Into the Fire

Congratulations to you! You worked hard. You jumped through hoops. Risked and received rejections. Survived – maybe even flourished through – editing. Watched the cover art originate and be perfected. Wrote your Acknowledgments. Your book is released, and perhaps the next one, maybe a sequel or a series, is begun. You have a contract for more. You are a published author!

Whether your experience arriving at this station in your writing career came through sheer diligence and perseverance or if it came through a smooth series of events, what you've gained in the process of being published is invaluable, not only to you but to others with which you can now share.

This is the upside.

Let me tell you about one of the downsides. Rarely mentioned. Perhaps rightly so – I'm still undecided on that. Not everyone will be impressed with your accomplishment. Not everyone will think your writing style is admirable, and not everyone will like your voice or your story. Therefore, and I say this respectfully, don't presume to be a teacher/editor of the writing craft and technique. Don't assume you can abide by, recite, enforce, or even deny "the rules" with any authority. And please don't elevate your experience to the level of something extraordinary gained only by your due diligence and study of the craft. Please. Don't.

If you're tempted to do this, take a walk through Barnes & Noble. Stare at the ever-increasing volume of fiction sitting on those shelves. Take a good hard look. Some of those stories are ridiculous and some of them are ridiculously good. Yours could be either/or or fit somewhere in between.

Writing a novel, good or bad, and getting it published does not guarantee you're a teacher of fiction, of the craft, of really anything. It might mean you're incredibly talented and have a dynamite future in the biz. It could mean you're a one-hit wonder. It could even mean you're not a one-hit wonder – you're just one of many.

Enjoy the accolades if they come. Enjoy the experience for its value. Enjoy the beauty and wonder of holding your novel in your hands after all those hours and hours of hard work.

Be careful to hear the Lord's voice in all of it. His instruction is the only one that truly matters. If He assigns a teaching stint mixed in with all your future writing endeavors: embrace it. Be the best, the most informative, the most encouraging writing instructor you can be. If He's in it, you'll be a good one. If He's not . . . 

Lord, help us to never think of ourselves more highly than we ought. Please. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.