Fabulous Friday Feature-A.J.Cattapan-To Make God Laugh, Make Plans

Today we welcome author: 

A.J. Cattapan

To win a copy
of A.J.'s's new release:
Angelhood

Scroll to the end of the post 
to see how to get your copy.
International readers are eligible, too!

  
Mary here. A.J. writes in one of my favorite genres. When I saw her debut novel I couldn't resist invited her to join us. And, as I read her post for today, I was surprised how many places we both have visited on our writing journey. Amazing what a small world!

I asked A.J. to join us and share how God has led her on her writing journey. Here is what she said:

To Make God Laugh, Make Plans

You know how they say that if you want to make God laugh, make plans? Well, at the rate I’m going, I must be God’s court jester. I’m sure my plans have him in stitches all the time.

When I was in junior high, I thought I’d have my first book written and published by the time I was 30. Ha! That didn’t happen. In fact, I didn’t even get serious about my writing until well after graduating from college, and then it took me another ten years to get to the point of having a book published. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s go back a little ways.

When I finally decided to get serious about writing, I knew it would have to be part-time. I couldn’t leave my full-time teaching job. Single women just don’t do that kind of thing. However, one day I saw an ad for a writing class in my mom’s Better Homes and Gardens magazine (I’ve always loved looking at floor plans), and they offered a “test” to see if you had what it took to be a children’s writer. Well, how could I resist? The test was free!

Needless to say, I passed. Good thing, otherwise, I’m not sure I could’ve continued to pull off the whole English teacher thing! That class led to my first article being published in a children’s magazine. Who would’ve thought my interest in looking at floor plans would lead to a writing class, which would lead to my first writing credential? See, only God could’ve thought up that one.

A few years later, I was ready to try my hand at novel writing. The school I took the first class at also offered a class for novel writing. I enrolled again. During the course of the class, I wrote a middle grade sci-fi novel that was going to be a cross between Harry Potter and Star Wars. Everyone would love it! It was a surefire hit!

Yeah, it never sold.

See, there I went making plans again, and God just laughed. So I wrote another novel. This time, a cozy mystery. Maybe God wanted me writing for adults instead of children.

Nope. Never sold.

Okay, God, I’ll try again. I started working on an idea based very loosely on a small Catholic school I had taught at that was forced to close. When you teach at a small school like that, you all become family. It was heartbreaking to watch our little family split. I thought if perhaps I wrote a story based loosely on that, it would please God, and He’d make my publishing dreams come true.

For months, I conducted research and tried to fit the pieces of my mystery puzzle together. I had planned to write the novel during November for National Novel Writing Month (NaNo), but as October 2011 drew to a close, I still couldn’t fit all the pieces together. God seemed to be laughing at my plans yet again.

Suddenly, on October 29, I got an idea for a different book. A young adult story about a girl who commits the gravest of sins. She takes her own life, and then must play guardian angel to another girl who is considering doing the same. It was a crazy concept. It will never publish, I thought. This story’s too religious for the mainstream, and too dark for the religious! But it was the story God seemed to have planted in my head and my heart. The outline rushed forth, and within three days, I was ready to start writing just as November began. By the end of the month, my story was finished, but what would I do with it?

For a month, I did nothing, but then a very brave woman opened up to me about her own suicide attempt. Was this God nudging me again? I decided to do some research. Believe it or not, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as Christian fiction. My research led me to ACFW, and there I found wonderful critique partners, who encouraged me to seek publication. Nearly two years later, I finally found a publisher willing to take a risk on my story, and even that seemed to be divine intervention. I didn’t find Vinspire through ACFW—or even SCBWI (the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators), which I’d belonged to for years. I actually heard about Vinspire through the Mystery Writers of America, which I’d joined when working on that cozy mystery!

So you see, God had a plan in all this. It wasn’t my plan. My plan would have had me being the next J.K. Rowling/George Lucas with my Harry Potter/Star Wars remix. But that’s not the story God wanted me to tell. He wanted me to write the story of a girl who struggles to see God at work in her life.

Because that’s the story I know.

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One of my favorite places-
Choco Museo (Chocolate Museum)
 in Antigua, Guatemala

A.J. Cattapan is an author, speaker, and middle school English teacher living in the Chicago area. Her published works include the young adult novel Angelhood, a story in Chicken Soup for the Soul: From Lemons to Lemonade, and numerous short stories and articles in magazines for teens and children, including Highlights and Hopscotch for Girls. She will also be featured in a recipe and corresponding story anthology due out this summer.

Contact A.J. She loves to talk to her readers!

Angelhood on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/q2we8yr

The Facebook Launch Party for Angelhood on April 30: http://tinyurl.com/AngelhoodFacebookParty

My website: www.ajcattapan.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acattapan

Instagram: https://instagram.com/a.j.cattapan/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ajcattapan/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJCattapan

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Angelhood ~

Seventeen-year-old theater geek Nanette believes her life is headed toward stardom on Broadway. But when her dream theater college rejects her and her best friend dies in a terrible accident, Nanette decides the world would be better off without her. Unfortunately, the afterlife offers something less than a heavenly situation. Trapped between alternating periods of utter darkness and light, Nanette is stuck following a high school freshman around. Soon, she learns she’s a guardian angel, and the only way she can earn her wings is to keep her young charge, Vera, from committing the same sin she did—taking her own life.

Unfortunately, Nanette is missing more than just her wings. She has no tangible body or voice, either. Frustrated by her inability to reach out to Vera and haunted by memories of her old life, Nanette wants to give up, but then she sees what happens when another Guardian at the high school turns his back on his charge. The shock is enough to supercharge Nanette’s determination. If she’s going to find peace in the afterlife, she’s going to have to discover what living is really all about.

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To enter the contest for a copy of 

A.J.'s  new release: 

"Angelhood"

leave a comment (and email address)

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if you aren't already.

International winner will receive an eBook. 
US winner will receive a paperback

The winner will be announced on my facebook page.

Thank you, A.J., for Joining us This Weekend!

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