” It taught me that I’m not the god of my life. God is. It taught me there are things I cannot control, cannot achieve, no matter how hard I try. And sometimes we must choose to live the life God has given us, with love and hope, even when it’s not the life we dreamed.
Because infertility taught me that God calls us not to the pursuit of our dreams, but to love. “Love one another,” Jesus says. “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
God taught me that through the journey of my own infertility. My hope is that If Tomorrow Never Comes will reveal the same truths to others as well.
Did you have a favorite character(s)? Who and why?
My favorite is Thea (her name is short for Aletheia, the Greek word for Truth), who is the old woman whom Kinna rescues from drowning in chapter one. Throughout the story, all the reader knows is that Thea is there for a reason – she has a purpose in Kinna & Jimmy’s lives. With wry humor and odd confrontations, she steers Jimmy & Kinna toward reconciliation and one another. She helps them to remember their past love story.
What I like best about her is her humor mixed with mystery. She’s just fun. J She thinks she’s in a dream, and doesn’t want to become some crazy old lady with a houseful of cats. But despite her doubts, she chooses to care about Jimmy and Kinna and help them, no matter what. She chooses right, and as it turns out, that makes all the difference, for them, and for her too.
What’s next for you?
My third “love story with a twist,” currently titled Shades of Morning, is due out in May 2010. I’m in the midst of writing it now and am enjoying the characters and plot. For those who read If Tomorrow Never Comes, watch for Marnie, the quirky owner of the coffeeshop and bookstore, who will be the main character in Shades of Morning.
Marnie has her life just where she wants it. At least that’s what she tells herself – her past is hidden, her regrets locked tightly in a box on her shelf, and her bookstore and coffeeshop business is booming. No one knows what she’s done, who she’s been. That is, until the man she once loved finds her again and brings startling news – she’s now the guardian of her 15-year-old nephew, a boy she never knew existed. And to make matters worse, when the boy arrives, she discovers he has Down Syndrome. The past collides with the present, the box of regrets is exposed, and Marnie’s world shattered and rebuilt through the love of one special boy who makes all things new.
Where can visitors find you online?
Well, I hope people will visit my website at www.marloschalesky.com and check out the audio interview, infertility resources, and other goodies there. And, I’d love for people to sign up for my e-newsletter, which I put out a few times a year (or whenever there’s exciting news like a book release!). You can sign up on the front page of my website. There’s a sign-up box there on the right hand column above the audio/video player.
I hope readers will also visit my blog at www.marloschalesky.blogspot.com. About once a week I post news and hopefully helpful info on rekindling the wonder in our walks with God.
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