I finally was complaining to my dearest girl friend Dianne (and the only one who had read the McKennas at the time) about this point and she told me: "I think they act exactly the way Christians act." It stuck with me, although I still didn't like that conclusion.
It makes it so difficult to market a book when you can't say: This is a Christian book. Or: This is a Y/A book, or whatever. And, on the flip side, people who DON'T want a Christian book want vampires and lots of graphic sex and violence and F-bombs thrown around. They don't want to hear that people who do and say that stuff actually need Jesus, too.
So, then I decided not to write about these not-so-nice people any more. For 10 years I put them away and tried to write Christian...straight Christian. After all, the Lord gave me this talent to write, I needed to use it for His glory. Dragging blood from a stone, I wrote. Some were okay; some got published. Mostly, I didn't like them.
In 2008, I had a long, long...days long...talk with the Lord to find out if it was really okay to start writing about the McKennas again. He said it was.
I dragged out those yellow legal pads and began to overhaul them. When I did, the McKenna Family was in the middle of WWII. The subsequent books became two of the most intense books I had written yet; and the most rewarding. And then, I really, really started trying to get Walking the Water published.
I contacted every agent and indie publisher on the web. The ones who actually responded to me told me it was: 1) Too long; 2) Didn't like the characters; 3) Didn't like the conversations; 4) Not written about a place or time that was marketable 5) Just didn't like it; and 6) Too long.
Did I mention it was too long?
So, I decided to keep writing just what I wanted to and keep being in tune with what I felt God was trying to get across with my puny efforts. Harry Potter was all the rage; Twilight was close behind; I knew nobody wanted to hear about a Family in the Southern Appalachians who were not trendy and not very nice and then again, too nice, and also were trying to be Christians.
But, along the way, I decided that what the point of the McKenna Chronicles was: They are weak, but He is strong.
They are not strong, He is.
Also, that really bad things can happen to good people and that they can go on and actually be happy afterward. And sometimes, faith can be shaken, or shattered, and yet can be restored again. That redemption is there for everyone, even the sleazy, rebellious, and hateful. That Family trumps hard feelings and irritations and petty quarrels.
And Christ trumps all.
They are weak, all these not-so-nice characters of mine. But He is strong. And yes, Jesus loves them.