Prayer, Patience, Perseverance

The road to having a full length novel published has been a long, difficult journey for me. The Lord has been good to me in opening the doors the past two years, but at times I had begun to wonder if He was ever going to answer my prayers. I prayed and had many prayer warriors who did the same. Deep in my heart I believed God would answer when the time was right, but several times I wondered if He’d checked the time because I certainly wasn’t growing any younger. Still I persevered and kept writing proposals for my agent, Tamela Hancock Murray to submit to various publishers.

Rejection after rejection came, but still I persevered. God would reward my efforts if I didn’t give up. I adopted Galatians 6:9 as my writing verse and truly believed it would happen for me.

Patience is not my long suit, but I learned that without patience, I’d be frustrated to the point of giving up. Then one day Tamela called and said an editor was interested and wanted to offer me a contract. It seems that the publisher had decided to launch a historical fiction line, and my manuscript happened to be on her desk at that time. They wanted a four book series so Winds Across the Prairie was born from that first manuscript.   This happened on my 73^rd birthday.

My experience taught me that striving to improve and do my best with the talent He has given will bring results. The years of attending writing conferences, reading books to perfect my craft, finding critique partners, and being willing to listen to the advice of experienced writers paid off with that contract. It also proves that age has nothing to do with acceptance or rejection. If a story is good, the plot and characters believable, and it shows a serious effort by the writer to be professional, editors will take notice.  

Those who have multiple books circulating understand the importance of perfecting their craft and never cease to seek and learn more. Those who are still waiting for that first contract must practice patience, pray, study the craft, and persevere with their writing. If it is to be, it will be, but not until God determines the time.

So, my question for you is: What has your writing journey been like?