visual thoth: Interview with author, Shellie Neumeier ? Word Salt

(This article was originally published on Journey Thoughts March 1, 2011.)

Shellie writes for a young adult audience as I do.? She has a heart for youth and is a talented, gifted writer.? It is with great pleasure that I welcome Shellie today!

About the author:

Married for almost 20 years, Shellie and her husband have four wonderful children and two goofy greyhounds.?? After receiving her undergraduate degree in Secondary Education from the University of Wisconsin?Madison, she went on to acquire an early childhood education certificate.? Shellie also served in youth, children?s, special needs and family ministries for over twenty-two years.

Today she enjoys teaching her teens how to drive and chauffeuring her preteens across the Wisconsin countryside. And once in a while, she enjoys reading a classic tale or new suspense. In addition to writing fiction, Shellie is an avid blogger on her site http://shellieneumeier.com and several others including http://Samiesisters.com, http://www.suite101.com/profile.cfm/767774.com, and http://thebarndoor.net.

?Driven? is finally in print! How does it feel to hold your book in your hand?

Surreal. Amazing. Crazy. Like?who am I to have my name in print like that? It?s very cool.

What inspired you to write ?Driven??

What inspired me to write this book was the desire to encourage the next generation. They have an amazing access to their world with the ease of travel and the internet. They also have the opportunity to change their world unlike any previous generation has. But they?re also bombarded with harsh realism and even harsher dramatized ?realism.? It would be very easy to forget that they have a good and Godly purpose.

Tell us a little about yourself. What led you to begin writing?

Boredom, honestly. My children were old enough to entertain themselves when they weren?t in school and I grew tired of the daytime TV fare. When I threatened to delve into a project that involved power tools, my family scrambled to find something less dangerous for me to do. Telling stories had always been a favorite pastime, but writing them down hadn?t crossed my mind until my husband encouraged me to do so. I had to overcome my fear of grammar and creative writing rules before I could allow the story to develop.

I will forever be grateful for editors and critique partners; they are gifted beyond measure, in my mind.

Do you have a ?life verse? that you have claimed?? If so what is it and why is that verse so meaningful to you?

??For I know the plans I have for you,? declares the LORD, ?plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.??? Jeremiah 29:11

Awesome to know I?m not a random player wandering about without purpose! Love that.

Who (or what) is your greatest encourager when you write and why?

God is my greatest encourager. Whenever I?m in a slump or stuck in a doubting cycle, I take my two greyhounds for a walk out in the country and spend alone-time with God. Talk about inspiration.? My second greatest encourager is my husband. He?s the one that got me started along this path in the first place. And he keeps me trekking along, even when it feels like I?m going nowhere.

Is there anything else that you would like your readers to know about you that would give us even more of a glimpse into your personality and passions?

Someone once asked me if I were an animal what would I be and why. Here?s what I said? ?Hmm. I?d love to be a Jaguar, filled with grace and speed; or a she-lion, fierce in her cub?s protection; but my husband likens me to that dog in the movie UP (the one that says ?squirrel? with energized distraction).?? I think that gives you a good picture of my personality.

Where can we buy this book?

Amazon, Barnes and Noble online, and risenfiction.

About the book:

Robyn loves her friends, enjoys her youth group, and looks forward to meeting cute Caleb Montague. But when a caustic newsreporter challenges her school?s prayer team, Robyn must choose: defend their right to meet on campus and pray for whomever they wish or back down at the principal?s request.

Now she must learn what God wants her to do. And she had better learn fast, because there?s a supernatural enemy in town whose sole mission is to stop her?no matter the cost.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT Driven

Driven is a new take on the age old battle of good versus evil.? Gripping from the first page, this is one book you won?t want to put down.? ?Leanna Kay, co-creator of www.samiesisters.com ? a place for Christian girls to grow in faith.

Driven is a breathtaking book of tension, intrigue, and heartwarming emotion. From the moment I began to read until the very last word, I couldn?t put it aside. It held me enthralled!? ?Lindsay Below, author of Head Over Hand-Bought Heels ???????????????????????????????

Oily creatures of the night are seeking to destroy a group of teens at Brookfield Central High School. Their primary target? A resilient teenage girl who refuses to question her calling. But how much guilt, how much pain, and how much accusation can one human take? Laced with other-worldly plot threads akin to Frank Peretti?s This Present Darkness, Shellie Neumeier?s debut novel inspires followers of Christ to stand strong in God?s calling regardless of tragic circumstances. Along the way she explores tragedy in friendships and the beauty of redemption.? ?Caleb Jennings Breakey, Refining Teen Writers into Rockstars www.CalebBreakey.com

In the tradition of This Present Darkness and The Screwtape Letters, Driven pulls back the veil between worlds and reminds us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against Satan and his minions. But the journey of Robyn and her friends against both physical and spiritual enemies also illustrates the more exciting truth: that ultimate victory rests with our God.? ?Anne Mateer, author of
Wings of Dream, September 2011.

Website: www.shellieneumeier.com

E-mail:? neumeier(dot)shellie(at)gmail(dot)com