What God Wants

by Lynne Stringer

My latest novel, Once Confronted, was launched on 1^st October 2016, and in the lead-up to its arrival, I was running around madly, trying to make sure everything was in place. I managed to remember everything and both the online and physical book launches went off without a hitch.

Unfortunately, this proved a draining experience, especially given the personal nature of the story of Once Confronted, and the fact that I put my protagonist, Madison Craig, through an armed robbery, a scenario which I have also experienced. This meant that any vestige of energy I had left fled the moment the book launch was over. This was a bit of a problem because, as we know, the launch is only the beginning. The hard work goes on long after that.

It’s been difficult to find the energy I needed to keep going. However, one thing has driven me—the firm belief that God wants this book out there. There’s no doubt in my mind that God gave it to me for a reason.

Why else has He spent my whole life preparing me to be a writer? It was not my career of choice. Writing was something I did for fun when I was younger. I knew there was no point trying to make any money out of it. My father’s a writer too. I could see from his experience that it was not the path to a quick fortune.

Yet God trained me in every aspect I needed to become an Indie writer. He gave me jobs in two different bookstores so I learned how to sell books, then took me to the Baptist Union of Queensland, where I started writing small articles for The Queensland Baptist newspaper (The QB) to help out the editor. Some of the other staff encouraged me to do a journalism course, which I wasn’t too enthusiastic about. But I did it, and shortly after, the editor of The QB resigned. Who took his place?

Me.

I was the editor and chief journalist for The QB for seven years. Once I left that role, I started to write fiction again. I had already written the novel that was to become Once Confronted but other things had crowded it out, so it simply remained a file on a computer program.

After I wrote my first published novel, The Heir (the first book in the Verindon trilogy) in 2010 and Rochelle Manners of Wombat Books agreed to publish it, I thought of Once Confronted again. By this time, I was editing both fiction and non-fiction for Rochelle.

Once my trilogy was published, Rochelle asked me if I had an idea for a contemporary book.  Once Confronted, which had been waiting in the wings since 1998, immediately came to mind.

Perhaps it’s not this book specifically that God has plans for. But I’ve always felt that this one is special because of the prominent theme of forgiveness, as Madison has to decide whether or not she can forgive the men who hurt her. While I have no idea who my attacker is, if he ever seeks me out, desperate for forgiveness, I have to decide if I can offer it to him.

Perhaps this is why God wants it out there so badly. It’s a public statement of not only what I think it is a good ideal but a challenge to myself to go beyond what I might think I’m capable of. I hope it will challenge others in this way too.

Lynne Stringer has been passionate about writing all her life. She was the editor of The QB for seven years, and currently works as a professional editor and proofreader.
Lynne is the author of the Verindon trilogy, a YA science fiction romance. Her latest book, Once Confronted, is a contemporary drama set that was released in October 2016.

For more information on Lynne, her books and her writing, visit her website: www.lynnestringer.com