I'm so excited to share some amazing guest posts from other bloggers living life on a mission with you all while I'm out of town so much this month! Be sure to check out their blogs and leave them some love!
Today I've asked Heather Boersma, author of From Dream to Reality to share with us about her book! I love her reasoning behind it. She saw a need, felt a call from God, and chased after it.
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From Dream to Reality: The
Story of Publishing my first Book
I began writing
my first devotional book in eighth grade. It was a time in life when I was
totally alienated from my social circles, both at school and surprisingly, at
church. My peer groups offered me nothing by rejection and I was left with a
choice; either feel sorry for myself, or use this time to really get to know
the Jesus I’d decided to follow so many years before.
I chose Jesus.
Each an everyday I sat on the floor beside my bed reading my bible and writing
in my prayer journal. I went through dozens of devotional books and found the
Word came alive in a way it never had before.
And as the Lord spoke to me, I felt led to share with others what He was
revealing. So I began to write.
As the awkward
Jr. High years passed and I gained new confidence in who God had created me to
be, this passion only grew. Instead of being a reject, I became known as
someone who was strong in their faith. People came to me for advice on matters
of faith and with their prayer requests. I had been given a message and felt a
burning passion to share it with the world.
More than 10
years later, my second attempt at the devotional book began. An outline was created and the guts of it
started to fill out that skeletal plan, bringing my dream to life. But several
months after starting, my computer crashed taking all my hard work with it.
Strike two.
So when the Lord
began to nudge me in this direction for a third time, I’ll be honest, I
hesitated. But after months of ignoring the multiple confirmations He sent my
way, I relented and decided to obey. This is when the idea for “Dream Big” was
born.
The next several
months were spent researching, planning and writing a book proposal. In the summer of 2010, I began writing the
book. A year later, and just days before
my child (a son!) was born, the first draft of my manuscript was
completed. Eight months after that, and
two years from when I first said “yes” to God, a proof copy of my book came in the mail. What an
amazing journey it has been!
Many people ask
me about the process of writing a book and here are the first 3 things I tell
them.
1. Write a book proposal. In the process
of writing a proposal, you will be forced to define WHY you want to write a
book. Is it purely for personal gain or do you really have something to offer your reader? If you can’t get
through the process of writing a book proposal (and it is a lengthy process,
when done correctly), there’s little chance you’ll actually have the stamina
and passion to get through writing an entire book! I used the book “How to
Write a Book Proposal” by Michael Larsen as my guide.
2. Set aside blocks of time to write. The
unfortunate news is less than 1% of book proposals that go across a publishers desk
are accepted. This means you probably won’t have a publisher breathing down
your neck to complete your manuscript by a certain deadline. This means you
need to breathe down your own neck (hmmm, tricky) and be self-disciplined. So
set aside a block of time each day, week, or month for writing. I wrote nearly
one third of my book during a two day writing retreat. I went to the cabin by
myself and did nothing but eat, sleep and write for two days straight. Figure
out what works for your life and then JUST DO IT!
3. Pray for DIVINE INSPIRATION. This is
the last step, but the MOST important of them all. Here’s the thing - if you’re not writing
empowered by the Holy Spirit and divine revelation from God, then what is the
point? I’m sure we all want to write something that has eternal value.
Something that will allow our readers to experience the Spirit of God
ministering directly to their spirits.
In order for this to happen, we need to be diligent and faithful in our own relationship with God and
continue to allow Him to speak to us and inspire our words.
I hope you find
these tips helpful as you go on your own journey of writing, whether it be a
book, an online course, or even a blog! I’d love to hear from you if you have
any other questions about writing a book, or about my book “Dream Big: 30 Days
to a Life Beyond All You could Ask or Imagine”.
Also, follow this link ( http://www.heatherboersma.com/its-coming-true/
) to watch the book trailer and get a little taste of who I am and what my book
is all about!
In Him,
Heather
website: www.heatherboersma.com/blog
e mail: heather@heatherboersma.com
twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/HeatherBoersma/
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Wow. It's amazing how God can use you if you are willing! Now go over to her blog and show your support!
1 comments:
I really love this post. I especially love when you say that instead of being a reject, you became known as someone who was strong in your faith. I aspire to become known as the same. Thanks for sharing :)
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