Hey lovelies! It gives me
great pleasure today to host Amber Lea Starfire and her new book, “Accidental
Jesus Freak”! For other stops on her
Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of
the images in this post.
Be sure to make it to the end
of this post to enter to win a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!! Also, come back daily to interact with Amber
and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping
by! Wishing you lots of luck in this
fabulous giveaway!
Accidental Jesus Freak
by Amber Lea Starfire
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GENRE: Memoir
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BLURB:
In
1973, Linda was a flute player and music major at a California community
college, until she met and fell madly in love with a charismatic piano player,
plunging into his world of music-making and drug-fueled parties. When, just
three weeks after their wedding, he reveals that he's been "born
again," Linda makes the spontaneous decision to follow him into his new
religion and, unwittingly, into a life of communal living, male domination, and
magical thinking.
With
unflinching candor, Amber Starfire chronicles her journey as Linda Carr into
the evangelical church culture, where she gives up everything for her husband
and their music ministry. But in the process, she loses her most valuable
assets: her identity and sense of self-worth. It is only when Linda returns to
live with her birth family and faces her complicated relationship with her
mother that she finds new purpose and the courage to begin to extricating
herself from the limiting beliefs of her past.
Accidental
Jesus Freak is the story of one woman, one marriage, and one kind of
fundamentalism, but it is also the story of the healing that is possible when
we are true to ourselves. Both a cautionary tale and celebration of personal
empowerment, Accidental Jesus Freak is a powerful reminder for anyone who seeks
to live a life authentic to who they truly are.
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EXCERPT THREE:
As
it happened, our formal outreach period coincided with the coldest winter
Amsterdam had experienced in twelve years. The canals were frozen, and the
famous Elfstedentocht speed-skating race or “Eleven Cities Tour” was on that
year. The tour occurs only when it is cold enough to form ice at least fifteen
centimeters thick along the entire 200 kilometer course. 1985 was one of those
rare years when the temperature plummeted to 13 degrees Fahrenheit and hovered
there for six weeks. So, except for one or two memorable occasions, our
outreach became a time of so called Inn-reach, because it was too cold to be
out on the streets for long. We ended up going with YWAM’s night teams to
proselytize in restaurants and nightclubs, as well as serve in the
organization’s Christian coffee bar.
On
one of the few outdoor occasions, we took all the children to the spacious
plaza in front of Amsterdam’s Central Station and had them perform a dance
while we played music and then preached. It was so cold that day, I wore my
long wool coat and scarf and played flute with fingerless gloves. I worried
that my lips would freeze to my flute. When it was time for the children to
dance, we had them take off their coats, perform, and then bundled them back
into their clothing and gave them steaming cups of hot chocolate.
Travelers
and Amsterdam natives walked around us as if we were part of the structure of
the plaza, pillars that stood in the way of their path, nothing more. Other
than a few quick glances in our direction and eyebrows raised at the sight of
the children during their dance, we were only another odd group of people on
the streets.
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GUEST POST:
How I've Grown as a Writer
I
started writing when I was eight. When I was in fifth grade and my teacher, Mrs
McCullough, said, “You could be a writer someday,” I took her words and tucked
them into my heart. I scribbled childish fairytales about princesses and ogres
in my notebooks and, later, through adolescence, lots and lots of poetry. But I
didn’t believe in myself or that I could become a “real” writer.
Over
the years, I kept journals and occasionally wrote short stories that I buried
in a drawer because they were awful. Instead of developing my creative writing
skills, I developed a career writing for business and educational purposes.
Because I wasn’t writing stories, I didn’t consider myself “a writer.” Yet it
was through these years that I learned how to write clear and concise (if dry)
prose designed to communicate logical information. I learned how to distill a message
into bullet points and write step-by-step directions for just about any
process. And I learned how to ruthlessly edit my writing.
Then,
when my children were nearly grown I finally gave myself permission to begin
writing for self-expression. I started getting up extra early, during those
precious pre-dawn hours before the children woke up. I wrote poetry and dabbled
in fiction, but found that I was drawn to writing personal essay and memoir in
an attempt to untangle and uncover meaning in life’s events.
In
2007, I began writing my first memoir, but it was a hot mess — boring. Too much
telling, not enough showing. Too much “that happened, then this happened.” The
problem was, I didn’t know how to write a scene. So I went back to school — to earn an MFA in Creative Non-Fiction at the
University of San Francisco (USF).
There,
I read and examined and analyzed every form of creative non-fiction: memoir,
personal essay, prose poetry, and experimental forms. I received feedback on my
writing. I threw away what I had written of my memoir — one-hundred thousand
lousy words — and started over.
In
the process of re-writing that first memoir, Not the Mother I Remember, and
then my second memoir (the subject of this post), Accidental Jesus Freak, here’s what I learned:
• To get into my body when I write and to
make a scene come alive by incorporating sensory details — sights and sounds
and smells and physical sensations. These are what draw your readers into your
story.
• To read as much as possible, both for
pleasure and to analyze others’ writing. You have to read to fill your own well
of creativity and to trigger new ideas.
• To schedule time to write and then show
up and write — no matter what. It’s all about consistency and persistence.
• To outline a sketch of my story before
starting a book-length work. Having a plan helped me stay focused and on track
and gave me continued purpose. I always knew what I was going to write next.
• Not to worry about my first draft. First
drafts are always hideous. I learned to just get that chapter or story or essay
onto the page and craft it later. As my advisor used to tell me, “Just write
the f#*k out of it.”
• To share my writing with others and not
take critique personally.
• That the true craft of writing is all
about revising and revising and revising. That’s where you get to choose your
words, sculpt your sentences, and shape your story.
• That everyone needs an editor. Hiring an
editor is like hiring a fitness coach. My editor pointed out inconsistencies
and gaps in my story, asked questions to help me write with more clarity, and
just generally pushed me further than I would have pushed myself. She helped me
strengthen my writing and give it “muscle.”
The
biggest lesson? You don’t have to have an MFA to be a good writer, but you do
have to believe in yourself and consistently show up to practice. Because
that’s what writing is — like any art, it’s a practice, a constant process of
learning and growing and developing your skills.
Do you write? What’s
the biggest lesson you’ve learned about writing over the years?
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AUTHOR BIO:
Amber Lea Starfire MA, MFA, is
an author, editor, and creative writing coach whose passion is helping others
tell their stories. She has published two memoirs: Accidental Jesus Freak: One
Woman’s Journey from Fundamentalism to Freedom (2017) and Not the Mother I
Remember: A Memoir — finalist for both the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book
Awards and the 2013-2014 Sarton Women’s Literary Awards. She has also published
several books of non-fiction, including Journaling the Chakras: Eight Weeks to
Self-Discovery, and Week by Week: A Year’s Worth of Journaling Prompts &
Meditations. Amber is co-editor of the award-winning anthology, Times They Were
A-Changing: Women Remember the '60s & '70s. Her creative nonfiction and poetry
have appeared in numerous anthologies and literary journals.
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CONNECT WITH AMBER:
Website:
Blog:
Email:
amber@writingthroughlife.com
RSS:
Facebook:
Twitter:
Pinterest:
LinkedIn:
BookBub:
Goodreads Author Page:
Goodreads Book Page:
Amazon Author Page:
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BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon Kindle:
Amazon Paperback:
Barnes and Noble:
Kobo:
Apple iBooks:
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Amber will be awarding a $50 Amazon or B/N GC to
a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase made I may receive a small commission to help support this blog. This does not cost you anything, it just
helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
This contest is sponsored
by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish
Promotions. Prizes are given away by the
sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish
Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
I enjoyed getting to know your book; congrats on the tour, I hope it is a fun one for you, and thanks for the chance to win :)
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa! Thank you for stopping by! Wishing you good luck in the giveaway :)
DeleteThanks, Lisa. I hope you'll read it and stay in touch.
DeleteAmber ~ It is great to have you here! Congrats on your new book and good luck on the book tour :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ally, and thank you for hosting me!
DeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteOf course! My pleasure :)
DeleteSounds like a great book.
ReplyDeleteGood morning Rita! I totally agree! I have added it to my Goodreads TBR List (hopefully you have too!) and I look forward to checking it out! Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you good luck in the giveaway :)
DeleteThank you, Rita. I hope you decide to read it and let me know what you think. Also, feel free to reach out with any questions.
DeleteReally great post, I enjoyed reading it!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Victoria. I hope you'll take a chance and read the book. So many women have told me they can relate to the challenges I faced.
DeleteCongrats on the tour and I appreciate the excerpt and the great giveaway as well. Love the tours, I get to find books and share with my sisters the ones I know they would enjoy reading and they both love to read. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading the guest post, thank you!
ReplyDeleteI loved your excerpt and I would love to read your book.
ReplyDelete