Saturday Spotlight - The Pastor's Wife Wears Biker Boots!

Good Morning Friends!

Getting a late start on our Saturday Spotlight. This week has been CRAZY so let's get right to it....

Pastor’s wife, Kirstie Donovan, lives life in a fishbowl, so when she hops on the back of a bright pink motorcycle, tongues start to wag at the conservative, century-old First Independent Christian Community Church of Eels Falls.

Kirstie loves roaring down a road less traveled by most women over forty, but she’s not just riding her bike for the fun of it. Kirstie has a ministry. However, certain church members have secrets to hide, and when God uses Kirstie’s ministry to fill the pews with leather-clad, tattooed bikers, those secrets could be exposed…and some will stop at nothing to hide the truth.

Join Kirstie and her motorcycle “gang”—two church matrons and a mouthy, gum-smacking non-church member—as they discover that road-toughened bikers are quite capable of ministering to others, and faith is fortified in the most unexpected ways.

The Pastor's Wife can be purchased in Ebook & Print! from Pelican Book Group/Harbour Light Books.

Karla Akins is a pastor's wife who rides her own motorcycle. She is the mother of four boys and one step-daughter, and grandmother of five. She lives in North Manchester with her husband who is the pastor of Christian Fellowship Church, her twin teenage boys with autism, mother-in-law with Alzheimer's and three rambunctious dogs. Karla and her husband have been in ministry together for 30 years. You can contact Karla for speaking engagements via her website at KarlaAkins.com.  A more detailed bio can be found here: Biography

More About Karla......

Where do you write? 

I’d like to say I write in a neatly organized office, and I may do that someday, but right now my office is filled with hundreds of books from my teaching years. Now that I’m sure I like reading digitally on my iPad, I’m arranging to give many of them away. For now, I usually write from my comfy chair in the living room in the middle of the chaos. I’m pretty good at tuning noise out or I use my headphones.

What is your process?

I usually start with an idea that has to do with a unique or unsuspecting character in an unusual situation.  And I may write a little synopsis or just start writing and then brainstorm on paper. I always keep a notebook with me so I can write down ideas or work on chapters. I have limited time to write, so I do it every chance I get.

Describe your book.

A pastor’s wife decides to learn to ride a motorcycle and when she does, she creates all kinds of hilarious drama between the women she recruits to ride with her and the church board.

Why should readers pick it up?

If they’ve ever been involved in church leadership or like a good laugh about women aged 40+ doing crazy things, I think they’ll enjoy the adventure. Kirstie, the pastor’s wife, also has an autistic son, and two boys who are just regular kids with their own dramas. Kirstie is a homeschool Mom, too. Homeschooling and autism are two causes dear to my heart.

How did your book come to life?

I learned to ride a motorcycle at the tender age of 47. And so many funny things happened to me, I thought the same concept would make a good book. I also wanted to give a little insight into what it’s like being a pastor’s family, what it’s like to live with autism, and how it feels to go through some of the things Kirstie goes through.

Who is your favorite character in the book and why?

This is a tough one! There are many quirky characters in the book. Of course Kirstie is my first favorite because she’s a pastor’s wife like me. I guess my second favorites would be Opal and Atticus. Opal is someone in her 60s who’s never married and scared of her own shadow. You’ll have to read the book to find out who Atticus is.

  

How did you name your characters? 

I did web searches for popular names of the year they were born on baby name sites.

Are the characters based on people you know?

There may be some character qualities that are like people I know, but I didn’t base the character on an individual but more on a single type of person.

Why will readers enjoy your book?

If they like reading about how people relate to one another in hilarious and unexpected ways, they’ll love it.

Is anything in the book based on your own life?

The fact that I’m a pastor’s wife who rides a motorcycle, of course, is something like me, but Kirstie isn’t like me at all. She has a lot more energy! Ironically, when I wrote the book, a couple of things that are in the book did happen to me later. I write about Alzheimer’s and had no idea at the time that my mother-in-law with Alzheimer’s would come to live with us. I write about the preacher’s son’s trouble with the law, and had no idea we, too, would be experiencing some of the same heartbreak. You can read about that on my Prison Ministry page on my website. It’s almost as if the Lord was preparing me well for what we were to go through. Sort of a foreshadowing. God is so good that way.

What is your favorite scene in the book?

Oh my goodness, that’s so hard because there are so many that I love. I love the scene with the pastor’s family’s pet bull mastiff when he interrupts a church meeting after a swim in the pond. I also love the part where the women get locked in a Harley Davidson dealership after hours. But perhaps the best part is when they all go to jail. Then again there is that love scene…

Why Christian fiction?

I was a voracious reader as a child. I read anything I could get my hands on and I was blessed to have a mother and father who loved to read. From the time I was small my mother read to us out of the classics. By the time I was in 5^th grade I’d read classics such as David Copperfield, Treasure Island, and The Yearling. I also read all those Reader’s Digest condensed books my parents got every month. Every one of them. But in Jr. High or High School, I read the book, Christy, by Catherine Marshall. That book impressed me so much that I felt the call into what our little church called “full time Christian service.” I knew I would serve Jesus with my life and that included my writing. I could never compare myself to Catherine Marshall, but I do hope that my books will touch people’s hearts and draw them closer to God the way that book and other Christian books did and still do. I write hoping that someone will draw closer to God.

Karla is represented by literary agent, Linda Glaz, of Hartline Literary Agency.

Sounds like a fun book with a great message! 

Have full day ahead of me so I'm going to wish you ALL a blessed & happy week!

Until later remember.....Life is a smorgasbord of endless possibilities! 

PamT