Anyone who has ever attempted writing anything, much less a novel, knows how difficult it can be to get all your thoughts out in a cohesive and pleasing manner. At least, that has been my experience. My new novel Finding the Garden Gate has been a labor of love for several years. Not daily, of course. I wrote a forty-page outline, got some feedback, and started over. And after a month or two of just hammering out the story, I started on the actual book.
Some chapters came easily. Others were difficult. Sometimes I would write for hours feeling like I had finally found my calling. And at other times, I despaired of ever getting the stupid thing done. I would write, put it away, pull it back out and write some more. And the days and weeks and even years rolled by. In the meantime, I read other people's work. I read books about writing. And I used to teach writing! I poured over how to write a smile, a sob, a glance. I thought this would be much easier, I would mutter to myself.
And then one day, it was done. Well, the first draft. I had friends, and relatives read it. I took notes. I sighed heavily. And then I dove back in. More days, and weeks passed. Finally, maybe partly out of exhaustion, partly out of disgust, I finished. And then, I published it through Amazon.
But even then, my job wasn't finished. I found errors, and some trusted readers found errors. So back to the manuscript to fix commas and quotation marks and anything else that seemed to elude me and my proofreaders the first three times we went over it.
But it is now done. And it isn't perfect. I understand from other professional writers that it will never be perfect. But I like it. It's a good story. A moving story. A story filled with romance, mystery, love, and family. A story that is not about me and yet has bits and bobs of my life woven through it. I hope you will read it. And more importantly, I hope it stirs up your own memories and dreams. and faith. It is my gift to you. And it is my gift to God. Because that is who I wrote it for. I had a story in my heart I wanted to tell, and years of prayer, and tears and oh, so much effort later -- I have told it.
You can purchase it here on Amazon.
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