With that big announcement out of the way, let me welcome Lisa to my blog for today's post. Today she is going to share a bit about her road to authorship--the road I'm trekking right now too. Thank you, Lisa--and welcome!
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Lisa Lickel and her husband live in a 150-year-old Great Lakes ship captain's house in Wisconsin. Surrounded by books and dragons, Lisa writes inspirational fiction with a midwestern flavor. ***
The Journey
On the way to just being a wife, mother, homemaker, and church secretary, I received the call. You know, the Abram call in Genesis 12. The one that asks--no tells--you to do something way bigger than the laundry or the midget league carpool? The one that says go to a place you’ve never been, leave everyone and everything behind, I’m going to change the world through you.
Maybe there’s a little streak of adventure in you; maybe you just got a whiff of too many toilet cleaner fumes, but you go.
Many writers don’t have a later-in-life “call to be an author” experience like mine. Many of you have always wanted to write. I enjoyed writing letters, an occasional newspaper article, some reports for the historical society and some Sunday school material, but it never occurred to me to write books or short stories that strangers would read. After I enrolled in the Christian Writers Guild apprentice course, Abram’s call and journey took on new meaning for me.
Every good journey starts with the first step, has a purpose, is a learning experience, and faces the challenges with mercy and grace.
The first step may be as simple as an invitation – an acquaintance invites you to her critique group tonight. Or you enroll in that workshop or attend a conference just to see what writers are about. If you’re not scared by then, you may listen to that still small voice of purpose.
I was so naïve when I first began writing that I didn’t even know there were separate markets for inspirational and “regular” books. I had to think about where I fit in, where I was called to be, what kind of tales I wanted to tell.
As I’ve listened and written down ideas, and submitted stories, I’ve learned more about the art of writing and marketing. I’ve taken time to discover what touches readers and what they are drawn to, and not to take criticism personally. It took nearly two years of submitting, writing, submitting again and waiting before I got that first contract and agent. I had to tie my patience strings tighter with each form letter telling me my project wasn’t a good fit. I’m always going to be learning, facing challenges, working harder and longer than an eight-hour job, but writing is my purpose. When I receive a note of appreciation, I hope that even for a moment I helped engineer a change for the better in someone’s life. It doesn’t need to be a huge step, but even a smile can begin to transform the world.
I’m happy to answer questions and talk with you more. You can find me at lisalickel-at-gmail-dot-com
Visit my website, http://lisalickel.com/, and find me on facebook – both personal and like pages, at shoutlife and goodreads.com. I’m also an Amazon author.
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Thank you for being my guest today, Lisa!
2 comments:
Loved the Abram/toilet cleaner fumes comparison!
Thanks for sharing your story, Lisa.
It's been my pleasure to get to know more faces around the realm. Thank you, April, for introducing me to Michelle and Amanda and Catherine. I'm excited about COTT.
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