Anne Rice's 'Christ The Lord'

Author Discusses Writing About Jesus As A 7-Year-Old

(CBS) 
Rice decided to write this book before her husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She immersed herself in the research for the book while he was dying. She read and worked at his bedside as his disease progressed.

"I never expected this to happen. I was committed to writing the book before he got sick and then I just continued my research," she says. "I did my research, read books and did the research. It was what kept me going. It was very merciful of God to give me that purpose right before the big storm."

She says it was also part of God's plan for her to move out of New Orleans six months before Katrina hit.

"I felt an overpowering urge to move," she says. "It was a tremendous feeling to move. It was very disruptive to my family, but it was good that they got out when they did."

She sold her New Orleans home in December 2004.

"The people are in my thoughts every second. My heart is there," she says about the victims of the hurricane. "Of course, I am communicating every day with my employees there. I still have property there. I have family and friends who have been devastated by the storm.

"And they are rebuilding under the most dreadful circumstances. The insurance checks are coming, but they're coming very slowly. And people are really digging into their pockets, and they're searching around trying to find workers, and trying to find construction material. It's really rough. It's like an area of the country that's been through a war."