"Fear Not" by Sally Graham

As a young girl my favorite subjects were Art and  English. As a teenager I wrote pages and pages of bleak dark poetry which I dutifully typed into pamphlets on my old typewriter and handed out for free in Rundle Mall. After a 15 year detour into drugs, alcohol and crime I finally landed in the arms of Jesus.

My return to writing occurred when God spoke to me from John 4. The story of the woman at the well  gave me the mandate to tell my town what Jesus had done in my life.  Writing a book seemed a natural extension of that mandate and so I began to pray that God would give me words that painted a picture.

I approached writing as an art form. I am an artist in the more traditional sense. I paint and draw.  As I researched writing I heard terms which strengthened my belief that I could approach writing as an art form with a different brush. I encouraged myself by excavating my old moth eaten poems and endeavoured to grow in this medium.

We self-published my first book "As Black from White" initially out of frustration.  I was tired of the growing pile of rejection letters from traditional publishers. My book was "too topical." 'too short." (36,000 words) "too Australian." 

Over the years I have lost my cringe factor associated with self-publishing and continue with it as preference. It has allowed me once again to sell or give away copies at my discretion.  We independently print and import our own books and have found a system which works for us hand in hand with public speaking events.

This I have learnt 

 “Fear Not”

1)     Never be afraid to knock on a door ..again.

                   I remember a major bookstore rejected stocking our book. After I got                      a review in  “Christian Woman magazine” I asked if they  would like to                    reconsider. They now stock us.

  

2)     Fear not. Allow your work life beyond its creator.

      As an artist I am stereotypically temperamental, dramatic, and highly critical of my own work. It is this aspect I have needed the most growth to temper. There comes a point with any artistic work where you have to reconcile to live with the flaws you perceive in the work and set it free. 

3)     Go where the spirit leads. Fear not. We have had amazing feedback from surprising arenas.  I have positive reviews, radio invitations and TV opportunities beyond my dreams.  Don't let fear of the unknown or let fear of firsts get you down. Everything is a first at some time.

4) Dream Big dreams. Dont let fear force you into small thinking.

We are all a long way from Kansas

As back from White started as my simple testimony. It has now been made into a 7 minute short film “Sal”,  has been translated to Vietnamese version and there are plans to begin a feature film .I travel, sharing my story and am currently writing a film scrip and two more books. We have just released our updated version of As Black from White.

You can contact me www.asblackfromwhite.com.au