I’d like you to meet fellow writer, blogger, book reviewer, and author, Hal Paxton.

Hal lives in Florida and belongs to the Suncoast Christian Writers Group in Clearwater. He reviews books for Active Christian Media, blogs for Voice of the Martyrs, and shares his heart at The Great Separation. Not only is Hal a wonderful steward of his writing abilities, he has an impeccable knack for flash web design.

It’s time to celebrate! Hal recently completed his masterful debut novel, Sins of Our Fathers .

“Faced with a serial killer in his church, Pastor Jack Grayson must confront his bitterness with God before he can stop the killer and save the woman with whom he’s rediscovering love.”

My own writer’s heart has germinated a book idea or two, so I wanted to pick Hal’s brain about this whole writing process.

VG: When did you first sense a calling to write?

Hal: I can’t give you an exact age. I’m terrible with dates and names. Such things are grafted in images for me. I was a young student, fifth or maybe sixth grade, who had just written a long report on my father’s job of being a minister. I sat on the hard concrete that cold Florida morning looking over the report thinking about a comment my parents made about it’s length and how I was a good writer. Middle school began to cement the idea through a series of excellent English teachers.

Your tagline intrigues me. What was the impetus behind your book, “Sins of Our Fathers”?

Hal: Well now, that is a funny story.

In a college class on English writers, we were studying a poem by Robert Browning titled, “Porphyria’s Lover.”

I’d been reading it before class and was mesmerized by it. So much that, needing to use the restroom, I made a terribly wrong turn and entered the women’s restroom.

I stood looking at the wall where the, um.. urinals should have been and was very confused as to why they were missing.

Then it dawned on me. I was in the LADIES RESTROOM!

Thankfully it was empty. I hurried out, but much to my embarrassment I ran into one of the women from my class as I came out the door.

The look on her face still makes me smile.

Long story short, in reading the poem I thought to myself that Browning was possibly describing what we would term a serial killer today. My classmates and teacher weren’t so convinced with my arguments but the seed had been planted.

I will note that this poem is important in “Sins of My Fathers.”

VG: Interesting how a seed can take hold like that. How long did it take—from inspiration to perspiration—to finally complete your book?

Well, I think it was around 5 years of seed germination as the rest of my life took precedence. Reading on serial killers off and on. Jotting down stray thoughts. Working on character bios now and then. And then I wondered what in the world I was waiting for? The answer I think was maturation. From that point on I plotted and wrote—a process that took about another year or so to get to the a completed 100,000 plus suspense/thriller novel.

VG: Any writing obstacles along the way? How did you persevere?

Life in general can be a big obstacle. Self doubt. Wondering if I’m really doing what the Lord asked of me. Your basic artist insecurities. I’m a terrible introvert.

One big thing that helped was my weblog The Great Separation. One purpose in starting it was to force myself to get into a habit of writing daily. Looking back it was part of the maturation process. I just didn’t fully realize it then. God’s kind of funny that way.

Another big help was a guy who had been reading my blog and who sought me out to give some advice on something he was writing. I’ll refer to him as Pest—if he reads this he’ll know it’s him. He encouraged me to write for an online ezine. And then when he found out about my book idea he gave some good advice about seeking out at least ten people to pray for my project. I did and that has been a continual source of hope and encouragement for me.

Then there’s family and friends. When a vision fades there are those in my life with the power to restore it.

VG: I love that: “When a vision fades, there are those in my life with the power to restore it.” We need that, don’t we? What other authors inspire your work?

Hal: Stephen R. Lawhead. Ted Dekker. Frank Peretti. Rex Stout. C.S. Lewis. Tolkien. Robert Browning. Poe. Emily Dickinson.

VG: For those of us still plugging along with our first book, what encouragement can you offer?

Hal: Writing that last line is incredibly satisfying. Trust me. Savor it. When it comes. Celebrate!

You’ve written recently, Vicki, that writing is an act of worship. You are so right. Keeping that thought at the top of the list is important because it isn’t dependent upon feeling. Worship of our heavenly Father is action and to be done no matter how we “feel.”

Get into a writers group. That’s imperative. Even if you have to start one. I wish I had followed that advice long ago.

Attend a writers conference. It will feed the embers.

Get that 10 people to pray, like Pest recommended I do.

Pray yourself. Daily. One of my prayers is that I would honor the Lord with the words I write.

Find a way to write regularly.

Read books on writing.

Some will eviscerate your work. Learn to develop a thick skin that will allow you to shake off the sour criticism but leave behind the sweet criticism that will better your work.

Above all, learn to wait upon the Lord and hear Him.

And just think about it. You are a writer. That very fact is incredible because you are following after your Father, the writer and perfecter of your life. He has given you an ability like unto His own, one that creates universes hurtling through spacious realms. And in those universes are planets populated with interesting people with interesting stories to be told that point back to the Master Artist and what He has created.

VG: Very valuable tips, Hal—thank you so much. Your faith and tenacity inspire me to keep going—-to keep writing. I appreciate your heart for God as well as your commitment to get your important story out there. Praying your book will find a wonderful publishing home and bless a kazillion hearts!

~~~

You can email Hal Paxton at:
hal.paxton@sinsofourfathers.com

Author of Sins of Our Fathers
Weblog: The Great Separation
Book blog: Sins of Our Fathers blog