Where do you think you are going?

‘Where do you think you’re going?’ The voice, though inaudible, stopped me in my tracks. ‘Who do you think you are? You can’t go in there! What a fraud!’

Shoulders slumped, I turned and started to walk back to my car, away from the meeting I had rushed across town to attend.

The previous day I had met Rochelle Manners. She was speaking at this meeting. and had invited me to attend. With sudden clarity I realised was entering a gathering of writers. Authors! I wasn’t an author! I just wanted help getting my book published. For a moment I froze in the middle of the road, fighting a mental battle about my identity!

‘If I’ve written a book–I must be an author!’ I pushed down my butterflies and slipped into the Omega Writers meeting.

For about 15 years, I’ve wanted to write this book. It lay deep inside me, a powerful testimony to my amazing God, a hidden pearl trying to push its way to the surface. Sometimes I’d sit at the keyboard and start typing, but my efforts bored me after the first two hundred words! How could I ever find a way to release this story?

Last year, after having read four Christian novels in three days, an idea pushed its way into my thinking. Could I write my story as a novel? Setting Francine Rivers as my mentor, I began. Within three days I had 10,000 words. Three months later, when I walked into that writers meeting, there were 85,000 words on my computer. That was a year ago this Sunday.

A door opened for me to attend an Omega Writers mentorship. Last November I spent a whole week writing and learning from authors–real authors! My mentor, Mary Hawkins, patiently taught me the basics of writing. At the end of the mentorship, I returned home and began a complete rewrite. Early May the book was finished again.

Now I had a book! A real book! I submitted the manuscript to Omega Writers for a free appraisal. Another weekend with amazing authors at Mt Tamborine fixed a few anomalies and strengthened some weaknesses. As I type this blog, my manuscript lies in process, awaiting the publisher.

To my surprise, I now find myself accepted into this amazing group of Aussie wordsmiths. Does this mean I am a real author?

While writing this book, I have learned so much about the craft of writing, but also about myself and my God. My book deals with big issues: sexual abuse and healing, witchcraft and evil, religion versus relationship, Christian hypocrisy and the amazing power of unconditional love. It catapults the heroine from a sheltered Christian life into raw gut-wrenching faith where the only one in control is the King!

The title? The cover? The blurb? They are waiting to be revealed. For a taste go to my blog and read the poem that opens the book.
www.jo-wanmer.blogspot.com

So where do I think I’m going? Who do I think I am? I’m a daughter of the King of Kings and I’m following my Father God. He says we are going places, exciting places. It is so much fun walking with the King!