Spotlight on James L. Rubart and Rooms

Don't forget the new rules of the spotlights here. Random questions will be inserted in each spotlight for you to find and answer in the comments in order to be entered. So, be on the lookout!

I'm doubly pleased to feature Jim on my blog today. Not only is he a great guy, but he's an amazing marketing specialist who has helped me immensely in revamping my web site so I'm presenting my best foot forward to the world and remaining unique. Plus, his debut novel has received multiple awards with reviews that are heating up the cyberwaves of the Internet. You'll definitely want to take a look at this book and spotlight.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JIM RUBART is an author, speaker, husband, and dad. He loves God, his wife, his boys, writing, speaking, playing guitar, and golf, in that order. And he dabbles in photography. Most of the shots on his web site are his. Since 1994, he's owned a marketing company which he recently changed the name of, to Barefoot Marketing. Some his favorite memories come from jumping off cliffs with his boys, long walks & talks with his wife, and going deep with friends. Feel free to contact him through his web site.

What little book did Jim expand to become ROOMS?

ROOMS
by James L. Rubart
Published by B&H Publishing

ABOUT THE BOOK

On a rainy spring day in Seattle, young software tycoon Micah Taylor receives a cryptic, twenty-five-year-old letter from a great uncle he never knew. It claims a home awaits him on the Oregon coast that will turn his world inside out.

Suspecting a prank, Micah arrives at Cannon Beach to discover a stunning brand new nine-thousand square foot house. And after meeting Sarah Sabin at a nearby ice cream shop, he has two reasons to visit the beach every weekend.

When bizarre things start happening in the rooms of the home, Micah suspects they have some connection to his enigmatic new friend, Rick, the town mechanic. But Rick will only say the house is spiritual. This unnerves Micah because his faith slipped away like the tide years ago, and he wants to keep it that way.

But as he slowly discovers, the home isn’t just spiritual, it’s a physical manifestation of his soul, which God uses to heal Micah’s darkest wounds and lead him into an astonishing new destiny.

Readers, buy your copy of Rooms today!

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

1. What gave you the inspiration for this story?

Comic books, C.S. Lewis, Field of Dreams, Waking the Dead and Wild at Heart. The Matrix. It’s a Wonderful Life. And a little pamphlet called My Heart, Christ’s Home. For years I thought turning that story on it’s head and exploding the idea up to novel length would be cool. So I mixed in some of my favorite movies and books and out came ROOMS.

2. How much of your own experiences influenced your characters? What aspects became traits that were theirs and theirs alone?

When my oldest son was ten he said, “We need to get to Grandma and Grandpa’s post haste!” I thought was hilarious and wondered how he came up with ‘post haste.’ Turns out he heard the phrase on Adventures in Odyssey. My point is we write most compellingly out of our own experience. If we don’t I think it can come across as stilted and false. Consequently many of the elements in ROOMS come from things I’ve been through or have impacted me in movies and other books.

As my characters developed they took on a life of their own. “I wonder why he did that!” happened often. So although the characters started off with some of my traits and from friends, they definitely became their own people.

3. If your hero/heroine were an ice cream flavor, what would he/she be and why?

Great question! Did you know an ice cream shop plays a prominent role in ROOMS? Micah Taylor would definitely be Rocky Road—metaphorical allusion intended.

4. Are there any themes in Rooms that you hope the reader sees? Are there any themes that weren't overt but developed as the story progressed?

Freedom. Christ said that’s why he came, to set us free. Gal. 5:1. And stepping the destiny God has designed for us.

As for themes that developed? All of them! Having never written a novel before I didn’t know what I was doing so it spilled out as I wrote it. I was constantly surprised which made writing the story a blast.

5. What were your most difficult parts to write? Your favorite?

When I wrote ROOMS I felt more like a scribe than an author. I saw the scenes playing my head like a movie and I simply wrote them down. So I can’t think of any parts that were tough to write.

Favorite? There are two confrontation scenes near the end of the book that I think are some of the most powerful in the novel. I love rereading them, so those would probably be my faves.

6. When is your next book coming out and what is the story?

Book of Days will hit the shelves January 2011. It’s the story of a man in his early thirties who goes on a search for God’s book of days—described in Psalm 139—that has recorded the past, present and future of every soul on earth. His mind is slipping and he’s losing memories of his wife who passed away two years earlier. Although he’s skeptical that the book is real—he doesn’t believe in God—he’s willing to give everything to find out if it exists on earth.

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Thank you, Jim, for being in the spotlight with us.

NEW!! Readers, find the question associated with the spotlight and answer it in the comments, then leave your email address for your chance to win a FREE autographed copy of Rooms. If you do not answer the question, you will not be entered.

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