Into the Fire

Having finished writing another book, I wait nervously and hopefully for the first two test readers to sample my wares and get back to me with their evaluations and reports. I will stipulate here that these two females do like my style of writing. One is not a big fan of romance but has somehow managed to genuinely appreciate mine. She is in her early 70s. The other reader is a bona fide romance reader but will also read the gamut of other Christian fiction much like myself, except she even reads historical novels which I rarely do. She is in her early 40s.

The older reader loved the characters and was mad at me for the ending. I think the ending was necessary even though I preferred it didn’t come to that conclusion myself. The younger reader “regretted” the ending but found satisfaction in the final words. Anyway, they were enamored with the characters and were able to give me specifics on the reasons they liked, loved, or were disappointed in the ending. It all made me smile. They were moved by the people. For the time they spent between the pages, they were immersed in the lives of those characters. It’s a thrill, you know?

Please understand when I share this, I’m not flaunting my work. I’m cheering myself on that the enjoyment I experienced in becoming those characters as I wrote was also accomplished in others as they read. They are not professionals in the literary field. They’re readers. And consumers. They buy Christian fiction. Which is what I write. They’re a small sample of who is out there to spend the sometimes hard to come by dollars on books that will bring them something valuable in the experience of reading. It’s an indescribable joy to contribute to that.

I’m waiting on the results of one male test reader who does happen to be a professional. He enjoyed my second novel The Famous One and was game to try this one (my 7th effort). Let’s hope he has a good trip through the pages, too. It’s a bit more pensive, more unsettling to wait for his “review”, but I thank God and am so grateful for his willingness to venture into my story.

Father, thank you for each one who desires to read my work. Thank you, too, for their wonderful reports. It is a huge blessing to give others pleasure when writing in obedience to you. God, you are so wonderful to allow me the freedom to write, to give me stories I could never dream of on my own, to supply the words, the theme, the insights for the topic . . . my heart is devoted to you. Please continue your work in me, let me never stop seeking you with my whole heart. Jesus, thank you for your encouragement when the tears come, the feelings of failure and desolation. I love you, my Lord. Holy Spirit, how could I make it without you, pointing me here and there in the Word and opening the doors to deeper revelation. I need you endlessly. Help me always. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.