(If this post looks familiar, it’s because it had gone live right before our website crashed the week of April 18th. We decided to repost it to make sure all of our fantastic readers had a chance to view it. Thank you again for your patience while the site was down.)

by James L. Rubart, @jameslrubart

I experienced a number of serious nostalgic moments last month down in California. I was teaching at the Inspire Christian Writers conference at Mt Hermon and wow, the memories that flooded into my heart. 

Mt Hermon was my first writing conference back in 2006 and the highs and lows of that first exposure to the world of writing are still vivid in my mind.

• Meeting with editor Mick Silva and writing him a thank you note that said in part, “If there was more time in this life, I think we might have become friends. Maybe in eternity.” 
• Getting rejected by Steve Laube but still being significantly encouraged by his words, “You’re a good writer.”
• Being rejected by Chip MacGregor but getting to know him via our mutual love of sleight of hand.
• Meeting Tricia Goyer and Randy Ingermanson who became my first writing mentors and huge encouragers.
• My wife Darci telling me, “You’re going to be teaching at that conference someday,” and my not believing it.

The Aftermath

• Mick and I became great friends.
• Steve Laube and I became great friends.
• Chip became my first agent.
• Tricia and Randy went from being mentors to being peers and friends and business brainstorming partners.
• Last month was my third time teaching at Mt Hermon.

Why do I tell you these things? Because I would have said, “You’re crazy” to all of them back in the spring of ’06. And if we were talking one on one right now you might tell me I’m nuts to suggest that your dreams can come true. But they can. 

I don’t know how. And based on much experience, they usually don’t come true in the way we expect, but that’s the way the Spirit works, yes? 

So keep dreaming, keep writing, keep expecting. He is in this.

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The Pages of Her Life

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.