All posts tagged publishing

Writing: My First Year, Part 1 – Taking the Plunge

When I was in high school, I had dreams of someday being a writer. I wrote poems, was on the high school newspaper staff, wrote in my diary and wrote other musings that have thankfully long since been destroyed.

My college admissions application listed journalism as my intended major. My first semester classes were all heavy in writing assignments and my grades suffered for it along with my dreams.

I abruptly changed my major to business administration and accounting with career aspirations of becoming a CPA. I turned from a creative left-brained career path to a “safe” analytical right-brained one.

Even though my career was spent mostly in the accounting departments of various organizations, I can see that writing played a big part in many of my positions. At work my writing was very logical and methodical. Through the years I wrote training materials, documented procedures or wrote detailed system specifications.

Outside of work, my writing was more creative in nature. I served as the editor of our neighborhood newsletter for a few years. When I scrapbook, I love to tell the stories behind the photos and not just caption them. At Christmas time, I take great effort and pride in publishing our annual family newsletter.

Why is this significant? Because it was one year ago today that I made my desire known to be a writer by vocalizing it in a support group meeting. I know because I accepted a plastic coin as a marker for this date. I’ve been carrying it with me ever since and marking each month that passed until today’s anniversary.

Tonight at my own church’s Celebrate Recovery meeting (whose program didn’t exist a year ago), I will get to come forward and celebrate this milestone with other Believers who are working through life’s challenges too.

So how or why is my writing a struggle? That’s because despite the various writing I did for my jobs, I still don’t have any professional training or credentials to back up my claim to be a writer. And I certainly didn’t think I was capable of writing for God.

Every chance Satan got along the way he would taunt me by saying “Who do you think you are?” and “You’re not good enough.” I’ve had to fight those voices in my head and believe what God tells me instead—that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14)

It’s only been since that night that God has reminded me how this was His plan all along. When I voiced my desire on that night a year ago, I started to believe that I was a writer. That sudden shift led to a cascading effect of writing related confirmations in my life.

My writing is not something I do for career aspirations or fame and fortune (ask any Christian writer and most will agree). I write because God has given me a message to share. It has taken my 12^th Step (carrying the message to others) in a totally new direction where I have to rely on Him in even bigger ways. Like my blog title claims, He is “making me bold”.

The story that led me down this writing path will be published in a book later this summer called “Journeys to Mother Love”. I’m excited to see how God wants to use it and where my left-brained writing journey will continue to lead me.

Is there someplace in your life that God is making you bold? Where or how is He calling you to share your story?

2 Comments

by ardisanelson on June 14, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Healing & Recovery, My Writing Journey

Tagged 12 step, Celebrate Recovery, publishing, struggle, writing

Posted by ardisanelson on June 14, 2012

https://ardisanelson.com/2012/06/14/writing-my-first-year-part-1/

Riding High After the Writer’s Renewal Conference

After spending two days at the Northwest Christian Writer’s Renewal Conference, I am riding high and a bit on overload. The conference was jam-packed with workshops and opportunities to meet pre-published writers, authors, agents and editors. And yes, I deliberately chose the word “pre-published”’ after hearing “Gym” Rubart use it instead of “unpublished”.

As a first time attender, I was paying attention to everything I heard. And it wasn’t just the variety of people that I was listening to at this conference. I was also listening for God’s voice and nudging for confirmation and discernment, and hopefully a neon flashing arrow that pointed in the direction of my next right step. I think it would’ve been hard to be at the conference and not hear Him calling you to continue on your writing journey. It was such an amazing place of encouragement to writers at all experience levels.

Like any other new endeavor we try in life, there is bound to be some trepidation and maybe outright fear. While I know attending this conference was my next right step of obedience, I also know that the harder work is still ahead. That was the biggest message that I left the conference with—it takes time to write a book, it takes time to hone your craft, it takes time to cultivate relationships, and it takes time to engage in social media. Even so, spending vast amounts of time on these tasks doesn’t guarantee a publishing contract.

What I think it does do is mold you more into the person God created you to be. For me, I think it will provide a bigger training ground for trusting God and waiting on His timing. In other words, to work on two key fruit of the spirit that I still seem to lack—patience and self-control.

Now it is time for the bigger challenge—to physically write the book that God has laid on my heart to write. I learned lots of valuable information to move forward on this project, the biggest one from attending Cindy Scinto’s class on outlining. Even with that new tool in hand, I still have to choose to step into this bigger arena.

As Andrea Mullins asked in my final workshop, “What things in your life are stopping you from embracing the world of publishing?” She followed that question with this piece of encouragement for the journey, “God gives us a message because He wants us to proclaim it.”

I firmly believe that about this new direction in my life. And even if my book never makes it to a bookstore shelf or an e-reader, I know God will use this season in my life to provide more spiritual growth. And along the way I will proclaim His message in whatever way He leads.

What about you? What has God taught you through the process of writing for Him?

1 Comment

by ardisanelson on May 24, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Healing & Recovery, My Writing Journey

Tagged conference, fear, memoir writing, publishing

Posted by ardisanelson on May 24, 2012

https://ardisanelson.com/2012/05/24/riding-high-after-the-writers-renewal-conference/

Permission Granted . . . To Not Have It Altogether

I will be attending my first writers’ conference in a few days. Wow, let me say that again. I will be attending my first writers’ conference in two days. One year ago, I was just getting comfortable with writing in my journal. Most of my friends knew I was starting to take my writing more seriously. And now I am finally taking the next step of faith and investing in my craft. It is hard to believe.

Over the last few weeks the anxiety has been building with all the decisions I thought I needed to make. I set a pretty high standard on how to be prepared for this conference including having several chapters written on a book and being prepared to pitch it to a publisher. Also with the timing of my first manuscript being published in a book this summer, I wanted to make the most of the writers’ conference by having my platform defined, getting my website up, a new email address, new business cards designed and so on. I wanted to be able to make a favorable impression with whomever God put in my path at the conference.

After talking with a writing mentor of mine, she really helped to talk me “down off the ledge”. I was reminded about how I do already have a blog, a business card, and publicity photos and am a published author. Earlier this week I also received an endorsement for my story from a national author and ministry leader whom I have long admired. That is pretty amazing stuff for a beginning writer. I am doing my part and God is definitely doing His.

I think I started to lose sight of what this conference is really all about for me. As a new writer, I’m not expected to have it altogether. I’m not expected to know it all or to have it all under control. I don’t need to be perfect. I just need to relax and remember that God got me this far in the process in a miraculous way and in His perfect timing. He’s not going to abandon me now.

I also think what I needed was permission to not have to do this perfectly and to not have to perform. As I let that sink in, I start to feel a tremendous sense of relief and freedom to attend the conference with much more grace for myself and this process.

As a recovery group leader at my church, I know what it is like to have newcomers attend their first recovery meetings. They are often anxious, have lots of questions and are generally in a place of deep need. I openly welcome them into the group, answer their questions and offer encouragement to embark on their recovery journey. Why would I expect anything less from a Christian writers’ conference?

So I have to learn to be a newcomer all over again. I have to patiently learn the writing and publishing process. I also have to learn to make mistakes and move forward with God’s help. And that’s the journey of life. At my age, you’d think I’d have it mastered, but I am a work in process . . . one day at a time.

Waiting on Pins and Needles

The days were slowly passing by since I sent my manuscript off to the publisher on December 1. At first I put the entire idea of being published out of my mind. I had gone away for a weekend to write the manuscript and put so much of my normal family and life commitments on hold as I worked toward the manuscript deadline. So naturally after I sent the manuscript into the publisher, I felt a tremendous sense of relief. I met my goal. I wrote the story. I celebrated. Then I filed it in the back of my brain and jumped into the thick of the holiday season.

Then one week passed by, 2 weeks, 3 weeks. As Christmas approached I hoped that maybe there would be a Christmas gift in my email. On December 22, I did receive an email from the publisher. The subject line read: Christmas Gift from Cladach. My heart skipped a beat. I opened the email with much anticipation only to be immediately let down by the reality that this was a marketing email to announce a free e-book that the publisher was offering. It was a nice Christmas promotional idea, but my hopes were dashed.

And there it was again—right in the front of my mind. This email seemed to trigger all of my doubts about going down this path and if I really could be a writer. I had put myself out there. I had written what was on my heart to write—the story that I felt God calling me to write—and it came back void. I felt exposed. I was already in a writer’s funk and not writing on my blog. There was nothing I could physically do about it, so I worked on letting go of my fears and doubts emotionally again.

The New Year brought renewed hope for me. I attended my monthly Christian Writer’s meeting and started to think about setting some writing goals for 2012. I decided to hold on to the belief that this piece would be published this year—if not by this publisher then by another. So many people had witnessed this story unfold and told me how amazing it was. So many people had been inspired by it. So many people said they couldn’t wait to read about it. God was definitely telling me to pursue it. I trusted Him with this story and again put it in the back of my mind.

As a beginning writer, I was learning how difficult the waiting part of this process was. I definitely wasn’t looking forward to the potential rejection that commonly follows. I knew that the two month milestone would be pivotal to me. It is at that point, that a writer usually contacts the publisher if they haven’t heard.

A few days before the two month anniversary, I watched the movie “The Help” again. The first time I saw it, I was just starting to see myself as a writer, so Skeeter’s journey to become a writer really resonated with me. This time around I watched the bonus feature about the making of the movie. The bonus video clip told the story about how the book debuted on the New York Times Bestseller list and the impact it had on Kathryn Stockett, the author’s, life. She was with friends when she got the news and immediately they marked this moment in time (with a toast) as an event that would forever change her life. I got goose bumps when I saw this video clip. I sensed that I was moving toward this event in my life too. I felt encouraged and wrote about this in my journal. I felt poised for success. I was on pins and needles.

The following day, the much anticipated contact from the publisher arrived. The subject of the email was the reply (RE) to the original email I sent with my manuscript. I knew as soon as I saw it that it was the long awaited answer. I let out a scream and held back on opening the email. I received it as I was on my way to an appointment. I delayed opening the email until later in the day when I wasn’t so rushed. After I returned from my appointment, I prepared myself by spending some time in prayer and surrendering the outcome to God.

The email reply was short—just one line. I immediately thought it was a rejection. I had a friend on speaker phone with me to share this moment. I read the line silently and then began screaming—and crying.

“What, what, what?” my friend asked. “What does it say”?

“They’ve accepted my story!” I shouted through tears of joy. “They are sending a contract!” My sheer joy elicited excitement from her as well. The house was filled with a mixture of shouts, laughter, and tears. My son rushed downstairs to find out what all of the commotion was about. He thought that something terrible had happened. I told him the good news and held him in a big hug for a long time letting all of the emotion release from my body.

This excitement was followed by emails to the publisher, my husband, my prayer partners, my writing teacher, and of course, Rosa and Pedro in Spain. Later that evening, I attended my regular support group meeting and let the tears flow some more. The timing was so perfect with the anniversary of my mother’s passing just one week away. This day was also the 8-year anniversary of the devastating event that led me to start recovery in the first place. God had perfectly redeemed this day for me into something with such a positive nature.

The icing on the cake that night was celebrating and toasting this occasion with my friend at her house. It was like déjà vu. Just like Kathryn Stockett, the author of “The Help,” my life was taking a potentially dramatic change. We were marking this date as a milestone in my life and thanking God for His blessing.

Toasting the acceptance of my manuscript with a friend, January 2012.

I know my writing isn’t Pulitzer quality and that I am only one of eight authors in this book. I also know that this was only possible because it is God’s will. My waiting for this news wasn’t just something that was two months in the making. This is part of the bigger story about how God redeems years of heartache, depression and loneliness. It is the restoration for the years that the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25).

The really cool thing about this is that this story is not done yet. God is at work in my life. He is at work in Spain. He is at work in the Protestant Church and the Catholic Church. God is at work all around us. He is for our good if we surrender to His will. That is the message of this story.

I’m no longer on pins and needles about the publishing of my manuscript. However I am still on pins and needles on what lies ahead. It is a quiet tension inside of me that I need to get used to as I live a life where I often struggle to put God first. When I do, He is graciously waiting for me.

2 Comments

by ardisanelson on February 20, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Faith & Hope, Identity, My Spanish Connection, My Writing Journey

Posted by ardisanelson on February 20, 2012

https://ardisanelson.com/2012/02/20/waiting-on-pins-and-needles/

Counting Words

I just returned from a weekend of solitude at a Christian camp all by myself so I could write a short story for publisher submission due in a few days.

“Have a nice time,” people would say when they heard about it. “Really,” I would usually think to myself. “A nice time? What is so nice about being locked up in a room by myself for over 48 hours to write.”

Nothing fancy, locked away in a lodge to write in solitude.

Prompted to Submit my Story

I was in fear. I had backed myself into a corner with the deadline. I had never done anything like this before. And I had never submitted a story for publication either. Needless to say I had lots of doubt. But I was a woman with a mission.

I heard about this story submission after joining the Northwest Christian Writer’s Association a few months ago. It was one of the first emails that I received as a member. I knew as soon as I saw it that it was tailor-made for my story. It was a story about mother/child healing. But I didn’t act on it.

All of this writing stuff was so new to me. I had just started my blog and was writing devotionals for my church. Was I ready to take on a project where my writing would be competing against other writers? I was sure that there were lots of writers with stories about healing. After all, my story of healing was what led me down this writing path in the first place.

Committed to Write

As the deadline approached, a kept getting a nudge from God to submit my story. Of course, then I argued with him.

“But what about my book?” I would ask him. “If I do this story, then I may never write my book.” His loving response was to just trust Him and to stop questioning it.

Preparing for my writing retreat with prayer from friends.

So as I committed to do the writing and prepared to write, I received several confirmations that I really have lots of material for a book. Writing this story submission was not going to detract from the bigger book. In fact, I started to embrace the idea that regardless of the outcome, that my weekend of writing would be a step I needed to take in my quest to become a real writer and that none of my work would be wasted.

It was with that attitude that I sat down at my laptop at the camp this past weekend—alone and away from family on Thanksgiving weekend. But I wasn’t totally alone.

Not All Alone

During one of my meals with the camp staff, I heard the story of a woman whose mother-in-law was just diagnosed with cancer. They were in the process of deciding her course of treatment and weighing the options for quality of life. The options were all very grave. I almost started to cry as I had just finished writing about my mother’s illness and the quality of life choices we made for her. “Thank you God,” I thought to myself for this kiss and confirmation that I am not alone in this.

The internet and cell phone were also available for me to reach out when I needed a break. On a lighter note, I found out that Facebook now has the capability to do video calls. I placed my first video call late one night. Having some face time was a good break that gave me the momentum to write a few more hours into the early morning.

Aside from these few human interactions, my best companion I had over the weekend was God. He kept me out of my ‘head’ much of the time in my writing. Every day my devotional spoke words of confirmation and encouragement for my mission. It was the kiss that I needed each day to tackle this project.

A walk to stretch my legs and a friendly face to urge me on.

Counting Words

The one place I couldn’t get my head out of my writing was with my word counts though. With a word limit of 5,000 to 10,000 words, I became very much aware of my word count to track my progress. I started the weekend with 2,000 words already written. By the end of the first day I was up to 4,600 words. By break time on Saturday night I was at 7,600 words—twice as many words as my recovery testimony. When I realized that, I was a bit overwhelmed by the magnitude of what I was doing. That writing took me over a month to write.

By the time I left the camp on Sunday afternoon my first full draft of the story was 9,188 words–right on target. Last night as I read the entire draft for the first time, I started to cry. It is a beautiful story. Someday I know it will be published. I have my friends to thank for their prayers and encouragement as I go down this road. Above all else, I am thankful that God is giving me His words to tell it.

And by the way, it really was a nice weekend. Word count = 842, but who’s counting?

Update 8/24/2012: My story was accepted by Cladach Publishing in January 2012 and released in August of that year in “Journeys to Mother Love.”

Chapter 8 – Walking My Mother Home by Ardis A. Nelson

2 Comments

by ardisanelson on November 28, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Faith & Hope, My Writing Journey

Tagged encouragement, fear, following your dreams, gratitude, healing, hope, identity, memoir writing, publishing, trusting God, writing

Posted by ardisanelson on November 28, 2011

https://ardisanelson.com/2011/11/28/counting-words/

When Life Imitates Art

The entertainment industry is full of stories that glamorize life and give us the message that it is all about us. I veer away from that kind of ‘entertainment’ whenever possible and instead seek out uplifting stories, stories that inspire or sometimes just head for a good old fashioned romantic comedy–but nothing raunchy.

It is hard to find that kind of positive entertainment. But when my movie and theater experiences start to connect with me in a deep way, I need to take notice. That is what happened to me this past weekend.

The Diary of Anne Frank

First of all, I went to see The Diary of Anne Frank where a friend of mine was performing. I wasn’t particularly drawn to the story. I knew it would be moving and sad. But I support my friends in this way whenever possible. It is a small way I can invest in them. I ended up taking my 14-year old son with me as well so he could write an essay for school. It lent itself to some good conversation.

Besides the horrific story about the treatment of Jews by Hitler and Anne Frank’s dismal existence living in hiding, what struck me most about this story was about her writing. Anne Frank kept a diary that was later used as the basis for the books, movies and plays about her ordeal. She received the diary for her 13th birthday just before the family went into hiding.

Initially Anne wrote that she kept the diary as a way to get things off her chest and never imagined that anyone would ever be interested in reading it. While in hiding she heard a radio broadcast announcing that diaries and other important documents would be gathered after the war to preserve for future generations. That was when she started to think like a writer and began the process of re-writing her diary to publish as a novel. Of course she never got to see that happen, but she pursued her dream despite the uncertainty of her circumstances.

Why does this strike me so much? Because over the past year, I have had two areas of writing that have come alive in me. One is my journaling. So much has happened to me this year, that if I didn’t journal about it I know my mind would lose it. It is pivotal, life changing stuff.

The second piece of writing that I have done is correspondence with a family in Spain. Each step of the way God has lead me to communicate with this family about what has transpired, to encourage one another and to pray for one another. The friendship and miracles that have occurred as a result of this connection is amazing. Like Anne Frank, I know that these pieces of writing are the basis for a book.

Secretariat

The other movie I saw was Secretariat, about the horse who won the Triple Crown in 1973. It is another real-life story, but this one is very uplifting. It is about pursuing something that you believe in. Check out the trailer and see for yourself.

For me, what was so inspirational was that it was a woman, Penny Chenery, who did all this and she did it later in life. She had amazing courage in the face of potential devastating financial losses and defeat. She was pursuing something against all odds. There is a tender scene toward the end of the movie when everything is on the line and she is privately talking to Secretariat at the stables. She tells the horse that tomorrow’s results don’t really matter and that she has already won the race–referring to following her dream.

That is what writing is to me.

Following my Dream

So I have a sense that viewing these theatrical events at this time in my life was intended to give me a message. God can and does use even these kinds of venues to speak to us. That is because the Holy Spirit is always with us. It is up to us if we want to listen and follow His leading.

This is totally new territory for me to navigate. But that’s the way God operates. I know that if I wasn’t being stretched, that I would just chalk it up to doing this on my own. My goal in all of this is not to become famous, but to be used by God. If He is in it, it will happen–in His timing and in His way.

Making Me Bold

All posts tagged publishing

Writing: My First Year, Part 1 – Taking the Plunge

Riding High After the Writer’s Renewal Conference

Permission Granted . . . To Not Have It Altogether

Waiting on Pins and Needles

Update 8/24/2012: My story, “Walking My Mother Home”, was released in “Journeys to Mother Love” by Cladach Publishing. Autographed copies are available on my site.

Counting Words

When Life Imitates Art

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Update 8/24/2012: My story, “Walking My Mother Home”, was released in “Journeys to Mother Love” by Cladach Publishing. Autographed copies are available on my site.

Spread the word:

Spread the word:

Spread the word:

WELCOME to my site!

Follow Blog via Email

Recent Posts

Most Popular Topics

What I Write About

Songs Composed by Pedro Gonzalez Arbona

Looking for something inspirational?

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