HISTORY:
About 10 years ago I took a writing course, then proceeded to write "Matthew's Voyage" and a couple of short stories and devotionals. The shorts got published and "Matthew's Voyage" was rejected about 15 times (encouraging rejections-there is a difference). So I worked on revising it, re-submitted it to a bunch of places and it still got rejected. I was told that in Canada there is no market for Canadian historical fiction for middle grades if it is "Christian", but there is no market in the States for that genre if it is Canadian. So I forgot about it for about four years, then one day I got an email from Avyx asking if I had published it yet and they were interested. Trouble was, I had never submitted it to Avyx. Turned out that Avyx is the publishing arm of Sonlight Curriculum (homeschool curriculum for you non-homeschoolers). Ah, the light went on. I had sent it to Sarita Holzmann, founder of Sonlight Curriculum, wondering if she would take a look at it and let me know what she thought. She had kept the manuscript and handed it to the editor at Avyx asking him to see what he thought about it. Well, long story short, they decided to publish it and it is due to be released in 2010.
The work and research for "Desert Fire" started about five years ago, because of e-zines we were receiving from a relative who was on the ground in Darfur and trying to raise awareness of what was occurring there. At that time the media was not reporting the genocide. It took some time, even after they finally started reporting it, to use the term "genocide".
I thought, "If I were to write an adult novel, I would want to write a compelling story that would shed light on a troubled area, not normally in our radar, in order to raise awareness and empathy for those we might otherwise overlook and forget about." I hope that "Desert Fire" does that. My prayer is that the people who read it are motivated to bring change to this hurting world in whatever way they are led to, but most of all that they gain a great desire and faith to pray.
"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." -2 Chron.7:14
