Spotlight on Amy Wallace

Amy, please tell us a little about yourself.

I’m married to an awesome and encouraging man and together we homeschool our three children. I’m also an author, speaker, president of the Atlanta-based ACFW writing group WORD, co-leader of a young writer’s club, and avid chocoholic. I love crafting high-action suspense that delves deep into heart issues. And I’m the author of the Defenders of Hope series: Ransomed Dreams, Healing Promises, and Enduring Justice, a contributing author of Chicken Soup for the Soul Healthy Living Series: Diabetes, and God Answers Moms’ Prayers.

What is your novel about

Secrets Can’t Last Forever

A PAINFUL PAST

Hanna Kessler’s childhood secret has remained buried for over two decades. But when the dark shadows of her past threaten to destroy those she loves, Hanna must face the summer that changed her life and the man who still haunts her memories.

A RACIALLY-MOTIVATED KILLER

As a Crimes Against Children FBI Agent, Michael Parker knows what it means to get knocked down. Difficult cases and broken relationships have plagued his entire year. But when the system fails and a white supremacist is set free, Michael’s drive for retribution eclipses all else.

A LIFE-ALTERING CHOICE

A racist's well-planned assault forces Hanna and Michael to decide between executing vengeance and pursuing justice. The dividing line is the choice to heal. But when the attack turns personal, is justice enough?

Where can readers find you on the Web?

I’d love it if readers visited the Dark Chocolate Suspense website: http://www.amywallace.com/. From there they can read the first two chapters of Enduring Justice and learn more about the inside scoop in the quarterly Dark Chocolate Suspense newsletter. Or they can follow these quick links: http://www.amywallace.com/ej_chapter.html
http://www.amywallace.com/Newsletter.html.

1. What is the craziest thing you have ever done?
There are way too many crazy stories I could tell. But the safest and probably weirdest thing I’ve ever done is harass the KGB in Berlin, Germany. Together with my younger brother, I made faces at all the cameras pointed our way in East Berlin (before the Berlin Wall fell) and acted like spies were following us everywhere. We ducked into places and acted shifty. When my dad ignored us, we made up stories about spies and conspiracies. He finally had to pay attention when we told him there was a spy convention going on in our restaurant and pointed out a bunch of black-coated men entering by ones and twos who were all being escorted to the same private dining room. We left very soon after that.

My retired-Army dad is now very glad we all survived and that we’ve grown out of those crazy teenager ways.

Oh my, that is one of the craziest things I have heard.

2. Let’s pretend money is not a factor, if you could go anywhere is the world where would you go?
I’d take my husband and children to see where I grew up in Berlin and Munich, Germany. Then we’d go to my family’s favorite vacation spot, London, England. After that, I’d visit a dear friend in Australia and tour the continent.

3. What is your favorite children’s book?
I love The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare and Max Lucado’s Wemmicks series, especially You Are Special.

Oh, I loved Max Lucado's Wemmick series too. My kids have enjoyed them and the lessons taught are wonderful. I love The Witch of Blackbird Pond. In fact, when I was teaching I used it as a class literature group selection. One of my favorites. Thanks for reminding me of it.

4. What do you find most challenging about writing?
It used to be my fear about folks hating my stories. Now my biggest challenges are balancing writing time with family time and trusting the Lord will do with my books what good things He has planned.

I fight with the time issues of balancing family time and writing time.

5. What do you find most rewarding?

I love getting to talk to readers in book clubs, at high schools, and in women’s groups. It’s incredibly rewarding to encourage and talk with people and truly connect over fictional stories and characters and then go deeper. I also find writing the author letters and the end of books and the discussion questions very rewarding, especially when I hear back from readers how those two things meant so much to them.

6. What would you like your readers to say about your writing?
I’d like my readers to say the Defenders of Hope stories encouraged them to look deeper into what they believe about themselves, God, and others and also that they found hope and the courage to take their own steps toward healing like the characters in the stories.

7. What is your favorite verse from the Bible? Why?
1 Thessalonians 5: 23-24 “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”

I love these verses because they remind me that God is always at work in me to make me more and more like Him. I especially love that, “He is faithful and will do it.”

Amy, thanks you for spending time with us. You are an amazing writers and I look forward to reading more by you.


Enter to win all THREE BOOKS in the DOH series by signing up for Amy’s Dark Chocolate Suspense Newsletter and then leave a comment on this blog tour post (http://peek-a-booicu.blogspot.com/2009/04/enduring-justice-blog-tour.html). It’s chock full of insider info on the writing world, a thought-provoking devotion, and easy but yummy recipes. If you already subscribe to the newsletter, just leave a comment saying so on the blog tour post! The winner will be chosen at random on 5/8/09. Two runner's up will also be chosen to win a copy of Enduring Justice.