Can you share a little about your recent book?
Fingerprint Devotions: 40 Devotions to Help You Realize You Are a Kid Uniquely Created by God for a Purpose (ages 8-12)©2023, Ambassador International helps kids discover a personal relationship with God, develop godly character traits, and discover their self-worth and purpose in life. The book contains some fascinating facts about fingerprints like—out of 7.9 billion people on earth today, no two people have the same fingerprints, not even twins. Some animals also have fingerprints like humans—the chimpanzee, ape, monkey and koala bear. The devotional pairs interesting facts like these with a scripture, a short devotional, a journal activity and a prayer.
Why do you write? Do you have a theme, message, or goal for your books?
In today’s culture, there is a battle raging for the hearts and minds of our children. They are growing up in a culture that no longer holds traditional Christian values. The culture is shifting so fast that even Christian parents can hardly believe the lies that are being perpetuated as truth. These lies attack at the heart of who our children are—their sexual identity, their worth, and their purpose in life. As a Christian, I believe that God created every person to be unique, one-of-a-kind, with gifts and talents to serve Him and make the world a better place.
How long have you been writing?
I think my writing career started when I won an essay contest in elementary school. Then I had a high school English teacher that inspired me to major in English. After graduation, I began a teaching career, but also kept writing. Over the years, I have published 700+ articles for 20+ publications including travel stories, news stories, lifestyle stories, feature and cover stories. Then fourteen years ago, I self-published my book, Lord, It’s Boring in My Prayer Closet: How to Revitalize Your Prayer Life. At that time I knew nothing about book publishing or the world of marketing. I slowly began going to writer’s conferences, taking classes, joining writing organizations, etc. During COVID, I started writing some children’s picture books just for fun. It was at that time I believe God gave me the idea for my kid’s devotional, Fingerprint Devotions.
And how long did it take you to get your first major book contract? Or are you published non-traditionally? How did that come about?
I worked on my children’s devotional for a couple of years, sending out queries while I was finishing it. In April, 2022, I got a contract with Ambassador International, a small traditional Christian publisher.
Which of your books is your favorite?
Since this is my first children’s book, Fingerprint Devotions, is my favorite because I just felt God’s pleasure and grace as He guided me in writing it.
Tell us about an award you won that was particularly meaningful.
I am so blessed to have my kid’s devotional chosen as a finalist and winner for several different awards, but I believe my most cherished award is my 3rd place Selah award from Blue Mountain Christian Writer’s Conference (BRMCWC) this past May. BRMCWC was one of the first conferences I attended in 2014 to learn more about writing. I saw so many fabulous authors win Selahs and I thought—wouldn’t it be awesome to win one of those some day.
How long does it take you to write a book?
It just depends on the genre and length of the book. My kid’s devotional took two years, but I have a kid’s picture book (Maisie Discovers Her Fingerprint) with the same fingerprint theme for younger kids (3-8) coming out Oct. 1st, 2024. It’s based on my real grand puppy, a Frenchie named Maisie, and my daughter, Sarah. It was a story I wrote quickly just for fun, not even thinking about publishing it. My family loved it so much and encouraged me to publish it. So I began getting it critiqued in my writer’s group as well as a professional edit. People think writing a children’s book is so easy, but it’s really not. Every genre has it’s rules you need to learn. Writing just 500 words is much harder than writing 2,000 words. I guess I worked on honing this picture book on and off for over a year and then I submitted it to my publisher, who said YES.
What’s your writing work schedule like?
I try to fit in working on some aspect of writing most weekdays. I don’t have set times. I used to be more organized than I am now, and I definitely think I have slowed down with age.
Do you have an interesting writing quirk? If so, what is it?
Actually, when I wrote articles (and I still do some articles) I have to get the first paragraph just right before I can move on. It just helps me get started and keep going.
What has been your greatest joy(s) in your writing career?
I think it has been seeing my kid’s devotional out in the world and the impact it has made on kids. I’ve gotten texts and emails from parents who say their kid gets up by themselves every morning to do devotions using this book, or they carry the book around all day with them. Or the fact that every kid at 7Homes foster camps this year had a book of their own because of donations from people during my book launch. Every time I hear a story about how the devotional is ministering to kids I’m almost in tears and I know that even if one child comes to God or understands how unique and special they are to God, it was worth all the time it took to write it.
Could you tell us about a dark moment in your writing career?
Oh there are times I’ve wanted to give up. The most recent was even during my success of getting my Fingerprint Devotions published. It was so much work and the editing process took so long. In fact, the book took 1 ½ years to be published. That’s not long in the publishing world, but for the author, it seems like an eternity. I was so tired and then after it was published came the marketing. I remember saying, “I’m not doing this again.” I’ve heard the term, “birthing a book” and I think it’s an appropriate analogy to use because of the ups and downs and emotions during that time.
How many times in your career have you experienced rejection? How did they shape you?
My first rejection was on an adult prayer book that I queried in 2014 at BRMCWC. I had an editor form Harvest House interested in it and she took it to pub board. A few months later I had a telephone call from her. She told me the pub board decided NO because they already published prayer books by Stormie Omartian, but she said she loved my writing style and encouraged me to keep going and not give up. I think that was the nicest rejection I have ever gotten. Since then, I’ve had a couple of books make it to pub board, but were finally rejected. But as I learn more about the publishing business, I try not to take rejection so personally. Although it still hurts, I realize not every book fits every publisher.
Where do you get your ideas?
For my Fingerprint Devotions, I was reading about fingerprints and it was so fascinating that I just kept digging. I started writing down some of the facts I discovered and the sources. For my picture books, a lot of my ideas come from my daughter’s childhood.
Who is your favorite author to read?
If you mean in the genre I write in, I guess some of the classic childhood books. Tommy DiPolo for example and his Where the Wild Things Are. Some of the books I read to my daughter when she was growing up like Goodnight Moon by Margaret Brown Wise. As far as other kid’s devotionals, Louie Giglio’s Indescribable Series and Michelle Medlock Adams Puppy Dog Devotions inspired me as I was writing my kid’s devotional.
What advice can you give aspiring writers that you wished you had gotten, or that you wished you would have heeded?
Don’t rush things. There’s a process to becoming a writer. Very few authors are overnight successes. Don’t get into writing to make money. If you don’t have a passion to write, then it’s not for you. As a Christian, our goal should be writing to please God and help others know Him better.
What are common mistakes you see aspiring writers make?
One is that beginning writers think they can write a book overnight and get it published by a big traditional house. That only happens with famous people who have ghost writers. I know it’s not fair, but that’s the way it is. They have a PLATFORM to sell books. The second is that many writers enjoy writing, but don’t take time to build a platform and without that, traditional publishers won’t even consider you. If don’t have a large platform, consider a smaller publisher, hybrid publisher, or self-publishing.
Where/How do you recommend writers try to break into the market?
First, keep honing your writing skills. Attend writing conferences. Join professional organizations in your genre. Break in with article writing—build your portfolio of clips. Be willing to write for free and submit to various online blogs and magazine publications. Submit stories to local magazines, even your local community magazine if you have one.
Second, study writer’s guides such as Writer’s Market Guide; the Christian Writer’s Market Guide; and The Book Markets for Christian Writers. They give you an in-depth look at publishers, what they want, how to submit, etc.
Also, feel free to include: book cover image(s), where book(s) can be purchased, and social media and website links.
Sandra Chambers is a wife, mother, former teacher, journalist and author. Her passion, whether writing or speaking, is to help adults and kids realize they are uniquely created by God for a special purpose. She is the author of an award-winning children’s devotional, Fingerprint Devotions: 40 Devotions to Help You Realize You Are a Kid Uniquely Created by God for a Purpose (ages 8-12) ©2023 Ambassador International, and has a picture book, Maisie Discovers Her Fingerprint (ages 3-8) coming out Oct. 1st, 2024. Sandra is also the host of the Five-Minute Parenting Podcast.
- Website Link: Sandrakaychambers.com
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You can find Sandra’s award-winning books on Amazon
