Springing Into Action

In life, do you ever just get those crystal-clear moments that “this” is exactly what you were created to do?  I’ve been experiencing a lot of those moments lately.

I can’t really explain why this happens; I feel it’s totally a “God thing.”  Through Divine Intervention, I think God loves to just blow us right out of the water sometimes.  Be it His timing of certain events through perfectly orchestrated circumstances, and encounters that are nothing short of miraculous, I believe our Heavenly Father loves revealing his supernatural power in our lives.

Ever since I was very little, I had a deep fondness for the written word.  I grew up reading just about everything I could get my hands on.  I also loved to write.

As a child, writing gave me a creative outlet for my emotions and allowed me to escape a bit to exciting new worlds and colorful lands.  I knew at a very young age that I wasn’t like other children.  While other youngsters my age clamored to get to recess, I was usually the odd duck.  I enjoyed running, and jumping, and playing–up to a point.  After the first 10 minutes or so, I’d most often just pick up my pencil and writing tablet I’d carried outside with me, and I’d go find a good shade tree for the next 15 minutes.

Once settled against the thick, old tree trunk of  my favorite oak, I’d blaze new trails with all the words I’d just learned in Language Arts.  I had such fun creating all types of stories, but penning stories of princesses and heroes were what I loved the most.

As I grew older, my stories evolved.  As I learned about things like character development, descriptive narrative, plots and subplots, tension, conflict, and resolution, the wheels began to turn, and I knew I wanted to be a writer.  I thought it would be great if I could do what I longed to do and use the talent God gave me.  Not only this, how wonderful would it be if I could actually make money doing it?  (After all, the Bible tells us that a servant is worthy of their hire.  I adore writing, but like any career, we must think of it in terms of a real job.)

I took writing courses, attended conferences, and joined writing organizations.  Nothing could have prepared me for the hard, I mean really hard, work along the way.

Sometimes when we know that “this” is what we were made for, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee us that it’s going to be easy to attain it.  In fact, I bet most authors would tell you that’s sooo not true.  I do believe, however, that if God gives us a vision of His will for us, then it’s completely up to us if we’ll use it, how we’ll use it, and when it is time to use it.

And I also think by sharing with others what we have learned upon our journey is not only a mark of maturity, but also the true spirit of Christ-like love.  Jill Kemerer is such a person.  Her website is https://www.jillkemerer.com.  Jill is a great source of encouragement, knowledge, and talent.  She enjoys answering questions and is verrry patient.  (I should know!)

This week, I will be polishing up my book proposal to send to my agent.  For my non-writing friends and family, a “proposal” usually includes a chapter by chapter outline, not to be confused with the “synopsis,” which is, for the most part, a somewhat shorter overview of the entire novel.

“Shorter” and “entire” may seem like an oxymoron, but let me explain.  Say you have a 300+ page manuscript with approximately 20 or so chapters.  Your synopsis is likely to be a bit more brief (and sometimes less time-consuming!) than working up a blow-by-blow, chapter-by-chapter description of the whole book.  For us “free-spirits” who like to fly by the seats of our pants, the process can be daunting.

Since proposals and synopses are usually what editors see first, their importance can’t be stressed enough.  They’re an author’s time to shine, and first impressions are the ones that matter most.  (Kinda like Rhett’s first encounter with Scarlett.  Who doesn’t remember Rhett dodging that little, ol’ vase Scarlett threw in a huff?)

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A question for you to ponder…What causes you to “spring into action?”  Inspiration?  Schedule keeping?  Proposal writing?