Tales of love, straight from the heart
Author Debby Mayne has found a home in the growing publishing niche of inspirational, or Christian, romance.
By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published January 15, 2005
EAST LAKE - A few months ago, Debby Mayne went to the Oldsmar Wal-Mart looking for the book Holiday at the Inn.
After a little searching, she found it among other paperbacks for sale on a bookrack.
"My heart was pounding," Mayne said. "It's like seeing your true love across the room."
That was because she wrote it.
Although the book was not her first published work, she still got a thrill seeing it there.
Mayne knows something about love. The Boot Ranch resident has written 14 books and novellas in the small but growing publishing niche called inspirational romance. Her next book, Love's Image, will be on sale around Jan. 28, and Mayne will return to the Wal-Mart bookrack to see the copies.
"Every time I sell a book, I'm as excited as the first time," she said.
The former freelance writer and editor knows that to some people the phrase "Christian romance" sounds like an oxymoron.
It's true that in her books "the bedroom door is closed," she said, and the characters don't get beyond first base.
But that doesn't mean Christians aren't romantic.
"A lot of people get sex and romance confused," Mayne said. "What I write about is love from the heart. Without the Christian element, the story is lacking."
Born in Alaska, Mayne, 50, grew up as a military brat, living in Japan, Hawaii and Oregon. She was an only child and self-described daydreamer.
Although her mother took her to church sometimes, she said her parents weren't very religious. But when she was a student at the University of Southern Mississippi, she became friends with a retired Methodist minister who sparked her faith. At 25, she was baptized.
She married Wally Mayne, an investment broker, 24 years ago, and had two daughters, Alison and Lauren, who are now grown.
Mayne and her husband attend Fresh Start Community Church in Hillsborough County.
When her children were younger, she set out to write "G-rated fiction," saying she didn't want to write anything she would have to hide from them.
It took five years to sell her first book.
"You have to have a thick skin," she said. "I still get rejections, but now it doesn't hurt. I don't take it as personally."
Mayne works with two publishers: Barbour, a Christian book publisher in Ohio, and Avalon in California. Because she receives an advance plus a percentage of the sales with each title she sells, she said, she makes enough money to support herself but is "not making John Grisham money." Barbour, her main publisher, put sales of her books and novellas at about 155,260.
"A lot of people think that when you write a book, you're set for life," Mayne said. "That's not true."
She hit the market at a good time.
During the past few years, Christian readership has grown significantly, most notably with the record success of the Left Behind series.
According to the Romance Writers of America, a trade association for authors, there were 117 inspirational romance books published in 2003, making up 5.6 percent of the total books published that year.
"Christian fiction has blossomed," RWA public relations coordinator Nicole Kennedy said. "All of a sudden, it has really caught on."
A shy, softspoken woman with an easy laugh, Mayne said her characters are not saints.
Her villains have redeeming qualities, and her heroes and heroines have flaws. Her characters often deal with struggles such as abandonment by a parent or significant other and conflicting values within a relationship.
"Women's Christian fiction has changed a lot," Mayne said. "It (deals with) drug addiction, alcohol abuse and other problems."
In the end, the couple in love usually overcome their problems, get married and live happily ever after.
Through her stories, Mayne wants to demonstrate that Christians have the same issues everybody else has. Mainly, she wants to entertain.
"If someone comes to faith because of my books, that's a God thing," Mayne said.
She writes in her bedroom early in the morning after her husband goes to work, sometimes with her cats Felix and Misty, both 8, on her lap.
As for Holiday at the Inn?
She went back to Wal-Mart two days after it came out, returning to the bookrack to look for it, but she could not find any copies.
She realized they had sold out of them.
"I love happy endings," she said.
Eileen Schulte can be reached at 727 445-4153 or schulte@sptimes.com