It was a joyous birthday present: Cross and Quill, the hard-copy Newsletter from the Christian Writers Fellowship International, e-mailed me that they wanted to use both (!) articles I sent them in November 2008. One article, “For the Love of History” is about writing Historical fiction; the other a 400 words, edited version of an article about Writer’s Software that was published on the Website of the Long Ridge Writers Group. The news surely made my day!
I sent in a column proposal to the Jerusalem Post Christian edition. Thought they could use some history pieces about Israel and the Jewish people and sent in a few sample stories that I had re-written from the radio pieces. The editor turned the table on me and wrote back the same day that he was interested in a certain article, but could I flesh out some more info and give it a broader scope. The deadline for the article was within 2 days, and I had only one day to get it done. Still waiting if it will be published or not, but I decided not to do this kind of ‘stunt’s again. I’m can’t handle the stress that is involved.
JournEzine, who has published one of my biblical stories, sent their new Submission guidelines. On their page I noticed an advertisement calling for stories for an anthology called “Echoes of White”. Deadline: February 2009! Because I already had a general story ready, I sent in a short version to give them an idea. The same day I received a very enthusiastic reply: please, please, please! Send your story! Writing our life’s story and seeing how God’s mighty hand guided each step of the way, was already such an encouragement to me. But also the editor of the anthology was also touched, and wrote she recognized so much from her own life! She surely wanted to have the story included in the book!
A private message waited for me in the FaithWriters postbox. After reading my profile, the editor of an e-zine called “The More Excellent Way” wondered if I would be willing to be one of the contributors. I sent in an example of one of the articles I had written about the children, and wait and see what happens next.
Don’t know where this all is going to lead, but I have the feeling God is beginning to open the doors – unbelievable! The only problem is that my next book is on hold, as I first have to get the Dutch MS ready to be sent to a publisher. The English version of “First Fruits in Jerusalem” is waiting to be read at SunPenny Publishing. I still can’t believe it I wrote that!
In the meantime, I stumbled upon another wonderful network: “Christian Women Take Root”. Check it out for yourself – a wonderful opportunity to bless and encourage others, even when you’re often ‘stuck’ at home, like me. My problem now is that I have to ‘guard’ my hours even more, as these networks are wonderful, but can also keep you from using it for other, important tasks. Like getting that article ready, with a deadline breathing in your neck!
