Author: Marybeth Whalen
Located in: North Carolina
Submitted: June 11, 2010
Tell us a little about yourself. Marybeth Whalen is the wife of Curt and mom of six children. The family lives outside Charlotte, NC. Marybeth is a member of the Proverbs 31 Ministries speaker team and a regular contributor to their daily devotions which reach over 350,000 people each day. She served as general editor of For The Write Reason and The Reason We Speak. She and her husband Curt co-authored Learning To Live Financially Free and her first novel, The Mailbox will be released in June 2010. Additionally, she serves as director of She Reads, Proverbs 31 Ministries' fiction division. Marybeth speaks regularly to women's groups and enjoys sharing stories from her daily adventures as a wife, mom, writer, and, most importantly, a follower of God.
What was your motivation behind this project? I have been visiting the real mailbox on the NC coast for years. It's such a special place and I knew it would make a great centerpiece for a love story.
What do you hope folks will gain from this project? A sense of God's love for them-- His passionate pursuit of them. And also just hope and encouragement. So many people are going through hardship and this novel offers just a fun summer escape.
How were you personally impacted by working on this project? Writing my first novel was one of my toughest challenges. It was grueling and invigorating all at the same time!
Who are your influences, sources of inspiration or favorite authors / artists? Mary DeMuth, Jodi Picoult, Elizabeth Berg, Marisa De Los Santos, Lisa Samson, and many others... I love to read and am always reading something.
Anything else you'd like readers / listeners to know: Writing this novel was so special to me. I hope that readers are impacted and moved by it.
