When my daughter was a year old, I made a tough decision. After selling twelve books, I walked away from writing romance. There were a lot of reasons involved and it took me a while to figure out the main reason. At first, it was because I needed a break from publishing. I know that sounds odd, but it was true. Publishing is hard work. There are so many things required besides delivering a good novel by the due date. There are line edits and galleys, publicity, book signings, websites, etc… My focus had become my children. And God was slowly turning my sight back to Him.
He is never demanding in that way. He wooes us. And I rediscovered my love for Him and my faith in Him. I continued to write but I wasn’t really seeking publication during that time. I joined a critique group where we did exercises and practiced our writing to improve out abilities. During that time, my writing grew and my faith grew also.
At first, I wondered if God even wanted me to write. I prayed for about three years for God’s will in this area. Often I would leave church and my husband would say, “How’d you like the message?” I would respond with some way God had spoken to me about my writing. This continued and continued. It wasn’t until a dear friend died that I finally took God at His word and got busy. Life is short and I was wasting time because He’d already given me an answer.
When I first left romance writing, I wondered if God wanted me to write in the CBA (Christian Booksellers Association) rather than the secular world of ABA (American Booksellers Assoc.). I took a look at the books in that field and I did not feel called to that area. Looking back, I think it simply wasn’t the right time. But would it ever be the right time for me, for my books?