Alexis A. Goring is a writer at heart and journalist by profession. She loves the storytelling process, including everything from interviewing people for news media and faith-based publications to writing the story, editing the story, and publishing the story.

Alexis is an author of Inspirational Romance fiction stories and nonfiction devotionals that inspire the heart. She has written and published three fiction books and her devotionals have appeared in numerous faith-based publications. Stories and Songs of Faith: My Journey with God is her first nonfiction book project filled with original devotionals that she wrote.

You are an author, but is it your day job? My day job is curating a newsletter for a media company. I’m also a professional editor.

Did you always want to be an author? Yes! And I’ve always wanted my books to be made into movies!

What is your most recent book and what inspired you to write it? My most recently published book is a devotional titled, Stories and Songs of Faith: My Journey with God. My real-life faith journey inspired me to write it. I’ve been writing devotionals since recovering from a health crisis at age 16 and been professionally published as a devotional writer for about 15 years. But it didn’t dawn on me until about four years ago that I should write a book filled with my original devotionals. Stories and Songs of Faith: My Journey with God was published in April 2020.

How do you hope your book uplifts those who read it? I hope that my devotional uplifts everyone who reads it in a way that’s real, relatable and points people to Jesus Christ who loves them with His life! I hope that it will be a teaching tool to express God’s unconditional love for humankind. And I hope that it will help my readers feel closer to Him.

What are you most excited about with this book? I’m most excited that there’s a Song Directory at the end of it. Readers can go there to look up songs I mentioned in each chapter. If they’re reading on a Kindle, they can simply select the hyperlink in the directory and watch the video of the song on YouTube via Kindle.

How did writing a book help your career take off? Writing a book didn’t help my career take off. I’m still building it, slow and steady.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to succeed in your professional industry? My advice would be to keep moving forward past all the disappointments. If you fail, but this is what you’ve been called by God to do, then get back up and try again! Educate yourself. Go to writers’ conferences. Network with professionals in the industry. Make friends with other authors. Read books in your genre that you want to write. Find a mentor who is where you want to be professionally, then let that person guide you as you endeavor to become an author. Keep seeking God on this. Pray about everything and trust Him to order your steps.

How do you handle setbacks and criticism? I remember that, in the words of Willie Jolley, “A Setback Is a Setup for a Comeback!” I pray about it and move in the direction God steers me. Dealing with criticism can be so defeating. But if it’s constructive criticism then I try to learn from it.

How do you hold yourself accountable and achieve the goals that you set forth? Setting deadlines for my writing and meeting them on time always helps me achieve my goals. Reaching out to my writing partner about my goals helps too because she holds me accountable.

How do you structure your day and make time for writing? I don’t have a set structure. I kind of go with the flow. I always prioritize my deadlines that I’m being paid for first, then after those are met, I focus on my own creative projects and get those done. Writing fiction is one of my creative projects but as I said, there’s no set time for it.

What do you find most fulfilling in the career that you’ve chosen? Great question! There’s so much that’s fulfilling about this career. I cannot decide on just one aspect so I’ll name a few: Making friends with other authors, networking with fellow creatives, seeing my words published in a book, and receiving notes from readers who were touched by my writing and wanted to let me know.

What book uplifts you? The Holy Bible. It’s the only book that’s alive! And the only book where the one who inspired it wants to know me personally and save my soul in His Kingdom. The Bible is filled with faith, hope, love, and real-life situations. It’s the best book that will ever be published. They say that “Many books can inform you. But only the Bible can transform you!” God has used His book to transform me from the inside-out. I go to The Bible for encouragement, guidance, wisdom, hope, faith, and a reminder of God’s eternal love for me and all of humankind.

Readers can connect with Alexis at her website https://alexisagoring.jimdofree.com

Images Courtesy of Alexis A. Goring.