Welcome to Author Spotlight! Each week will feature a different author. We’ll get the scoop behind their writing life and dish a little. The authors will also be giving away a copy of their latest book. FUN.

The winner from the last Author Spotlight giveaway of Vow Unbroken is Donna Harris! Please email info@suzannewoodsfisher.com with your mailing address to claim your prize.

This week we are featuring Pastor Dave Lomas! To enter to win a copy of his book, The Truest Thing About You (David C. Cook), leave a comment on this post.

Share a little bit about yourself. Married with kids? Empty nester? Do you work full-time and write when you can squeeze it in?

I am married to my high school sweetheart. We met when I was 16 and she was 14. I told my dad after just two weeks of dating that I was going to marry her. After almost 20 years of being together, I’m more in love with her than ever.

About kids, we’ve been trying to have children for about 8 years. God hasn’t given us kids and that’s a huge part of our story. We have prayed about adoption and all we keep hearing from God is that this “holding pattern” we’ve been in is a part of His plan. We feel that He’s working in us and if we did alternative forms of pregnancy or adopted right now, it would short-circuit that work. It’s been a time of waiting, trusting, and pushing down who we are in Christ at the deepest level of our beings.

And share something about your writing. What are your genre(s), your areas of interest?

I’m writing as a pastor to those who sit in congregations all over our country. I wrote it with more of a literary story arch, and I tried to write it to the heart, not so much to the mind. I think a lot of books on identity write to the mind: “THIS IS WHO YOU ARE.” I tried to make people feel that.

How did you get started writing? Did you have a dream of being a published author?

I was telling a friend the other day who asked this same question that I seem to “fall” into everything I do. I never set out to be a writer (nor a pastor or church planter, for that matter), but it found me. This book came out of things I’ve been teaching my church in San Francisco—identity in Christ. After one of the teachings, a colleague of mine called me and said, “This needs to be your first book.” Then he told someone who was in the publishing world and they pursued me. That’s how this whole thing got started.

Aside from a cup of good, strong coffee, what helps you get all of your brain cylinders firing so you can write well? Do you have any favorite places and routines when you write? How many hours a day do you spend writing?

A good strong cup of coffee in Hawaii! I wrote most of the book from my home in San Francisco. I worked with someone to help me write the book who lives in Bend, OR. We would work by sending drafts to each other. Then we met in Santa Barbara to work together (he’s from there and I lived there as I prepared for planting in SF), but things really started clicking for me when my wife and I were on vacation to our favorite place in the world: Kauai. I would wake up early (in Hawaii, that’s like 8am) and go to a coffee house, sit on the lanai and write. It was like magic. I felt so inspired there. I might try to write a lot of my next book there if possible.

What has been the biggest help to you in the journey to publication? Writers or conferences? Writing groups? Your mom as your first-draft reader?

My biggest help was collaborating with someone. I love the collaboration process, so for me, that was the most helpful.

Is the writer’s life what you thought it would be?

Well I’m a pastor, so I don’t really have a “writer’s life.” I wish I did. What I imagine the writer’s life to be is the life I want! Waking up at 8am in Kauai, drinking coffee on a lanai as the morning rains pour down. Wrapping up around noon for Ahi tacos and then surfing the rest of the afternoon. That’s the life. Isn’t that every writer’s dream life?

What are your biggest distractions?

Everything is a potential distraction to me, so it’s hard to say there’s a “biggest.” But if I had to answer, it would be my phone. I turn it off when I really want to focus.

What was one of the best moments in your career and what was one of the worst?

Best was starting a church in San Francisco that got established and sustainable right away. The worst was when I had to get a job in Santa Barbara while training to be a church planter and got fired from a bank for giving people too much money in my teller line! Then getting a job at Starbucks at age 30 when my boss was 19.

If you could create a perfect day for yourself, what would you do?

Wake up, be at my desk with a cup of coffee, my bible, and my journal. Then do some writing. Then surf until the afternoon. Then back to writing until it’s time for dinner. Then a very long dinner with my wife and good friends. That would be a good day.

If you could cook one meal for us, what would it be?

Well, I’m the sous chef in my home, so it would probably be what my wife wants to cook. Probably something fresh and flavorful like Mediterranean food. But if I had to cook, I would take you down the street to eat the best Vietnamese food you’ve ever had.

If you could be remembered for one thing, what would it be?

Being a faithful husband and a good pastor. Is that two things?

What do you least like about being a writer? Most like?

Least: Writer’s block. Best: Not having writer’s block.

Why do you write?

I wrote this book because I have something to say. Until I have something else to say, I won’t write.

Pretend I’m a customer at a bookstore looking for a good book. Give me a one or two sentence promo to convince me to buy your book.

I’m not really good at elevator pitches. I would probably just end up buying the book for you. But if I had to describe the book it’s about how we push lesser truths about ourselves to the most fundamental layer of who we are and base our whole lives on them. But as a follower of Jesus the greater truth, the truest truth, is who we are in Christ.

What’s on the book horizon for you?

I don’t know. I signed a two-book deal, so I have another book to write. I asked my publishers if I can wait until I have something to say.

Last question, how can readers find you and your books?

On any book outlet. I also have a small website: thetruestthing.co

[Tweet “Enter to win @davidlomas’ The Truest Thing About You on @SuzanneWFisher’s blog!”]

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