Shades of Faith Book Giveaway Winner

And the winner of the signed copy of “Shades of Faith,” edited by Crystal Blanton is…

mystichawker!!!

You each should be receiving an email from me to get your mailing address so the author can ship your book directly to you.

Congrats again!

Book Giveaway – Shades of Faith

The winner of this drawing will receive one (1) autographed copy of “Shades of Faith,” edited by Crystal Blanton.

The drawing for this giveaway will occur on Sunday, August 21st around noon CST.  Entries (comments on Pagan Writers Community blog) must be dated before then to be counted.

You will receive one entry for each of the following:

• Follow Crystal Blanton (@BlantonHPs) on Twitter (comment required for entry).
• Follow Pagan Writers Community (@paganwriters) on Twitter (comment required for entry).
• Tweet “@paganwriters is giving away books from @BlantonHPs! – http://bit.ly/pATuIp” (comment required for entry)
• Blog about this giveaway.  Include link to post in comment as entry.

One entry per comment please!

Winner will be announced on the blog and notified on Monday, August 22nd.

Featured Author Interview – Crystal Blanton

AM – Our Featured Author for this week is Crystal Blanton.  Crystal is the author of “Bridging the Gap: Working Within the Dynamics of Pagan Groups and Society” and editor of the forthcoming anthology “Shades of Faith: Minority Voices in Paganism.”  Thank you for joining us today Crystal!

CB – I am very excited to be back on Pagan Writers Community!  This has been such a great, viable place for us to share and learn from one another.

AM – Please tell us a little more about yourself.

CB – Well, where do I start?  I am a California native, living in the Bay Area. I am a drug and alcohol counselor and have been working in the field of counseling for 15 years.  I am a wife and mother as well, raising a family while working, writing and going to school.  And of course I am an author!

AM – How did you get started as a writer?

CB – I have been writing since I was a child.  I use to be so proud that I won the young author’s award in elementary school.  My writing career came back into focus after leaving my first coven and I have been writing consistently since that point in 2004.

AM – Tell us more about your first book, “Bridging the Gap”?

CB – Bridging the Gap focuses on using techniques from within counseling and therapeutic settings and bringing those tools into the Pagan community as a means to support effective communication, conflict mediation and group dynamics.  The hope in a book like this is that it will help us to learn additional skills that aid us in sustaining community together.

AM – Tell us about the “Shades of Faith” anthology?

CB – Shades of Faith is an anthology that is comprised of authors who are of minority cultural decent and participate in Pagan religious practices.  Often times the voices of minorities in our community are unheard or overshadowed by the mainstream European culture that dominates Pagan culture.  This anthology is a chance to give the mic to those who do not fit the mold of what has become expected from many Pagan paths and shares the experiences of those who are not often heard.  The anthology came out on August 5th and I am very excited to put it out into the community for better perspective of the very diversity of our community.

AM – What inspired you to organize and contribute to this anthology?

CB –  The acquisitions editor of the publisher I work with came to me with this idea and thought it would be important to have an organizer and editor for the project that was of the voices from the cultures that were represented.  It was an honor to be considered!

AM – What can we expect to see from you next?

CB – I am working on a couple of upcoming book proposals.  I hope to do some more work around the concepts that are in Bridging the Gap and I am also working on a project around the building of a priestess that includes many personal experiences of mind and tools in personal refection and growth within our lives and in our crafts.

AM – As an author, what do you think is the most important piece of advice that you would give an unpublished writer?

CB – Continue to write, no matter what.  Writing means so much to so many and if someone is aspiring to be a writer, all it takes is writing.  Allowing yourself to be what you are aspiring for can be scary and yet one of the best ways to grow in your passion.  Write, Write, Write!!

AM – Where can we go to learn more about you and purchase your books?

CB –  You can always find me on www.crystalblanton.com.  I sell books there, as well as provide links to Immanion Press, Amazon and Smashwords where you can also purchase the books.

AM – We appreciate you spending some of your time with us Crystal!  We wish you continued luck with “Bridging the Gap,” “Shades of Faith,” and your other future writing endeavors.

Book Blurb – Bridging the Gap

Bridging the Gap: Working Within the Dynamics of Pagan Groups and Society
by Crystal Blanton

As we evolve it becomes increasingly clear that being an incredible ritualist is not all that is needed to be a competent leader or member of our pagan society. Unless they come to the Craft already equipped with these skills from professional training or other life experience, the leaders in our community have not possessed the skills to effectively model or train in these techniques. For all the intensive training we endure in the Craft, pagans as a society are still ill-equipped to competently cope with the growing needs of our own community.

Bridging the Gap: Working Within the Dynamics of Pagan Groups and Society will look at filling the common gaps in our community by using techniques as tools to assess, understand, and work with the changing dynamic of any group or coven. While maintaining a professional polish, the book uses humor, common scenarios, exercises, and resources to examine the commonalities between techniques used in the counseling profession; giving the reader concrete, professional solutions to coping with common problems.

The book addresses:

• Basics of common techniques used in counseling including anger management, assessment tools, boundaries, behavior shaping, restorative justice and many others
• The common traps that occur within groups, which lead to devastating effects and dissolution
• The creation of the group mind and how it is effected by the budding dynamics of a group
• Creating boundaries to effectively mentor students
• The importance of creating clear objectives and expectations as a group
• The art of holding your group members accountable
• When it is not your fight

Book Blurb – Shades of Faith

Shades of Faith: Minority Voices in Paganism
Edited by Crystal Blanton

Shades of Faith: Minority Voices in Paganism is an anthology that encompasses the voices and experiences of minorities within the Pagan community and addresses some of the challenges, stereotyping, frustrations, talents, history and beauties of being different within the racial constructs of typical Pagan or Wiccan groups.

Often the associations of the roots of Paganism have pushed assumptions that worshippers of Paganism are strictly Caucasian. The mainstreaming of Wicca has elevated images of worship and deity that connect with Celtic, Greek or Roman cultures. There are a lot of minority races that are practicing Pagans and are often having a myriad of experiences that are fashioned by the reality of walking between the worlds of their birth ancestry or culture and that of their spiritual culture. This anthology is an opportunity to share their stories and experiences with others around being the minorities within a minority spiritual community.

Some of the practitioners in this anthology practice paths that include (but are not limited to) Wicca, Voodoo, Umbanda, Shaman, Native and other Pagan paths.

Join us in celebrating the incredible diversity and beauty that encompass the harmony that has created the song of the Pagan community. The previously unheard voices of our community are now sharing the power of experience through the written word and through their voices.