Send to KindleForemost, as an author, with every new book, you learn something new. Whether it’s about yourself or the industry, or just about people.
Two years ago, I checked off my bucket list item and published my first book, Dark Cherub, known to some as Christian horror, others as a thriller. From that book, I learned to pursue your dreams.
My second book, Many Strange Women, which came out earlier this year taught me something else. The power of someone believing in your God-given talents. With help from my agent and my critique partner and so many others, my second book taught me a lot about believing in yourself. It also taught me the importance of encouraging others in their dreams.
Now, with this third book, The Other Man, I’m learning the support of a great team of authors and fans. How cool is that?
I’ve learned a lot in this past year about writing and relating to the issues that affect people on an everyday basis. As a Christian author, I feel I have a calling to write about things that affect people and relationships. In Dark Cherub, I speak to the ramifications of the choices we make and how every choice affects the next person in small or big ways. We don’t have to look any further than the Michael Brown case in Ferguson that caused such uproar. If he hadn’t stolen and choked the storeowner as the video showed, who knows? Maybe he’d be alive today. One choice, one decision, affects the next person.
In Many Strange Women, I deal a lot with self-hate and themes of what true beauty is. My life is riddled with episodes of looking in the mirror and hating what I saw. Wishing I could be someone else prettier, smaller, skinner, etc. Past mistakes made looking at my face even that much harder to stand. And yet, God’s love makes us beautiful and worthy.
With my newest book, The Other Man, I seek to talk about temptations wrapped in gold but what’s on the inside? These are issues that affect Christians and non-Christians alike. I’ve been told I shouldn’t write about things like this because it doesn’t edify the body of Christ. I have to disagree. A lot of Christians deal with self-hate, bad decision making, and temptations. Why wouldn’t I talk about what’s relevant to our society today? Is the reason why the Church is not as effective is because we’ve turned a blind eye to the problems lying in our congregations? Have we become so holy we can’t see the person next to us? Is that why the Church isn’t as effective today as it has been?
I believe God is calling all the artists – the writers, the singers, the rappers, the painters, the sculptors, and others to take up the banner He’s given us. We are in a world saturated by pleasure and stimulated by the flesh. In order to make a change, let’s do our part in the battle. Perhaps we artists aren’t the soldier’s like the apologists, the missionaries, the pastors, and teachers. Yet we still carry a part in this war.
About the Author:
Parker J. Cole
Author of Dark Cherub, Many Strange Women, and the upcoming release, The Other Man
www.parkerjcole.com
Host of The Write Stuff and the Parker J Cole Show
www.blogtalkradio.com/
Show phone line: 646-595-2083
writestuffradio@gmail.com
