Author interview! Joy Avery Melville Author of Sown in Peace
Hello, Joy! Thank you for visiting the blog, we’re thrilled
to have you with us today.
Thanks so much for having me, Stacy. I love your blog with
the variety of genres and authors you’ve promoted.
Thank you, Joy, I love showcasing authors works. Congratulations on your second novel, Sown in Peace
Operation Return to Peace Book 1. Can you tell us about your novel?
I love to talk about it. Lol. When God gave me the idea to
write about a wounded warrior, I hesitated at first. Then, He nudged me to make
the wounded warrior a woman. I wasn’t sure how to realistically portray her,
but I knew she’d be having to leave her dream of becoming a career Army
soldier. She had to face what others face when having to medically separate
from the military life they’ve known for years… even decades. In the case of my
Tori, she had nine years invested in her career, loved serving, loved being a
part of the battle buddy system, even with the grueling missions and the heat
of the arid portion of Afghanistan where she served out her four deployments.
Coming home, she had to face, not only her medical
hindrances, but her emotional and mental changes brought about by acute PTSD.
Then, returning home also made her face emotional issues she’d run from back to
the military between her third and fourth deployments. A an emotionally-charged
full-plate, you might call it.
Although the story is fiction, there are so many
truths woven in… things I hadn’t intended to write at all.
Your novel reads like a popular, gripping movie that’s
shown in theaters or can be streamed at home. How much research did you have to
pour into your story to give it this absolute touching realism?
Much of my research came from several books written as
non-fiction by soldiers, officers, and therapy dog trainers. I spent many hours
and lots of money on Amazon.com. I commenced reading about forms of therapy
used on soldiers reintegrating into civilian life. I read about so many issues
our soldiers face coming home to the U.S.
That’s when I started praying and praying hard for some
personal… human resources to bring what non-fiction works I’d been reading to
life. God answered those prayers rapidly and gave me two men with acute PTSD. I
asked the Lord to provide men and/or women to tell me what it was like being on
a Forward Operating Base in Afghanistan. What the correct terms and settings
were like.
God gifted me way more than that. First, He prompted an
editing client of mine to introduce me to her nephew. Then, my own editor was
prompted by the Lord to introduce me to her friend’s husband. I was privileged
to spend hours and hours in conversations with these two men. I met personally
with one in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and we spoke often on the phone, in numerous
FB chats and emails. With the second, he lives in Bryan, Texas. As of this
interview with Stacy, I haven’t met him in person… yet… but have spent hours
with him on the phone, FB chat, and lots of emails.
When I went looking for technical information, logistics,
military jargon, and acronyms, I received that and oh so much more. Jeremy
Rockstroh and Keith Youngblood gave me SO much of themselves, their personal
experiences, their feelings, their hearts. I am ever indebted to them for their
service to our country and the sacrifices they’ve made. That is amazing in
itself, but Sown In Peace became the novel it is, due to the heart these men
shared… experiences… memories… that has given the novel depth I most likely
wouldn’t have written in without them. In the past two weeks, I’ve even had the opportunity to meet with them both on Facetime, able to watch as they opened
gifts I had made for them to commemorate their part in Sown In Peace – that was
a blast!
They sound like wonderful gentlemen. While reading, there were two dogs in the story that
captured my heart, I loved the support they’ve given your characters and the
bravery and courage of the one. Tell us their names and a bit about them. Have
you encountered one of these precious dogs in person?
I’m going to answer your last question first, Stacy, if you
don’t mind. I haven’t met any of these dogs personally, but Jeremy found when he
returned home, one of the family dogs adapted himself to Jeremy in a
self-ordained therapy dog, much like both Brick and Halley show in Sown In
Peace. Halley is the first dog mentioned in the novel as a fully trained
military working dog (MWD), but after sustaining a life-threatening injury in a
bombing in Afghanistan, and after the military officers deemed her emotionally
unfit to return to service (even going so far as planning to euthanize her), she
adapted herself as a full therapy dog to one of the secondary characters who
she’d served with for his deployments, Tanner Michaels. Brick is the second dog
mentioned as far as a therapy dog already in training. He attaches himself in
the story to Tori, exhibiting an unusual empathy toward her. He does what dog
trainers hope to instill in the dog with a specific warrior… the ability to
sense when a PTSD episode is about to happen, or dealing with a backup for when
hypervigilance is an issue with a wounded warrior… watching their six for them.
I based Halley’s character on two real-life dogs who went through what she did
and turned out doing as I show in the novel. Our MWDs and Therapy Dogs deserve
so much credit in the saving and healing of our military men and women!
Sown in Peace is book 1 of your Operation Return to Peace, will your readers get to see more of Tori and Griff in subsequent novels?
Tori and Griff will certainly be in the second and
(hopefully) third and possibly even, fourth book of the Operation Return To
Peace Series – they each continue to play important roles in the therapy dog
organization, Paws That Care.
Can you give us the first paragraph from Sown in Peace?
Heated words pinged
against the outside wall of the port-a-john. Military Police Staff Sergeant
Victoria Archer leaned, dipping her head, trying to catch the rapid torrent of
dialogue. Why was the angry conversation in Dari at an U. S. Forward Operating Base
camp? Men’s voices. Too bad she was suffering brain-fog. If she’d only studied
the local language more.
Where can readers connect with you?
Blog https://www.journeystojoy.net
Facebook
Author Page http://facebook.com/jamauthor
Facebook Personal Page http://facebook.com/joy.averymelville
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/joyaverymelville
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/joyjournalinggmailcom
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/joy-avery-melville
Thank you, Joy for stopping by, we’re all wishing you
many blessings with your beautiful new novel.
I truly appreciate this opportunity to share Sown In Peace
with you and your readers, Stacy. Loved the time spent with you!
~ ABOUT THE AUTHOR ~
Joy Avery Melville’s heart’s desire is to be the author God has called her to be by sharing Him with readers in such a way they long to have a deeply committed personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord.
Fully intending to write Historical Romance—had in fact— she had no plans to deviate from that. God had something else in mind for that ‘call’ He’d made on her life back in 1967. A mere eighth grader at the time, she had no clue about the topics she’d be drawn to write about.
Surrendering to the genre God placed on her heart has given Joy new insight into the hearts and lives of those who too often hurt in silence.
The settings of Joy’s books are near where she lives in Schoolcraft, Michigan with her husband of nearly 47 + years and their 21 mo-old Yorkie, Is-A-Bella Bindi, (Is-a-beautiful little girl) who thinks she’s a much larger breed with tomboy tendencies.
Joy loves to hear from readers and will respond!
SOWN IN
PEACE
Back Cover
Blurb
How much can one wounded soul take?
Victoria (Tori) Archer has the heart of a
soldier. Taken down by an IED during her fourth deployment, she’s permanently
separated from her military career and left with physical scars as well as
PTSD. Moving back to her hometown of Three Rivers, Michigan, she’s forced by
circumstances to live with an irascible and unsympathetic aunt. Tori’s battle
with pain, horrific memories, and loss of independence creates a deep yearning
for peace. Will God grant her even a small measure of it?
Retired Military Dog Handler Griffin
(Griff) McKay turns to training dogs at his farm for wounded warrior therapy, desiring
to bring former military men and women emotional and mental healing. Implementing
his plan proves to be more difficult than visualized with the arrival of one
stubborn soldier. Why has God placed that particular warrior in his path?
Thank you for doing this interview, Stacy. I truly appreciate the questions you asked.
ReplyDeleteMay God bless your writing and this blog.
You are absolutely welcome, Joy. It was a blessing to have you on the blog. Thank you. I wish you many blessings with your new beautiful novel and in your writing as well. God bless you!
DeleteCongratulations on your new release, Joy. It sounds awesome!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Barbara, for visiting the blog. We've got you entered for the giveaway. Have a great weekend.
DeleteThank you, Barbara, for visiting the blog. We've got you entered for the giveaway. Have a great weekend.
DeleteCongratulations!!!
ReplyDeleteI was blessed to get an ARC of this beautiful story! Love it!
Appreciate the visit, Natalya, I agree, Joy's book is a beautiful blessing!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Barbara B and Natalya L... you are so very kind. I know God has a reason for nudging me to write this story... it's really HIS, not mine, but I am so blessed by the "congratulations" and the "beautiful story" ladies. I cannot wait to see what God does with Sown In Peace, now that it's out there!
ReplyDeleteWow! This sounds like a great story! Thank you for the introduction to Joy. I haven't read Joy's book(s) before and wounded warriors always pull at my heart strings. Looks like I'll need to add this to my tbr list!
ReplyDeleteHi Mimi, Thank you for visiting the blog. You're welcome, Joy's novels are heartfelt and moving. They really grip you as you read them. You've been entered into the giveaway. Wish you the best!
Delete“Our MWDs and Therapy Dogs deserve so much credit in the saving and healing of our military men and women” AMEN!!!
ReplyDeleteThey really do, Janine. Thank you for reading the blog. You've got an entry into the giveaway. Wish you all the best!
DeleteHi, Mimi.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment on the blog post - Stacy is a great hostess, and her questions were easy to answer.
Feel free to friend me on FB and message me at any time.
BLESSINGS,
Janine,
ReplyDeleteMy heart goes out to the MWD and THERAPY Dogs in a big way - t he more I learned in my research, the more my heart was tugged.
The traners and handlers of these dogs deserve a LOT of credit for all they put into the work - it takes a love for the animals for them to devote themselves to the outcome.
Thank you for your comment.
Big hugs,