An Interview with an Author: Sherri Stewart
It’s Author Thursday on my blog, one of my new favorite days! Today, I share an interview with one of my fellow Christian authors, Sherri Stewart.
Sherri loves a clean novel sprinkled with romance and a strong message that challenges her faith. She spends her working hours with books—either editing others’ manuscripts or writing her own. Past careers as a French teacher, principal, flight attendant, and immigration attorney have informed her writing. Her passion is traveling to the settings of her books, sampling the food and visiting the sites. Sadly, her research trip for The Promise Keeper to Wales and London was cancelled due to COVID, but she did visit Atlanta, and she’s still learning Welsh for a future visit. A recent widow, Sherri lives in the Orlando area with her lazy dog, Lily, and her son, Joshua, who can fix anything. She belongs to Word Weavers International, American Christian Writers Association, and the California Bar. Some of her books have won Tapestry and Florida Christian Writers Conference awards for romantic suspense and historical romance. She shares recipes, tidbits of the book’s locations, and pix in her newsletter. Subscribe at http://eepurl.com/gZ-mv9.
Connect with her through the links at the end of this interview.
—By Jessica Brodie
JB: Tell us about yourself and your faith journey. How did you get where you are?
Sherri: If anyone didn’t deserve to be saved, it was me. My father spent two years in prison for performing abortions. Yet God adopted me into His family, and for that I am eternally grateful. He has put within me a love for His Word and given me Bible teachers who have discipled me, since I grew up without knowing God personally until I was in college.
JB: When did you know you wanted to become a writer?
Sherri: I came into writing by accident when one of the teachers who worked at the school where I was a principal challenged me to write a book in sixty days for Nanowrimo. At the time, my family was going through a really hard time, and writing that book was therapy for me. Since then I’ve written over a dozen books and started an editing business.
JB: How does your faith influence your writing?
Sherri: Jesus’s last words on earth are found in the Great Commission. He told us to make disciples of all nations. Many people will not read the Bible, but they might read a novel that points to Christ, which will spur them on to find out more about God. My main characters grapple with issues we all deal with—grief, jealousy, bitterness, and lack of confidence, but they find solutions through wise advice and God’s presence in their lives.
JB: When did this particular story first start stirring in your heart?
Sherri: I’m not a big chick flick fan, but I have my favorites—Julia Roberts in My Best Friend’s Wedding, Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality, and Kate Beckinsale in Serendipity. In fact it was Serendipity that made me start thinking, what if? There’s something charming about destiny bringing two people together, yet it’s even more exciting if the God who created us has a special someone in mind for us, and He brings us together in creative ways. That’s the essence of the providence of God. So I started thinking: What if God had two Americans who live far apart meet up in another country? Since they’d eventually return to their own homes, they’d have to make plans to meet up some time in the future. Wales came to mind. I don’t know why because I’ve never been there, but since choosing Wales, I’ve fallen in love with the country and have been studying Welsh, which is a daunting language.
Sherri samples pannenkoeken in Amsterdam for her book, A Song for her Enemies, which will come out in March 2021.
JB: Do you have other books coming out in the future (or any you are actively writing now?)
Sherri: I have a book that has my heart coming out on March 1st, 2021 with Iron Stream Publishing (Heritage Beacon imprint). It’s entitled, A Song for Her Enemies. It’s about a young Jewish opera singer in Haarlem (Netherlands) who joins the Resistance during WWII, and her singing voice becomes a blessing and a curse.
JB: What do you hope readers take away from this book?
Sherri: For A Song for Her Enemies, Tamar grapples with how a good God can allow the atrocities to happen to the Jews. With everything going on around us in 2020, that question remains relevant. Hopefully, readers will relate to Tamar in their own struggles. In The Promise Keeper, Jonathan believes God in His providence has brought him the love of his life. Meadow is not so sure. Does God have one special person for us to love?
Connect with Sherri Stewart:
https://www.amazon.com/author/sherristewart/
https://www.facebook.com/sherristewartauthor/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/758893.Sherri_Stewart
https://www.instagram.com/stewart_sherri/
https://www.bookbub.com/profile/sherri-stewart
Books by Sherri Stewart: