Author of Wild About You
https://angelathomaspharr.com/
By: Trisha Bleau Smith
Book Overview:
Thomas speaks with transparency about the struggles all of us face. In her new release Wild About You! Thomas tackles the personal issues facing today¹s young women. In a unique Bible study format that uses DVDs along with its weekly lessons, Thomas personally addresses her teen audience. Wild About You! helps young women understand that God loves and pursues them passionately because He loves them deeply. Thomas is a best-selling author, popular speaker and expert on teen issues.
T4JYM: I love the idea of using DVDs along with a study. What made you want to do a project of this nature? Where did the idea come from
AT: LifeWay asked me to do a DVD curriculum for adult women called Living Your Life as a Beautiful Offering. The response we have received from women who enjoy watching the video teaching has been both overwhelming and humbling.
In this study, we wanted to transfer the medium of video teaching to teenage girls and so the project was born. We think Wild About You is one of the coolest things we have ever done. I am so proud to have worked alongside LifeWay to reach the hearts of girls. They did amazing work.
T4JYM: Can you share with readers what Wild About You! Involves? Give them a general idea of what they might learn and how the DVD works with the study.
AT: The DVD project/study comes from a book I wrote called Do You Think I’m Beautiful. I had been teaching the heart of this message to both teens and grown women around the country. And we kept hearing from everyone, “I wish I’d gotten this truth sooner. I’d be a different person if I had known this about God twenty years ago. I would have made different choices.” This six-week study gives us the opportunity to expand the message and make it fun for the girls . And over all this we pray, “God let these girls get it now instead of later.”
T4JYM: Who have been your biggest influences in life? Who have been your biggest influences in your life as a writer?
AT: My mom and dad have been the biggest life influencers for me. I was always so proud to be my daddy’s daughter. Probably one of the all-time best gifts God has given to me is being the daughter of Joe Thomas.
Before I ever wrote the first word, I wanted to unfold the scriptures as clearly and interestingly as Chuck Swindoll. I think he is an amazing story-teller and communicator. I chose Dallas Theological Seminary because that’s where he went to school. Turns out the man has a gift that can’t be taught but he was and is a huge influencer.
T4JYM: Have you done any other projects similar to this? Do you have any other books you have written?
AT: I mentioned the adult DVD curriculum, also with LifeWay. And I have just turned in my tenth book to my publisher, Thomas Nelson. There’s much more about my books at http://www.angelathomas.com.
T4JYM: What are your next plans for writing? Do you plan to do any more books along the same lines as this book? Will you do more DVD projects? Will you move on to new writing and projects?
AT: I am a single mom with four children. My most recent project is a book for single moms. I think it will release Spring 2007. We are also working on more DVD projects as well as continuing to speak at teenage girl and women’s events around the country.
T4JYM: What is generally your target audience? Do you write specifically to youth and girls in specific or have you written other books targeted at other audiences? How do you decide on what audience to focus your writing on?
AT: Usually I write about what God is doing in my life. A new teaching. Lessons. Learning more about the heart of God’s love. And He has been so great to let the message wrap itself around generations of women. Young, old and all the ones in between.
T4JYM: Do you have a regular full time job or do you focus solely on writing and teaching?
AT: I am a full-time mom, author and speaker. Most every week finds me on an airplane for a day or two, speaking to interesting people somewhere in the world. The other days I am at home writing and trying to figure out what to make for dinner. Oh yeah, there is laundry, lots of that and carpool and baseball games. I could go on, but all that to say, I’m full time.
T4JYM: What is the last book you read? Did you read it for research purposes or for pleasure?
AT: I last read, “To Own a Dragon,” by Donald Miller. It’s his book about growing up fatherless. I think I read the whole thing in a night because my heart was profoundly moved by his words. Every single mom in the world is praying the kids will turn out okay in spite of everything. Donald’s book broke my heart and gave me hope.
T4JYM: What training do you have in? Did you take any courses in college to obtain the skills you have currently?
AT: I wish I had known in college what I was going to do in life. But I do have Bible training from seminary and thankfully, that graduate work is the foundation all my work is built on.
T4JYM: What advice would you give to someone who wants to pursue a career in writing?
T4JYM: Write whatever your heart is passionate about. Write words you’d never let anyone read, even the stuff that you know you’ll throw away. Sometimes you have to have to push through bad writing to get to something that’s brilliant. In most of my writing, I only tell my stories because I know they’ll be fresh and different than someone else’s message or application of truth.
T4JYM: What advice would you give to someone interested in publishing their works?
AT: You’ll need a literary agent, but thankfully there are a lot of agents out there who are reading new authors and looking for the next great storyteller. A google search should to do the trick.
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