AN INTERVIEW WITH MONICA CANE

 

Join me in my interview with author, Monica Cane. Monica has published four books, and chats with me about her recent fiction title, The Lost Coin.

Welcome, Monica! Thank you for stopping by.

Hi Deborah, it's great to be here.

Monica, why did you start your ministry, A Breath of Inspiration?

When I realized eight years ago that God had given me the gift of sharing my faith through writing, I wanted to use it to encourage others.  Whether I wrote a book, article, poem or brief email, my prayer was that others would somehow see God through what He allowed me to write and be inspired.  And so A Breath of Inspiration Ministry was born.

Your website has some poems posted that you’ve written. Have you had any published?

I have had one or two poems published in magazines but for the most part I don’t really think about publishing them that often, mainly because I write them around the holidays and send them in Christmas cards to family and friends as more of a personal gift.

Why did you write The Lost Coin?

Other than my first fiction story, CJ’s Peace: The Prodigal’s Progress, I’ve primarily written non-fiction over the years.  I wrote The Lost Coin because I wanted to write something different than I had before.   Writing about a person being “A lost coin” and needing to be found seemed interesting and also a great way to share the message of God’s grace.

Who is the audience for this book?

The Lost Coin tells of a young Christian woman who slips away from her faith by making one poor decision after another. As her life spirals out of control she wonders if she will ever find her way back to her faith.  While I picture women enjoying this story, in truth, the audience best suited for this story would be anyone who has ever been there.

I’ve read that the way you get ideas for writing is by praying and asking God to show you what He wants you to write. Has he ever told you to write something you were reluctant to write?

Yes!  After writing my first devotional book titled A Breath of Inspiration and then my second book CJ’s Peace: The Prodigal’s Progress, I began seeking God on what I should write next.  God immediately impressed upon my heart that I was to write a book about losing my first child to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.  I confess that my first response was not one of joyful obedience.  It was more like I covered my ears and laughed as if God was joking.  It didn’t take too long however for me to know that it really was what God wanted me to do and so I wrote my third book, A Journey to Healing: Life After SIDS.

What can we expect from you next?

Before I finished The Lost Coin, I assumed that if I wrote another book it would be a non-fiction one mainly because fiction takes me so much longer.   However, now that The Lost Coin is finally published, I find myself leaning towards writing another fiction even if it does take FOREVER. 

As I have been praying about the possibility, a certain story line keeps coming to mind but I want to wait until I actually start writing before I share details.  Until then, my writing at this time consists of human interest stories of people in my community along with faith articles for two local newspapers.

Who are some of your favorite authors, Monica?

Other than Frances J. Roberts who wrote Come Away My Beloved  I can’t say I have favorite authors but I can tell you I’m partial to the authors who perhaps are not as well known as others.  Authors like Robin Weidner who wrote a fantastic book that I would highly recommend to any woman called Secure in Heart.  If I picked favorites, she would definitely be on my list.

Where can readers find you on the Internet?

Readers can visit my website at www.ABreathofInspiration.com

Last question, Monica: On your Web site it says that in order to fund the publishing of The Lost Coin, you sold Otis Spunkmeyer cookie dough. Will you share with us about that experience?

I decided to hold a fundraiser selling Otis Spunkmeyer frozen cookie dough in order to raise the money needed to publish The Lost Coin.  I took a chance and reached out to the community for help through an article in the paper announcing the fundraiser for my book.   To my surprise, not only did members in the community get involved by purchasing cookie dough, they became sincerely excited about the idea of having their funds contributed to a project like publishing The Lost Coin.  By the time the fundraiser ended, I had raised more than enough to cover the cost for publishing. 

As I mentioned to those who supported this project, as soon as the delivery guy walked away after piling over 150 tubs of cookie dough in my living room, I knelt down and had a good cry.  I felt so grateful that God had given me the opportunity to not only write an intriguing fiction story with a strong spiritual message but that He allowed me to experience the support from my community in a special way.

Thanks so much for visiting with us, Monica. It’s been a pleasure speaking with you.

It was my pleasure Deborah, thanks for having me.  - Monica

To win an autographed copy of The Lost Coin, use my contact page and type “drawing” in the comments box. The deadline to enter is July 24th.

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