Kathleen Morgan Answers The Faithful Fifteen
April 2005
 Kathleen Morgan, a registered nurse with a master's degree in counseling, is the author of numerous books --- including ALL GOOD GIFTS, THE CHRISTKINDL'S GIFT, the "Brides of Culdee Creek" series, and her latest, CHILD OF THE MIST. In this interview Morgan talks about the first installment of her new fantasy series (which will be released in August), her calling as a writer and as a Christian, and some memorable encounters with readers that have especially touched her.
Faithfulreader.com: What kind of testimony to your faith are you demonstrating in this book? If you are writing fiction, do you write fiction that is based upon your faith, or that has a message for the reader? Is your goal to demonstrate your faith in your writing?
Kathleen Morgan: GIVER OF ROSES, book one in my upcoming (August 2005) new fantasy series for Revell, is a story of spiritual awakening and heeding the call to set out on the journey that takes the characters ever closer to God. But, just as that journey in real life is fraught with doubts and fears, temptations, obstacles and missteps, so do the characters in this book stumble and fall and battle to find their way. GIVER OF ROSES is a tale of the only story worth telling --- the story of sin and redemption. The story of God's great and merciful love. The story of people, with all their hopes, dreams, joys, sorrows, losses, and human failings, struggling to live with courage, honor and decency, saved, in the end, by the redeeming power of love.
Since I made the decision to live a more Christ-centered life and write only for the Christian fiction market, I feel my faith cannot help but be threaded throughout all my books. Messages or story themes, however, have always been an integral part of my books, whether for the secular fiction market or for, eventually, the Christian fiction market. As far as I'm concerned, there is no story without some vital message or theme. My goal, though, has never been particularly to demonstrate my faith in my writing. Instead, I endeavor to illustrate God's endless, all merciful, and unconditional love for His children.
FR: When did you come to a saving knowledge of Jesus? Where are you today in your walk? Is your faith an important part of what you do?
KM: I was baptized into the Christian faith at a very early age, and was very fervent as a child and throughout high school and college. Once I graduated from college, however, I began to slowly become less and less involved in my church and my relationship with God. When my youngest son died, however, in 1996, I encountered such deep pain and confusion that nothing save my Christian faith could ever hope to heal such wounds. It was during that time that I not only returned to the church of my childhood, but began to reconsider the direction my writing career would next take. Since those dark, dark days, my spiritual journey has been an ever deepening, growth-producing experience. It has become so integral a part of my existence that I cannot conceive of ever going back to the way I used to be.
FR: Tell us about your church experiences --- how you grew up (or maybe didn't grow up) in the church, where you attend now, your involvement in your local assembly, etc.
KM: My mother always saw to the spiritual education of her children; I was prepared and began receiving the sacraments at the appropriate ages, and observed all the particular religious traditions of our particular Christian faith expression. Though I have been involved in choir, Bible study, and various other church activities in the past, I have only recently begun attending a new church in a neighborhood closer to our new home, and am still considering in what capacity God now wishes me to contribute my time and services. It may well be in the service of the choir, as I truly love to sing, but I am currently waiting on the Lord for His direction.
FR: Tell us about your current church family/fellowship. How does it influence your work?
KM: The source of my greatest Christian fellowship is, and has been for the past five years, the Benedictine community of Oblates attached to Benet Pines Monastery. For those of you familiar with Kathleen Norris's THE CLOISTER WALK and AMAZING GRACE, you will know that Oblates of St. Benedict are Christian individuals or families of any denomination admitted into spiritual union and affiliation with a Benedictine community. Though they don't usually live in monastic houses or take religious vows, Oblates do choose to enrich their Christian way of living in a manner enlightened and guided by the Rule of St. Benedict, and by sharing in the spiritual life, prayers, and good works of the monastic community. Becoming an Oblate has profoundly affected not only my life and spirituality, but has had a great influence on my writing as well. "Prefer nothing whatever to Christ" is my favorite saying from the Rule of St. Benedict.
FR: Who are your spiritual mentors? Your professional mentors?
KM: The woman who mentored me through my Oblate instruction period is my spiritual mentor, as well as many of the Sisters at Benet Hill by their example of how they live out the Rule of St. Benedict. I also find mentors in books I read by many of my favorite spiritual writers. Professionally, I've never really had any author mentors. At the time I began writing, there weren't a lot of published or even experienced authors in the neighborhood. I was in a critique group, though, for many years with a lot of other unpublished but very dedicated writers. I guess we all sort of supported and mentored each other in a sense. Nowadays, though, I'm a solitary writer.
FR: Discuss your calling/mission --- as a writer, and as a Christian.
KM: My calling as a Christian is to love and serve God --- through obedience to His will and in love and service to others. My calling is also to strive to continually grow in knowledge and love of God through prayer, spiritual reading, and meditation, to work always at casting off the false self to become what God created me to be --- a living, breathing image of Him. Though I'll never fully achieve such a goal in this life, it is, in the end, the only goal truly worth striving for. More specifically, as a writer, I feel called to reiterate over and over again the fierce and unexpected beauty of God's love for us. And that, no matter the denomination or faith traditions, we, as Christians, should remain united in our common love for Jesus Christ.
FR: What are your Scripture reading habits?
KM: I try to read some Scripture everyday, as well as commentaries and Bible-based studies.
FR: What books have most influenced your work?
KM: The Bible, of course, as well as the Rule of St. Benedict and writings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers. I also like and find great spiritual nourishment from the writings of Thomas Merton, Joan Chittister, Thomas Keating, Norvene Vest, John Howard Griffin, and of course, Kathleen Norris.
FR: Do you read secular fiction at all? If so, who are your favorite authors, and why?
KM: I love all sorts of fiction, be it Christian or secular. I like women's fiction, so I've read books by Elizabeth Berg, Kathryn Lynn Davis, and Luanne Rice, to name a few. I also love science fiction and fantasy, and cut my teeth on Anne McCaffrey, C.J. Cherryh, and Andre Norton. I must admit, though, that I tend to read a lot more these days in the Christian fiction arena, because we have some fantastic authors both in women's fiction and fantasy/science fiction.
FR: What are your other media habits --- television, movies, music, etc.?
KM: I'm not a big TV watcher, but do like all the "Star Trek" series. I also love anything that's historical, so PBS or any other channels that focus on those types of topics are eagerly devoured when they're available. As far as movies go, I'm very picky. I like great, sweeping epic-type movies where the characters are complex, challenged by life's vicissitudes, and deal with them in heroic, moral ways. I loved Gladiator, Braveheart, The Matrix, and, of course, the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I listen to a lot of Celtic instrumental music while writing, and continue to learn to play the folk or Celtic harp.
FR: Do you and your family have any special faith-based traditions?
KM: Since I'm of German descent, we practice quite a few German-based Christmas customs. I touched on several of them in my last stand-alone novella, THE CHRISTKINDL'S GIFT.
FR: Tell us about your prayer life and habits.
KM: As an Oblate, we are encouraged to say the Liturgy of the Hours daily, which is a compilation of psalms, antiphons, prayers, and Bible readings that Christian monks and nuns over the ages have gathered to recite seven times each day in praise of God. I also try to study a bit in at least one spiritual book, as well as practice Centering Prayer, which is based a lot on the book THE CLOUD OF THE UNKNOWING and further developed and expanded by Thomas Keating and several other Trappist monks. It is a form of prayer in which you attempt to quiet yourself and your thoughts so as to find Christ within yourself, especially illustrated by Psalm 46:10 ("Be still and know that I am God").
FR: Describe what you believe the role of writing in religion is.
KM: It is a ministry, in the same way any vocation is, if the person feels called by God to do so in obedience to Him. I'm a storyteller; hence I try to put the truths of my Christian faith in the form of a story, i.e. fiction. But I'm in very good company. Even Jesus, in His parables, used fiction to teach His truths. Indeed, fiction can be filled with life-changing truths as much as nonfiction can. There is one difference, though. As John Eldredge states in WAKING THE DEAD, "Facts stay lodged in the mind, for the most part. They don't speak at the level we need to hear...but when you tell a story, you speak to the heart. We've been telling each other stories since the beginning of time. It is our way of communicating the timeless truths."
FR: Tell us about one or more of your favorite encounters with readers.
KM: I have had readers make me little gifts --- like a decoration for my Christmas tree --- send me poems, and come to my book signings from hundreds of miles away. Perhaps the most touching encounter was a reader who, after the death of my son, came to a reader and booksellers' conference that I was attending and gave me a teddy bear to hug when I needed comfort. I am constantly amazed and humbled by the connection readers feel for me through my books.
FR: Would you share a story about someone you've brought to Christ or share how your writing has helped someone?
KM: We authors work in a virtual vacuum most of the time, writing books that, in our minds, are rife with such amazing ideas and potential, though we wonder if the actual finished product will even come close to our dream of it. There is so much faith involved in the process of writing, so much trust and surrender. And, when a particular book seems to demand even more faith, trust, and surrender than some of the others, it seems to come through to readers in an even more intense way.
I remember one letter in particular from a lady in a woman's shelter who told me how my writing had changed her way of thinking, her perception of people, and her surroundings. Her letter so touched my heart. There have been other letters from people who say they've gained a special insight into some problem that has been troubling them, just from reading one of my books. I know, though, that only the Holy Spirit can truly open their eyes and bring them the comfort and wisdom they need. I am just an instrument but, oh, how wonderful to be used in such a way! My readers sustain and encourage me just as much as my books might do so for them. And that's how it should be --- we are all brothers and sisters in Christ and must be help for each other.
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