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Early in 2008 I was getting the message through prayer and meditation that God wanted me to be a writer. I had no experience as a writer and knew nothing about the writing/publishing industry. So… I ignored the calling to be a writer, by justifying that I had a successful career as a counselor and I had no experience as a writer.
That year, for the first time in my 19 year career as a counselor, I received a complaint from my licensing board, one of my contracted insurance companies was not paying me for seeing their clients, and my expenses were quickly increasing, because I had to hire a lawyer and a contracted supervisor to help me problem solve these issues. As it became more stressful for me to continue at my private practice, it began to occur to me that the only way God could make me become a writer, was by making it very difficult for me to stay at my private practice, and this was exactly what was happening.
In September 2008 I retired my professional counseling license and began to write. I started ‘sitting for guidance’ each day, and asking God why he wanted me to be a writer and what he wanted me to write about. He let me know that my writing would bless many and he gave me 16 different subjects to write about. He gave me signs in my dreams that the path would be clear for me to do this work and he would remove all obstacles if I would write. I wrote all these things down, so that when I had doubts about writing, I could be reminded that writing was what I was supposed to be doing.
I finished writing my first book, Good Things Emotional Healing Journal~ Addiction in 2009.
I did not know any editors, illustrators or publishers to send my book to, so I asked God to help me find the people he wanted my book to go to. My webmaster told me about an editor he knew, so I called her. When she told me how much she charged, I told her I could not afford her services, because I was receiving no income by writing. She ended up negotiating with me for a small amount and a back end of the book sales.
I began looking for illustrators on-line and there were so many amazing ones, I didn’t know who to choose. I asked God to help me find the illustrator that he wanted to illustrate my book. He gave me the name ‘Bryan Mouse.’ I googled it. There was 1 person with that name, and one link that said “Bryan of Tenacious Mouse…” I contacted both of these people, whom I never met and asked them if they happened to be illustrators. Bryan, of Tenacious Mouse contacted me from the Yukon and said he had done some illustrations and he was interested in illustrating my book. His fees were also more than I could afford, but he was willing to negotiate for a small amount and back end of the book sales, once the book was published.
Now I was ready to send my edited and partially illustrated manuscript to a publisher! But who?
I joined some writers/authors groups on LinkedIn, in hopes of getting information from other published authors, on how to go about finding the right publisher for my book. I was encouraged to get a literary agent, since I was a first time, unknown author. I ended up e-mailing a few, and Meg McAllister who I never met before ended up giving me a call. She offered me suggestions for a query letter as well as a publisher. I took her advice and sent my manuscript to Morgan James Publishing. I got a call from David Hancock, the founder of the publishing company, saying he loved my book and was going to accept it! He also let me know that he received about 5,000 manuscripts a year and only publishes about 134.
I am still in awe of how this whole process turned out and how I was led to all the right people
I got my first copy of ‘Good Things Emotional Healing Journal~Addiction in the mail two days ago. I dedicated it to God, so that it goes to all the people who will be blessed and helped by its content.
“Make me understand what you want; for then I shall see your miracles.” Psalms 119:27
Written by Elisabeth Davies, MC
www.BrightAlternatives.com