Generation NeXt Parenting

One Smooth Stone by Marcia Lee Laycock

Meet Canadian author Marcia Lee Laycock!
Award-wining Canadian Author/Speaker

Marcia’s writing began in the attic of her parents’ home where she wrote poetry and short stories for her dolls. She says they never complained so she kept it up. Since those humble beginnings, her work has been published in magazines, newspapers and anthologies in both Canada and the U.S. and has been broadcast on radio across Canada. Marcia’s work also appears frequently on the world wide web. She currently writes a weekly devotional column, The Spur, which appears in publications across Alberta and goes out by e-mail to more than 4,000 readers each week. Marcia’s fiction and non-fiction has won many prizes, garnering praise from notable Christian writers like Janette Oke, Mark Buchanan, Phil Callaway and Sigmund Brouwer. She has published two devotional books and in 2006 won the Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone, which was released by Castle Quay Books in September 2007.

Marcia has been actively involved in Inscribe Christian Writers’ Fellowship, an organization based in Alberta, and The Word Guild, based in Ontario, Canada. She has taught many writing workshops and is a sought-after speaker for Christian women’s groups. Marcia leads a busy life, not just as a writer and speaker but as a pastor’s wife, mother of three girls, and handler of two Golden Retrievers and a six-toed cat. See Marcia’s website at www.vinemarc.com

Of Herself, Marcia Says –
“I was raised on an island in Lake Huron, ran away to Alaska, had a "road to Mayo" conversion in the Yukon, leaped by faith into Bible College with my husband in 1985 and landed in the "promised land" of central Alberta in 1988. I've had the privilege of living a few miles south of the Arctic Circle (Dawson City Yukon) and a couple of degrees south of the equator (Papua New Guinea). I suppose that's why my writing is steeped in the imagery of winter, with the odd palm tree thrown in.”

The novel tells the story of Alex Donnelly who is running and trying to hide from nearly everyone. He has picked a good place to do it - the Yukon - but is pursued by friends, enemies, and most effectively, by God. Burning with the need to know about his parents, Alex returns to his birth-city, Seattle, where he discovers that his mother tried to abort him. The trauma sends him on the run again only to find out God has orchestrated a divine appointment for him back in the Yukon. The story is filled with miraculous healing, struggles with rage, and an obsession with revenge for a childhood abuser. It shows that God never gives up on those whom He has chosen. His mercy and grace extend to those who consider themselves unworthy, and even more so, to those who are considered unworthy in the eyes of the world. Laycock says, "The book tries to illustrate that no matter how far you run, God will find you. No matter how bad you've been, God will forgive you."

Read an excerpt!

posted by Tricia Goyer @ 1:53 PM