“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms…” (1 Pt 4:10)

On Saturday, May 4, 2019, I officially became an award-winning author. After almost 10 years of entering the Oklahoma Writers’ Federation, Inc. (OWFI) annual writing contest, I won two awards: first place for blogs (nonfiction) and honorable mention for mystery/suspense novel.

If you’ve read my work for very long, then you’ve read about the winding journey that led to my starting the blog in 2010. (Read about my journey here.)

Writing is a solitary endeavor and deeply personal. Whether writing fiction or nonfiction, it is intimidating and downright scary to put yourself out there for others to judge. Each time I hit “publish” on a blog post, I reveal a little more of myself to you, my faithful readers. The post which won the award, “Battling the Winter Blues,” was a glimpse into my struggle with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and how I’ve learned to manage it – most of the time. (Read the award-winning post.) Not every blog post is a gem, but my writing has improved over the years, and it gets easier to open up with each blog post.

Winning an award for my blog is encouraging because my purpose in writing these entries is to point people to Jesus – people who might not know what a Christian woman in today’s society is like. I want people to see past me and my mistakes to the God who lifts me up and walks beside me and gives me words when I have none. This award gives me another avenue to promote my blog and show people how God is working in my life.

Winning for both fiction and nonfiction is especially gratifying for me. The award for my cozy mystery novel comes at a time when I had almost given up on completing the novel. I’ve worked on it for four years, and progress had stalled. When I sat down to write, I would find new things to dislike about it. The lack of plot, the lack of character motivation, and the lack of a good title all come to mind as being issues I struggled with at various points in the writing process.

There were days when I decided I’m just not good enough at telling made-up stories to be a fiction writer. I sank in the mire of self-doubt. But self-doubt is from the enemy, who doesn’t want me to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

I’m thankful for family and friends who encouraged me to enter the contest this year and for the judges who saw promise in my work. I’m excited to receive their feedback and discover ways I can further improve. And I’m thankful that the Lord didn’t let me give up on myself, but provided friends and role models who encourage and prod me to continue writing and never, ever give up.

Dear Jesus, thank you for surrounding me with people who encourage me to write and share your word. Help me to point others to you and show them more of you and less of me. Amen.