Author Paula Scott has released a new novel, and today I’m delighted to have her here on the blog to tell us something about it. Read on to learn more about THE MOTHER KEEPER and how you can enter the giveaway to win her e-book. But first a bit about Paula. She’s the wife of Scott, the mom of many (7 to be exact, plus two beloved sons-in-law), a new grandma (with grandbaby #2 on the way), writer, blogger, farmer, friend, and passionate follower of Christ. She lives and loves in Northern California.

Paula, what brokenness in the world do you see, and what role does it play in The Mother Keeper?

Teen pregnancy is often a taboo in the church. I wanted to write a story about how the church can handle it well, but in the midst of penning this novel, I learned only God can redeem the brokenness of teen pregnancy. After all, God brought his Son into the world through a pregnant, unwed teenager. God knows how to redeem an unplanned pregnancy.

What beauty do you celebrate?

I celebrate life however it comes. I had no idea when I wrote this story that God would give me a pregnant teenager several years later. Our 19-year-old son and his girlfriend are expecting a baby in October. When Luke first told me Alex was pregnant, I laughed and then cried. Life is a gift and we have a precious grandbaby on the way. We won’t love this little one any less because he didn’t come through a traditional marriage. “You can’t celebrate this baby,” a Christian friend solemnly said to me.

Oh, yes, I will! I’m very grateful my son and his girlfriend chose life for my grandbaby. I’m hoping Luke and Alex will get married, they say they will when they are older, but none of this changes how much we will love this precious child.

How does THE MOTHER KEEPER celebrate beauty amidst the brokenness?

I think mercy is a song we can all sing. We all mess up. We all make mistakes. But sometimes our biggest mistakes turn into our biggest blessings. “Children are a blessing from the Lord, a reward from God,” says Psalm 127:3. The Bible doesn’t say only children conceived in marriage are a blessing. The Bible says all children are a blessing.

I really wanted to spotlight how we all have sin in our lives. Legalism and a lack of grace is rampant in the church. The funny thing is, when I first started writing THE MOTHER KEEPER, I didn’t plan on the Christians in the story acting the way they did. I really didn’t plan the story at all. The book pretty much wrote itself and I was convicted while writing it of my own sin of judging the church. When we realize just how much we need mercy ourselves, then we are far more willing to give mercy to others.

[bctt tweet=”Q&A with novelist Paula Scott about her latest, THE MOTHER KEEPER” username=”KatherineSJones”]

What’s on your nightstand these days?

A bunch of research books. I’m working on my third California Rising book right now so I’m buried in history books. I wish I had time to read for pleasure, but I don’t. I am looking forward to taking a break and reading Her Memory of Music in August.  ????

Most influential authors?

I wish I could write like Norman Maclean. A River Runs Through It is amazing. I also love Jack London and Earnest Hemingway. David McCullough is one of my all-time favorite authors. I didn’t mean to mention all men here, but there is something stark and stunning about how these authors write that I wish I could bottle and pour into my own books.

What’s one practical thing that makes your life easier?

I start my first load of laundry before I sit down to write in the morning. Then I take a break every hour or so to see to my laundry, which gives me a break from my writing chair. I don’t write with the best posture, my laptop sits on my lap, so getting up to do something else for five minutes between scenes really helps. And since I wash five sons’ clothes, along with my husband’s and my own, there is always plenty of laundry to do. I also stop and do dishes or wash toilets while writing. The story is still progressing in my head, and I seem to work out the kinks in my plot and characters while doing house chores. I used to get discouraged after a day of writing because all my chores were waiting for me. Now my chores get done as my stories come together.

Thank you, Paula! It’s been a pleasure. 

About the book: They say the truth will set you free… but what if the truth ruins your life?

Jenny McBride has lost her faith and her reason to live in a terrible accident in Colorado Springs, but meeting a girl in trouble in Tennessee just might turn things around.

Ellie Ryan is seventeen and determined to move to Nashville to pursue her dreams of making it as a songwriter, but an unexpected pregnancy shatters her plans and sets her on a course she never imagined.

Shawn Klein has it all. The beautiful girlfriend. The scholarship to play football at Vanderbilt after he graduates high school. At eighteen, he leads worship at his father’s prosperous megachurch. His life is perfect. So why isn’t he happy?

Everything changes when Shawn’s parents bring Ellie into their home to care for her until she gives birth. It’s the life with a real family that Ellie has always dreamed about, and the kind of future Shawn never knew he wanted, until Ellie’s past threatens to destroy everything.

When Jenny arrives in Tennessee to adopt Ellie’s baby, only one thing is certain. A baby will be born, along with a crime of passion, and a desperate struggle to bury the truth.

Connect with Paula: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

Buy the book: Amazon

Giveaway: Leave any comment to be entered in a drawing to win one e-book of Paula’s latest, THE MOTHER KEEPER. Good luck!