Spotlight Tuesday With Mary Allen and A GiveAway

                  Introducing Mary A. Allen

Her business card states I am a "writer, speaker and encourager."

 Mary loves to sing, read, laugh and make people smile.

She hates high tech gadgets, but puts up with them.

Just barely.

She's hoping she'll inherit a million dollars from a long

lost relative so she can quit the job she loves  as a home

health nurse to stay at home and be a full time writer. Butshe's not holding her breath.

When she speaks about God at an event, a hand full

of people listen, but when she prays, the God of the

universe hears every word.

                                          Interview

1. What kind of book is Crying in the Morgue, Laughing in the Dark and what inspired you to write this book?  
   This book is a hybrid genre-it combines my memoir with fiction. I fictionalized it in order that readers would better be able to relate with the characters and events in the book.  No cities or states are mentioned, so that readers can insert their own lives and experiences into the story.  Several years ago someone suggested that I write a book and I thought about it for a year. After I prayed and fasted, I asked God if He wanted me to write a book and to please give me a story. The month after my fasting was complete, I was with my brother Chuck at a function and he shared this extraordinary story with me. I realized that this was the story God intended for me to share.
   
   
   
   
   2. Summarize your book as if you were speaking to someone unfamiliar with your book and its topic.
   Myra was the unwanted 5^th child of a couple in their 40’s. She always knew she was “a surprise.” Although she struggled inwardly most of her life with her own self-worth - feeling that she was not good enough, outwardly she was full of joy and love for others. She knew she wasn’t “planned,” but she always felt loved because God had given her an extra measure of love and joy in order to help her through the difficult years.
   
   
   3.Why do you think that this book will appeal to readers?
   I believe most women struggle with their own self-worth and feeling as if they are not good enough – that they are not tall enough, pretty enough, smart enough, thin enough etc. A lot of that is introduced to us as children through the subtleties of life. The enemy of our soul would have us believe those lies. Myra spent a lifetime believing the lies, until she finds out the truth of how much He loved her on the day she was born when He saved her from dying in the morgue. Most women will be able to relate with the characters in this book at some level. 
   
   
   4.How is your book relevant in today’s society?          We live in a shallow society where looks and possessions are so important.  We need to know that our identity in Christ is what is important. Who we are in Him and our purpose for His glory is far more important that what we own and what we look like
   
   
   5. What do you want readers to take away from your writing?                                                                            Whoever you are, whatever you’ve been through, God can redeem your life, and give you purpose. He loves you. 
   
   
   6. Is there is any additional information you’d like the writers to know?                                                                    This book is a hybrid genre-it combines my memoir with fiction. I fictionalized it in order that readers would better be able to relate with the characters and events in the book.  No cities or states are mentioned, so that readers can insert their own lives and experiences into the story.

                       

      7. What are you currently working on?

I am currently doing a final edit on a novel titled Illinois Winters, about a young woman who runs from her past and finds herself  forced to face some hard truths about her life. I am also finishing up on the sequel to that book, titled No More Winters.

Book Spotlight 
Crying in the Morgue, Laughing in the Dark 

With four active boys at home, forty-one-year-old Stella Grayson has no energy or desire to raise another child. When she becomes pregnant, she does everything she can to deny her pregnancy exists. When little Myra is born, Stella refuses to acknowledge the child, hoping she can put the baby up for adoption. Stella's husband, John, would never agree; he's been hoping to raise a little girl. The doctor sends Myra to the morgue to die. But God intervenes, and Myra is given a chance at life. Despite Myra's deep feelings of inadequacy, the Lord gave her an unquenchable love for others and an irrepressible joy for life. Her journey through childhood and her adolescent years is long and the struggles are hard, but the end result surprises even Myra's bruised and tender heart. Based on an inspiring true story, Crying in the Morgue, Laughing in the Dark is filled with deep emotional truths that speak to the heart of women. With real and sympathetic characters, the story weaves a picture of God's tenacious love and the joy that could not be contained in his precious daughter.



Where Mary A. Allen can be found 

 Facebook:

https:www.facebook.com/pages/Mary-A-Allen/248165518641389

   https://www.amazon.com/Crying-Morgue-Laughing-Dark-             
Allen/dp/1462410804/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=4JZE5WVMTF7P4NGCHKTC

My Bountiful Journey - Home www.maryaallen.com Join me as I share the bountiful blessings of love, joy, forgiveness and redemption that I learned from God as I bridged the gap from despair to hope.

GiveAway  To be entered for a print copy "Crying in the Morgue, Laughing in the Dark" by Mary Allen  just comment below. Please leave a way for us to get in touch with you if you win.