~ Author Scoop ~ Chatting Moments With Emily Camp ~ Hello All! In case you dont know why Im excited, well, let me tell you: Emily is one of the two authors that officially made me a YA fan. The other is Rektok Ross. Emily is the author of the Cambrooke Series. Ive read and reviewed the two of the books that are available: Here Comes The Light, and Running Back. Today, Emily is visiting To Be A Person to tell us a little bit about herself and her work. Stay with us! ~ Me: Hello Emily! Welcome to To Be A Person! Please tell us a little bit about yourself. * Emily: Hi! Thanks for having me. I’m a mom of two, and, I celebrated my 15-year anniversary with my wonderful husband in the last week of July. I love to read, and of course, write. I love summer and taking pictures. I had a photography business which was called Cambrooke Photography, before going into writing, so I do all my cover designs myself. The name, Cambrooke, comes from combining my kids names. I’ve always loved creating things from nothing, and writing and photography have been wonderful avenues to express myself. ~ Me: Wonderful on the choice of name for your series and your business! Photography is a fun art perhaps I should try it some time? And, congrats on your anniversary! Wishing you two many more years. You’re an author in the Christian YA genre. What led you into that? * Emily: Well, it just kind of happened. I knew God called me to write and, I tried for a couple of years to produce something. When an idea finally came, it just happened to be about teenagers, which has also become my favorite genre to read. But I’ve always loved watching teen TV dramas. When I was a teenager, my dream was to write one. So this is kind of a forgotten dream coming to fruition. Ive also come to realize the need for this the need for people to be able to relate with/to teens, and not just constantly tell them what they should and shouldn’t do. ~ Me: I understand your reasons. Teenagers are people. Its good that people remember that every now and then. So, how do you plan your stories? What’s a typical day like for you? * Emily: Honestly, I’m not a planner. I just sit down with some sort of idea and start writing; the characters tell their own story as I do. A typical summer day for me is getting up and doing light house work, and possibly throwing dinner in the crock pot, before carrying my laptop and a few good books out to my pool where I spend my time either sitting under an umbrella writing, floating around my pool reading, or swimming with my kids if they decide to venture outside. Also, I write more at night; late night seems to be when the words flow best. During the school year, I home-school my children. We do online schooling, so I don’t have as much time for my writing as Id like. But with the children getting older, I’m not as hands on as before. My son is going to be a freshman soon, so I won’t have much I have to do with him, and, my daughter is in third grade just now starting to be a little bit more independent. I still, anyway, will have to stay up late to get words down. ~ Me: Whoa! You really do have your hands full. I have to applaud you on still being able to produce books. Well done! When you write, what do you hope to pass across to your readers? * Emily: I want them to know that theyre not alone. No matter what theyre going through, theres always hope. And, no matter what people say to them, theyve never done anything too horrible that God won’t take them back. I want them to know that Christianity is not some crazy, out-there, weird thing, that you can still live a real life in the real world, and have a personal relationship with God. I think so many people get caught up in all the rules they have to follow. It isn’t about how many church services you attend each week, or how long you read your Bible today. It’s about connecting with people and God. Things are going to happen that aren’t always pretty, or the way people think they should be, but nothing is too big, or too ugly for God to handle. ~ Me: Wow. Im really touched and encouraged by your heart for the broken and lost. I pray you never lose that. Amen. Please tell us, what inspired the Cambrooke Series? What’s next in the series—a snippet, please? * Emily: It wasnt originally intended to be a series. When I wrote Here Comes The Light, it was to be a standalone. I finished the first draft and thought, maybe, I might also write about Bree and Garrett. It was a few months before I started, though. Then I showed people. They wanted more, and so did I. I wanted to see what would happen with these characters if I wrote their story. When I first started Here Comes the Light, I saw the love triangle trend in Twilight and The Hunger Games, and I thought there could be a way to present the gospel in love triangles. Also, many Christians struggle with going back to their old ways after theyve come to know Christ, even when their new life is better. In Here Comes The Light, Miley was the believer, Declan represented Christ, and Hudson, the world and the old life. Some readers found it frustrating that she kept going back to Hudson. But several times after I was saved, I, too, kept running back to the things that I was addicted to, before I finally got it right. I actually have 13 rough drafts in all for this series. Not sure if all will be published, but there is more of Bree and Garrett, and also Miley and Declan, as they will have life throw all kinds of stuff at them meant to break them. Their faith in God would waiver, but theyd eventually make it through. Hudson and Isaac get their own stories as well. The next one, and third book in the series Overcome is about Carly. I’m not sure at this time how much I should say without spoiling Running Back for those who haven’t read it yet. I guess Ill just say she finds healing in her story. ~ Me: So glad to hear that Carly gets a story. I must confess I worried/wondered about not just her, but Hudson and Isaac as well. Thank you for clarifying that! So, any plans yet for after the series? * Emily: Yes, I actually have a couple of standalone novels that I plan on putting out there in-between the Cambrooke novels, and one that’s a spin-off. You know the football team they were playing against when Hudson and Garrett had a fight in Running Back? I have a story about a couple from the other school who meet at that game. The story follows the couple through to their early twenties. Still trying to decide if it will be a trilogy, or if I should condense the story into one book. It’s about a pastor’s son finding himself in a situation similar to one of Davids in the Bible. ~ Me: A Davids Story, huh? Interesting! Im looking forward to it. :) Please tell us, how can your readers find you? * Emily: You can find me on my blog, twitter, goodreads, and facebook. ~This or That: ~ 1. Coffee or tea? Neither. I don’t like coffee. Or tea. I get my caffeine from Coke. 2. Rain or snow? Rain. I hate the cold. 3. Dogs or Cats? Dogs 4. Yellow or Green? Green 5. Movies or Music? Music Sweet! Wasnt it fun to learn about this awesome author? You know where to find her now! Please do. Im sure you wont regret it. Thank you, Emily, for taking the time to be with us today! :) ~ About Emilys Books ~ ~ Here Comes The Light: Cambrooke, #1 ~ Seventeen year old Miley is always in a whirlwind trying to keep up the facade of being perfect. On the outside she is what everyone expects. On the inside she is dying. She deals with what most teenage girls deal with, not feeling pretty enough or smart enough. Her best friend doesn’t do much on helping the self esteem either. And why does this one boy she has known from kindergarten but never really had a conversation with all of a sudden keep popping up in places she happens to be? Read my review: wp.me/p2xc8z-bJ ~ Running Back: Cambrooke, #2 ~ Sixteen year old Garrett Light is the middle child of a Christian family. He’s tired of living in his older brother’s shadow. With football, friends and parties, he doesn’t have time to waste on his family and the several church services that he’s forced to go to every week. Meeting the girl of his dreams is even more pressure on him when he has to keep her a secret. Though all secrets have a way of coming out. How far will he go before he realizes his family are the one he needs to turn to? This story isn’t just about faith and first love. It’s also about relationships between friends and family. This is the second in a series but can be read as a stand alone. Read my review: wp.me/p2xc8z-ig ~ About Emily ~ Emily lives at the top of a hill in rural Ohio where she spends her time between writing, reading, and homeschooling her two kids. In the summers she does most of her writing under an umbrella by her back yard pool. Emily’s love for fiction started before she could remember making up crazy stories in her head, as a little girl; her teen years was when her passion for writing began. After becoming a mother she put her writing aside for several years, until God nudged her to pick it back up again. She self-published her first book, Here Comes the Light, in October 2013. Read this post on my blog: wp.me/p2xc8z-iz Tags: #ChristianYA #HereComesTheLight #RunningBack #CambrookeSeries Read the Savvy Saturday Weekly Paper: paper.li/Rini_MAU/1350391002
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 13:43:03 +0000
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