TOMORROW on Kitchen Chat: Editors Beth Adams and Ginger Kolbaba

Welcome to this week's Kitchen Chat - Be sure to tune in on Friday at 11:00AM Central! To listen, follow the link and click on the player in the upper right hand corner.

I'm thrilled about our guests this week - two amazing women who are both editors and authors. Best of both worlds I'd say! The first half hour we'll hear from Beth Adams who is an Editor with Guideposts. The second half of the show will feature Ginger Kolbaba, who is an editor for Kyria.com. All you aspiring authors (myself included!) have your questions ready. Call into the show (1-877-864-4869), tweet them (@mcsweeney) or leave them on the segment post.

About Beth: Beth Adams is a senior editor at Guideposts Books. She works on primarily on inspirational fiction. She hails from California, and lives in Brooklyn with her husband.


About Ginger: Ginger Kolbaba is editor and manager of discipleship and women’s resources, including the newly launched Kyria.com, and Marriage Partnership.com, an award-winning publication and website of Christianity Today International, both with more than 2.5 million unique visitors annually. She is also a freelance book editor for several major publishing houses and a former editor of the award-winning publication Today’s Christian Woman.

Also an accomplished author, Ginger has written more than 300 articles and has written or contributed to more than 16 books, including the best-seller Refined by Fire, which received a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly and was nominated for a Gold Medallion award. Her most recent novel series, Secrets from Lulu’s Café, includes Desperate Pastors’ Wives, A Matter of Wife and Death, and Katt’s in the Cradle.

Ginger also teaches and speaks across the country. She’s been quoted in Newsweek and the Chicago Sun-Times and has appeared on national venues such as CNN’s Nancy Grace and Court TV’s Catherine Crier Live, as well as Chicago’s top rated talk radio station WLS, Family Life Radio, and Moody Radio’s Midday Connection.

She is a graduate of Anderson University (Anderson, Indiana), and worked as a professional actress and singer before making the transition to more sane and solitary roles behind a computer.

When she isn’t chained to her computer, Ginger enjoys spending time with her husband motorcycling through the countryside, visiting Yellowstone National Park, walking her Doberman, reading good books, and talking theory with her friends about the television series Lost. She believes one of her greatest accomplishments would be dusting off her piano and treadmill and using them both—at least once this year.

Visit her at www.GingerKolbaba.com.

About Ginger's latest book: Four pastors' wives. All desperate for something.

Is it possible that their desperation will lead to hope?

Mimi, Lisa, Jennifer, and Felicia all live in the fishbowl of Red River, Ohio. Everyone expects something from them. Gourmet casseroles. Perfect husbands. Well-behaved children. They expect even more of themselves.

The constant demands and always-ringing phones are enough to drive any sane woman crazy. Add to all that the condescending Katherine Fleming Katt -- self-promoting pastor's wife of the town's largest church -- who loves to flaunt her superior position. In the midst of such chaos, will each woman find the one thing she longs for?

When the unflappable Kitty Katt starts showing up at odd places, the four friends get suspicious. Is Kitty hiding something? What secrets lie behind her "perfect" exterior? But even more significant than unraveling Kitty Katt's secrets is finding answers for themselves.

Win an on-line membership to Kyria.com and a copy of Desperate Pastors' Wives, the first novel in the Lulu's Cafe series. Leave a comment {HERE} and don't forget to include your email address.

For so long I have lived my life in fear...

My Lesson from a Horse Whisperer

On Kitchen Chat a few weeks ago I interviewed Dr. Lew Sterrett, an internationally acclaimed horse whisperer. Little did I know that this show would transform my life.  As someone who is afraid of horses, I did not miss the irony that I was interviewing a horse whisperer.  When I was ten years old and went to a church camp, I rode a tall horse for the very first time.  This horse trotted away.  The saddle was not completely tightened and it slid down the side of this large animal. I fell off. Like a heavy tumbleweed, I rolled through the dusty dirt among the gravelly rocks.

So what did Dr. Lew Sterrett say that changed my life perspective?  In the last segment of the show, I asked him to please help me get over my fear of horses.  He “whispered” me through my fear by saying that it wasn’t the horse’s fault.  The people that worked at the barn should have been more careful.  However, he said that my real fear wasn’t horses, but rather the fear of being out of control.  His words hit me straight in the heart.

During my whole life, I have had this need to be able to control my environment so nothing bad will happen to me or my family.  I even keep my dogs on a short leash, fearful that if they venture too far they will be attacked by the coyotes that live in the woods behind our house.  For so long I have lived my life in fear.  In essence, I am filtering my faith, i.e. limiting God.  Ouch!

So what does this have to do with writing my first novel?  Everything!  My theme throughout this book is “to let go and let grow.”  However, how can I authentically write about this if I myself haven’t been able to let go of my own fear?  While editing my manuscript, I realized how fearful and reserved my main character is.  She has to be in control.  Perhaps I have held back my characters from being who they really are, too.  I have kept their emotions reined in (please pardon the equestrian pun).

During these next few weeks before ACFW, I plan to rework the pages not only of my novel, but also of my life. Thanks for your prayers and encouragement along the way.

What fears keep you reined in?

Dr. Lew Sterrett’s insights into applying the principles and techniques of building trust with a horse are applicable to all relationships.  You can listen to my interview with this horse whisperer for free here.