Writes4Him451

"Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you." -James 1:27

The Argonaut Trials is a near future sci-fi and my second book. It will be releasing in August. I've been posting a lot about it online, so if you follow me, you've very likely seen at least one thing about it. I'm currently in the throes of editing making this awesome story shine as bright as it can. And today, I'd like to share the special way that this story came to me in a time when I was questioning the calling the Lord has given me.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end."

All writing has been put on the backburner for the next few months as I go through edits of The Argonaut Trials. I received the developmental edit back from my editor a few weeks ago, and all the rest of the edits will be done by me. So I've been working hard on plot changes and ideas to make the story the best it can be. And I will tell you there has been a lot of laughing at myself, rolling my eyes at a line I know I thought was AMAZING when I wrote but is really just super cringy. But instead of getting down on myself, I've just been looking forward to the many ways I can make the story better now instead of dwelling on how I messed up the first draft. There's a certain pressure I feel however with how loved Chosen is. I want The Argonaut Trials to be better than Chosen, because I've grown as an author and I've learned so much through the editing and self publishing process. I know where I've failed and could've done better with Chosen and I'm using those lessons to make The Argonaut Trials more professional. So though I know it still needs a lot of work, I'm so excited for people to experience this story that I love so much.

As for my other stories, I'm getting ideas all the time for the stories I have on the backburner, I have notes on my phone of little scenes that come into my head so that I can put them into a story later. With all the sci-fi and dystopian I've been writing lately, after The Argonaut Trials release, I really want to go back to my fantasy world. Though I know it will likely be a few years before readers see any of this beautiful big world that I've been working on for so many years, I look forward to the day that readers do get to see it for the first time. But for now, that world will remain a mystery.

Today I'm going to talk about why I write Christian fiction. I didn't always write Christian fiction or even want to write Christian fiction even though my favorite overall genre is Christian fiction. So I'm going to talk about my personal journey of how and why I changed course and decided to write strictly Christian fiction.

There are a lot of Christian authors in the world, but not all of them write Christian fiction for different reasons, and I believe God uses every single one of us in the Christian and secular market. So I'd just like to clarify, this isn't meant to be judgy of authors who choose not to write Christian fiction because God calls us to different things. And I have the highest respect for Christians who write in the secular market. I actually love it when I read a secular book that I really enjoy and then find God in the author's acknowledgements.

So I've been writing pretty much since I learned how to write. I really couldn't tell you when I first started writing, I've tried to pinpoint a specific time, but I really just have always been writing and coming up with stories in my head. I always had a very active imagination. I have notebooks chock full of stories I wrote through the years and even just random pieces of paper filled with an amusing story that I thought of one afternoon. But I didn't decide I wanted to be an author until I was fourteen. I had a dream and that dream continued even when I was awake like a movie in my head. I had favorite parts of the dream that I would replay over and over in my head. So one day I decided to start writing it down and it was only after I wrote it down that the dream left me. Because I had captured it on a page. That's when I decided I wanted to be an author. Specifically, a fantasy author. But I remember specifically deciding not to write Christian fiction. I felt like it would get in the way of the story I wanted to tell and no one would read my work anyway if I put my faith in it.

I'd probably been writing for a year when one day this thought came to my head that wasn't my own, "If I'm everything to you, why am I not in what you write?" The conviction struck me. I love God, I want to serve Him with my life. And yet, I was purposefully keeping him out of this very important part of my life because I cared more about what people would think. That was when I started incorporating my faith in my writing. But it was more like adding a pinch of salt to a big pot of soup to make sure I got a little in there. It felt forced. Until I started building my work on God.

Now when I get an idea for a book, I also find a piece of Scripture to build it on. I always start with one verse, but then end up incorporating multiple because it's just part of who I am. For Chosen, the first book in my dystopian trilogy, the main verse it was built on was 1 Peter 2:9. But there were multiple verses that I incorporated with that main message. Verses like Esther 4:14 and 2 Corinthians 6:14. The Argonaut Trials, a standalone near-future sci-fi, that will be releasing in August, was built on 2 Corinthians 12:9, but I've also incorporated a lot more Scripture throughout the writing process and will continue to do so as I edit. And just as a teeny tiny sneak peak, I am willing to reveal that the sequel to Chosen which I finished the first draft of back in March has been firmly built on 1 Timothy 4:12.

Truly I've seen my writing be transformed when I've built it on the firm foundation that is Jesus Christ. No longer am I writing through my own strength, but letting the Holy Spirit write through me. I truly could not be the writer and author I am today without my Lord and Savior guiding my pen. I no longer have the desire to write what is popular or what would get more readers. I only want to show people the love of Christ through the stories I write.

Things are looking pretty bright these days. I've really gotten into a groove. But as of late, my work as an author has looked a little different than usual.

I finished draft one of the next book in my Christian dystopian trilogy, The Rembrick Trilogy a couple of weeks ago. It is now being analyzed by my beta readers, and I've already received absolutely glowing feedback from them, which has been so encouraging.

My next book to be released, The Argonaut Trials, is finishing up with my developmental editor. The past couple of weeks I've been working on the cover. The cover reveal will be next week on my Instagram and YouTube, so be sure to check that out. Both are @writes4him451. It is still on track to be released this summer.

Other than that, I've mostly been working on improving my writing craft by watching online lectures through SkillShare and I've been really enjoying it and learning a lot. After taking a month to really recharge and learn more, I will be diving into line edits and such, preparing for the release of The Argonaut Trials.

That's about it for writing right now. I'm excited to see where the Lord takes me next after the release of The Argonaut Trials. I will be trying to give a writing update on here every month. If you're interested, please check out my debut novel, Chosen. The first book in the Rembrick Trilogy.

I got into L.M. Montgomery in my early teens, starting with the iconic Anne of Green Gables. I devoured all eight books in the series one after the other, then getting into her other books like Jane of Lantern Hill and the Emily trilogy. While I absolutely ADORE Anne Shirley, Emily Byrd Starr really stuck out to me as a character. She was so imaginative and moody and just filled with wonder. She was such a unique character from what I was used to reading, and she continues to stick out to me to this day, many years after I first read the trilogy. While I loved the first book, Emily of New Moon, and the musings and escapades of little ten-year-old Emily, the second book, Emily Climbs, has stuck out to me through the years and I truly believe it helped form my creative mind. So here are four reasons why Emily Climbs is a six star book. *SPOILERS AHEAD*

Emily's Journey through the Teen Years: The book starts right before Emily's fourteenth birthday. She's still very much a little girl, but she's stepping forward into the beginnings of womanhood especially when her sweet childhood friendship with Teddy Kent starts to turn into a little bit of a crush. It's beautiful to see her growth throughout the book as it ends when she's seventeen, taking her through the highs and lows of adolescence.

Emily, the Young Poetess: Emily is determined to make it as a writer. Her greatest passion is for the art of the word. But to attend Shrewsbury High School, her extremely conservative aunt makes her promise she won't write anything untrue, keeping Emily restrained to her nature poetry and her daily journal entries. But Emily's determined to make it work regardless, sending her poetry to different magazine companies and proving successful. Eventually convincing her aunt to release her from her fiction ban.

Emily's Jimmy-Book Entries: Emily affectionately calls her journal her Jimmy-Book because it was a gift from her quirky Cousin Jimmy. Through Emily talking about her days, you truly get to see inside her head and watch as ideas, opinions, and growth takes place. She's got a little bit of pride, but you can't help not caring because she totally is better than everyone.

L.M. Montgomery's Writing Style Shines Through Emily: L.M. Montgomery has a uniquely whimsical and imaginative writing style. Her artistic and awe-inspired style is so perfectly fitting for Emily that you can't help but get "the flash" from it as Emily would describe it. Also the cheeky fourth wall breaks are hilarious. Here are some quotes that I found in my most recent read through:

"This book is not going to be wholly, or even mainly, made up of extracts from Emily's diary; but, by way of linking up matters unimportant enough for a chapter in themselves, and yet necessary for a proper understanding of her personality and environment."

"Emily regretfully left the "Booke Shoppe," where the aroma of books and new magazines was as the savour of sweet incense in her nostrils, and hastened down cold and blustery Prince Street."

"It was the first sweet bubble on the cup of success and we must not think her silly if it intoxicated her."