As all writers know, the journey to publication has so many ups and downs it's like being on a never-ending rollercoaster ride. The struggles, the frustrations, the rejections can turn into a one-way ride down, plunging my unstable rollercoaster car toward the ground. Thankfully those moments don't come along too often, but when they do, they're ugly. I had one of those moments recently and wondered why we must endure these difficult, soul-searching "bumps" that want to literally throw us off the track.
This one lasted a couple days. I did some good soul-searching, dried my eyes, and went back to the computer. Later that day I received a phone call from Gary Midge with the Brainerd Writers Alliance telling me I won first place for my essay, "Under the Shadow of the Tower" in their 2009 writing contest. Wow...a much needed boost! And within minutes of Gary's call, I received an email from an editor in California, filled with wonderful words of encouragement and confidence in my writing...exactly what I needed to keep going.
So here I go with my rollercoaster car upright once again, up the slow and steady climb on the biggest and steepest hill of my journey to publication...clickety, clickety, clickety...working on the revisions of my novel, feeling the sense that something incredible is waiting for me just over the top of that next rise.
Chuck Swindoll once said, "Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off the goal."
Well, today my prayer is to keep my eyes on the goal--rather than the ups and downs of the journey--to obtain an agent and subsequent publication for my novel, Seeds of Salton.
"Raise your faith to trust God when you can't see around that corner," is another good quote from Chuck Swindoll, and most fitting!
Blessings, fellow writers,
Barbara
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