read about this week's featured author, Katie McCurdy.
Katie McCurdy is the author of "Journey of Faith", a book geared toward
teens, but suitable for the whole family. It is published by Outskirts
Press, a self publishing company out of Colorado
www.outskirtspress.com
I first met Miss McCurdy when she contacted me about exchanging book
reviews. She had read the synopsis of my book, and finding our books to have
similarities, she wanted to know if I would be willing to read and review
her's. I looked up her book on the internet and intrigued, I decided to send
her a copy of "Wild Heart". She sent me a copy of "Journey of Faith", and I
think I read it all in one day. My review of her book I posted on
www.amazon.com
Katie's review of "Wild heart" is posted on Amazon.com as well. Just so you
will know, in the picture, Katie is on the left, and her sister, who is also
her editor is on the right.
An active young lady, McCurdy enjoys playing volley ball, acting in plays,
crocheting and cross stitch, but, as she has said in her interview, " My
absolute favorite hobby is to sit down with a good book and read! I can't
tell you how much I like to read! I like it just as much as I like writing.
Some of my favorite authors include: Frank Peretti, Sheridan Elaine Claude,
Shannon Nicole Wells, Elizabeth George, and Jane Austen."
"My urge to write a book began when I was very young, probably around the
age of nine or ten," McCurdy says. "At night, I always loved to lay awake
long into the night, thinking up my own adventures. Many of them I thought
would make a great book. But I always thought that writing books and
becoming an author was only for adults. So I satisfied myself with daydreams
of becoming an author 'one day'. But when a friend of mine let me read a new
book of hers, I was astonished to find that the author was only fifteen
years old! I thought about that for weeks after reading it and I finally
realized that I didn't need to wait until I was an adult to start writing
books. So shortly after that conclusion, I began my first book, Journey of
Faith, at eleven years old."
McCurdy goes on to say, "My ideas for the stories that I write come from
many different sources. The idea for my first book, "Journey of Faith", came
to me after I read the book "Stout Hearted Seven". It is a story about a
certain family with seven children who traveled on the Oregon Trail. When
they finally arrived in Oregon, both parents had died along the way and only
four of the children made it to Oregon. Their courage was so awing that I
wanted to write about another family who takes on the Oregon Trail. And so
began Journey of Faith. The story line has changed much since my first draft
of the book, but that is where the idea of the book came from. I have
several other books in the beginning stages. Whenever I think of a great
story line, I write it down before I forget it and sometimes even start the
first few chapters. But they have not grown much because I am presently
concentrating on the Legacy of Purpose series. But the ideas for these come
either from a movie I saw, a book I read, or an event I heard over the news
or in the paper. It's amazing where ideas can come from!"
One way that Katie tries to set her books apart from the thousands of
worldly books is to keep them pure and clean. "Life out in the West was
often hard and gruesome," she says, "but I have tried to present all of
these in a way that brings glory to God and doesn't pollute the mind of the
reader. There are so many books out there filled with trash, that finding
good books for teens is difficult. When I go to my local library, I have to
search high and low for a book that I will be able to read. Many of them are
harmful romance novels that aren't the most edifying thing for a girl in her
teens. Now this is not to say that I can never read a book that is about a
boy and girl who end up getting married, for even God is a lover of romance.
But the way that it is portrayed says everything. And in my second book
"Journey of the Heart", which is nearing completion, Faith goes through that
period of her life. It's a neat adventure and I hope that, when it is
published, everyone will enjoy a clean book that travels through the
interesting waters of courtship."
When I asked Miss McCurdy if she had any advice for any aspiring authors,
she said, "I know that authors hear this advice all the time, but it is so
true. If you want to become published, keep writing! Don't stop! If you
think your story isn't any good, keep working on it! My first draft of
Journey of Faith was both dull and simply awful! It went through many
changes to become what it is today. Just keep writing, keep imagining, and
keep dreaming!"
Talking with Katie via e-mail has been a delight; she reminds me of myself
at that age, the age when I was hard at work on the first rough draft of
"Wild Heart". It blesses me, knowing there are still young people out there
willing to spread the word of God. McCurdy is home schooled, and truly
routed and grounded in her faith, which shines through each page of her
book. I am honestly looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
In a closing statement, Katie says, "I hope that I can continue to write
books for the glory of God and the edification of my readers. Thank you,
Shannon, for interviewing me today!"
No, it's I who need to thank you, Katie.
To learn more about Katie McCurdy and her books, please visit her website
www.booksbykatie.webs.com
Thank you for joining me for this week's edition of Author Fridays! I hope
you will come back next Friday to read about a husband and wife writing
team, Dave and Lillian Brummet.
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