Wanda B. Campbell

As I prepare for the October 2010 release of my third novel, Right Package, Wrong Baggage, many questions about relationships come to mind. I have been married for over 20 years. The rules of dating in the twenty-first century are mind boggling to me. General simple questions I would have asked twenty years ago, are now more complex and often have three part answers. For example: “Where do you work?”  is now ”Do you have a job in which you receive a regular paycheck with federal and state taxes withheld, and recieve a W-2 for?”

I think it’s a safe assumption in this day and age that the majority of individuals, Christians included, are dating and entering into relationships with benefits once reserved for marriage. As a result many of us carry baggage such as emotional scars, children out of wedlock, health problems and so on.

While none of us are perfect and all of us have done things we are not proud of. I’m talking about things that we won’t tell nobody, but God and then on a limited basis. Taking our own imperfections into consideration, I pose the questions:

In your opinion, what baggage would cause you to end a relationship?

When looking for a mate, how much weight should be placed on an individual’s past?

Coming October 2010

I’m estatic to shine the spotlight on new non-fiction author, Sonya Visor. Sonya and I have a little history together. She and I presented our first published work in The MIdnight Clear anthology. She has since penned a heartfelt testimony of God’s awesome delivering power.

Who I’ve Become is NOT who I AM, is Sonya Visor’s first non-fiction book. Her passion is to minister to the people who hide behind masks. Sonya’s calling is to break and destroy the yokes of bondage, releasing the power of God into the lives of others by the preached Word and prayers of deliverance. When you can find the strength, to step into who you truly are; you can find the strength to BE THE (Tru U). TruU Ministries is the women’s ministry that God has charged her with to help other’s become free.

Sonya shares her heart with her husband, Pastor Tony Visor, who she calls her better half, for nineteen years. She and her husband have ministered effectively in the city of Racine together at NCC since 1999. Sonya is blessed to love two sons, Jason and Tony, Jr. Visit her online at sonyavisor.com.

Is “Take Off the Mask” based on personal experience?

Yes, taking off the Mask is truly based on my own experience. My masks were the secrets that I kept. In order to be liberated I had to acknowledge where I was in life. I had to look at the secrets, the wounds and allow them to be seen in a safe place. Asking the question: Why did I mask? I was ashamed of what happened to me and I didn’t want anybody to see “my stuff”. It was easier to say, “I’m alright”, then to say this is where I am. Taking off the mask does not sweep abuse, divorce, hurts under the rug; no this freedom says what it is and then deals with life.

What impact do you think your book will have on the traditional church?

The book will hopefully be an eye opener to the church in more ways than one. I tell of my experience of being judged, and talked about in the house of God. I realized that people really didn’t want to see the wounds that were bleeding in my life. I believe it was because they really didn’t know how to deal with me. After all, most “church people” go in looking the part so how can they admit that there’s something wrong?

What main point do you want readers to understand in your book?

Everyone has their own story that has caused them to act or respond to life in their own way. What you do in life doesn’t necessarily tell me who you are in life; it only tells me what you do. When you are done operating in all the roles, tell me who that person is?

I hope that readers would look at where they are in life and evaluate the questions, who have I become? What am I masking? Whether the reader is someone who has kept secrets, been through a divorce, endured sexual abuse or was somebody’s punching bag; it’s time to uncover issues and deal with them. Breaking the silence, looking at “it” and not sweeping things under the rug is the way to become the true you.

About the Book

Who are you when nobody’s looking? It’s time to take off what hides who you truly are…the mask! Are you tired of going around family, friends and church folk with a frozen smile and a broken heart? Unmask your true identity and learn your real name as pastor’s wife and playwright Sonya Visor cuts to the heart with dynamic testimony of sexual molestation at a young age.

BEING SILENT GAVE POWER to the hands that touched her life. Can hands meant to protect you also have the power to crush your identity? YES! But when we stop allowing a mask of shame to hold us captive with CLOSED mouths, WE CAN let Jesus be real in our lives.

Discover who you have become and embrace who you really are in a book that goes past the pews and what others think about you - to bring glory to God by being transparent and transformed. It’s time to take off your mask and let the true you show up!

Learn about TruU Ministries

Visit the www.truuministries.com for more information.

View the blog tour schedule and read an excerpt at http://bit.ly/TakeOffTheMask

Dwan Abrams is a full-time novelist, freelance editor, and publisher. She’s the best-selling author of My Mother’s Child (the sequel to Divorcing the Devil), Married Strangers, Divorcing the Devil, Only True Love Waits, and The Scream Within. She’s the founder, publisher, and editorial director of Nevaeh Publishing, LLC a small press independent publishing house. She’s currently signed to Urban Christian, an imprint of Urban Books/Kensington. Her sixth novel, the second book in the Married Series, is set to hit national bookshelves in 2011.

About the Book

Lyric Stokes lives, by most standards, a charmed life. Married to Michael Stokes, a prominent heart surgeon, she has financial security and lives in the lap of luxury. All is not perfect, though. Lyric feels inadequate because she gave birth to a daughter, rather than the son that her husband so desperately wanted.

After an unexpected turn of events, Lyric discovers that she’s pregnant again, but now she has to decide whether she even wants to keep the child she has longed for. She seeks solace in her church, where her daughter also feels at home; but they can’t get Michael to join them. Disagreeing with organized religion, he has put his job before all else, including God. The distance between the couple grows further every day.

Nigel Fredericks has a history of stalking women. He’s been accused, but never convicted. Now he’s set his sights on Lyric. She’s at a low point in her life, and Nigel knows just how to take advantage of that vulnerability. Lyric’s life is turned upside down; Nigel is like a cancer eating away at her mental stability, her marriage, and ultimately, her life. Will Michael reevaluate his priorities and his faith in time to save his family?

Review

My Mother’s Child goes beyond the surface issues and devels into how the lack of selfworth can drive an individual to support the dreams of others and forget about living their own dream. Lyric and Michael are faced with some enlightening truths about themselves while being forced to make some hard choices. The vows, “For better or for worse” are tried by fire. Will the Stokes come out as pure gold?

Listen to an excerpt from My Mother’s Child

Visit Dwan online at http://dwanabrams.com.

View the blog tour schedule and read an excerpt at http://bit.ly/MyMothersChild.