Kentucky author Jan Watson to speak at Asbury College
By Heidi Heater, a junior from Jackson, Ky.
WILMORE, KY—The Kinlaw Library highlights and displays the works of 15-18 Kentucky authors in the library lobby throughout March. As part of this event, the library scheduled Jan Watson to speak March 25 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Dougherty Dining Room.
Reference librarian Suzanne Gehring and circulation desk supervisor Susan Stevenson both read Troublesome Creek, Watson’s first book, over Christmas break.
"Reading the books was kind of how this idea got started," Gehring said. "We [Sue and I] were talking about a special event that the library could do, which connects to the College’s QEP (Quality Enhancement Plan). This is focused on how our faith informs what we do, so we started talking about how our personal faith informs what we read and what we’re entertained by. Watson identified herself as being a Christian. The other side of it is how your faith changes and affects what a person does professionally. We are interested in tying it all together."
Watson, a native of Robertson County, Kentucky, said she became a writer as a result of her husband’s encouragement, a writer’s conference at which Jerry B. Jenkins spoke and God’s prompting.
Until attending the writing conference in 2001, Watson said she had treated her writing as a hobby. Jenkins challenged her to use her writing for the Lord.
"I was sitting in the audience, and he said something like, ‘If you have a talent, and you’re not using it for the Lord, you’re disappointing Him,'" Watson said.
After this conference, Watson said she took her work seriously, making plans to publish her novel Troublesome Creek in order to share her story with others. Watson said this novel, set in Breathitt County, Kentucky, is based on the story her grandmother told of a flash flood that swept away a baby, but left the mother. Watson wanted to explore what would have happened to the baby had she been allowed to grow up.
"I don’t have a writing background," Watson said."I'm a nurse, so all of my education is in medicine, and medicine is pretty cut and dried. But the story that Granny lay in my heart when I was a little girl just seemed like it had to be told."
As a writer, Watson believes it is important to allow personal faith to influence her writing.
"When I started to write, I just knew that I wanted to tell the story," she said. "I didn't intend it to be Christian per say, but I found that as I wrote, I couldn’t leave who I am and my faith out of my story. It was just a natural inclusion into the writing process. I don’t think I could write a book that didn’t include my faith. It’s just a part of me."
Watson is the author of Troublesome Creek, Willow Springs and Torrent Falls. Her first novel Troublesome Creek won the Christian Writer’s Guild Operation First Novel, and the Library Journal cited Willow Springs as one of the best Christian fiction novels written in 2007. She is currently working on a fourth novel, but at this time is unsure whether this book will be a part of the Troublesome Creek Series or begin a new series that includes some of the same characters.
Released: March 20, 2008
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