James Rubart Interview

Q: How long have you been writing and what other careers or jobs have you had?

A. I caught the writing bug in 7^th grade and dabbled in it till 2000 when I got serious about pursuing the lifelong dream of being an author. Since college I’ve been an on air personality, radio sales guy, semi-professional magician, and since ’94 I’ve owned a marketing company that helps individuals and businesses with their marketing.

Q: Do you write in only one genre and if so which one and why? If not, which ones and why?

A: I’m not sure my writing falls into a neatly defined genre! That was the problem with getting my first novel, ROOMS, published. No one knew where to put it. (It’s the story of a young Seattle software tycoon who inherits a home on the Oregon Coast that turns out to be a physical manifestation of his soul.) But I will say that all of my stories have the same themes: The exploration of freedom, healing of our brokenness, a flavoring of the supernatural, and a splash of romance.

Q: How does your faith play into your writing?

A: I never think about it. I simply write the story that has captured my heart at the moment. I suppose to be more specific, the issues I’m wrestling with at the time I’m writing the manuscript wind up in the book. Yes, in some ways my novels are extremely personal. And since Jesus is the focus of my life, the stories can’t help but have a strong faith element.

Q: How do you choose your settings for your books?

A. I love the Pacific Northwest and have lived here all my life, so I typically set my novels in this area.

Q: Do you base your characters on people you know or are they totally made up?

A: As you might guess from the comment above, my characters are based on someone I know fairly well, myself. I take aspects of my personality, or struggles that I’ve gone through or are going through and infuse them into my characters. And from time to time I’ll take a friend of mine and use them as the basis for a character. In The Chair, I took a friend of mine called A.C. and didn’t make up a thing. It’s all true. That was fun, especially when his wife read the book and said I nailed him spot on!

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release, Spirit Bridge?

A: I’m pretty excited about this one. Spirit Bridge is the final book in my Well Spring series and I think it’s an epic conclusion to the story I started in Soul’s Gate and continued in Memory’s Door. Battles, romance, great healing of the soul, this one is really fun and (I hope) powerful for my readers.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for this story?

A: Being at the real life Well Spring Ranch which is hidden in the mountains west of Colorado Springs. Both my publisher and I wanted to develop an epic series and we went there to brainstorm ideas.

My first three novels (ROOMS, Book of Days, and The Chair) were focused on one protagonist and their story, which worked well, but I was ready for a bigger adventure with multiple main characters and higher stakes.

We started praying, and within half an hour came up with what we thought was a compelling premise: What if a 30 year old prophecy called four ordinary people from different walks of life to fight together for rescuing the hearts of others on a massive scale?

The first novel in the series, Soul’s Gate was about healing, the second, Memory’s Door, was about overcoming regret, and this third one, Spirit Bridge is about identity, so when you put all three together it hopefully can bring people great freedom in their own lives.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?

A: Who they are. Their identity. When Jesus was tempted by the enemy in the wilderness during his fast, the attack came against his identity. “IF you are the Son of God, tell these stones to turn to bread.” “IF you are God’s Son, throw yourself down …” The enemy comes against our identity too. We are powerful if we know who we are and can step strongly into the calling and destiny the Lord has for us. That’s one of the main themes of Spirit Bridge, so I hope readers will come away with a strong sense of who they are.

Q: Tell us what you like about the main characters of this book.

A: I love my four main characters and are going to miss them now that the series is over!

• Reece Roth walked powerfully in the things of the Spirit years ago, but was taken out when his wife and daughter were killed. Now he’s stepped back in the arena to guide and train the other three of the prophecy, but it’s forced him to face his greatest failure in the process. And I love that he’s willing to face it.
• Dana Raine is the General Manager of a Seattle radio station and is a born leader, but her fear of abandonment, as well as being thrust back into relationship with the man who broke her heart threatens to cripple her God-given destiny.
• Marcus Amber is a brilliant physics professor at the University of Washington who has had to face his deepest regret and overcome it, because if he doesn’t, he and the other warriors will be destroyed.
• Brandon Scott is multi-milling selling singer and song writer but still struggles with his worth. And when his career starts to slip away he has to make the choice to save himself, or allow his dream to die, bringing astounding freedom to the other warriors.

I love these characters because they’re ordinary, broken people. But they’re each willing to step onto the tough path because they know the Spirit longs to bring them into deep restoration.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?

A. I’m in the middle of writing my next novel, a standalone that I’m extremely excited about, and working on a screenplay for one of my novels. And trying to figure out how Darci got to the point of being empty nesters so incredibly fast.

Q: If money were no object what vacation would you like to take and why?

A. I’d head for a week in Australia (Darci and I went there years ago and loved it) then we’d head for a week in the Greek Isles (always wanted to do that) and finish up with a week in Fiji.

Q: What is the silliest thing you have ever done?

A. Jumped out of an airplane at 10,000 feet. (As a bonus, it was the scariest as well.)

Q: What is the hardest thing you have ever done?

A. See above. J

Q: Where can readers find you on the internet?

A. The best two places are Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JamesLRubart and my website where people can read my blog and sign up for my newsletter and win trips to Hawaii. (Well, maybe not that last part.) http://jameslrubart.com/ And readers can always e-mail me at: james@jameslrubart.com

Q: Anything else you’d like to tell or share with us?

A. I’d just like to say a big thanks to the readers who have spent time in the world I created in the Well Spring series, and an even greater thanks to Jesus for allowing me to write it.

And finally, there is such freedom in Jesus, if we’d only choose to let go of our lives entirely, die to ourselves and throw ourselves fully into Him. Only then can he give us the desires of our hearts.