Interview with yours truly

 by Cathy Bryant at 3/16/2010 06:00:00 AM

I first met Jason through Facebook, and I'm delighted to welcome him to WordVessel.

Jason, tell us about your latest book:

My book is called, His Calling!  It's about three women who have been called out of their lives by God to do His will.  The story line is a mixture of Charlie's Angels and Joan of Arcadia.  The character's are basically just given a name and it is up to them to figure out who this person is, what is their need and what God wants them to do.  In the first book (that I am turning into a series) they are out to save a man who was considered a hero a long time ago.  He saved a young girl from the unthinkable and was hurt in the process.  Now caught up in his drug addiction these Angels must find him and try to restore him and his family.  They must find a man that the world forgot  . . . but God hasn't.

Love the idea. Where do you get your story ideas from?

This one is a long story but I will keep it brief.  We had just shown the premiere of one of our films called Alleyway.  Eleni, an actress in the film, came up to me with her sister Maria and their friend Valeska (all three are featured on the cover by the way) and struck a pose like a Christian Charlie's Angels and said they were Jesus' Angels.  I thought this would be a great idea for a short funny film.  I tried to write it that way but a bigger story kept coming into my mind – beyond what I could afford to film – and wouldn't go away.  Also, I felt moved to write it in novel form instead of script form for reasons I can't explain.  Five times I wanted to push it to the side because I didn't think I could do this big of a story and those five times in five different Christian books I came across the line – or some variable of it - “You do what you do best and let God do the rest.”  I thought that was way too many times to be a coincidence, so I wrote it and my wife convinced me to have it published.

What are you currently writing?

I am actually almost done with the sequel to the novel called His Calling: Inner Battles!  A year has past since the last book and the girls have done a great many things for God since then, but now they are falling into a trap that we all sometimes fall into – well at least I do.  They are no longer saying, “Did you see what God did?”  They are now starting to say, “Did you see what I did?”  They start to get a little prideful without even realizing it.  They are then put in a situation where God does not help them and it gets bad.  They have to get over their pride and turn back to God before the person they need to help perishes.  I am currently working on the last chapter and very excited about it.

In your opinion, what is the greatest danger or pitfall in the life of a writer?

This is a good one.  I think one of the most greatest danger a writer can face is not telling their story out of fear of being told it isn't any good.  If you have a story to tell you should tell it and not be afraid of people criticizing it.  The truth of the matter is that there will always be some one out there that is going to criticize your work.  Some will be warranted and some won't be.  You are going to have to figure out which ones are the ones that will help you grow as a writer and which ones are just non-sense.  I almost didn't finish writing my first book cause I thought I wasn't the right one to do it (I was a short film writer not a novelist) but thank God I did finish the book.  Never let this stop you from telling your story. 

Favorite scripture:

My favorite scripture – which I used for promoting the book - would have to be Psalm 33:20-22: “We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.  In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.  May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you.”

How can reader get in touch with you?

They can visit me my website – www.foursidesofcross.com – or drop me an e-mail at JJCross@foursidesofcross.com  They can also find me on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/jjcross Twitter - http://twitter.com/FSOCross and Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/jjcross

Jason, thanks so much for sharing your writing with us. I pray God's continued blessings on you and your work for Him.