Saturday, September 14, 2013

Sheila's Radio Interview




Sheila Cragg: A Woman’s Heart for God RADIO PODCAST
Posted on August 30, 2013 

Click above to hear Sheila's interview. 

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BookGoodies Interview with Writing Tips

BookGoodies Article with Writing Tips


A Woman’s Heart for God by Sheila Cragg

BY  LEAVE A COMMENT
9781617951596
Drawing Closer to the Lover of Your Soul
Sheila Cragg knows of what she writes. She is the primary caregiver to her disabled and ailing husband and has also experienced some of life’s deepest setbacks. But through all of those circumstances, she has drawn increasingly closer to the Lover of her soul and developed a rich, devotional lifestyle that she admits would never have happened otherwise.
In A Woman’s Heart for God, Cragg shares her own life experiences and provides scriptural insights, creative ideas and interactive questions to help readers tailor their times with Him—whatever their circumstances—pinpointing how to remove any obstacles that are keeping them from intimacy with Christ.
Targeted Age Group: 18+
Author Bio:
Sheila Cragg (MFA, Creative Writing) is a mentor/instructor for Jerry Jenkins’ Christian Writers Guild and also formerly served as an associate editor for Focus on the Family Publishing. She has published six books, including A Woman’s Walk with God and A Woman’s Journey toward Holiness, and numerous articles in Reader’s Digest, Family Weekly, and other periodicals. Her Experiencing Christ website ministry— www.womanswalk.com—is centered on helping women develop a devotional lifestyle and deepen their relationship with the Lord. Sheila lives in Santa Maria, California, with her husband, Ron.
Book is published by Worthy Publishing
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Interview with Author – Sheila Cragg @sheilacragg

BY  LEAVE A COMMENT

Author Bio:
Sheila Cragg is the author of A Woman’s Heart for God by Worthy Publishing. She is a mentor for the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild and formerly served as an associate book editor for Focus on the Family Publishing. She has published numerous articles in Reader’s Digest, Family Weekly, and other periodicals as well as six books, including the out-of-print devotional Bible studies, A Woman’s Walk with God, A Woman’s Journey toward Holiness, as well as Near to the Heart of God, a Scripture prayer journal.
Her Experiencing Christ website ministry at http://womanswalk.com, and her blog, One Woman’s Heart for God at http://www.sheilacragg.blogspot.com/ are centered on encouraging people from around the world (62 countries) in their quest to personally experience an intimate relationship with God.
Sheila is also a young at heart grandmother, who loves the Lord, her husband, Ron, sons, five grandchildren, and dear friends. She enjoys sewing and is a ribbon rose artist. She takes care of her three youngest granddaughters, who live three doors away. They love to come to her house to cook, do crafts, hang out, and have sleepovers. She lives in Santa Maria, on the beautiful central coast of California, famous for its grape vineyards, fields of strawberries, and broccoli.
What inspires you to write?
The Bible, spiritual classics, and life experiences that make no sense inspire me to discover meaning through writing about them.
My favorite type of writing is devotional Bible studies with personal stories that include practical and spiritual applications. When I have a specific subject, I research and read extensively. I also pray, meditate, reflect on the topic, and discuss it with others. I do a lot of writing in my head, ruminating, sifting information, questioning ideas, and even internally arguing different sides and views.
My most recent book, A Woman’s Heart for God, Worthy Publishing, was written and revised over many years as I prayed, reflected, and sought to understand the Lord’s working in my life and family and what He was teaching us. Through trials that were so heartbreakingly senseless this side of heaven, my faith was tested as I sought answers and wrote about our experiences.
For most of my life, I felt that it was all up to me to keep my faith and discover how I should live for the Lord. He began showing me that my walk with Him was me-centered. He had plans and purposes for my life and put me in places that I would never have chosen. I began to see that He was teaching me about the God-centered life. He was the initiator and sustainer of my faith. He was the one doing a transforming work in me. Once I realized that, I began to let go my expectations of Him. I was freed to see Him working according to His will in unchanging circumstances.
Tell us about your writing process.
I am not an outliner in the classic sense.
For my novel, All the Secret Things, I used Excel to create a timeline with the main characters names, birth dates, their ages at the beginning of the novel, age progression, dates/years of major events and pivotal moments. I included real places, information about the cultural environment, and historical events in my book, so I recorded brief notes with dates and information about the times to make sure everything fit together cohesively and according to certain historical events, times, and places.
Another helpful thing to do is to carry a small notebook with you at all times. If you are stuck waiting, describe an interesting person in the room, but be discreet. Also describe the scenery around you using all of your senses; record sights, smells, sounds, feelings, atmosphere of the place and people and the gestures they make. Record hand movements, the way people talk and walk, and tone of voice. Include clothing and scenery colors and weather. A notebook filled with sensory descriptions are very useful and carefully included enhance a story.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I do both. I have written one novel and I cut photos of people out of magazines that resembled my characters. I used those pictures to help me describe my characters. I also drew up personality sketches for each character, their likes and dislikes, values, and the type of work they did. The more you know about your characters the more real they become to yourself and readers.
What advice would you give other writers?
So much has changed these past 40 years from when I started. One piece of advice I learned in the beginning still stands strong: Writing for publication is a profession. Writing appears to be deceptively easy, but it is the hardest work I have ever done. You need special training to become a writer just as you do to become a doctor or teacher.
First: editing and revising are the most important parts of the writing process. I work mostly on the computer; when I finish a section I let it “cool” and move onto writing/revising other parts.
Second: I print the revised articles/chapters. This helps me gain a fresh look at the story because it seems to read differently than the computer document. Then I use standard editor’s marks to handwrite additions, corrections, deletions, and revisions.
Third: I tend to write my chapters in a random order, so when I make revisions of several chapters, I often use the numbering feature to number every paragraph in a chapter. Then I print those chapters and circle the parts that need to be moved. I write abbreviated instructions to show where to move that information. For example, in the left margin next to paragraph #25, I might write: “Move #25 after #3.” Or “move #25 to chapter 2 before #10.”
Fourth: after I have done several revisions I lose my objectivity and dislike what I have written, so I change the font from serif (Times New Romans) to sans serif (Arial or Helvetica or a fun font such as Comic Sans Mt). This gives the chapter or article another fresh appearance, so I see mistakes or needed corrections that I had missed before. When I finish editing that part, I change the font back to the standard: Times New Roman and continue the process.
It helps to earn a degree in English, journalism, or creative (fiction) writing. Submit your writing to local and online critique groups and critique other writers’ work, both are equally necessary. Attend as many writing conferences as you can, follow the rules for submitting your writing for publication, become social media savvy, develop a public platform, obtain an agent, in addition have your writing professionally edited before submitting your manuscript to an agent, book editor, and for self-publishing add a proofreader.
Keep up with the business and writing side of the publishing industry as it is changing at such a rapid rate. Always keep learning and sharpening your writing skills. Today you have to do more than simply write. Social media, blogging, having a platform, speaking, and so many more things are required to gain attention to your books.
Blogging has opened doors for people who do and do not want to write as a profession. Blogging is a wonderful way to hone your skills, find your voice, and develop your passion. The pressure is not as great as it is for writing an article or story for publication. It’s a dichotomy because blogging allows you the freedom to write what you please.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
All my books were royalty published, but then they went out of print. After that I tried self-publishing ventures but soon realized I needed to work with a royalty publisher because my books did not have the exposure or the promotional resources. I am grateful that A Woman’s Heart for God, was brought out by Worthy Publishing as they provided professional editorial, marketing, and publishing helps that I could not do. The Worthy staff has taught me so much about the rapid changes in publishing and what is required of authors today.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I have witnessed the lightening-speed change in book publishing these past forty plus years that I could never have dreamed or imagined. I started out using a self-correcting typewriter and submitting manuscripts by snail air mail, which cannot be compared to the computer and the instantaneous delivery by email attachment. Books will always be published, but in what form? I could not have predicted the changes I have seen so far. It’s fun to speculate what is coming tomorrow.
What genres do you write?
Non-Fiction, Spiritual, Inspirational, Christian, Christian Non-Fiction
What formats are your books in?
Both eBook and Print
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Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Interview about A Woman's Heart for God


Tell us a bit about the experiences that shaped the insights in the book.
Sheila Cragg: For thirteen years now the Lord has been teaching me about His sovereignty and His plans for my life that I would never have chosen. Between serious illnesses, my husband becoming suddenly blind, and other family struggles, nothing has seemed to go right. I have begged God to answer prayers and deliver us from our difficulties. Yet God hasn’t answered my way or in my timing. Instead, He has been teaching me to watch for Him working in our trials, in the unchanging circumstances. He has revealed His Sovereign plans and called me to serve Him in ways that I had never imagined doing.
There are two Bible passages that stand out to me and have helped me realize: “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps” (Prov. 16:9 NLT).
I feel like Job did when he wrote, “He [God] is singular and sovereign. Who can argue with him? He does what he wants, when he wants to. He’ll complete in detail what he’s decided about me, and whatever else he determines to do. Is it any wonder that I dread meeting him? Whenever I think about it, I get scared all over again. God makes my heart sink” (Job 23: 13-15 MSG)!
Instead of asking, “what is your book about,” I’m going to ask the question that’sbehind that question. And that unspoken question is, “how are readers going to benefit from reading your book?”
Sheila Cragg: Many Christians have a misconception about how God works in our lives. We expect Him to answer our prayers based on what we believe He should do for us. When our problems continue without answers or change, or one hardship comes upon another, we question God and wonder why He doesn’t intervene and supply our needs. It’s our expectations of what God should do that defeat us, and it’s at this point many feel abandoned and turn away from God.
I have come to realize, “How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice?” (Rom. 11:33-34 NLT)?
My prayer is that readers will benefit from reading my book by surrendering their plans to God and discovering His purpose for their lives, which is a daily exercise of being open to His guidance. I pray they discover how to trust the Lord to hang onto them when they cannot hold on any longer. I pray they surrender to God’s working in and through them in places and with people in ministries they would never have chosen or even imagined doing. I pray they learn to see how He redeems our most painful experiences for His glory. I pray they see the gifts that come from their willingness to do what God desires and how He can use them to encourage others in their walk with the Lord.
How is your book different from the many other books on the topic of drawing closer to God?
Sheila Cragg: Many books are about how we must draw closer to God and that we are responsible for the quality of our spiritual life. But what I hope to convey is that the spiritual life is much more about what God does for us and about how He draws us closer to Him. Closeness with the Lord begins with recognizing the initiative He takes toward us. That’s why God longs for our commitment to Him to flow from our love relationship with Him, not out of obligation. He wants us to lean against Him, to turn to Him even when difficult circumstances press in from all sides.
I used to believe, “It was all up to me.” My relationship with God. My commitment to spiritual disciplines. Even whether or not things were going “right” in my life.
I used to believe that the way to a deeper relationship with God was to have personal objectives that I worked toward every day. I set monthly, yearly, and lifelong goals and tried to develop habits that I believed would help me grow in my relationship with God.
I was basing everything on my efforts, my plans, and my determination to please God with my devotional life. All well meaning, but it was all self-driven, not God-driven. It was based on my working to get closer to God rather than daily waiting on His guidance and listening for what He wanted to teach me during my time with Him and throughout the day. And I kept failing!
Instead of helping me, the goals I set for myself made me feel like a disappointment to God when I didn’t achieve them or even work toward them. Those goals kept me from realizing that God is Sovereign and He has plans for my life and to bring about spiritual growth that I had never imagined.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV).
Give us two or three of the most important pieces of advice for people who are asking, “How Do I Get Closer to the Lover of My Soul?”
Sheila Cragg: First, loving us is God’s idea. “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19 kjv). Because He loves us He takes the initiative to draw us to Himself, so we need to open our hearts and receive His outpouring of love through Jesus as our Savior.
Second, we need to realize that the Lord initiates a relationship with us. Once we recognize this we are relieved of the burden of feeling it is all on us. We begin to see that He is drawing us closer to Himself through His Word.
Third, God has plans for our lives that we would never imagine, and once we surrender to His will and do what He desires, He draws us closer to Him. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you” (Jer. 29:11-12 ESV).
Fourth, we discover the “gifts” that come out of the difficult challenges we may daily experience and that is to minister to others even in the midst of our own trials. “The Sovereign Lord has taught me what to say, so that I can strengthen the weary. Every morning he makes me eager to hear what he is going to teach me” (Isaiah 50:4 GNT).
What do you say to the person who has trouble spending time with God? They don’t really know what to do and it’s not very exciting?
Sheila Cragg: My book offers practical ideas and creative ways to spend time with the Lord and be open to Him. But I also struggle with having devotions and setting aside the time. I have come to realize that even when I don’t get anything out of my Bible reading, the Spirit of God is still imprinting the Word on my heart and mind. Then the Spirit speaks through those passages at other times when He is working in me. Once I shift my focus more on God and not on my expectations for what I’m going to get out of devotions, I can see more clearly what He is teaching me and how He is working. Once we realize that God initiates a relationship with us, and we open ourselves to watching for Him at work in our lives and listening to how He is guiding us through Scripture, our time with Him becomes more genuine and real and, yes, exciting.
You discuss being open to God’s presence. What does that mean? And what do you say to the person who says, “I don’t know what God’s presence feels like”?
Sheila Cragg: We become so consumed in thinking about our own needs and what we want from Him that we do not feel His presence. We experience God’s presence through his Word as we listen to it, how it applies to our life, and then act upon it. The Holy Spirit is also present within us, and He makes Himself known to us whether we realize it or not. So we need to be intentional about watching for the Spirit of God working in our lives and how He daily desires to guide us. He prompts us to do certain things and convicts us of sin. My greatest caution is that the Spirit of God never tells us to do wrong or to twist His Word. Pray and memorize Psalm 139, which is a promise of God’s presence in our lives.
What has the response been to the book so far?
Sheila Cragg: My book seems to resonate with readers because I have been transparent about my own personal and spiritual struggles. I question why God works the way He does and why He takes so long to answer. I even become angry at times when our trials are so horrible, such as the abuse and severe neglect of our foster grandchildren by their birth mother. I wondered why those in authority refused to intervene. Where was God? Even during that time God revealed Himself to me through His Word and in many other surprising ways.
I try to help readers understand that it is okay to question unrelenting hardships and that some heartaches like what we went through will make no sense this side of heaven.
Here is what readers wrote about A Woman’s Heart for God.
“Sometimes I think to myself, ‘How does this woman know my exact thoughts and fears???’ I love that you admit that there are times you feel like you pray the same things over and over…I have been going through the same thing myself. I also love that you say it is OKAY and show me ways to break out of that pattern.”
“I just had to let you know that I have finished A Woman’s Heart for God, and I have never been so sad to finish a book! I read one chapter a day (most days) and learned SO much from you. I am now going back and reviewing the highlights I made just to reinforce what I learned. I admire and respect the way you have handled difficulties in life. Your story has reminded me that God uses trials and difficulties to get us where we need to be. I need to remember what the ultimate goals of this life are….. to stay in God’s will, serve Him, and to join Him in heaven when this life is over. We lost our youngest daughter 8 years ago to ovarian cancer (she was just 17 years old) and I have been floundering around ever since. I haven’t lost faith, but I haven’t been actively serving either. I’ve just been in a waiting pattern. I know there is something more God would have me do and you have encouraged me to continue watching, waiting and praying in the meantime.”
Faith Farrell wrote this review:
“I loved every chapter of this book!
All the topics addressed lie so close to a woman’s heart.
Don’t we all feel that our relationship with Jesus is sustained by our own efforts?
Don’t we all feel that once we are saved by Grace it is up to us to strive harder to grow in Grace?
Have we ever lost sight of this truth: “My deeper relationship with God is up to Him, not me: He will guide me and instruct me in His ways?”
Don’t we all want to respond to God as the Lover of our Souls? Don’t we all forget He is the one who initiates this Love relationship?
Don’t we all worry that our flaws are too much for God to Love?
This book begins with a foundation of rich theological truth, an overview of God’s Perfect, Divine Nature.
Our heart sings as we read about His Glory, His Love, His Holiness, His Mercy and Long-Suffering Kindness toward us; His Ever Present Care for us. . . .
Reading this book causes us to celebrate our Lover, and to look into His heart of Care for us, and to look into our own heart that needs His Love, and to see He is there to pour it out upon us.
The chapters on knowing we are God’s, and that He will never turn us away work to heal our frail hearts. Our hearts fear being unloved, or unworthy of love, and this cripples our relationship with God. We fear being rejected.
“God’s beloveds include those who feel flawed, frail, handicapped; who are hurting and wounded; who have emotional and mental illnesses; who have personality quirks and physical imperfections. But, far more importantly, these men and women have a heart for God and great worth in His eyes–and they are spiritually beautiful.”
“The truth is, you are one of God’s beloved. As you receive His love and understand the worth you have in Him, you will radiate His beauty. You will be a woman after His own heart.”
In the chapters on loss and affliction, being crucified with Christ, every observation she made struck a chord with me. It was so heartening to hear some of Sheila Cragg’s personal story, and her reflections on life.
“Life’s uncertainties can definitely challenge my confidence in God. I know in my mind that God is faithful and reliable, but I waver emotionally. I would rather not go through the wrenching process of my faith being tried and stretched. I’d like to be a spiritual super person, but I’m not. And I suspect I’m not alone. Yet as I persevere by faith, my trust in the Lord grows stronger.”
Looking at our afflictions honestly and trusting God to hold us in Him when we would run away leads to hope: “Even in our brokenness, a tiny seed of confidence in God will grow deeper spiritual roots. We can cling to our Lord no matter how terrible the heartaches, despite our inability to handle the painful circumstances, and regardless of our doubts about God and our wavering faith. We can ask God to hold on to us when we can’t hold on to Him any longer, and He will.”
The chapters on the devotional life are the best I have read so far in my Christian reading.
“God is the One who helps us embrace the beauty of a life devoted to Him. As we faithfully meet with Jesus, He enables us to face trials of all kinds, He guides our steps and strengthens our faith, and He uses us to comfort others with the comfort we have received from Him.”
“I used to think I’d failed when I came away from my quiet time still feeling spiritually empty. I now realize that my feelings have little to do with what God is doing in my life. I now want to spend time with God to build our relationship just as I want to spend time with my husband, sons, and grandchildren to build our relationship–and simply because I love them and enjoy being with them.”
Reading this book, a woman comes to understand that an intense season of giving care to a suffering loved one or raising children does not make her a failure at prayer and the disciplines. We need to draw closer to God in an intense season, but every season of Seeking God will not look the same.
“Seeking after God in every season of life will allow Him to cultivate the soil of our hearts, prune sin, cut off dead branches, and tenderly nurture our growth. He yearns to meet with us in a simple, sacred place where we can flourish in His watchful, protecting presence.”
What else do you want readers to know about your book?
Sheila Cragg: Our life here on earth is not all about us or what we want. It’s all about the Lord and what He wants to do in and through us. I have come to realize that we cannot possibly become committed to God or lead a disciplined life or form fixed spiritual habits by our personal efforts. We fail every time. Developing good spiritual habits means surrendering to the God-directed life. It means listening to the Holy Spirit directing us in each season of life—whether it’s an exhausted season with young children demanding our time, an intense season of finding our place in our vocation, or a lonely season of waiting and reflecting.
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Friday, May 17, 2013

Sheila's Interview on Frank Viola's Blog


FYI! Blessed to have my interview about “A Woman’s Heart for God” posted on 
Frank Viola’s blog. Your comments at the end of the blog welcomed.




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