God has a plan in the messiness and confusion
Part 2 of an interview with Cindy Woodsmall,
Author of Gathering
the Threads
Cindy
Woodsmall’s latest series, Amish of Summer Grove, introduces readers to two
young women, one Englisch and one Amish, who were switched at birth and follows
them as they discover what their lives would have been like had the switch
never taken place. In Gathering the
Threads (WaterBrook), Woodsmall deftly weaves complex
issues of identity into the story. What makes us who we are? Are we simply a
result of our genetic ancestry? Does our family determine our future . . . or
is there something more to identity?
Q:
Skylar experienced a culture shock when she arrived in Summer Grove. What
lessons did she learn from her new Amish family that helped her overcome her
battle with drug addiction?
Oh, my, where to begin when it comes to
Skylar! I’ve had readers contact me, sharing they felt she was unredeemable and
wished I wouldn’t waste any more time on her and just toss her to the side to
focus on Ariana and her Amish family. That surprised me, and it hurt because I
have someone in my life who once had many of Skylar’s traits. We can’t give up
the fight. Everyone wants the sweet, stalwart child. However, like winning the
lottery, reality doesn’t give us everything we want.
Skylar lives a selfish life unchecked. Her
desires for admiration and drugs are a bottomless pit of hunger, but despite
those things, when Ariana was forced to live with her biological parents,
Skyler was the only person who had the ability to save Ariana’s café from going
under. Skylar is smart and talented, but her addiction threatens to ruin her
life before it can really get started.
It was quite a battle for Skylar to get clean, and she
fought with her Amish family to leave her alone and let her be an addict. One
Amish sibling fought back, saying, “Don’t let something that cares nothing
about you control your life. It will make you as apathetic as it is. Fight,
Skylar. Decide that you, your family and your future are worth more than these
stupid pills!”
Other things came into play concerning Skylar
and her addiction, but Skylar finally understood the value of life. She began
the battle to get clean and stay clean.
Q: What lessons in hope and faith do
you hope readers takeaway from reading Gathering
the Threads?
Metaphorically,
we often have an idea or vision or number in our heads of what life and people
are supposed to add up to be. In reality life is messy and confusing, and it’s
rarely what we thought it would be. Even God doesn’t always add up to our ideas
or dreams or that elusive number, and we can’t make ourselves, others or God
add up. We must accept and believe despite all the messiness and confusion. In
the series, Ariana realized there were many translations of God’s Word, and it seemed to
her there needed to be more grace and less legalism about exactly how to live.
That’s the theme. Hebrews 13:9 says, “It is good for our hearts to be
strengthened by grace.”
Q: Is there a subtler, maybe even
hidden lesson you hope readers consider as well?
I think there are many. A fictional story has
the power to slip into a reader’s skin and enable her to see nuances of
understanding that make life as broad and beautiful as God intended. I didn’t
intentionally write hidden lessons, but when readers slip into a character’s
world, they often discover things the author didn’t see. As readers, personal
insight is our superpower.
Q: Some
people who have never read Amish fiction usually have a certain perception of
the genre without giving it a chance. What would you say to encourage new
readers to branch out and try the Amish of Summer Grove series?
I would say they may be missing out on some
of the best reads of their lives. In any genre, there are different types of
books. I’d like to think this series goes deeper than most and leaves readers
breathless, thinking they were going on one journey and discovering they went
on an entirely different one. I enter the Amish world and lift the veil of
presupposition, not showing readers what they expected to see, but showing them
a very different reality — one I hope builds faith inside their own lives.
The Amish way of life challenges us to consider
more than the mantra of self-discovery and self-rule. When we get a peek into
their way of life, we can begin to understand how and why they put sacrificial
action behind their beliefs. At the same time, we take a journey into a world
that struggles to uphold all the previous generation upheld. The heart cry of
the faithful in every generation, whether Amish or Englisch
(non-Amish/non-Plain), is to do what is best for the family, the faith
community and those we influence. We learn how the Amish pass their
faithfulness from one generation to the next while we see the weaknesses of
trying to have too tight of a grip on the next generation. The determination
and struggles of the Amish are a clear depiction of our struggle with the world
around us.
Q: Gathering the Threads is the third and final book in your Amish of
Summer Grove series. Is it difficult for you to end a series and leave the
characters behind?
Yes and no. After three books there are many
pieces to put together and many facets of the story to juggle and remember.
It’s a bit of a relief to get to start a fresh story, but at the same time, it
feels like I’m saying good-bye to close friends. How can I not write any more
about Ari, Quill and Skylar? Possible spin-offs about their future lives fill
my mind when I close my eyes at night, even though it’s not feasible to bring
those to the page right now. The good thing about book-friends is they are
always there on the page and in my heart whenever I want to visit them.
Q:
Can you share a little bit about the book you are you writing next?
I just finished writing my first non-Amish
novella with my daughter-in-law, Erin. It comes out in October and is titled The Gift of Christmas Past. I’m
currently writing a full-length non-Amish book that will release in the fall of
2018. Its working title is Soft Dusks and
Noonday Fire, and the setting will be the beautiful St. Simons Island,
Georgia. I have an amusing, spunky cast of characters I think my readers will
enjoy getting to know.
Learn more about Woodsmall and her
books at www.cindywoodsmall.com. She is also active on Facebook (@authorcindywoodsmall).
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