Bigger Pictures

It's podcast Tuesday, so we're here with some stories for you! If you're caught up on  your blog reading, it won't all be brand new information, but I think you'll still find some good laughs. And please! SEND ME BUBBLE WRAP! ;)

 Listen here...

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote this post about the joy I find in this season of our lives, where I freelance and soak up the stay-at-home-wife life. God is good about constantly reminding me that He's doing things I can't see, and sometimes I'll have a conversation with someone that makes me wonder if that was merely a conversation or if it was the first peek under the veil of something bigger God is doing in my life.

Yesterday I emailed a new friend who reached out to me for writing/publishing advice, and in her most recent message to me, she asked what lessons I'd learned as a writer. Hmmmmm. What a great question!

I thought through my writing life and decided upon a piece of (what I hope is) wisdom to share. And then I decided it transcends writing and might fit you too, even if you're not a word-lover like I am.

Earlier in the same email, I had admonished her not to let her worth as a writer hinge on the perceived successes and failures of the publishing world. It can be discouraging when you know you have a message to share, but you don't have the social media following or other marketing advantages needed to catch the attention of an agent or publishers. It's easy to start believing your words don't matter because you aren't popular enough to share them.

That was something I wrestled with so very heavily when I tried to publish my first book. I did all the things I knew to do, trying to find agent representation, and most of the time I didn't even receive an acknowledgement, much less an offer for representation. After several months of frustration, I learned about the world of self-publishing, which was not embraced very lovingly at that time. As I explored it, I had more than one person (including a published author I loved very much) tell me not to consider it because it was a second-rate avenue mostly reserved for people who couldn't cut it in the traditional market.

And yet I felt if I waited around, I might never get to publish a book, and I had a message I longed to share. So I went for it. I self-published.

Did that book become a best-seller? It most certainly did not. Did it become my foot-in-the-door opportunity to catch the attention of a publisher, as I had read about with other authors? Nope.

But as I recounted that experience for my new friend seeking advice, here's what I told her:

* That book was the single ray of light in one of the darkest years of my life. I sent in the manuscript right before I entered into the relationship that ended up changing my life forever, and not in the way I thought it would. As I grieved the loss of love, the book officially released into the world, and I had one beautiful thing to enjoy. God knew all that timing.

* That book was the way I made a connection with WBCL. Lynne interviewed me about that book and that was how I met Jamie, her producer. And when Jamie left the station a few months later, I applied for and got her job. It allowed me a chance to experience a career I never knew I would love.

* Working in radio, then, was how I began to learn to speak in front of others and how to share stories. It allowed me to make connections with people and begin doing the speaking I do now.

* Of course we can't forget that radio played a pretty significant part in the beautiful proposal Ryan put together for me. :)

* I still hear annually from friends who read His Advent: Still His Greatest Gift every single Christmas. It's a joy to hear how that little book has found a lasting place in their Christmas traditions.

(And by the way - some of those self-publishing naysayers have actually gone on to use that venue themselves, so it must not be so terrible after all!)

That little book will most likely never have a place on a world-changing list, but it had a central place in a much bigger picture that certainly changed my world. It's a little-taught truth in the writing world. Books feel like the end goal to writers, but they're not. They're just one part of a very big puzzle that impacts all of life.

What a joy it is to come to a place of understanding that the little things in life can become some of the biggest. God is always working, often in ways we can't see until much later. Little conversations and tiny ideas can end up becoming a central part of His big picture for all of us!

I don't know about you - but that is really exciting to me!