Donna Carter
Donna Carter is the author of the article, "Be the CEO of Your Emotions" on page 111 of Hot Apple Cider. This article illustrates ways we can learn to control our emotions instead of letting them control us.
Donna Carter has a unique ability to synthesize life experience into digestible life lessons. She is sought after as a speaker internationally because of her clarity, humor and the light-bulb moments she triggers for women seeking help on their spiritual journeys.
Donna lives in Calgary, Canada, with her husband, Randy, who is a youth speaker, and her two daughters, Kendall and Kevann. Her first book, 10 Smart Things Women Can Do to Build a Better Life, was released in the fall of 2007 and is now being distributed in five countries.
The Carters are the co-founders of Straight Talk Ministries, a non-profit organization committed to helping people find faith and apply it to everyday life.
Donna and her husband were in Haiti when the earthquake struck. You can read her account of that here.
In her foreword for Hot Apple Cider, Janette Oke mentions that writers are often asked, “Why do you write?” How do you respond to that question?
If I didn’t speak and write I think I would explode. When I learn something my first thought is, “how would I teach this to someone else?’ I think that comes with the gift of teaching. I just have a passion to share what I have learned.
You and your husband are both involved in Straight Talk Ministries, which primarily involves speaking. I believe Randy speaks primarily to young people and you speak primarily to women. You also have a family. When and why did you decide you needed to make time to write a book?
I actually began to write to help process the grief I was experiencing following the death of a close friend. That book, though short-listed twice for the Best New Canadian Author Award, remains, as yet, unpublished. I loved the writing process though.
Almost immediately, I began to write 10 Smart Things Women Can Do to Build a Better Life. Strangely, I didn’t intend for it to become a book. It was written as a life management course for my own church to help them reach out to women beyond our doors. When I went in search of a publisher for the course materials, so that we could share the resource with other churches, it was the publishers we approached who told me I had a book.
Your article in Hot Apple Cider is actually an excerpt from your book, 10 Smart Things Women Can Do to Build a Better Life, which is part of a 10-session course you teach. You call it a “life management” course for women. Can you give us a couple of examples of smart things you believe women need to do?
These principles are really universal to men and women. We all need to learn to manage our emotions so that we aren’t over-reacting to events that push the buttons related to our previous experiences. We need to conquer discontentment by learning to live with grateful hearts and to resolve our relationships by forgiving others who have wounded us. We need to do these things for our own sakes.
Do you need to take the entire course, or can you read the book on its own?
The book stands alone, but there is always something to be gained by verbally processing what we are learning with others in community.
Are you writing anything now, or do you have plans to write more?
I am struggling to find time to write amidst my travel and speaking schedule. I am close to completing a book on re-aligning our values with the values of Jesus. And I am still hunting for the right publisher for my book on friendship.
I’m assuming you get feedback from a lot of people because of the nature of your book, and feedback is great for the author—you know someone is actually reading your words! But I’m wondering if you’ve learned anything from your readers that you could share with us?
There is something very humbling about having your own words quoted back to you by someone who has learned from you while living in far worse circumstances than you ever imagined while writing the words. Recently a woman in Tanzania wrote me to tell me how she was learning profound lessons from my book. I wrote those lessons for the women in my sub-urban neighbourhood. Who knew God would take it around the world and use it in the life of an impoverished, abused woman in the third world!
A lot of people want to share their stories in order to help others. What advice do you have for someone who wants to write but doesn’t know how to begin?
My education and background is in the field of interior design. The only training I have in the art of writing, beyond introductory college level English, came from one workshop. I only remember one thing from that workshop but it has served me well. “Dump your head”. The idea is to get your ideas down without worrying about imagery or word choice. You can always go back and make it pretty later.
What is your prayer for the readers of Hot Apple Cider?
Story is a powerful tool. Jesus used it all the time. My prayer is that the medium of story would touch hearts in a wonderful, serendipitous way, and lives would be changed for good and for God
