Susan
Gaulden
Fictional Erskine Professor Featured In Novel By Former Area Resident
Susan Gaulden, wife of Erskine Seminary alumnus Dr. Charles Gaulden, must have absorbed some Erskine atmosphere while her husband was a student on the Due West campus — enough, at least, to inspire her to create a fictional Erskine professor, the protagonist in her recently published novel, “Under Southern Skies.”
It was Erskine's "peacefulness and the big beautiful oaks and the strong sense of faith and belief in (God’s) Word that I sensed and heard from my husband" that most impressed Gaulden during the time her husband was a seminary student, she said.
Gaulden's novel, a mystery that contains elements of espionage, is a first venture into fiction for the former high school teacher, although she has published other works, including Sunday school curricula and a book called “Jesus Says,” co-authored with her husband and translated into Russian and Bulgarian.
As Gaulden talks about her first novel, she makes it clear that her concerns as a fiction writer run deeper than the creation of an exciting plot.
"The main character is an Erskine college professor who is struggling with some issues of trust and faith which she finally resolves at the end of the book," Gaulden said. "You get burned a few times and it gets really hard to trust again. She works through that."
The Gauldens lived in Greenwood from 1988-98. Charles was pastor of Grace Community Church, and from 1990-98, Susan taught English at Abbeville High School.
"I write about things I know, people and places I know," she said. The book's backdrop, in addition to the Erskine campus, includes Abbeville and Edisto.
Gaulden and her husband are now serving full time at the non-denominational Evangel Cathedral in Spartanburg, where she oversees student ministries, women's ministries and creative arts.
It was her husband, Gaulden says, who encouraged her through the process of writing and publishing “Under Southern Skies.”
"Trying to get the book published was worse than writing it," Gaulden said. "It took me probably two years to get it published." She received at least 240 rejections.
"If I had known it was going to be that hard I probably wouldn't have written the book," she said.
"I learned a lot about persistence through the publication process," Gaulden said, and she applies what she has learned to her ministry at Evangel Cathedral.
"People quit too soon — I encourage them to keep going," she said. "Sometimes we stop one step short of the harvest."
The commitment that kept Gaulden going long enough to get her book published translates into other areas of endeavor.
She is enthusiastic about mission trips to Nicaragua and Latvia, and just as excited about her home church.
"People love the Lord, they love to serve, and they're so cooperative," Gaulden said.
The Gauldens have three children -- a son in high school and two daughters at Converse College.
"One of our daughters is married to a minister, and one is engaged to a minister," she said, adding that her son wants to be a minister and leads a student Bible study in their home.
Gaulden said her publisher has asked her to write two more books. "I actually have two ideas," she said.
“Under Southern Skies” is available at the Erskine Bookstore.
