Today we have author Faye Wilson Walton on the blog.

Tell us about your work.

I write contemporary Christian fiction and contemporary romance. The best way to describe my choice of content: faith, hope, love, and rock & roll.

What is your favorite genre to read and do you write in that one now?

I read a variety of genres, all of which have been integral to the style and format of my books—yes, even horror and true crime.

What was your favorite book when you were growing up?

In elementary school, everything by Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume. In middle school, Sweet Dream romance novels (I’m dating myself). In high school, Stephen King. What is your favorite book as an adult? The Bible I always reread my favorite books.

Do you reread books and if so, which one(s) have you read over again?

I read Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan once a year, during the holidays. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, Dark Star and Full Tilt by Creston Mapes. I’m currently re-reading Never a Dull Moment: 1971—The Year the Rock Exploded, which I read for the first time in 2016.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

Perry Stone, Brian “Head” Welch, David McCullough, John Bunyan, and Louisa May Alcott.

A lot of creatives (artists, writers, musicians) have talked about how the pandemic has impacted their creativity. How has it been for you?

I’ve had opportunities to do things I had never thought of before or could be possible. Just days after the pandemic got personal for me and my husband, I signed a letter of agreement with someone for me to be the contributing author of a memoir. In September, I published my seventh book Writing Soul Mates. It was the first book I published since the fall of 2018. I hadn’t planned on taking that long time between books. For this one, it was the first time I had ever been able to afford an editor. Up until that point, I had had beta readers critique my novels. I’ve also made progress on The Unknown Beautiful Missing Piece. Things are only getting better for me.

What are you working on now?

The Unknown Beautiful Missing Piece is about Mark Cole, a veteran guitar player and Claudia Marston, a new, mostly-unknown author meeting in an unusual, unexpected way. They decide to collaborate on a memoir Mark has been thinking about for a while. Kill the Locust is a romantic drama about a young woman who has endometriosis.

Find her on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/authorfayewilson.walton/

Find her on Instagram @fayewilsonwalton

Check out her Blog:
http://fayesrawkinpen.blogspot.com/ 

​Find her books here:

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This week I'm on the Alz Authors' podcast talking about my own experience as a teen dealing with my grandfather's dementia diagnosis which helped me to write my YA contemporary novel, Dating the It Guy.

I also touch on the personal situations that led me to write Competing with the Star, as well as the storyline in Landry in Like where Ashanti deals with her grandmother's dementia.

​Hear it all in our talk on, "Untangling Dementia Themes in Teen Fiction."  
www.spreaker.com/user/wholecarenetwork/episode-10-krysten-lindsay-hager-edited


​Pick up the books here:

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I'm so excited to have my friend and self-help author, Kat OM, on the blog today with her new book. Kat's social media posts are always thoughtful and uplifting and I had to take this little bit out of a recent message she sent me because it just sums her up so well, "I'm hoping my blogs will help some people out there. Just as your books have. Try to help be the light."
 
First, check out this blurb from her book, Resilient Love. Then read our interview below and see the special offer she has for my readers!

"Relationships can be the source of our greatest joy and our greatest pain. When we are left feeling devastated after a break-up, or when you can't seem to keep yourself away from that guy who really is not good for you? Then this book is for you. The book are the lessons Karen learned through her journey working with the help of her life coach and her spiritual teacher and author Gabby Bernstein. When Karen first met Gabby Bernstein, she was looking for a new soulmate after her divorce, but what she found was so much more. Resilient Love is comprised of those lessons."

 "Your worth is not something you fight for with someone else; it's something you already own."
 
 "A partner who is secure with himself will always honor and support your greatness. Love should be the easiest part of the relationship."

Kat was nice enough to do an interview with me. Read on to learn more about her work and her gift for you.

Tell us about your work!

Hi Krysten! Thank you for inviting me on your blog!
​
As a self-help author, I may be slightly different from your usual authors, so I am excited to be here!

In addition to being an author, I am also a spiritual mindset resilience coach, a merch designer, and a very new blogger. I blogged a little in the past, but I wasn't able to blog often because I was working on my book, "Resilient Love: Turn Your Wounds into Your Wings." It's a book about healing after the end of a relationship. But it's also the book I wish I would have read before I even started dating someone. I learned so many things at the end of my marriage that I wish I had known when we first met. Maybe it would have saved me from marrying someone where we were clearly not right for one another. But, I am grateful for our friendship today." I always try to be respectful of him in my writing.

​Now that the book has launched, I am looking forward to blogging more often. If we have a winter like the last one during quarantine, I would like to help people by giving them simple mindfulness tools if they are experiencing mild anxiety, mild depression, or even boredom; to help them get through those cold, dreary, grey days. Learning these simple tools and putting them into practice was life-changing for me. 
 
What was your favorite book when you were growing up?

I loved "Charlotte's Web" by EB White, and the "Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe," by C.S. Lewis. Still one of the best classic fantasy books ever written. Pure magic. And "Are You There God? It's Me Margret" by Judy Blume. 
 
What is your favorite book as an adult?

I read mostly non-fiction these days. However, I belonged to a book club when I was married living in Milwaukee, WI. What I loved most about being in a book club was that it introduced me to so many new books I otherwise probably would have never read. I'm not much of a science fiction reader, but one of my favorite book club books was the sci-fi book "Kafka on the Shore" by Haruki Murakami, which led me to read "Wind up Bird Chronicles," also by Murakami. I love the way he writes. It's like poetry. It made me realize how we should take more chances in what we read. You never know what you will find. 
 
I also loved "Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safer. I read both books before the movies and prefer the book versions. 
 
I always reread my favorite books. Do you reread books, and if so, which one(s) have you read over again? 

Being in the personal growth industry, I read mostly non-fiction now to see what new ways of looking at life people are sharing. I do reread so my favorite books by Gabby Bernstein. (That's how we met was through one of Gabby Bernstein's courses). I also love and reread a lot of books by Brene Brown, and “Untethered Soul” by Michael Singer. As for non-fiction, I haven't reread a lot of non-fiction books, I confess, I mostly reach for something new by the author or look for a similar book within the that genre. But I know what you mean, when a book is so good, you don’t want it to end, so you reread it.
 
 Who are some of your favorite authors? 

Pretty much the same as my favorite books, Gabby Bernstein, Brene Brown, plus Elizabeth Gilbert, Tara Brach, and Tosha Silver. I really enjoyed Alicia Key's new autobiography, "More Myself." As for non-fiction, fun, chick lit, I’ve really enjoyed reading Jennifer Weiner, Meg Cabot, and Sophie Kinsella. Drama, Cormac McCarthy author of The Road, same as Murakami, I love the way he writes, like poetry. 
 
A lot of creatives (artists, writers, musicians) have talked about how the pandemic has impacted their creativity. How has it been for you? 

I think it made me more creative. There was so much time to sit and think, “What do I want to create today?” But I'm talking big right now after the fact. At the beginning of the pandemic, I was very nervous when we first went into lockdown here in New York City. We were the first and the worst in the U.S. We didn't know what to expect? I took time out for a lot of self-care. As I worked my way through my anxieties, I put it into blogging a few article. As the pandemic continued, it allowed me to sit still and figure out what I wanted to do next? I decided to start an inspirational t-shirt merch line! Which I absolutely love! It's so much fun doing it! It's really allowed me to bring out another side of my creative self. I say, "Thank God" for YouTube videos. I wouldn't be able to do so much of what I do without YouTube. It's an endless resource of how-to and inspiration. 


What are you working on now?

 I was doing research on blogging and went down the YouTube rabbit hole. It went exactly like this, on Monday, I was launching some new merch designs on Instagram. On Tuesday, I was researching blogging; by Wednesday, I started rebuilding my website. One thing leads to another. I wasn't that in love with my current site, so I started looking for a web designer to build a new site, so my new blog had somewhere beautiful live. I worked on some special take-aways for my new site, my free "Self-Love 911 Toolkit" ebook. So come check out the new site at www.KatOMLife.com and you can download a free ebook. My gift to you, and you can check out the new blog while you’re there!

It’s been so much fun sharing this with you all! And if any of your reader’s have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected]. I hope we meet again!

Much love to you and your reader’s Krysten! xo

Find Kat over on  Instagram:
 https://www.instagram.com/kat.om.life_resilient.love/?hl=en 
 
 Pick up the book here:
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If you like my young adult Cecily Taylor Series, then you might enjoy author Liwen Y. Ho's Edenvale Arts Academy Series that deals with music as well. I wanted to have her on today to tell you a little about the series and to share an excerpt from the latest book, Ten Things I Like About You: A Sweet YA Romance (Edenvale Arts Academy Book 5)

Edenvale Arts Academy Series by Liwen Y. Ho
 
The Edenvale Arts Academy series was hugely inspired by my love of the arts, specifically music. I’m also a big fan of all things YA, so I thought, why not pair these two interests together? All five of the books take place at a performing arts high school in the Bay Area (where I live) and feature five couples who major in the areas of drama, voice, guitar, graphic design, and visual art. These teens also go through the ups and downs of growing up, with the typical angst you expect from YA, but also with the sweetness of new love. I wrote this series with my own pre-teen and teen in mind, so readers can rest assured that these stories are all clean and wholesome (but still swoony!).
 
Book five, Ten Things I Like About You, stars Nolan and Mimi, next door neighbors who have been best friends since they were three. These two characters have a special place in my heart because they made cameos in the four books before theirs and waited patiently for their turn to come. They’re also both half Chinese, so I was able to include parts of my culture in this story (that includes food!). I adore this couple and their journey to becoming more than friends, and hope you do, too!
 
Here’s an excerpt from Ten Things I Like About You:

Twisting the plastic rod, I watched as the blinds parted and sunlight streamed in. After a second, Nolan’s window came into view… and so did Nolan.

Holy guacamole.

My mouth fell wide open. There stood Nolan with his back to me, wearing a pair of white and black striped boxers. Only a pair of boxers. It wasn’t like I’d never seen him without a shirt on. But this was the first time since his huge growth spurt. The muscles along his back flexed as he pulled a black T-shirt over his head. If I thought he was hot before, he was officially on fire now.

And so was I.

My cheeks burned the longer I stared. I was so embarrassed, thinking about what Nolan would do if he turned around and found me gawking. A loud gasp escaped my lips. What in the world was I doing? Was I really checking out my best friend?!

Purchase the book here: 

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