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career AUTHOR Submitted by Amanda B. If you check out our blog often, you know who Robin Jones Gunn is. A few months ago, we made a review video on her award-winning book series, featuring Christy Miller. Now get to know the face behind the books . . . and find out if a career as an author might be something you would enjoy. 1. What kinds of books have you written? I’ve been writing for over 25 years and have written fiction, non-fiction, devotionals, children’s books and novellas. Just about a little of everything. 2. What subjects do you have to study to be an author? It varies, of course, depending on what field of writing you plan to go into. I took a lot of English courses as well as Creative Writing courses and attended conferences on writing. Many of my writer friends majored in Journalism and found that prepared them to be able to write short pieces and articles first. After that they expanded to writing books. 3. What kinds of stories do you enjoy writing best? The majority of the 85 books I’ve written are fiction because I love telling stories. I like writing about characters who feel like they could be real people. In the story they are trying to understand how God is leading them in whatever they are going through. 4. Please describe a typical day of work (writing). Every day is different. I’m an early riser so for many years I’ve gotten up at 3am in order to write for several hours while my thoughts are fresh and the house is nice and quiet. Some days I write on a laptop while sitting outside. Some days I sit at my desk and work on the main computer. Other days I’ll go to the beach and sit and write in my journal. What made you decide to be a writer? I’ve always been a storyteller but I didn’t grow up thinking I wanted to be a writer. I didn’t plan on being a writer when I was in college. I was more interested in doing foreign missions work or doing youth ministry at a church. I married a youth pastor and started writing for teens. The Christy Miller series grew from one book into many more and I continued to write as a result of the interest of the readers. I honestly don’t think there has ever been a moment when I decided to be a writer. I just wanted to follow God and serve Him and this is where He led me. 6. Where was your first job? I started working at a Carl’s Jr. fast food restaurant when I was 16. It was down the street from where we lived and I didn’t have my driver’s license yet so I walked to work. We had to wear uniforms with silly hats and I always walked as fast as I could so that no one I knew from school would see me. 7. Have you had any interesting things happen to you while writing stories? Yes. Always. Many of the interesting life experiences I’ve had ended up in one of my stories eventually. When I was writing the Sisterchicks series I was traveling around the world to all the locations in the books. I went to Australia, New Zealand, Paris, Venice, England, Mexico, Finland, Hawaii and the Netherlands. Crazy, fun things happened on each of those trips. Those moments ended up in the books and sometimes my editor would say that we needed to take those parts out. They were too unbelievable. More than once I remember telling her, “But they really happened.” She would say, “Maybe so, but no one will believe it.” When I was getting ready to do the research for “Sisterchicks Go Brit” I invited my editor to travel with me to England. She was thrilled to come along and yes, crazy, fun things happened. From then on she let me keep lots of those moments in the books. 8. What is the best thing about being an author? For me the best thing is being able to do what I was created to do. I love being able to be creative and expressive through the stories I write. 9. Do you have to like certain things in order to do this occupation? I think you have to get used to a lot of criticism and a lot of people who want to tell you what to do. You don’t have to like that sort of constant input but I think you have to really like what you’re doing and like people in a compassionate sort of way. Otherwise the many opinions you hear will make you want to become more withdrawn. 10. How do you get ideas for new story plot twists? From life. While I’m writing, I usually don’t know what’s going to happen next in the story. I know the characters and the problems they’re facing. As I write, I think about what I’ve seen in real life that is similar to what the characters are going Page | 7 Volume 4, Issue 5
through and as I write the plot twists the ideas just keep coming. 11. How do you create new characters? I cut pictures out of magazines and paste them on a piece of paper in one of my story notebooks. I introduce myself to the character and ask their name. It opens up a free flowing sort of creativity in my imagination. I write down what I think about that character and in a sense I get to know them. Sometimes they remind me of people I know and sometimes they are similar to someone I’ve seen in a movie. 12. Have you ever earned any awards? If so, what for? My first awards were from the Biola Writer’s Conference for an article and one for the most promising new writer. I won two awards from the Mount Hermon Christian Writer’s Conference for poetry and one for being the writer of the year. I was honored with three Christy Awards for excellence in Christian fiction. I received two Reader’s Choice awards from FHL of the Romance Writers of America. My favorite award was one that I received in sixth grade from the Daughters of the American Revolution. I wrote an essay on “What America Means to Me” and I won first place. artwork AMAZING GRACE HAND LETTERING Drawn by Sarah Margaret D. recipe CHOCOLATE TRIFLE LORRAINE Submitted by Emily K. From Victoria magazine INGREDIENTS For the cake: 4 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate, broken into pieces 4 tbsps. unsalted butter, softened 1 2 / 3 c. boiling water 2 1 / 3 c. unbleached all-purpose flour 2 c. sugar ½ c. sour cream 2 large eggs 2 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. vanilla extract For the chocolate fudge: 4 tbsp. unsalted butter 1 ½ c. chocolate chips ¾ c. heavy cream 2 ½ c. sifted confectioners' sugar 1 tsp. vanilla extract For the filling and decoration: 1 ½ c. raspberry preserves Fresh raspberries Heavy cream INSTRUCTIONS 1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter and flour a 13x9x2 inch cake pan. 2. In a bowl, combine the chocolate, butter, and boiling water and stir until smooth. 3. With an electric mixer set on low speed, add the remaining ingredients until just combined. So not overbeat. 4. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Continued on next page. Page | 8 Volume 4, Issue 5
Page 1 and 2: =South Kakalaki Girl Page | 0 Volum
Page 3 and 4: "JULIA COME HERE!" the lost phone A
Page 5 and 6: USELESS FACTS Written by Julia Ryan
Page 7: Continued from previous page. I wil
Page 11: What our SKG writers think about gr

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