A Love Letter

Recently, my 82-year-old mom said, "If what I know today, I knew when I was young..." That got me thinking.

Today, I am an author of two published novels, with another due out in November, and the current work-in-progress almost ready to shop around. If, what I know today of the publishing arena, I knew back in 2000 when the idea to write "popped into my head," gathered speed, and broke out with a huge adrenalin rush, would I have continued to move in the direction I have?

I suspect the answer would be 'no.'

I would have been too overwhelmed: carve out time to write, query publishers and literary agents, decipher rejection letters, enter contests, query some more, do revisions, review gallies for approval, procure reviews for the books, send out press kits to booksellers and press releases to the media, organize promotions, accept I'm not going to make my millions overnight and not quit my day job.

I would have hightailed it in the opposite direction and crawled under a boulder to hide.

But our all-knowing God knew this. That's why He revealed things to me in a need-to-know basis, led me to writers' organizations, like The Word Guild, where I learned the ropes one step at a time, and met some of the best people I know, other writing professionals, who understood the angst of being an author and commiserated with me over the rejections and rejoiced with me over the successes.

The idea to write didn't just "pop into my head." I was called to write and to write to the glory of God.

Has this authorly journey been easy? No.

Have there been times when I wondered at the sanity of it all? Yes.

Sometimes, it's felt like I had to put on my battle armor and maneuver my way through the minefield, sometimes sustaining injuries.

Knowing what I know today of the publishing arena, would I unplug my computer and call it quits?

No. Quitting is not an option.

You see, I've been infected with the love to write, to entertain, to encourage. Recently, I came across a quote from Mother Teresa which seems to sum me up. "I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending out a love letter to the world."

God Bless!
Anna