by James L. Rubart, @jameslrubart
The first day of June I had a surreal moment. Then I had another. Both had me laughing in joy and astonishment.
I was speaking at the NCWA Renewal Writers Conference in Bellevue, WA. As I stood on stage on Friday night and looked out at the conferees I realized I was standing the exact same room I’d stepped into when I’d gone to my first ever writer’s meeting.
A meeting where:
- I was nervous
- Didn’t know a soul
- Felt I didn’t belong
And now, 15 years later, I was the keynote speaker for their annual conference. Surreal moment # 1.
Mind blown.
Then moment # 2.
Frank Peretti (one of my four biggest writing heroes) had been invited to the conference to receive a lifetime achievement award celebrating the 30th anniversary of his gazillion-selling novel, This Present Darkness.
They asked me if I’d be willing to come up on stage during the award ceremony as Frank and I have become friends over the years and could tell a few anecdotes about him.
But as it turned out, that wasn’t why they wanted me to come up on stage.
See, I’d been set up.
I had no clue I was getting the Frank Peretti Award for Excellence in Speculative Fiction. (But all of the conference staff knew, which was pretty funny. For them. And yes, for me too.)
It was an incredible honor to receive. And it was a full-circle moment I’d never imagined. Because in many ways I still feel like the fledgling writer who’d stood in that same room many years ago trying to find his wings.
So to those of you who might be a few steps behind me on this journey, keep pressing in. Keep writing. Keep believing. Don’t give up, yes?
The dream, your dream, absolutely can come true.
How Do You Stand Up for Yourself When It Means Losing Everything?
Allison Moore is making it. Barely. The Seattle architecture firm she started with her best friend is struggling, but at least they’re free from the games played by the corporate world. She’s gotten over her divorce. And while her dad’s recent passing is tough, their relationship had never been easy.
Then the bomb drops. Her dad was living a secret life and left her mom in massive debt.
As Allison scrambles to help her mom find a way out, she’s given a journal, anonymously, during a visit to her favorite coffee shop. The pressure to rescue her mom mounts, and Allison pours her fears and heartache into the journal.
But then the unexplainable happens. The words in the journal, her words, begin to disappear. And new ones fill the empty spaces—words that force her to look at everything she knows about herself in a new light.
Ignoring those words could cost her everything . . . but so could embracing them.
James L. Rubart is 28 years old, but lives trapped inside an older man’s body. He thinks he’s still young enough to water ski like a madman and dirt bike with his two grown sons. He’s the best-selling, Christy BOOK of the YEAR, CAROL, INSPY, and RT Book Reviews award winning author of ten novels and loves to send readers on journeys they’ll remember months after they finish one of his stories. He’s also a branding expert, audiobook narrator, co-host of the Novel Marketing podcast, and co-founder with his son, Taylor, of the Rubart Writing Academy. He lives with his amazing wife on a small lake in Washington state.