Every author has a unique story of how they arrived at publication, and I’d like to share mine with you. My writing journey has had a lot of twists and turns, and I’ve definitely seen God’s hand at work as He has used other people to have a tremendous impact on me as a writer.
How It All Began: 7ish-10
I don’t know exactly how old I was when I started writing my first story—probably somewhere between the age of six and eight. But I do remember what it was about. I wrote it in diary style and it was about two sisters, orphans, who lived in an abandoned barn. Somewhere along the way, they picked up another orphan, so then there were three of them.
I also had a few other stories that I worked on during this time. One was about two girls and their family, and each chapter was a different story in their lives. In one of them, a tornado destroyed their home. Does that sound familiar to anyone?
Another story was about an orphanage with twenty-six children, each one having a name that started with a different letter of the alphabet. I don’t think I ever finished any of these stories, but I loved writing them.
The Middle Years: 10-17
The middle years was the time when my stories transitioned from chapters or stories consisting of one or two paragraphs to stories with a plot, character arcs, and more general depth to the stories.
During this time, I showed my writing to no one, nor did I talk about it to anyone. It was also during this time that I began dreaming of publication. Of course I knew that would be years and years down the road since my writing was nowhere near good enough to publish. But I definitely dreamed of the day when I would be a published author.
We had a couple of booklets on creative writing, and I read both of them, eagerly implementing what I had learned so my writing would improve. I was also studying English in school, and though I hated it, I’m so glad my mom didn’t listen to me when I said I thought I would never need it. Back then, I just didn’t realize how important having a good grasp of English was for being a good writer.
I think I finished a grand total of one story during this time in my writing journey. I had all of these grand ideas (Okay, they seemed grand at the time. Though a couple of those ideas have some potential and I may resurrect them at some time.) and I would begin writing them, but I would get stuck part way through the story, or run out of ideas, or just generally grow bored of them and move on to a new story that sounded so much more fun to write.
The story that I finished was a Civil War story about my great-great-great grandfather, a Confederate veteran, and his family. Other stories that I worked on during this time were either medieval stories or historical fiction. One took place in Texas and involved cattle rustling, another in Scotland, and I also had other Civil War or post-Civil War stories.
The College Years: 17-23
My writing definitely slowed down during my time in college, but a lot of things happened that cemented my love for it and my desire to be published. For the first few years, the main time I wrote (other than on college assignments) was when my brain needed a break from studying…or when I was procrastinating studying.
It was also during this time that I changed two things about my writing. I began writing what I would later learn was suspense, and for the first time since I was quite young, I began writing contemporary stories.
I had two required English/writing courses, and during those classes, I received a lot of constructive feedback from my professor. She told me that I had potential as a writer and encouraged me to seriously pursue writing.
While publication had long been a dream of mine, I now began viewing it as a serious possibility. My parents encouraged me to go for it, suggesting that I take more writing classes for my electives. I think I ended up taking every English and Creative Writing class that the college offered, and I received a lot of help from my professor. My senior year, I started a new routine, writing for thirty or so minutes in bed every night, consistently working on the same story.
As I was growing in my writing ability, something else was happening that was crucial to my own writing: my sister began seriously writing, so it became a hobby that we did together. She also wrote in bed at night, and when we had finished writing for the night, we would swap our notebooks (We both handwrote at this time.) and read what the other one had written.
This was the first time I had ever shared my writing with anyone else, except for letting my sister see a very small portion of the Civil War story I wrote in my teens. Because I now let her read what I wrote, whenever I grew stuck in my story, instead of switching to a new one as I did previously, she now helped me figure out how to get unstuck. And this was a game changer for me.
Shortly before graduating, I finished the story I had been writing every night: a middle-grade story destined to become my first ever published book.
On The Road to Publication: 23-25
After graduating college, I continued writing, returning to the suspense story that I now planned to be a ten-book series. I also worked on editing the story that I had finished writing. Since I finished it before finishing college, and since my last class was one of the most beneficial to my writing, I began incorporating some of what I had learned.
I hoped to publish in the not-too-distant future, but I wasn’t really sure how to go about publishing. I had heard a little about self-publishing, but I didn’t know much about it or what it involved.
About a year and half after finishing college, God brought an online writing community, King’s Daughters’ Writing Camp, into my life. Here, I became acquainted with already published authors as well as aspiring authors. I was introduced to the world of self-publishing, and I was able to get input on my writing from experienced authors.
After getting my book beta-read and editing it according to the feedback I received, I sent it off to an editor. My English professor very kindly agreed to edit it for me, which was special for me since she had been instrumental in my writing journey.
During this time, I had a number of other projects I was working on as well: historical fiction, mystery, adult contemporary, and more. I realized that suspense was not a genre I wanted to pursue, and I laid aside the series I had been working on. And though I do dabble in stories that are not middle-grade, it was during this time that I realized that God had given me a passion to write faith-building stories for young readers.
A Published Author: 25-Present Age
There were around four years from the time when I started writing the first book I published to when I actually published it. As I dipped my toes into the world of self-publishing, I learned there is more to publishing a book than I realized. Writing a book is just one small step down the road to publication.
I’m thankful for the experienced authors God brought into my life shortly before I reached this point in my writing journey. They were a tremendous help, providing advice on covers, blurbs, and so much more.
My first book was Tornado Tragedy, a middle-grade story, and the first book in the H.E.L.P. series. It was a story that God gave to me, and it will always hold a special place in my heart as the first book I ever published.
The Writing Journey Continues
I’m now a published author, and at the time of writing this, I have two books out as well as stories in several anthologies. So far, everything I’ve published has been contemporary. But I don’t plan to restrict myself to one genre. I have plans for two middle-grade mystery series, multiple historical novels, and other works that I’m not sure how to classify as far as genre (true-to-life stories that take place in fictional countries).
I hope my story has been a blessing to you. God has definitely been at work in my writing journey, bringing the right people into my life at the right time, opening the door to publication at just the right moment, and now continuing to guide me as I write stories that point readers to Him.
“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21
