Early in my endeavor into writing, I joined a Christian Writer’s Group. I had no idea what to expect. I’d found it online, didn’t know anyone, just showed up. With only three others in attendance, it was a small group. We began by sharing what we were working on and everyone was very encouraging.
At the time, I was in the middle of querying agents for my recently finished first novel and I was refining my synopsis so I read it for them. They stopped me before I got to the end because they didn’t want me to ruin the ending. They wanted to read it! Eager to glean feedback on my first finished work, I offered to bring a few chapters to the next meeting.
At the next meeting, one of the three individuals changed her mind. “I’m not very good at critiquing and I’d really rather not read it,” she said.
“No problem,” I assured her and tucked away the extra copy.
In addition to the original three writers in the group, a fourth writer showed up that night and when my novel was mentioned he asked to read it so I gave him the extra copy.
I got the following email from him a couple of days later.
Hi
We met the other night at Schulers and you passed on your manuscript to read.
I read it last night. I think that you are a talent! I got into the manuscript and became invested in your story. To put things in perspective there was only one other unknown local writer that I would also fit into this category…. She was first published in November and instantly became the #1 Kindle romance writer in the world.
Wow! In the midst of rejection after rejection to my query letters, I was inspired! And this was a guy reading my romance novel! Eventually I gave him the whole manuscript and he had some really great feedback. He’s since become one of my favorite critique buddies—open and honest and always encouraging.
You know who you are and I just want to say thank you for touching my life in a way that has given me the courage and fortitude to push forward and use my gifts to shine His light!
Have you touched anyone lately?
If you don’t know the term “lollipop moment”, check out this YouTube video. It’s awesome and worth every second of the 6-minute spend.