When I travel back to my hometown in Upstate NY, I try to carve out a pitstop in Erie, PA. The gem of the area is Presque Isle. My favorite is Beach 6 where I love to sit and watch the waves.
There’s always one challenge. Where I park versus where I sit contains a bit of a sandy hill. A few trips I didn’t consider this and I wasn’t prepared. My shoes didn’t have great traction and I struggled. Once the sand had an upper hand a couple times, I started packing better shoes for these visits. It’s amazing what good traction can do to help me move forward.
And that’s symbolic of my life right now.
Last month my husband and I traveled to the Adirondack Mountains (I packed great boots, BTW) and part of our stay involved talking about life and getting input. I shared my writing frustrations. I know it’s the call of my life. I believe I have grown from my first novel to where I am now. I’m so proud of Anchored Hearts. I feel this new series, Surrendering Hearts, is special.
But real talk?
I have no traction.
I had a team read it ahead of time, leave very encouraging reviews, and talked it up.
I’ve joined online parties.
I share daily posts across social media.
And that needle isn’t moving.
It’s akin to me wearing sandals trying to navigate the sandy hill.
Tom, an IT guy who manages a team across the globe, felt it was worth my setting aside writing for a season and taking advantage of marketing workshops. I returned home and felt that was God’s leading as I found a 5 Day Amazon ad event. As soon as I signed up for that, I found an Amazon workshop for selling during the Christmas season. Joined that. I discovered a bonus I’d saved from Kindlepreneur regarding key words and categories. I learned valuable information and applied it.
I’m just starting in this and Bryan Cohen, Founder of Author Ad School, encouraged authors to consider it a marathon, not a sprint. It’s hard. Anchored Hearts was approximately 80k words. Those words take time to create, edit, revise, polish, and if you’re an Indie like me, publish. If readers truly knew the time, it would be shocking. Because even if I’m not at the laptop, I’m thinking about characters, plot lines, marketing strategies and more. This happens when I’m cleaning the bathroom, driving, and yes, even lounging at Presque Isle.
A few years ago I felt in prayer the word for me to believe in and stand on was “launch.” I feel part of that word aligns with my writing life. Writing is a ministry for me. I long to see readers move forward in their journey with Jesus because they were encouraged by my work. I believe Christian romance can accomplish that. And that’s my genre. I also believe in the future I will visit places and share, and once finished there will be a remnant of women who will stay behind. As they share and I pray, that’s the why behind everything I do. Prayer.
As a praying person who stands in the gap for others as God leads, I strongly believe we are on the cusp of an amazing shift world wide. Talk about launch. The Body of Christ will change. Government leadership will change. Marketplace will be different. Families. Cities. We are sooooo close. And as I pray on this, I see and have interacted with others who feel the same, that many who have a call on their life and have obeyed it are spinning their tires. Getting no traction. Yet they hear that same sound from heaven. Launch.
So, while I’m frustrated, I keep plugging away. I trust the time I’m taking to learn new marketing efforts has purpose. I pray my writing will improve as I navigate the balance between marketing and writing.
Most of all, I pray for traction.
How about you? Is there anything going on in your life that feels like an uphill challenge? That you have the wrong “footwear?” Feel free to share in the comments. It’s my honor to pray for you.
While we’re here, you’re invited to check out my list of work.
Surrendering Hearts Christian/Sweet/Small Town Romance series with Family Drama:
Series Premise: What if a family with a unique birth story stays in the spotlight because of tragedy?
Each Hart sextuplet receives their own book containing a surrender issue and a chocolate mention.
Book 1, Anchored Hearts, now available on Amazon. Also free for Kindle Unlimited.
Book 2, Repairing Hearts, Coming 2023
Book 3, Building Hearts, plus three more titles, coming soon.
Surrendering Time Inspy/Rom Com/Small Town Romance series
This series is not only available on Amazon, but at most online sellers. It’s also available as a library digital read through Hoopla.
Stand-alone Inspy/Small Town/Work Romance:
Restoring Christmas
This is not only available on Amazon, but at most online sellers. It will soon be available as a library digital read through Hoopla.
Stand-alone Christian/Small Town Romance
This is not only available on Amazon, but at most online sellers. It will soon be available as a library digital read through Hoopla.
Surrendering Stinkin’ Thinkin’ YA/Women’s Suburban Fiction series with Hannah Arduini
You’re Beautiful
You’re Amazing
You’re Brilliant
These are available on Amazon, and will be available with other online sellers and as a library digital read through Hoopla in 2023.
Christians Read 