Marcia, describe yourself for our visitors.
I’m content in all the important roles in my life, a blessing for which I give credit to God. I’ve been a Christian for as long as I can remember, and I’m still trying to get it right—which makes me grateful for God’s grace. So grateful in fact, I’m a woman on a mission to present the message of grace to those who might need a little touch in their own lives.
I love to play video games, drive in the country, play with my grandkids, and hang out with my daughter.
How do you find time to connect with God?
I’m not always successful, but I try to apply the principle of tithing to spending time with God. When I can, I sit down to a devotional or bible study with my first cup of tea in the morning. The days I manage to do this seem to be more peaceful and productive.
Do you have a favorite bible verse and or quote you wish to share?
These days I’m partial to Proverbs 18:20: Wise words satisfy like a good meal; the right words bring satisfaction, which assures me that being an incurable word nerd is okay.
My favorite writing quote: “God only exhibits his thunder and lightning at intervals, and so they always command attention. These are God’s adjectives. You thunder and lightning too much; the reader ceases to get under the bed, by and by.”– Mark Twain
Who are your favorite authors? Favorite books?
To prove I have impeccable taste, I recently read and fell in love with Susan Meissner’s The Shape of Mercy—just before it won the Christian Book Award for fiction. I also love anything written by Linda Nichols. My new favorite is my friend and fellow Barbour author Mary Connealy, a recent Christy Award nominee for her charming book Calico Canyon.
Tell us about your journey to publication.
I was grandmother before I launched my writing career. With my youngest of five off to college, I looked around and found an abundance of free time. Hubby had just bought me a new desktop computer, so I sat down to write a novel because no one had ever said I couldn’t. I didn’t get far before I realized I wanted to write a story with a Christian influence. I thought I had an original idea until I stumbled across the growing Christian fiction market. Captivated with books by Janette Oke and Tracie Peterson, I stepped to the ledge and dove in.
Tell us about your current book.
Chasing Charity is a book about shattered trust. When one childhood friend betrays another, they find that no amount of love is enough to bring reconciliation until God intervenes and changes both their hearts. Together they discover the power of love and the gift of forgiveness.
Charity Bloom’s fiancé jilts her for her best friend in full view of the town. Despite her friend’s betrayal, Charity is surprised to find she longs to reconcile their friendship. More offenses by the girl soon change her mind though not her heart. To further complicate matters, a larger-than-life oilman plagues Charity’s thoughts more than her fickle ex-fiancé who has decided he wants her back.
Spoiled, privileged Emily (Emmy) Dane knows she’s a bad girl, but doesn’t care. Too pretty for her own good, she always gets what she wants, and Charity’s man is no exception. But when she sets her cap for Daniel Clark, she never imagines she will lose Charity in the process, or that her forbidden lover will prove to be such a poor trade. When she learns Charity plans to marry Daniel after all, Emmy sets out on a quest to save her friend from the black-hearted man, thereby committing the first unselfish act of her life.
Buddy Pierce arrives in Humble hired to scout for oil. A chance encounter with Charity lands him in her backyard wading through an oil-rich bog. Buddy knows his discovery will free Charity and her mama from poverty, but in his zeal, he forgets to ask Charity if she wants freedom. Troubled by her dark, brooding eyes, he tries to understand her. What he learns proves that while chasing riches for others, he has found in Charity a priceless treasure of his own.
Daniel Clark took a while to make up his mind. Now it’s set in stone, and he can think of nothing but Charity. He’ll have her back at any cost, but first he’ll have to remove three things that stand in his way: his manipulative mama, a spurned lover, and the stranger at Charity’s side.
What influenced you to write this book?
I married into a long line of Texas oilmen. My landman husband’s father is also a landman, and his grandfather was a roughneck. Most of his aunts and uncles are in the oil business as well as most of our children and one grandson. We live within minutes of Humble, Texas, the site of one of the largest discoveries in Texas’s long history of exploration. I think setting a book in Humble around the time of the boom was inevitable.
Did you have a favorite character(s)? Who and why?
The concept of Bertha Bloom, Charity’s quirky mama, was born long before she turned up in Diamond Duo, book one of the Texas Fortune series. Her life comes full circle in Emmy’s Equal, the last book of the series. I think I like her best as the misunderstood free spirit in Chasing Charity that the townsfolk deem to be as mad as a hatter.
What’s next for you?
I’m blissfully looking forward to the release of Emmy’s Equal, book three in the series. I’ve had several requests to revisit the secondary characters of Sarah and Henry in Diamond Duo, but I have so many new ideas percolating I’m waiting to see what brews before I decide.
Where can visitors find you online?
My website: www.marciagruver.com. My blog: www.yieldedquill.blogspot.com.
I am also a frequent contributing blogger on the Internal Monoblog at: http://wwwinternalmonoblogcom.blogspot.com
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