Christa Allan, Interviewed

Please give a warm welcome to this month’s featured author, Christa Allan. We asked her to stop in and tell us a little about her life as an author, teacher, and mother. If you’ve got a question for her, leave it in the comments section below.

Who is Christa Allan?

Wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, daughter-in-law, teacher, writer, author.  Reading over these, I realize that these are roles in my life. Do these define me? Sometimes. But underneath all of these is the person God created who delights and struggles, who has dreams and desires, whose heart breaks for and with and over loss and tragedy, and who prays in gratitude and wonder for the bounty of gifts that the Lord continues to place on the doorstep of my life.

You balance two careers, writer and teacher. How has that been? What tips can you share with people about balance?

Balance? Only when the seesaw pauses for those almost immeasurable seconds between up and down. Of the over twenty years I’ve spent teaching high school, I’d only call myself a writer for the past six or so. I suppose if I didn’t feel compelled to “reinvent the wheel every year,” I might have more emotional energy to devote to writing during the school year.  I’m constantly searching for more effective ways to engage my students, and it’s time intensive, especially when I’m already drowning in a sea of papers.

Adding writing to that is like, in the words of my grandmother, “trying to squeeze California into Rhode Island.”  I realized early on that I don’t have the emotional capacity to handle it all during the course of a school week.  So, I focus on taking advantage of my summers, holidays, and weekends for writing.  And, like that seesaw, sometimes, I’m down when I should be up. But I know that I can push myself where I need to be.

I know many writers advocate daily or weekly word or page goals. At this point in my life, I haven’t found that works for me. What’s important is to determine what works in your life, with your obligations and your family. Perhaps the greatest consolation for me was discovering life, regardless of our career, is never truly balanced. Sometimes our families require more of our attention, so we yank ourselves out of the orbit of work or school or whatever, to devote time to them. Other days, it might be work. I remind myself that asking God for direction here should come first.

You have been honest that this book about alcoholism has some roots in your own personal experience.  How long did it take before you were ready to share this openly?

In my first year of recovery, anytime I’d say, “Hello, my name is Christa,” I feared the words, “. . .and I’m an alcoholic,” would follow from having introduced myself at so many AA meetings. For quite a number of years, I didn’t openly share that I was a recovering alcoholic.  People who seemed surprised that I didn’t drink (and, believe me, living in New Orleans, this included almost everyone I met!), never really asked why. Some people would be a bit shocked when I refused a drink. They’d run through their list of options, “Beer? Wine? How about a spritzer? Nothing? Really? After dinner drink? Maybe later?”

I learned, at some social events, to order ginger ale with lime, and then no one asked me if I wanted a drink.

As years passed, I felt more confident and comfortable sharing my recovery. I also began to realize that regardless of my level of discomfort, if God opened the door for me to share my experiences, then I had to step over the threshold.

Was the book painful or cathartic for you to write? or both?

Both, but in unexpected ways.  Since I’ve been sober for over twenty years now, writing Leah’s story required revisiting a Christa I’d buried and never expected to have to disinter. The grief, though, was owning the collateral damage and having to examine the effect of my drinking on those I loved.  The catharsis came from the Christa of today meeting the Christa of all those years ago and seeing, through the lens of all those years, how much I’d changed and how powerfully God worked in my life for that to happen.

What do your kids think about their mom being a novelist? your husband?

My family deserves a vacation– and probably from me– for all they’ve endured!  On any given day, I could be Wendy Whiner, Suffering Sarah, Negative Nellie or any number of other personality malfunctions. They believed in me when I didn’t have the courage to believe in myself. In fact, my husband made the decision, years ago, to deprive me of any excuses when he surprised me with a laptop after I complained I felt chained to the PC in my windowless office.

Their enthusiasm and their pride in me are humbling. I’m so grateful for them, and they are my greatest PR team.

What does a typical day look like for you?

During the school year, I wake up about 4:30 and arrive at my high school where I teach 9^th grade English between 6:15 and 6:30. The first bell rings at 7:20. I teach three classes, then there’s a half hour lunch followed by two more classes.  When the last bell rings at 2:41, the students dash out, but I might not for at least another hour or two.

Evenings are time for grading papers, lesson planning, and catching up on my email. Fortunately, my sweet husband is low maintenance and has become adept at entertaining himself. Often, he cooks dinner or devises something edible from whatever leftovers he finds in the frig. You know he’s undemanding when he considers a bowl of Shredded Wheat and milk as dinner.

By 10:00 at night, I’m either already asleep or nodding off over my keyboard!

Can we expect more Christa Allan books in the future?

Yes! In fact, my next release with Abingdon Press will be October of 2011.

What advice do you have for that woman who is struggling with an addiction?

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

This scripture verse reflects what those of us who struggle with addictions find most difficult to understand: Asking for help is not a sign of weakness; it’s a sign of strength.

We struggle because we think we have to save ourselves. We struggle alone because we don’t want to reveal our strongholds to others. They’re both delusions. I can’t save myself from me. Our friends, like Leah’s friend Molly in Walking on Broken Glass, probably already know-if not suspect-we’re addicted.

Addictions thrive on denial, so telling ourselves we’re not addicted is symptomatic of addictive thinking. We’re not well enough to know that people who aren’t addicted don’t have to tell themselves they aren’t because they’re not even thinking about being addicted!

So, if you’re struggling with an addiction, pray for the strength to be weak so that God’s power can work in your life. Know that God will find you where you are to take you where you need to be.  Fear feeds our addictions; don’t give it a banquet.

You may want to consider starting with this link to a 12-Step Group Directory: http://www.12stepgroups.com/

How about for that woman who longs to write a novel?

At the risk of sounding sassy, stop longing and start writing. I longed for years. Nothing happened. Trust me on that one. If I had longed for food like I longed to write, I’d have died of starvation. Eventually, you have to eat food-not just long for it-to stay alive. Eventually, you have to pick up the pen or peck at the keyboard to birth a novel.

Read books that make you wish you’d have written them. Be teachable. Read books about the craft. Joining American Christian Fiction Writers and attending their conferences opened doors to writing and publishing that I didn’t even know existed.

Don’t be afraid to write awful stuff. The awful is far easier to rewrite or edit than a blank page.

And as for that adage about writing what you know…Well, I don’t think Stephen King personally knew a high school girl with tele-kenetic power who wreaked a bloody revenge. But he did know high school girls who were bullied and teased, who had weird mothers, and he wondered, “what if…” Stephenie Meyer had no personal experience with vampire love. Write what you know doesn’t mean you’re limited to the 21^st century and characters who look like your siblings and live in Tallahassee or Tickfaw.  You know about betrayal and envy and joy and hope and fear. You know how your mother bites her lower lip when she’s thinking or your daughter twirls her hair when she’s nervous. These are the “knows” you bring to the page. Rachelle Gardner, my agent, wrote about Write What You Know in her blog Rants and Ramblings that really captures what it means to be authentic.

Know that only you can write the story God placed in your heart.