Debut Author Spotlight ... Mesu Andrews

My Journey to Publication

by Mesu Andrews

My first attempt at a novel was a mishmash novel/Bible study monstrosity on the Song of Solomon in 1999. It was AWFUL. I naively marched to my first writers' conference in Baltimore, confident I would revolutionize Christian publishing. Ugh. One agent called me a heretic. An editor laughed and said, “Stick with speaking.” A second editor said, “I’ve never seen anything quite like it,” and politely handed it back.


Mortified, I shoved my proposal and my heart into a drawer and began writing devotionals to share with family and friends. My mailing list grew through speaking engagements, and in 2005 I attended another writers' conference. This time I wrote a non-fiction proposal using the devotionals, and I secured a literary agent. She tried for three years to find a publisher but had no luck. Finally, she gave up, and we parted ways; but I continued to mail the devotionals faithfully to my readers and began a weekly blog. In 2007, a friend convinced me to rewrite the Song of Solomon novel with the writing skills I'd honed for seven years. While attending another writers' conference, an editor saw a rough gem in my reworked story. After seven months of committee meetings, Revell offered my first contract offer in November 2008. One problem…their publication schedule dictated the story of Solomon wait to release until 2012! Ugh, again! They asked if I’d write a second book in my proposal’s “Future Projects” section. Because of my long struggle with chronic illness, Job’s story was intriguing, and Love Amid the Ashes was born.

Perhaps most Christian writers give God credit for opening doors, but I feel His grace with every keystroke. I love God’s Word. And whether it’s through biblical fiction or devotionals or speaking, I humbled and delighted to share it.

LOVE AMID THE ASHES

Revell, March 2011
416 pages

Readers often think of Job sitting on the ash heap, his life in shambles. But how did he get there? What was Job's life like before tragedy struck? What did he think as his world came crashing down around him? And what was life like after God restored his wealth, health, and family?

Through painstaking research and a writer's creative mind, Mesu Andrews weaves an emotional and stirring account of this well-known story told through the eyes of the women who loved him. Drawing together the account of Job with those of Esau's tribe and Jacob's daughter Dinah, Love Amid the Ashes breathes life, romance, and passion into the classic biblical story of suffering and steadfast faith.

Mesu Andrews is an active speaker who has devoted herself to passionate and intense study of Scripture. Harnessing her deep understanding and love for God’s Word, Andrews brings the biblical world alive for her readers in this debut novel. She lives in Washington.

http://mesuandrews.com/