And it’s that time again to participate in another blog tour.
Yeah!
I never get tired of being part of introducing a brand new book to the world. It’s so fun to see the unlimited creativity that’s out there, and this book by Tammy Lash is no exception.
Even more extraordinary, however, is the story behind the story. Every author receives inspiration, that little spark that brings an idea to life. But Tammy’s story goes deep.
She shares her heart here in this post, and I applaud her bravery for choosing to use her pen to heal rather than harm.
Without further ado, I’ll let Tammy share in her own words:
What was the inspiration behind White Wolf and the Ash Princess?
I get asked this a lot—and I’m sure every author is asked the same question. I wonder if they struggle to find the right words as much as I do?
I debated long and hard on what to write for this blog post. So hard, in fact, my eyes have become blurry from my hour-long stare at the screen. My family and close friends know what the under-structure of White Wolf looks like—but no one else does. I really shouldn’t have wasted so much time squinting at the screen. I know what I need to share—I have a promise to keep.
I don’t know how old I was when I prayed the words. I just know that I wept them to Him in a ball on the floor “after”. I told Him that if he were to help me survive to be “old” (twenty)—and if He could please somehow cause some man love me—truly love me (the broken, icky, monstrous me)—I would find a way to help another one like me. No, not just one—as many I could. I knew there were lots of “me’s”. I heard the numbers in school. One in five.
I counted off the kids in class the day my teacher brought up the topic of sexual abuse. My heart dropped when I saw how many that was. I didn’t know how I was going to do it—how I was going to reach them—talk to them. I was a shy girl with stomach aches. How would I ever fulfill my end of the deal if my husband should come? I didn’t worry about it much. I was young—and twenty was forever away.
The Lord kept His promise from that night. My abuse was to last eleven years. He helped me survive it. My family and I began to attend a new church the summer I turned 19. I met my husband there. We were married when I was twenty.
Underneath the flesh of a story is the skeletal structure of a book. That’s where you’ll find the writer. That’s where you’ll find the “little” me in White Wolf. In the story itself, the story of love, forgiveness and the journey to get there—that’s where you’ll find the “adult me”. It’s my journey of healing in story and it’s meant to be a letter. A letter that has helped me keep my end of the promise.
White Wolf is a love letter to my husband
Izzy says it best…
“Keeping a secret is like raising a dragon. They start out innocent enough but they grow. Wicked teeth grow from naked gums, claws grow from tiny fingers and whipping wings grow from infant sails.”
I had a dragon and I didn’t tell my husband. My dragon caused all kinds of havoc in our marriage until I finally let him go on our tenth anniversary. I was finally free—we—were finally free. I could at long last fully love my husband in the way he desired. My husband waited for me those first ten years of our marriage, and that will forever bind me to him.
The Native American legend, The White Wolf and the Ash Princess, is the book’s pulse and it was written for him. This beautiful legend, meant to be told to the rhythm of a drums heartbeat, is our story.
White Wolf is a thank you letter to my “Papa”
I accepted Christ when I was five—near the time when the abuse began. Jesus and I forged a special relationship, and I asked if I could call Him “Daddy”. I was no longer alone. I would crawl into His lap and talk to Him until my heart stopped aching and I found sleep.
To me, “Daddy” is a term of endearment that is used to show a close relationship. In the book, I use “Papa” instead. “Papa” is the ever-present, yet unseen character with a “plan”. The Lord was there for me, too, even when I couldn’t see Him. Why didn’t He stop the abuse? He could have—but He chose not to. The story of Joseph tells us why the Lord sometimes allows bad things to happen. Genesis 50:20 says, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”
The Lord could have stopped both of our injustices, but He chose to let them go forward. My “Daddy” had a plan. Joseph’s trials made him into a man of great power to help his people. My experience gave life to White Wolf and the Ash Princess. Without my past, there would be nothing to write. White Wolf is part of His plan to help me keep my promise to Him to reach my “one in five”.
White Wolf is an encouragement letter to my readers
I had no need to worry when I was little. Jesus found a way for me to reach others who have suffered just like me. My hope is that my story—as well as Izzy’s in White Wolf—will be of an encouragement to my readers.
White Wolf and the Ash Princess is a testimony of survival and finding joy after the pain. I found it a privilege to go back and revisit the flames that burned me when I was a girl. The Lord is good—even in the bad—and my goal is for my readers to discover that, too.
The White Wolf challenge:
Do you have a secret? Are you harboring a dragon of your own? It’s exhausting work carrying around a dragon. Seek rest from your burden and let it go to the One who wants to free you from it.
“Come onto Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”Matthew 11:28 (ESV)
Don’t delay any longer. Crawl onto His lap and find rest today.
About White Wolf and the Ash Princess
Eighteen year old Izzy’s limited world begins to feel cramped after she completes her self-appointed book dare. After reading two-hundred and fifty books, a thought that had been once tucked away as tightly as the books on her library shelves becomes too irresistible to ignore…”Who am I?”
Memory loss prohibits Izzy from remembering her life before age seven when she was injured in a fire. Fifteen year old Jonathan Gudwyne and his head housekeeper rescued her and took Izzy in as their own, but who did she belong to before Jonathan took her in?
Crippling panic keeps Izzy from wandering beyond the stables but Tubs, the Gudwyne’s thirteen-year old stable boy, encourages Izzy to go beyond the property’s rock wall to a world that promises possible answers. A scorched castle in the woods and its mysterious cellar reveal secrets that push Izzy beyond her discomfort to embark in a journey to the New World with her young friend.
Here, she finds love and a home in the most unexpected of places.
Giveaway
Tammy has generously offered to give away a signed paperback of White Wolf and the Ash Princess, birch bark bookmark, and necklace (three winners). US only.
Enter the giveaway here!
Blog Tour Schedule
Monday, August 7th
- Launch Day – Unicorn Quester
- Guest Post – dolphin18cb
Tuesday, August 8th
- Book Review – Ashley Bogner
Wednesday, August 9th
- Book Review – Indie Book Reviews
Thursday, August 10th
- Guest Post – Jebraun Clifford
Friday, August 11th
- Interview – Lands Uncharted
Saturday, August 12th
- Wrap-Up Post – Unicorn Quester
Tammy lives in Lower Michigan with her husband and her three children. Izzy’s home in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (Munising) is where she and her family enjoy exploring. Tammy enjoys hiking, kayaking, beach wandering, “hunting” for birch bark and hopes to someday find a porcupine quill. White Wolf and the Ash Princess is her first novel. She is published in Keys for Kids and has been in children’s ministry for over twenty years.
Social Media Links
Website // Facebook // Instagram // Pinterest
Thanks for joining me in welcoming a great new book into the world!
Jebraun Clifford always wanted to step through a door into an imaginary kingdom, so it’s no surprise she now calls Middle Earth home. Too short to be an elf and too tall to be a Hobbit, she lives in a gorgeous town smack-dab in the centre of New Zealand’s North Island filled with thermal activity,
stunning lakes, and enough Redwoods to make her Californian heart swoon. Her unpublished YA fantasy, The Two Queens of Kyrie, won both the American Christian Fiction Writer’s 2015 First Impressions contest and the 2016 Genesis contest. She loves coffee, tree ferns, dark chocolate, and Jesus, and harbours a secret penchant for British spelling.
jebraunclifford.com 
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