Interview with Joyce's Client Carrie Turansky

I’m pleased to interview my client Carrie Turansky today. Carrie is a busy pastor's wife, mother and grandmother.

Carrie, tell us about your family and your ministry.

My husband Scott and I live in central New Jersey and have been married for over thirty years. We have five grown children. The oldest two are married with one living in Hawaii and the other in Pennsylvania. We have two grandsons and one more grandchild on the way. One son is in the Marines and stationed in North Carolina. The two youngest are working full-time and live in New Jersey. We love our family, and we make an effort to stay in touch with them by email, phone calls, facebook, twitter, and visits as often as we can.

Scott is an author too. Tell us more about his books and ministry.

Scott is a pastor, counselor, speaker and the author of several parenting books including PARENTING IS HEART WORK and his new VBS program coming out in January called HERO TRAINING CAMP, based on the life of David. He is cofounder of the National Center For Biblical Parenting and presents parenting seminars all around the country several times a year.

Back home Scott is the senior pastor at Calvary Chapel Mercer County. We helped plant that church eleven years ago with a great group of Jesus-loving friends. It had been a wonderful adventure to partner together to reach our community and spread God’s Word and love there. Before we moved to New Jersey, we spent eight years in Hawaii serving at Pacific-Islands Bible Church on Oahu. We also spent a year in Kenya, teaching at Moffatt Bible College with Africa with Africa Inland Mission. That was an amazing year, and it gave us all a heart for what God is doing around the world.

Your son Josh and his family live and minister in Hawaii. What ministry are they involved in?

Josh and his wife Melinda oversee the Kauai Bible College, an extension campus of Calvary Chapel Bible College, Murrietta, CA where they attended. They are doing a great job training young people to serve the Lord, making disciples semester by semester. Visiting them and seeing all they are doing is very inspiring! http://www.kauaibiblecollege.com/index.html


How long have you been writing, and where do you get your inspiration?

When we returned from Kenya in 1997, I missed Africa so much that I decided to write a story set there as a way to relive some of my experiences. Over the next while I poured out that book, I developed a love for writing, but I had a lot to learn before my writing would be ready for publication. In 2000 I heard about ACFW and became a member. That opened up many doors for me to learn and grow as a writer, and also to meet Joyce.

What obstacles have you had to overcome in your writing journey?

When I began writing, I was homeschooling my five children. That was a full-time job, and it was a challenge to balance writing, teaching the kids, managing my home, and assisting Scott in ministry. Over time I learned how to write even with all kinds of things going on around me. I am glad I invested in my kid’s lives for that season of their lives, and I am thankful for all I learned during that time. I am sure I am a better writer today because of it.


What are you working on presently?

I am writing a contracted book for Steeple Hill Love Inspired titled SEEKING HIS LOVE. It will be coming out in October 2010. It is the story of a former teacher who is haunted by false accusations a student made against her. This causes her to move away, find a new position, and try to hide what happened from everyone she meets in this new town. She soon learns it is impossible to build a stable new life on the shaky foundation of lies from the past. God’s grace and forgiveness and a very special man help her work through these issues and find the new life and love she is seeking.

I’m also working on a historical novella for Barbour titled “A Trusting Heart” for a four-in-one collection called CHRISTMAS MAIL ORDER BRIDES. Set in 1880, Swedish immigrant Annika Bergstrom travels from Chicago to Wyoming as a mail order bride, but when her prospective groom, Chase Simms, disappears, she finds herself falling in love with his brother Daniel. Will she take hold of her chance for love, or wait for the man she has promised to marry?


Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?

Thanks for inviting me to share with your blog readers. I want to invite everyone to stop by my website. I have tips for writers, interviews, photos of family and writing friends, sample chapters from each of my books, recipes, book reviews, links to order books, and much more. www.carrieturansky.com.

Blessings,
Carrie

Thanks Carrie - I love to talking to our authors and learning how they are serving the Lord in ways other than writing. Sometimes I wonder how they even find time to write a book because they are so busy. It's a blessing to work with these men and woman who are serving God in so many ways and blessing us with fiction and non-fiction books.

In His service,

Joyce