Every day we hear of some publishing change — from publishers going away to Amazon doing something “new” yet again.
I recently spent a day in Orlando at ICRS — International Christian Retail Show.
I love attending ICRS to see fellow authors and publishing professionals but this year, the show seemed really quiet.
More than in years past.
With Family Christian bookstores in bankruptcy, I’m not sure how much that impacted attendance.
Yet, I saw several long-liine book signings. I just remember the day when there were so many signings the show provided booths along the outer wall to make way for long signing lines.
I think of authors who used to publish but don’t any longer. For various reasons. Some retired. Some went on to other pursuits. Others found no publishing home.
I’ve been writing full time for 11 years and it’s been a great ride. Ups and downs. But always so amazing that I was able to pursue my writing dream.
We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. But we can be prepared no matter what.
So, what’s your writing goal? How will you continue on if doors don’t open? Or if they close?
As a Believer, I have to know that He knows everything. I must fix my hope in and on Him.
We have this thing in life where we think we’re able to do things we’re not, or we strive to do things that look good and cool, yet God is not really calling us to do “that,” you know?
A year or so ago, I told our senior pastor and my husband I was born 20 years too early.
“What?” they said.
“If I was born 20 years later I’d be the right age to join this amazing worship revolution that’s happening. I could be at this ministry or that, learning, being on a team, maybe even leading worship…”
But you see, I was born exactly when God said. His plan is my actually protection.
Who knows what would’ve happened, what kind of life I’d have IF I’d been born in 1980 instead of 1960. I probably wouldn’t have the same parents. In fact. I’d not be me! But you get where I’m going…
A wrong view says, “Wow, I missed this amazing worship ride.”
A right view says, “God is in complete charge and He does all things well. Who knows what He’s protected me from, what blessings I have now because I was born in the early ’60s.”
Right? Right!
I was born the exact right time for the publishing revolution. I started reading and writing “Christian” fiction in the early ’90s.
I was published in the early 2000s.
God’s timing was perfect. His call on my life sure.
We can miss all of His handiwork in our lives by looking over our shoulder at someone, or something else, thinking, “Why can’t I have that?”
What if a really talented worship leader kept thinking, “I want to write novels,” and ignore her worship gift?
What if wanting to lead worship and become a worship “somebody” distracted me from writing novels?
The truth is, I’ve wanted to write from a really young age!
It’s not that we have to be perfect in our life-walk. Or that God is waiting to bonk us on the head with an ugly stick. It’s just that we have to REST assured in Him about every aspect of our life.
Even those that seems to be out of control or difficult.
Fix your gaze on Him, the author and finisher of your faith.
So what if in this changing publishing landscape you find yourself without a contract?
God’s got this!
Ask Him what He has for you in THIS season of your life.
Or maybe you’re to strike out into the indie world.
The only way we miss our destiny is to not seek Him. To not ask, “Lord, what now?”
Above all, are we growing in love? Are we loving well?
Are we doing our job, loving our families, being faithful to prayer and the Word?
We’ve got a whole eternity ahead of us to do what delights us. Breathe in, breathe out, enjoy now, learn from the moment you’re in.
I get concerned with so many Christian publishers changing, downsizing, doing away with fiction there won’t be room for our stories.
But wait, they’re His stories. In the last 20 years the Lord has expanded Christian fiction, Worship Music, and it just makes me wonder…
What’s on the horizon?
Let’s be ready, y’all. Let’s be ready!
Comments 4
Rachel, Thank you so much for this. I really needed this today. I’ve had you on my mind all day as I finished The Wedding Dress at 2AM. Loved it! I told all of my Birmingham friends to go buy it. I went to college in B’ham, met my hubby there, had 3 of my babies there and sang in the best choir in the city when I lived there. Loved reading about all the familiar places. Again, thanks for today’s post. Blessings to you and all of the MBT family. Tell Susie May that one of her BRMCWC conferees who took ALL of her classes, said hello.
Author
Debra, this blog poured out of me. I think it’s on the Lord’s heart to encourage His people. Be encouraged. Thanks for you kind words and shout out to your friends about The Wedding Dress! Appreciate that!
I’ll tell Susie you said “hello!”
Rachel 🙂
“God’s got this!” Good word, Rachel. All the “state of the industry” chatter on blogs, Facebook, and emails in the last few days has me thinking about when the Dot-Com bubble broke. (It also has me wanting to toss my computer off the back deck, but I’m sure the urge will pass.) The opinion that publishing is running scared reminds me a lot of the hubris of twenty-two-year-olds announcing a “paradigm shift” to a “New Economy.” Nothing new under the sun…
We can argue with God and man about business cycles, or we can think of James 4 and say “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”
As for me, like many newbie authors, I’m fighting the urge to check sales ranks and blog stats every ten minutes… And one weekend while I was running a short-term ad campaign on Facebook, God laid on my heart to make an offering of trust. The terms were so simple… for the length of the weekend, not checking numbers. It was a good lesson (and definitely not my last on this road, not by a far piece) on remembering that He is the one in control!
Thanks for writing this. I’m not much of a commenter usually, but I always enjoy your posts here and on SBV. 🙂
Rachel:
Excellent blog post.