Tag: publishing dream

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Embrace the Wait

Find Your Fellow Tesserae and Stick Together (Part 3): Don’t allow setbacks to keep you from chasing your writing dreams.

In this series of posts I’m interviewing writers who God has placed in my life to complete His divine mosaic. Each piece of a mosaic is called a tesserae. I’d like to introduce another tesserae in my mosaic—Patricia Tiffany Morris. I first met Patricia through an online critique group. The combination of her technical expertise and artistic talent blew me away, but it was Patricia’s willingness to take the time, apart from our regular meetings, to lovingly share her knowledge that caused me to consider her a dear friend.

Patricia had a huge publishing dream. She worked hard and invested time and money to plan for that dream. Finally, the time to realize that dream came and … a series of major technical setbacks threatened to steal the joy of seeing her dream come to fruition.

But God…

1) Briefly explain the original dream/plan for your journals

After my husband retired, and the empty nest stage of life arrived, we had little capital, but enormous dreams.

We brainstormed ideas to create a residual income for ourselves and our children after our death. Leaving a legacy, using my skills in creative writing and art, sparked my imagination. With my architectural and design background, I sketched plans and details of a perfect tiny house nestled in the mountains of North Carolina. I designed a home in college in the style of Sarah Suzanka’s Not So Big House, and continue to write and draw, filling stacks of notebooks and journals.

Two years ago, I pulled out a planner concept I’d developed over the past 20 years, still in a folder with no concrete plans.

A fresh idea germinated. One that planted itself between my desire to write and create art, and my need for organization. If wanted specific identification of my journals’ contents, I reasoned that others also did. You see, whenever I wanted to locate an entry, I would pull the assortment of journals out of two overflowing 18-gallon Rubbermaid containers.

If I wanted to find a book title, why couldn’t I design a journal with the words on the spine or color-code the cover so writing journals were one color, and creativity or spiritual journals were their distinct colors? I color-coded our family cups and towels. Why couldn’t I categorize journals the same way?

I immersed myself in this project. I could spend my entire life developing this planner or complete a portion of the project right now. For however long God plans for me on earth, I hope to share inspirational writing prompts, organizational ideas, and create places to brainstorm, sketch and create. And dream.

2. Can you tell me more about the journal series?

The series of journals separated by various category topics or by content, could help other creatives manage their creativity and planning needs and provide that financial legacy for my children.

I cracked open my new bullet journal and prayed. One idea after another poured onto the pages. Categories took shape. Digital art programs aided the workflow and Journaling Scribbles came to life.

The idea of a series of color-coded journals, organized by categories labeled with a colored band, found momentum with a small group of friends who encouraged me. Some joined my launch team and propelled me toward the goal of self-publishing.

I’m not sure I would have had strength through the many setbacks without my empathetic and courageous launch team.

3. What sorts of twists and turns did you encounter while trying to publish?

A more precise question might be, “What sort of trials didn’t I encounter?”

We don’t know how much we don’t know, unless we experiment and learn from our mistakes.

I believe that technology became my biggest enemy. Also, my lofty expectations that I would be published before Christmas in 2020. Ironically, I’m writing a fiction series called the Virtual Strangers Series. Technology is the ultimate antagonist to my heroine and her family. It also becomes the helper to solve the mystery. Fiction imitates life.

I experienced many crashes, lost files, and consumed hours and days of extra work. The temptation to give up and the waves of depression that I might never publish, brought me to my knees more often because of my need and a realization that I wasn’t in control.

The digital learning curve throws me daily, but I’m thankful for geeky solutions and platforms that help meet my long-term goals for the Journaling Scribbles™ series of journals.

4. How did you handle the discouragement?

In addition to having a wonderfully supportive husband who prays for me and with me, I found courage to ask for help and prayer. As setbacks delayed my timeline and as each twist developed, like any true plot-twist in a novel, I could either give in, press forward, or wait.

Option 3-Wait. I reset the iPad, worked on what I could. I dove into yet another unfamiliar app, but at least I inched forward in the waiting.

I put some steps on hold and grappled with the reality that my timeline was not in God’s. I struggled with the KDP proof-copy and pulled the books from Amazon’s distribution in November 2020. The proofs were sub-standard, see-through paper, and not at all suited for journaling.

I asked for prayer and announced the delay while researching options. Integrating my artwork into the software asset library proved almost therapeutic. I also brainstormed ideas with my husband again and continued to create journal themes to keep the dream alive.

My team was immensely supportive and patient with schedule changes. I found renewed hope. Even during this set-back, I could search for solutions and make progress toward the dream of self-publishing and creating a legacy for my family.

5. What practical lessons have you learned through your set-back that might help another author, who is just starting out?

I think I may have appeared foolish to many people, but that doesn’t usually stop me. When the Lord continues to shine through the pages of the Bible and keeps me in His presence despite the trials of this life, I’m confident I can’t fall without Him catching me. Ideas may fail, but He reminds me I’m not a failure.

I also developed a practice of taking notes during worship and lettered His words while watching the sermon. Illustrations came to life through videotaping the coloring process. Sundays kept me grounded in the Word and exercised my creativity. These times swept away discouragement and allowed me to dive into the writing and publishing flow on Mondays.

6. What God lessons have you learned that you might not otherwise have gleaned on a smoother publishing journey?

Remember I mentioned “my timeline”? That was my biggest lesson. I am much afflicted by pride. And I need God’s timeline. His plans might ask me to wait, but I can keep learning. The waiting time is so important.

As authors, writers, and artists, we create and design. We make plans and press ahead sometimes without waiting for the Lord’s direction. How precious and glorious when I rest in the flow of His purpose. Like riding on a calm lake, floating sometimes propels me off course or causes the craft to drift to the shoreline or get caught in the weeds. Sometimes stepping into the boat at the top of a hill and careening through a waterfall upside-down until I emerge in yet another stream toward the goal.

I think there’s always another stream to navigate. Don’t you? Another trial. Another goal. Success resides in the journey, the process, and how we view ourselves as we travel. We can either walk on our own merits, or with God’s direction and a bit of community cheerleading to remind each one of us that we need one another to succeed in this world.

7) If you had it all to do over again, would you take a different path?

This question tumbles through my mind quite often. My dream would still be present. Or another dream stacked waiting for my time. The imagination pulses continually. That’s who I am. My creativity and inspiration to create, flow from my allegiance to Christ. But the path along each tributary is fluid. I see many tributaries in this journey. I might have taken the path of Ingram publishing instead of KDP. I may have hired a marketing director instead of the FB team. Or I might have bought into the Adobe Design software instead the Affinity products.

But the dream still keeps me awake at night.

If not this dream, another equally complex and time consuming one would surface, because the goal to create a product that meets other believer’s needs for reflection and planning and creativity would still be there, wrestling for an answer to the problems of our identity in Christ. And souls like me, who find peace and joy in processing our thoughts, words, and ideas, might still be waiting for us.

While the exact path might be different, the end goal or product faces me and reminds me to keep pressing forward.

If you are a writer. If you are a creative artistic person who wakes up to a dream, keep pressing forward. If you need to hop out of the figurative boat to reassess the current, do it. If the dream calls to you, and God doesn’t say no, or stop, keep praying. Keep researching and reevaluating your path. And brainstorm, collaborate, and network until God redirects your path.

I’ll pray for you as you write, create, and inspire others to do the same.

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 14:26, Hebrews 10:24, 1 Peter 3:8

Fun Fact or Helpful Resource:
Artist, writer, and Christian creative, Patricia Tiffany Morris, weaves original hand-drawn artwork, digital illustrations, and traditional planning elements throughout the pages of the journals. For more info check out Patricia’s website: https://www.patriciatiffanymorris.com/

Annette Marie Griffin is an award-winning author who has managed and directed programs for children and youth for more than twenty years. She has written curriculum for character growth and development of elementary-age children, developed parent training seminars to benefit the community, and counseled at-risk youth. Her first children’s book What Is A Family? released in 2020. She and her husband have five children—three who have already flown the coop and two adopted teens still roosting at home—plus two adorable grands who add immeasurable joy and laughter to the whole flock. 

Categories
Guest Posts

Publishing Dreams Can Come True

In the early 1920s, a young boy who hadn’t cared much for reading became enthralled with Jack London’s The Call of the Wild. He then read everything he could get his hands on.

He dreamed of writing his own stories. He hadn’t had much formal education, but he knew life with his dogs and home. He didn’t have paper, so he wrote descriptions in the dirt of what he heard in nature.

As a young man, he traveled around the country looking for work and wrote stories in his off time. He cut open brown bags for paper to write on. He couldn’t spell well. He wrote line after line continuously with no paragraphs. His only punctuation was a dash when he came to a pause in a narrative. When he finished, he rolled the paper up, tied it with a string, and put it in his trunk. He was ashamed of his lack of skill, but he kept writing the stories on his heart.

When he met the woman he wanted to marry, he was so ashamed of his writing that he burned all his manuscripts before the wedding. Some months later, he told his wife, Sophie, about the stories he had burned. She encouraged him to write them again.

He wouldn’t let her see the manuscript until he was done. When he finally gave her the manuscript, he left the house because he didn’t want to see her reaction. When he called her, she told him the story was wonderful but needed to be lengthened. What he had was too long for a story and too short for a book.

The man transformed his 30,000 words into 80,000. His wife edited his handwritten manuscript.

The manuscript was accepted for serialization by the Saturday Evening Post and then published as a book by Doubleday. But Doubleday marketed the book to adults, and sales languished. One editor who believed in the story arranged for the author to speak to a group of teachers, who then took the book back to their classrooms. Children loved it. The publisher reclassified the story as a children’s book. The book eventually became a beloved classic: Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, based on his boyhood in Oklahoma.

Rawls later spoke all across the country. His most famous speech was titled “Dreams Can Come True” about his own writing journey (his speech can be heard in five parts on YouTube beginning here).

Rawls’ story encourages writers in several ways.

1. If you have a story on your heart, write it. Rawls found ways to write through less than ideal circumstances.

2. If you don’t have the necessary skills, it’s never been easier to acquire them. Numerous books, classes, and conferences are available. Many writers share vital information and advice for free through blogs and podcasts. You probably have friends willing to read your work and give you feedback. You might pray for your own “Sophie,” who would be willing to edit your work.

3. Trust God’s guidance. I don’t know if Rawls was a Christian. But you can’t listen to his story without noting several key factors or people without which his book would not have come to be: Sophie, the Saturday Evening Post editor who wanted to take the book to Doubleday, the Doubleday editor who fought for the story, the speaking engagement to teachers, the switch in marketing from adults to children. Ask God to guide your way, bring across your path the people you need to meet, and incline your thinking and your publisher’s as to the best way to present the book.

With help, hard work, and God’s leading, publishing dreams can come true.

Barbara Harper lives with her husband of 40 years in Knoxville, TN. They raised three sons, one of whom added a lovely daughter-in-law and an adorable grandson to the family. Barbara loves reading, writing, and card-making. She has blogged for almost 14 years at https://barbaraleeharper.com/. She wrote a newsletter for women at her church for 15 years as well as magazine articles, newspaper columns, and guest blog posts. One of her passions is encouraging women to get into the Word of God for themselves. She’s currently working on her first book-length project.

Categories
A Lighter Look at the Writer's Life

From Almost to Real

lighter look at a writer's life

What if you write for a website called “Almost An Author” and then you actually get a book contract? And that book is ready to be published? Are you no longer Almost An Author? Do look for a new website to write for—“Real Author Now” or something like that?

That’s the predicament I find myself in as the dream has become reality. I co-authored a book with fellow A3 writer Holland Webb, and Adventures in Fatherhood, a 60-day devotional, releases April 7 (If you’re reading this post on the day it publishes, that’s TOMORROW).

EEEK!!!!

That’s a squeal of excitement and fear. Birthing a book and getting it out there is a wild ride, and, to paraphrase, “I don’t know nothing ‘bout birthin’ no books.” But I am learning.

Having a dream is a wonderful thing, especially if it’s a God-given dream. This book represents that for me, and my co-author and I have frequently said to each other, “I can’t believe this is really happening!” I pinch myself on a regular basis.

In honor of my transition from “Almost” to “Real,” I want to share some thoughts:

  1. To make the transition, you must do the work and pay your dues. There’s no shortcut, no substitute, no magic formula.
  2. Writing the book usually comes easy, or at least it did for me when I got a deadline. We are inspired writers, aren’t we? We panic at deadlines, don’t we? I learned I am much more motivated to the butt-in-chair time when a due date is looming.
  3. Marketing is scary—but not as scary as you think. I have been taught that writers have to market, market, market themselves and build platform, platform, platform. While true, I have found that publishers are more than willing to do their part and to help with your part. My co-author and I have received nothing but support and encouragement for this piece of the process.
  4. Platform is important but ever-changing. If you have noticed, I don’t have a blog with a kajillion followers. The Pioneer Woman has no need to worry. What I do have is a loyal number of supporters on this blog and other group blogs I contribute to, as well as tons of friends on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and (shocking, I know) in person. I’m still building the platform and it’s not as rickety as before, and my publisher understands that.
  5. God is good.
  6. If you don’t give up, the dream will come true—probably not in the way you envisioned. I did not set out to be a devotional writer, but “Surprise!” God is like that.
  7. I really want you to buy a copy of the book. Or twelve.

Just kidding on that last one. Sort of.

Here’s to all of you who are still on the “Almost” path. May your journey to “Real” be focused and blessed.

Now, quit reading here and get that butt in the chair. You have writing to do!

Carlton Hughes, represented by Cyle Young of Hartline Literary, wears many hats. By day, he is a professor of communication. On Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings, he serves as a children’s pastor. In his “spare time,” he is a freelance writer. Carlton is an empty-nesting dad and devoted husband who likes long walks on the beach, old sitcoms, and chocolate–all the chocolate. His work has been featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Dating Game, The Wonders of Nature, Let the Earth Rejoice, Just Breathe, So God Made a Dog, and Everyday Grace for Men. His latest book is Adventures in Fatherhood, co-authored with Holland Webb.