Q & A with Author, Speaker and Book Mentor Mary DeMuth

Thank you so much Mary for taking the time to answer the following questions!  


Q - Mary, who would be the most impactful person in your writing and why? 


M- Most impactful is definitely Sandra Glahn, a professor at Dallas seminary. She mentored me when my career didn’t exist, helped me write my first query, and cheerleaded me through the tumultuous publication journey. She’ been a huge blessing to me, and continues to be a close friend. 

Q - Where would you say your greatest writing comes from?


M- My greatest writing comes from angst and pain, particularly after I’ve processed it and digested it. (And God’s healed me).


 Q - What gets you past writers block?


M -Writers block vanishes when I make myself sit down and write 1000 words. It’s a discipline.


To learn more from Mary, be inspired in your writing, parenting or finding hope and healing visit her Live Uncaged website at: http://www.marydemuth.com/  Take a moment now to pop on over, I promise you will be blessed by her ministry through words!  And if you sign up for her free monthly ezine you will receive her Live Uncaged eBook for free!  

A Mommy's Screwtape Letters

(based on C.S. Lewis’ classic, Screwtape Letters)

                Satan to his nephew Wormwood: “Remember when you are assigned to a Mom, your mission is on two fronts.  If you can defeat her, you will successfully defeat her children.  To wear her down you must be on continual attack.  We cannot actually touch any of God’s children but we can use our powers of suggestion and give every opportunity for temptation.  The ultimate goal is to keep her busy nagging, cleaning, yelling and bemoaning so she won’t even think about taking time to read her Bible and pray.  That is the worst possible thing that can happen. 

                Use the forces around her against her.  Try whispering into her toddler’s ear, ‘Candy. Suckers. Chocolate.  Cookies.‘ and watch as he incessantly pesters her for sweets.  Repeat this every five minutes and by noon she will be yelling that he will never eat anything again. 

                After she lashes out in anger remind her of the Bible study application she made to practice patience.  Quote Ephesians 4:29 about not letting any unwholesome talk come out of her mouth and watch as she withers into herself.  But be on your guard, you cannot let her guilty conscience lead her to an act of repentance.  If she shows signs of remorse quickly distract her. Remind her how much she sacrifices as a stay-at-home mother of three.  Throw in a bit about how good her husband has it away at his job every day and you are well on your way to moving her from guilt to self-pity.  If you can keep her from apologizing in time your work will double its reward. That toddler will grow up to be self-righteous and unwilling to admit his mistakes, all at his mother’s hand.

                 Now switch tactics to any other offspring in her care.  Make sure they have plenty of ideas for play that involve every toy and craft item in the home.  When she goes downstairs to check on them you will know how well you did by the look of astonished anguish on her face. Any sense of accomplishment she felt while you were elsewhere is all forgotten now. Whisper that favorite lie that her how her work is never done and her kids will never learn to clean up after themselves.  This will cause her to speak harshly toward her children, barking out orders to clean up their mess.

                This is a critical moment in the battle that you cannot lose.  At all costs the children must not obey their parents, at least not right away.  If they learn to obey their parents they will someday learn to obey Him.  You have to distract them continually from actually doing what is requested of them.  The less they clean up the angrier she will grow and the more she will yell.  Eventually they will be coerced to obey her, but the more miserable you can make them all in the process the more ground you will have gained. 

                If by naptime she still persists in opening her Bible, make sure you cause some sort of disturbance to immediately wake the children.  At all costs she must not actually read Scripture or ask for any assistance from Him. The Bible is her greatest weapon and one that we cannot defeat.  If you lose the battle on this front then you will be reassigned in disgrace.

And the winner is...

With the assistance of my two-year old drawing the name the winner is- Lindsay!  Congratulations!  Please send me your email address and I'll pass on your info to Mary DeMuth.  I'll post Mary's answers to the questions in a future post.  Even if you didn't win, you will want to read this book!  You can order it on Amazon in paper back or eBook here.  Thanks again, Mary, for sharing your book with us!

Free eBook Giveaway!

Last week I posted about a book I recently finished The 11 Secrets of Getting Published, by Mary DeMuth.  Mary has generously offered to give away a free eBook copy of this book to one of you. All you need to do to win is to ask a question about writing or share a writing tip in the comments section.  I will blindly draw a winner from those who left a comment.  If you want to increase your chances, tweet about this post or share it on FB and you can enter a second comment (be sure to tag me in it if you can).  I will close the giveaway on Wed. night so get your comments in by then.  Mary has agreed to answer some of the questions that come in so this is your chance to pick the brain of a gifted writer and encourager!  Yipppeee, this is so exciting!  I will post the name of the winner on Thursday so be sure to check back and see if you won.

Not a writer? Win it as a nice gift for the aspiring writer in your life.  They will be blessed, I guarantee it!

Giving Way

Today is Thing 2’s 6th birthday.  I’m sad that we have to spend all day apart at a Peace Making seminar at our church.  Yet I know it is an important process for our church body and the timing is out of my hands. 

This morning my daily devotional took me to Ephesians 4 – not surprisingly a chapter on unity.  Paul is urging that church body to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”  (v. 1 – 3). 

Lord, when I need to lay down my pride and “my right” to be angry, help me give way to Your Spirit of humility. When I need to lay down my power and “my right” to be heard, help me to give way to Your Gentle Spirit. When I need to lay down my opinions and “my right” to share them, help me to give way to Your Spirit and patiently listen to those around me.  And when I need to lay down “my right” to be respected, help me give way to Your Spirit of love that endures the trampling of “my rights”.  Lead me to the common ground of the cross where You laid down all Your Rights in order to Unite us in Peace.  

Great Resource for New Writers

I just finished Mary DeMuth's "11 Secrets to Getting Published."   It is the next best thing to having an experienced author over for a cup of coffee and a great chat! Her personable style makes you feel like she is right there on your sofa telling you all you need to know to get started in your writing career. I especially liked the practical "how-to" advice that I could immediately apply and improve my writing. She is also a good enough friend to tell you the hard stuff you don't really want to hear but need to know to succeed. I highly recommend this book to all my "wanna-be-published" friends out there. You can get it on Amazon in Kindle or paperback here.