Debra Parmley

Welcome June!

Tell us about your latest release.

Give Us This Day is a contemporary inspirational romance set in the Seattle area due out February 1.

When Jess Colton walks away from his past, he leaves alcohol behind but replaces it with a food addiction, yet nothing Holly Harrison does will allow her to escape from her mistakes. Can their romance survive the obstacles from their former lives?

What sparked the story idea for this novel?

One day I brainstormed scenarios of what I felt would be the most unlikely romantic relationships. I'm sure these ideas were influenced by situations and people I've known in real life. In Give Us This Day, a story about an obese computer geek and a woman who wears a prosthesis seemed like quite a challenge. I wanted to try to write something different, a story not like any other I'd heard about. The story allows a lot of room for the necessity for God to work if Holly and Jess' relationship is to survive. 

Do you have any writing rituals or favorite places to write?

Writing a book takes planning, scheduling, marking out blocks of time to write. I came across this writers clock a few months ago as some of us were sharing pics of it around our facebook sites. Isn't it fun? January rolls around and many of us start buying calendars and planning our schedules for the year, taking stock of where we are and where we want to go. 

It has become my practice to choose a word for the year, going in to the New Year. Last year, throughout 2011, my word was release. I certainly received plenty of that, in ways I could never have imagined. This was a reminder to me, to be careful of what I ask for. Going into 2012, I will admit the selection of my next word was much on my mind. After much contemplation I selected my word for 2012.

My word is abundance.

Webster defines Abundance as:

1: an ample quantity: profusion

2: affluence, wealth

3: relative degree of plentifulness

When I tell people of my word for the year it is interesting how their eyes light up. Several have told me it seems the perfect word. And it is a good and positive word, however like any word, it will bring lessons and challenges with it.

We are barely into the year, not even past January and already I have had doors opening in more than one area. Good, yes, but with this I have needed to make choices.  It is not that one choice is better than another (or if it is so, I am not seeing this as yet) but the reality is I cannot be walking through all the doors. Choices must be made.

It is much like being presented with five different kinds of cookies, or ten flavors of ice cream.

Each choice will present it's own rewards, challenges and lessons. Such is life on this planet. I welcome it all.

Some of the abundant things in my life this year are related to my writing. I am with a new publisher and I have new books coming out, my first book trailer is in the works and there is the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in Chicago in April to look forward to. I'll be taking my first train ride from Memphis and back, something I am quite excited about as I have always loved to travel and experience new things.

Abundance? I am ready for it, with all the associated joys and challenges. Life is a grand adventure. Anything is possible.