Michelle Medlock Adams and Bethany Jett: Platinum Strong

LEADING HEARTS EDITOR, AMBER WEIGAND-BUCKLEY, HAD A CHANCE TO SPEND SOME TIME WITH TWO AUTHORS — MICHELLE MEDLOCK ADAMS AND BETHANY JETT — WHO RECENTLY COLLABORATED ON TWO BOOKS.

Q: You two have co-authored two books. Bethany, tell us about that.

BETHANY: They Call Me Mom is a devotional and Platinum Faith is non-fiction. I think people sometimes think books are all written the same way. But you need to have a different style, a different voice for each kind of book. It was fun to work on two different kinds of books at the same time. And, of course, we got to write them together. We got to talk so much as we worked on them. I know I couldn’t have written these two books myself.

Q: So, Michelle, did one of you focus on one book and the other, on the other book? Or did you focus on them together at the same time?

MICHELLE: We had different deadlines. They Call Me Mom was due before Platinum Faith. So, we focused on that one first. While we were working on writing Platinum Faith, we were working on edits of They Call Me Mom. On each book, one of us would take the lead on a chapter or devotional and the other would add their take on it. It worked out great that way.

Q: Michelle, what did you learn the most from writing with Bethany?

MICHELLE: I’ve co-authored with other people and I’ve ghostwritten for several. I’m used to working with others. In each case you need to create a bond; it’s almost like a marriage. With Bethany, it wasn’t as hard because we were best friends. On the other hand, you want to be very careful when you’re working with your best friend. Sometimes we had some hard conversations. But going through that together made our bond even stronger and richer and it made everything so much more real. In Platinum Faith we weren’t striving for perfection, but rather, progress. We knew it wasn’t going to be all butterflies and sunshine, but we knew that God had called us, ordained it and equipped us, and we would get through it together.

Q: Well, Bethany, what did you learn from doing these two books with Michelle?

BETHANY: Michelle is so polished, so great at the craft. It made me step up; it wasn’t just my name on it. I tried to hit the right stories at the right time with the right tone.

MICHELLE: I’d say the same thing. I think we both felt the need to step up our game. We didn’t want to let the other person down.

Q: Tell me about They Call Me Mom and how that came together with you two on different spectrums of the Mom plane.

MICHELLE: I’ve written “mom” devotionals before, but I had never written one since my girls were grown. This was kind of like “the rest of the story.” I have daughters with children of their own, so I’ve graduated to “Gigi.” It’s like tales from the other side. “I made it!” There is something for every age and every stage of motherhood in this book. Bethany and I have a lot in common, but there are many differences, which makes the book more well-rounded. Something is going to resonate for every mom out there. You may not get my stuff, but you may relate to Bethany.

Q: Bethany as a military mom, with a husband who is away, you probably relate to a lot of the single moms out there who deal with the issues of sometimes having to be both Mom and Dad.

BETHANY: A lot of the stories in the book did come from times when Justin was deployed, when it was just me 24/7. I wanted to be careful not to cross a line, because he comes back. I know that for some of those single moms or dads there is no break. My heart goes out to military families and especially single parents.

Q: What are some of the things you want mothers to take away from this book?

BETHANY: We wanted every type of mom to find herself in this book. We didn’t want it to just be stories of our experiences. We made sure we had lots of stories. We want moms to know they don’t have to be perfect even though you want to strive for that. We want moms to find community. She’s not alone. She doesn’t have to live with all this mom guilt. I guess I would summarize the message of the book as: “You’re not alone.”

MICHELLE: I agree with that. We were intentional about weaving encouragement into every devotional. We designed it to be one devotional per week for 52 weeks, but people are reading the entire book in one

sitting. It’s like they’re binge-reading it. That’s okay. We’re glad for that. What we hoped for and prayed for — and what we’re hearing — is that they’re picking it up and reading just what God has for them at that moment. It’s so cool how He does that. We’re already hearing the testimonies coming in.

Q: Tell us a little about this second book, Platinum Faith, and how what you learned from working together on They Call Me Mom affected how you worked together on it.

BETHANY: We talked about there being a learning curve while working on two different kinds of books. Our publishers noticed that we were still in devotional mode as we worked on Platinum Faith. They kept telling to “pull the takeaway up higher.” There were a lot of rewrites to get through Platinum Faith. That made me a stronger writer, learning the essence of the two kinds of writing. We have gotten a lot of feedback that Platinum Faith felt spiritual and devotional-like, even though it wasn’t a devotional format.

MICHELLE: We did a Platinum Faith women’s

conference. The book hadn’t even come out yet, but we had a few advance copies to sell. They went the first hour. A lady who bought one came to the table the next day and said, “I’m so mad at you.” We were surprised. “I was up until 4:30 reading your book. I just couldn’t put it down.” I told her that was the best compliment ever. So, that was our first review.

Later, at a writers conference in Chicago a lady came up who had bought a copy on Amazon for her daughter. She asked if we could sign it. As I signed it, I saw that the daughter had already marked it up with underlines and notes in the margins. It looked like it had been well loved already.

Never in my life had I ever thought someone would do that with a book that I contributed to. I knew that God was in the middle of all that. Whatever the process we went through — every chapter was like giving birth — it

was worth it, even if only for that one person. We’re making an impact. We are just in awe that people are loving it and hearing from God in it. That’s what it’s all about.

Q: How do you feel about creating something that God has birthed in your hearts?

MICHELLE: When it is something that God had birthed in you — like these two books — it means so much that it can be crippling. It’s so holy, you don’t want to mess it up. Not just because you don’t want to let down your writing partner; you don’t want to let down God.

BETHANY: I couldn’t have written this book without Michelle. God pulled things out of our hearts. We have said that God did this in spite of us. We believe in this book because we felt His hand over every agonizing moment.

Q: And when you do something for God, you know you’re going to get resistance. Tell us about your online conferences.

MICHELLE: We have 11 women of faith. These are women in our circles. We asked, “Will you let us interview you about your walk in platinum faith?” The interviews did not have set questions. We had live chats going on. It was kind of like a watch party. On night two,one of the ladies was talking about her battle with depression and being bi-polar. She had said, “I had on my I’m-fine shirt, but I wasn’t fine.” Someone messaged me and said, “I’m not fine. I need prayer” I was giving her Scriptures and praying with her. It went so much deeper than we dreamed. If you step out in obedience to God, He can take you farther than you ever could have dreamed. He goes above and beyond.

BETHANY: It was a place of community. It became more than just writing a book. It became what the message of the book was. Seeing that transformation happen in front of our eyes was such a gift.

Q: Could you give a closing word of encouragement?

BETHANY: You are not alone. We have lots of fun things we’re going to be doing for each of the books. There will be more interviews.

To date, what’s refreshing to me is people who are just willing to share the hard things we don’t see online. I think it’s a safe place to be. No one’s perfect. No one’s trying to claim that. It’s okay to be where you are in your mess; we’re all there with you.

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