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| Romance Along the Rails will be released in January 2018 |
Never Give Up on Your Dreams
In the early 1990’s, when I was in my forties, I began to have the urge to write. I enrolled in the Institute of Children’s Literature. As I completed the lessons my desire to be a writer increased. I joined a small writer’s group and went to an amazing writer’s conference in Oklahoma called the Professionalism in Writing Conference. There I saw and met writers like Brock and Bodie Thoene, Karen Ball and others.
I started writing my novel (Working title; Tables on the Prairie). The second year I went to the conference I took the first few chapters and had a critique session with Karen Ball, who was the acquisitions editor for Multnomah Press. She offered me a contract for the book and the first chapter won first place in the writer’s contest. I was ecstatic and went home determined to write and finish the novel, but life crashed in around me. My mother fell and fractured her pelvis and Daddy was in the early to middle stages of Alzheimer’s. We took them in to live with us. I tried to write, but with the stress of their care and the fear of not making the deadline, I broke the contract!
I continued to write and finished the novel, as well as several short stories, including “Grandpa Forgot My Name”. Although I tried submitting them to book publishers and magazines, I had no success getting them published. Eventually, I gave up. My book and stories sat in my computer for 12-13 years. I always knew they were there and made sure they were saved. I would go to Christian bookstores and think that I should have a book on those shelves.
The Lord gave me the verse, Habakkuk 2:2-3 “And the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision, and make it upon tables, that he my run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it: because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”
About two summers ago, my son, Kelly, said, “Mom, do you know your book in on Amazon?” Sure enough, it was listed back when I’d been given the contract. He said, “Your novel is written, you need to get it out and work on it. There are other ways to publish it.”
The desire to write was rekindled in me. I read the manuscript and decided it was worth the effort, though it needed editing. Thanks to great critique and editing partners, it is now ready to be published. Next month “Romance Along the Rails” will be released.