Welcome to the Blog Tour for The Camera Never Lies by David Rawlings, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
Title: The Camera Never LiesAuthor: David Rawlings
Genre: Magical Realism / Christian Allegory Fiction
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Release Date: December 3, 2019
David Rawlings, author of The Baggage Handler, returns with another probing story: what would you do if your secrets were revealed to those around you?
Daniel, Kelly, and Milly appear to be the perfect family. But an old camera will expose secrets no one wants developed.
Daniel Whitely is a successful marriage counselor and bestselling author, yet his own marriage is in crisis and his daughter is drifting further away each day. To make matters worse, the deadline for his second book has come and gone, and he still hasn’t written a single word.
When Daniel inherits an old camera from his grandfather, he notices an inscription on the bottom: “No matter what you think you might see, the camera never lies.”
Daniel begins using the camera, but every time he develops his photos, they threaten to reveal secrets that could sabotage both his marriage and his career—exposing him as a fraud and destroying the life he has worked so hard to build.
He’s faced with a choice: keep his secrets and save his career or come clean and possibly save his family. Which will he choose? Which would you choose?
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CONNECT WITH DAVID: Website | Facebook | Instagram
Hi David! First of all,
I want to thank you for taking the time to answer these questions and allowing
my readers the chance to get to know you and your latest book-The Camera
Never Lies- a little bit better. I always like to start these interviews
with something fun… tell us 5 random facts about yourself that we WON’T find in
your bio!
1.
When I’m not writing,
you’ll find me in the kitchen. I’m a serial caterer who loves nothing more than
planning a menu and cooking for guests. I love cooking, find it relaxing and
will try any cuisine that’s new.
2.
Further to that, I love
to grow my own food. My thumb is green.
3.
I used to be a referee in
the Australian Football League. I love sport – I’m an Aussie, it’s in both our
DNA and our constitution – so being involved in our national game at the
highest level was an amazing experience.
4.
I’m a songwriter. I
majored in music at University as a part of my Journalism studies.
5.
I’ve visited Singapore
28 times. I used to lecture for the University of South Australia and taught
PR, communication and writing for 15 years. So Singapore feels like my second
home.
Let’s talk writing! You’ve been writing professionally for over 25 years but your first fictional novel was published earlier this year. Was writing fiction something that you have always had a passion for or something that came along later?
I began writing
professionally when I graduated as a journalist in 1990. Since then my career
has taken me through sports journalism, corporate communication, direct
marketing and advertising, PR and online writing. For nearly 30 years I’ve put
words on the page or the screen to put food on the table and my work is about
getting the messages of my clients across.
Fiction writing was always
something I was going to do … one day. All these ideas for novels came to me,
which I politely filed away for that day in the future when all the financial
ducks were lined up. That would allow me to comfortably approach the task of
writing without the expectation of getting paid. When I had enough money or
enough clients behind me so I could safely take the plunge into what is a
vocation not flushed with cash, I would take them out of my folder, and write
fiction. (I currently have 15 storyboards sitting there waiting to be fleshed
out into living breathing stories).
Then God challenged me. He reminded me that His gift of notes with
story ideas and novels on them wasn’t just it. He hadn’t just given me stories
to tell, He had also given me the ability to tell it and He would provide the
room in which to tell it. He took my writing dream, flipped it upside down and
then stood back and said two words to me. I would have loved to have heard:
“Publishing House.” Now that I could live with. I wanted to hear: “Great
Story.” Now that would be the highest endorsement of my writing. A part of me
wanted those two words to be “Best Seller”.
But no.
The two words I heard were these. “Trust Me.” Two words no control freak
wants to hear. So it is taking me a while to accept those words, but I
wouldn’t be two (soon to be three) books into a fiction career – with one of
them winning a Christy Award – without it.
I have found that for me
personally, there is something a little more personal about the fictional
stories I’ve written compared to any other type of writing. My stories are my
babies. Do you find that to be true for yourself as well? Was there a different
type of excitement that came when seeing your (fictional) words in print for
the first time?
I’ve been on the same rollercoaster of emotion
as a parent since I started writing fiction. My first manuscript finaled in the
ACFW Genesis Award and the Cascade Awards in Oregon and I felt a tentative
pride in that achievement. Then they didn’t win, so I felt disappointed for the
story. Which sounds weird, I know.
Then The Baggage Handler went through rounds of
rejection with agents and publishers and I felt it personally, like I think we
all do. Fast forward through signing with Steve Laube and HarperCollins
Christian Publishing to the day I held The Baggage Handler in my hands and it
was overwhelming.
Then when it was named best debut Christian
novel for 2019, I found myself talking about The Baggage Handler as if it won
the Christy Award itself.
Speaking of excitement,
your first novel The Baggage Handler recently won the Christy Award for
First Novel! Congratulations! What has that experience been like?
Thanks so much! It was – and is – surreal. I was
watching the LiveStream on Facebook as my name was read out and that was
bizarre enough. Then they read out the opening line of the winner and I
recognized words I’d written 18 months earlier.
After that I had the distinctly weird sensation of watching Jim Rubart
read out the acceptance speech I’d sent him (he’s my mentor, so he kindly
agreed to accept on my behalf).
In that moment, I went from the first
Australian-based author to be nominated to the first Aussie who’s ever won a
Christy Award! Then my email and Facebook notifications started pinging like a
bank of heart monitors in a hospital. I texted my editorial director – the
wonderful Becky Monds, who green-lighted the book – and my agent, Steve Laube,
who were both at the dinner in Nashville.
Since then, it’s been quite satisfying. I’ve
always said that awards aren’t justification for what you do, but they are
recognition for what you’ve done. I know how hard I worked to get The Baggage
Handler to that point, so it was something to savor. And now I can call myself
a Christy-Award winning author, which helps with marketing.
The Camera Never Lies is a beautiful story about honesty and transparency written in parable form. We don’t often see books like this, but I absolutely loved it! What inspired you to use this style? What do you hope that readers will take away from this book?
The Camera Never Lies is a beautiful story about honesty and transparency written in parable form. We don’t often see books like this, but I absolutely loved it! What inspired you to use this style? What do you hope that readers will take away from this book?
Hey thanks! I’m trying to write something that’s
both different and inspiring, so I’m glad the book ticked those boxes for you.
I’m someone who loves to talk about the deeper
things in life, so that’s why I write modern-day parables. Story is powerful;
it enables you to see values in life in a non-threatening way. This is
especially important in a post-modern, post-truth world which is very
polarized. And I’m getting a great response from people. People email me with
the impact my stories have on their lives – how they’re now facing things after
being challenged by a novel.
With The Camera Never Lies, my hope is that
people will see the benefits to honesty in relationships, and the impact of
holding secrets, while reading a great story.
I have found that
writers are so often some of the best readers too. If we were to take a look at
your ‘to read’ pile, what might we find there?
You’ll find an eclectic mix of everything. To
me, great writers are everywhere and there is so much I can learn from all of
them. And I find that reading a wide range of topics and genres gives me
exposure to so many ideas as well.
So my current TBR pile contains:
·
Techniques
of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain
·
The
Smartest Men in the Room by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind (it’s the story of
the life and death of Enron)
·
Purple
Cow by Seth Godin
·
Time
and Time Again by Ben Elton
·
The
Seven Deadly Sins by Graham Tomlin (that one’s research for Novel #4)
Thank you again for
taking the time to answer my questions. Before we go, what can we expect next
from you? Any upcoming projects that you are able to share?
You can expect book 3 in June 2020. Where the
Road Bends is another modern-day parable which is set in my country, so if you
read it, it will be like a virtual vacation to Australia!
Four American characters visit the Outback –
here’s the blurb:
Andy,
Bree, Eliza and Lincoln were inseparable in College. When they graduated, they
pledged that fifteen years after graduation, they would reconnect, go on a big
adventure and share stories of their successes. Life has since pulled them in
different directions, but now it’s time to make good on old promises.
They head to
central Australia for an Outback Tour. Arriving in central Australia, they are
taken to a remote campsite in the rugged and dangerous beauty of Australia’s
heart. And while they enjoy the gorgeous wildlife and beautiful sights, they
soon find issues from the College years start to creep back in ways they can’t
imagine.
After an
overnight sandstorm, they find themselves separated and needing find their way
back to their campsite. As they go on that journey, they don’t just discover
where they are, but where they are in life. And how they got there.
And
not all of them will make it back.
It’s based around this question: how did you
get to where you are in life? And you get to experience the wonder of the
Australian Outback while you’re contemplating it.
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!
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This sounds like a very interesting book that I'd like to read.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing! - JustRead Tours
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