2014 was a year of personal pain, heartache, and joy, a period of jubilation over goals achieved and distress over illusions shattered. Refuge was published, and my blog readership grew, so it was also a year of reaching a wider audience with the message of God’s mercy.
Welcome, new readers!
Simultaneously, my autoimmune disorder worsened. The pain has increased, and I can no longer ignore it. Jesus uses this to draw me nearer.
With these facts in place, I must make decisions. How can I serve God and my family, use my gifts to write to encourage you, and live with a debilitating illness? Short answer: by God’s grace.
Long answer: Living out God’s grace in the new year calls for a manifesto.
Resolved: I will listen to my wise husband.
He supports me financially, emotionally, and physically, so I can write and serve. He wants me to take care of my health, keep our family first, use my gifts, write more, market less, and enjoy life….
Resolved: And so, I will seek more balance in my life as a writer.
I can’t do everything by myself. Of course, you know that, but I usually don’t. This lesson is always difficult for me.
Marketing is a slippery beast. I’ve been striving to understand it since I attended my first jaw-dropping writers’ conference. The mystery: Books are now crowd-sourced, -promoted, and -marketed. It took me a while to wrap my mind around that.
In short, it means that you’re now part of the sales process. You probably had no idea the publishing industry had assigned you a position! But there are now eight million books on Amazon. When you love a book, a tangible response is required. And so….
Resolved: My physical restraints now force me to learn to ask for help.
Drats! I’m not very good at this! But this market requires your participation for me to keep writing, so I am asking for your help. Every post you share multiplies my efforts. Every review you write puts Refuge into more hands.
In turn, because the publishing industry is relying on you and none of us got a say in that, I will seek to publish in ways that lower your purchase prices. It only seems fair! And I will make it as easy as possible.
Resolved: My priorities will be ordered by God. I will listen to him.
I’m not very balanced, but the Lord is teaching me. I usually put my health behind everything else, but I can’t anymore. To care for my family and you and my writing, I must prioritize my health, and so my focus won’t be on the financial side of writing. This will teach me to trust the Lord to multiply my marketing efforts and to inspire you, my readers, to help spread the word.
A heartfelt thank you to those of you who already are! You uplift my heart!
Resolved: When I have a story to tell, success will be measured by reader response.
If I have reached a wider audience with a story of God’s mercy and they have responded as you have to Refuge, that is success! Thank you! There’s nothing ignoble about attempting to add income to the family coffers, and I have added income. But my publishing decisions will be made to best meet your needs.
Resolved: I will care for my mental, physical, and spiritual health. In short, I will smell the roses.
When I began writing stories, even though the publishing industry was collapsing and every single aspect of getting books to readers was changing, I wasn’t choosing to lose my good humor, my sanity, or my health. Then everything changed.
Since choices must now be made, I know the Lord wants me to keep my family, my health, and you as first priorities. I can live with that.
Word of the year: Balance
More on Friday….
This is so wise. You’ve been quite an inspiration to me as I’ve struggled with my own book project. I love your attitude and sense of servanthood. I so hope you get to feeling better. And I hope you don’t charge too little for your books, especially if they’ve sold well at this level. Thank you for the wisdom here. (I need to set way better boundaries around Facebook, so I can stay focused and get back to writing some books that are nudging at me.) Well, bless you and thank you for your friendship.
You’re a blessing to me, too, Katie! It’s great to have another author friend on the same path! God bless you, too, as you market!
Personally, I’m so glad to hear of your new resolutions! Indeed, we all need to help if we want to keep reading your stuff! Technology and social media have changed everything! Dear Lord, please bless Melinda’s work and help it get into more hands so that a knowledge of your goodness is shared in more places!
Thanks, Mom! It’s in God’s hands!
Bravo Melinda!
A deeply spiritual friend at church gave me my word of PEACE. I will share my word if you share yours.
And God bless our husbands for balancing us when we need it. Chuck always talks to me about “margin” in our free time – not over-committing but leaving unplanned space for God’s divine interruptions/connections.
Amen! I was torn between “Simplify” and “Balance.” I finally settled when I realized that Balance contains Simplify within it. If we’re racing, racing, racing, filling every square minute with work, we have no PEACE and silence to hear the Lord. And, hear him we must! God bless you as you pursue peace and divine connection with the Lord while working and traveling and ministering to your family. Now I know how to pray for you and encourage you this year. I miss you. 🙂