The Grace Crasher was reviewed by Catholic Reads on this page, (contains some spoilers, FYI). I’m so excited to see that they really “got” what I was trying to do. So I just had to take a break from NaNoWriMo and my day job to whip up this post. (Also, I enjoyed reading about the reviewer’s “clay pot” exercise in church! We are all clay plots, and sometimes all our cracks and dings match up.)
In many ways, writing The Grace Crasher was like my own clay-pot-making experience. Except, without Patrick Swayze assisting. (Early ’90s movies fans will get that.)
For what it’s worth, I never intended The Grace Crasher to be a specifically Catholic fiction novel, although I myself am Catholic, as proven by this incredibly poor-quality photo of a felt banner I made for my first confirmation. (If you know me, then you know that my banner was definitely NOT the soccer one. Mine was the white one. Notice the obvious overthinking and perfectionism even then!)
Anyway, back to Catholic fiction. While I first started writing The Grace Crasher, I considered myself an ex-Catholic and attended a wonderful nondenominational Evangelical Protestant church. (Long story, which is summarized a little in my bio.)
However, my life changed and so did the story. And now, when I do market the novel, I do so to specifically Catholic web sites and events such as the Catholic Vineyard Women in the New Evangelization conference. One big reason I market for the Catholic niche is that Evangelical Protestants already have so many novels to choose from, but we Catholics don’t have many contemporary novels, and we need more!
And also, I know that some non-Catholic Christians would not care to read about Catholic characters or themes. They have that right, and luckily, we can all find the books we do want to read. I have many Christian friends in a variety of denominations, and they have all been great testimonies to me in so many ways.
Anyway, just read the Catholic Reads review, as it explains what I was trying to do in the novel better than I can. (But again, there are some spoilers, although I don’t think they would interfere with your reading experience.) If you want less detail, go to the regular book description on Amazon.
Okay, scary marketing stuff is now over for me, phew! I do hope to update this blog more often in December with other stuff, like my bullet journal obsession, quest for frizz-free hair, and other important topics. And now, I must get back to my day job (proofreading) while hoping that I haven’t left any of my OWN typos in here!
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