In one of those chance encounters that could only happen on the internet, my path recently crossed with that of fellow author Kelly Libatique. He and I traded copies of our work to read and I was intrigued to read his book on a subject I’ve often struggled with: public speaking. What I found was an insightful and very helpful tool to help any person prepare for a speaking engagement. After reading what Kelly had to say, I asked him if I might interview him here on my blog in order to give readers the chance to understand his motivations and to gain a deeper understanding of his work.
JG: Was there a clear moment when you had to write your book, Divine Knowledge Transfer, and if so, how much time passed from that moment until you sat down to write?
KL: That’s an interesting question. I’m not sure I “had” to write it at any time, but I do remember a strong urge to want to [write the book] maybe five or six months before I committed to it. My days are pretty busy. I had been in my career for over ten years, and the idea hit me that no one had ever written anything on the theme of relating Biblical principles to modern-day knowledge transfer. That excited me; it’s hard to be original these days. This is actually my second nonfiction work, so I knew what it would take. But after mulling it over and realizing that whether I truly felt “ready” or not, I just needed to make that decision and go for it, I dove in and started writing.
JG: With the internet, readers have a wider selection of books to choose from than ever before. What sets Divine Knowledge Transfer apart from other ‘how to’ style books?
KL: Divine Knowledge Transfer does something that, to my knowledge, no other book does. It takes some of the core concepts taught in Scripture—everything from God’s plan of preparation in our lives, humility, modeling other, and even how dress and appearances affects what people think of us—and applies it to modern-day teaching, communication and public speaking. The more I got into it, the more it surprised me how much applicable information there is. People who have read it tell me they didn’t think something like that was either possible or practical, but that my book does indeed do just that.
JG: On the subject of allowing all we do to, effectively, be done through Christ and to His glory, has this morality always been your method in tackling goals?
KL: Absolutely—life is short. We only get one shot at this. Hebrews 9:27-28 tells us: “And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people . . .” (NLT). The process of putting together a book is not only taxing on the mind and body, it’s time consuming. We get 86,400 seconds to spend each day and we’re not getting them back. If one is going to commit to something like this, it better be not just for the here and now, but also for something with eternal ramifications. The greatest compliments I get on my book is that it helped a person not only with their immediate goals, but also in their walk with God.
JG: As an author, did you struggle at all with writing on the topic of speaking?
KL: Not really, but only because I’ve had so much experience at it. Experience is, after all, one’s best teacher. As I explain in the book, I’ve made many mistakes. I’ve learned by trial and error. I’ve also learned through formal education on the subject. But after doing it so many times, it wasn’t too difficult to simply write about what I’ve actually done so many times. I will say that what was difficult was putting together thoughts and chapters in a way that that flowed logically and would make readers remember what I was trying to convey. There was so much information to write about. Nonfiction needs to be as interesting as it is informative, and I believe I succeeded in doing that.
JG: What can readers expect from you next, Kelly?
KL: I’m working on my first big fiction novel, and it covers a subject I also have many years of experience in—acting and performing. The gist of it is, a young San Francisco Bay Area theatre actor, in search of himself and his purpose, is hired by the F.B.I. to do undercover work to help bring down some international criminals. But what he doesn’t know is that he’s being setup. As we go along, we find out that there are twists to the story, and that several parties are using him and are willing to do anything to achieve their objectives. Eventually, our main character comes face to face with both his past and future as he tries to get out of the mess he’s gotten himself into. It’s a story about self-discovery, faith, love and reconciliation. Although I am finding it a huge challenge to do this between family, ministry, and work, I have been really enjoying the process of piecing this together. For more info go to libatique.com.
Again, I would like to thank Kelly for his time and to those of you who have read this interview. It’s my hope that those of you considering picking up a copy of Divine Knowledge Transfer will to so. You can also read my review of the work here.
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