A literary journalist and publicist since 2003, Dee Stewart's writings have appeared in Precious Times, Romantic Times, Spirit Led Woman Magazines and on The Master's Artist Blog. She is also the owner of DeeGospel PR (www.deegospelpr.com,) Christian entertainment PR boutique located in Atlanta, GA. Visit her Christian Fiction Blog, which turned 6 years old in July at http://christianfiction.blogspot.com. Her debut novel "A Good Excuse to Be Bad (Kensington/Dafina) releases Summer 2011. Talk to her in real-time on Twitter at @deegospel.

I am a Christian, but I do not write for Christian booksellers. I write for a large mainstream publisher based in New York that doesn’t mention glorifying God and edifying the body of Christ in its mission statement; however, I write about my private conversations with God and my personal victories because of Him.

In my new novel, Someone Bad and Something Blue, my main character, Angel Crawford, searches for two things: a hit man to kill a young mom, and someone from her past threatening her school-age daughter. Both things Angel seeks are similar, because they represent what keeps me on my knees at night. God, can I protect my daughter on my own?

Sure many woman are raising children without the child’s father; however, for me, despite all the instances that God has come through for me and my child, I still sit up at night, fearing that someone will learn that I can’t do it all, that I can’t be a father to my child, that the ball will drop and devastate us all.

These constant slaps to my faith . . . I put them in my book, a sad reminder of my human weakness.

Angel personifies a weakness in my faith. She moves through the city like a superhero without souped-up genetics or an uber-rich, genius father who can give her tools to vanquish her arch enemy. No she’s an Atlanta bail recovery agent. She is intelligent, peachy, a woman of faith who can throw a mean round kick, but suck rocks when it comes to being real with herself about her life.

What she isn’t—and she knows this deep inside—is the one thing she can never be for her child. So she tries to compensate for this shortfall by helping other women, making them feel better about themselves, protecting their faith. Her good deeds almost give her peace. Almost. She still doesn’t think she is enough, because she can’t control how the deficits of her life will be met.

This is the heart of my weakness in my faith—not surrendering to the fact that God is in control, not me. That God will protect me and my daughter, as He has done for the past twelve years.

Although I know this, I wake up every morning as if I have amnesia. Like me, Angel can’t see how her contractor, Big Tiger, provides and protects her family or her sidekick, and budding love interest, Pastor Justus Morgan, relieves her of some of her

parenting duties when she allows it. She can’t understand any of that because all she sees is what’s wrong with her situation.

When I was invited to write for my publisher, I was reluctant. Would I be dishonoring God writing for a non-faith-based company? What type of content would I have to change in my story to fit the line? Would I be compromising myself for a check I could count on for a few years? Why would God put me in this situation when He knows how passionate I am about Christian fiction?

I took a light and cautious step down a path that veered from what I thought would be the best road for me. And then I had a chat with my editor. I learned that she was Christian also. She understood what I was doing and had a vision for where I could go that wouldn’t compromise me but would introduce me to the kind of reader my stories were created for. Strong-willed but messy women of faith who live on the fringe, not to survive, but to thrive.