Hope Springs
by Lynne Hinton
List Price: $13.95
Pages: 240
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0062517473
Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco
Lynne Hinton is a native of North Carolina, born in Durham and raised in Fayetteville. She is the daughter of Rev. Jack and Mrs. Shirley Hinton and the youngest of three children.
Lynne was a "PK," a preacher's kid who spent much of her life growing up in the church. She received her Masters of Divinity from Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, California. Ordained as an American Baptist minister in 1990, she worked as a chaplain with Hospice of Rockingham County and then later at Hospice of Alamance-Caswell. In 1992, she became the pastor of Mount Hope United Church of Christ in southeast Guilford County and received the Privilege of Call in the United Church of Christ. In 1997, she left this pastorate and attended the North Carolina School of the Arts, School of Filmmaking. In 1998 she became the pastor of First Congregational United Church of Christ, a predominantly African-American church in Asheboro, NC.
Lynne's first book was a devotional guide, Meditations For Walking. Her first novel, Friendship Cake, was published by HarperSanFrancisco in May 2000. Her second novel, The Things I Know Best, was published in June 2001. Hope Springs, the first of two sequels to Friendship Cake, a Hope Springs Trilogy, was just published.
Lynne enjoys balancing her roles as a pastor and writer. She lives in Liberty, North Carolina with her husband, Bob Branard, and their one cat and two dogs.
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Q: Are you a preacher who writes or a writer who preaches?
A: I used to think I was primarily a preacher who wrote but lately I've found myself leaning in the other direction. So that now I figure I am both, sometimes one, sometimes the other. I love both vocations equally and I love having the opportunities to preach and write. Both identities place me in what I like to call the "inner sanctum," right smack in the middle of sacredness; and that is a gift! Each activity involves losing myself to the "story" and each activity is an incredibly powerful experience. I feel at home and in awe both sitting at the computer and standing in the pulpit. My, how blessed I am to be able to be in both places!
Q: Who has influenced your writing?
A: I never had a class where I was taught writing skills so what I've learned has come mostly from what I've read. The strongest influence has been the works of Toni Morrison. She's the real thing and she writes at such a level that I'm elevated both as a reader and as a writer.
Q: Who has influenced your preaching?
A: Certainly my dad. He's a great preacher. Maya Angelou because she's the most powerful speaker I've ever heard. Tony Campolo, Samuel Proctor, Jessie Jackson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and my own pastor, William Vanderburgh from Mooresville, NC.
Q: What books are on your shelf right now?
A: Spiritual Literacy, Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life, Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat; I Wish I Had a Red Dress, Pearl Cleage; Of Beetles and Angels, Mawi Asgedom; Touching My Father's Soul, J. Norgay
Q: Describe your perfect writing day.
A: I get up without the assistance of an alarm clock, (which means I sleep late!), go running at a track near where I live, come home, eat breakfast, have an hour of prayer and meditative study, read from Toni Morrison or Louise Erdrich, and sit down to write. Work until 1:00 pm, stop, have lunch, and watch All My Children, go back to work until I'm finished with the lick I'm working on or until it's time to cook supper. And if need be, I'll go back to it in the evening. When I get one of these days, I'm a happy woman!
Q: What's your favorite film?
A: The Incredible Lightness of Being. It's the clearest description of the struggle in my life between the heavy, burdened part of my soul and the part of me that truly desires to be free and easy.
Q: What is the most important issue in your life that you feel called to address?
A: Racism. As far as I'm concerned, it's the ugliest disease in humanity. And it just makes me crazy that we can't get beyond judging one another by the color of our skin.
Q: What are the things you know best?
A: I know that God's capacity for love is greater than our capacity for evil. I know that life is short, unpredictable, and often fretted with difficulties but that it is still meant to be enjoyed. I know that sorry is sometimes better than safe.
Q: What advice would you give to struggling writers?
A: Never, ever, ever give up. Find yourself some other activity or line of work that you enjoy so that you don't go crazy or suicidal waiting for the phone calls and reading the rejection letters; but if writing is your dream, don't quit. And be nice to the other writers, when you do get published you'll need the endorsements.
Q: What's the most important thing you do as a pastor and as a writer?
A: As a pastor I would say it's loving the people I serve, saying to them I don't care what you've done, where you've been, or who you are, I'm going to love you and I'm going to expect you to love others the same way. As a writer, I think the most important thing I want to do is tell the story as best as I am able and always to encourage other artists. Yep, I'd say that's a pretty good life if I can live it, love and encourage. Not a bad resume, I think.
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Excerpted from Hope Springs © Copyright 2012 by Lynne Hinton. Reprinted with permission by HarperSanFrancisco. All rights reserved.
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