Since I was 11 years old, I’ve dreamt of publishing a book for an entire generation to enjoy- okay, obsess over. But I didn’t want this story to be vain and simply pure entertainment. I wanted to restore that sense of awe and wonder kids today get robbed of too early. One of the biggest ways children lose their sense of innocence is through film, or at least this is how I felt. Therefore, my dream was to write this book that I extend into a series and the series becomes a movie franchise.

So with just a notebook and a pen, I began writing this story about a boy who became a shark (this is before Shark Boy and Lava Girl), and later on, my father became my illustrator. My father finished the first rough draft, doing all the writing and drawing himself, because were living apart. He showed it to a children’s author he knew through a friend and the author said to contact her when we were finished with the project.

I battled low self-esteem. I struggled to grow as a writer, and I believed this lie that I would never be good enough to be a published author. Every time I went to write a chapter to that story, I was convinced every word, every sentence, and every paragraph wasn’t good enough. For the longest time, I was convinced I could not write a version better than what my father wrote alone, using my concept, my characters, and my vision.

I friended people who aspired to be published authors like me and that motivated me to pick the task up again. I finished the second draft in high school. Unfortunately, my dad and I lost touch with the author my dad built a connection with and I didn’t bother to reach out to literary agents to get it published.

I finished the third draft when I was 22, exactly 11 years later from when I started, and I did show it to some self-publishing companies that kindly gave me a bunch of tips on how to improve it.

I’m now undergoing a fourth draft, co-writing it with my father with him as the illustrator, and I’m going to do my part and trust God with the rest that the work becomes published…

What does that book-in-the-making have to do with this blog? That’s the very first story I ever took seriously to write and had the nerve to re-write again and again, making it more perfect than before. With that catalyst story, what I do on my blog today wouldn’t be a thing.

About a over a year ago, in July 2017, the blog went live with a story I wrote, basing the main character off a friend and her dreams. I placed her and her dreams in a setting of my choosing. I chose the end times and the rapture. I posted it on the blog, because I wanted my blog to be a place where shared all these imaginative stories I developed. I figured while I practiced my writing skills, enhancing them, I could build an audience and having a blog with lots of follows would give a publisher confidence to publish my book…

I may not have many followers but I’m grateful for the ones that do I have… If one thing I write can inspire someone or help someone connect to Jesus the Messiah, then it is worth to me. Yes, I want to influence a bunch of people… thousands or perhaps even millions, but above all those things I want to live the life my Maker designed for me. Not just for my own sake and my own personal fulfillment, but for others who are not known by the Savior may become known.

I figured with this blog, I could do just that… I could write my weird, unconventional stories with Christ at the center and people would be provoked to examine their own worldview and decide if they can afford to keep their current life the same or does some part of it need to change.

A year later, my blog is nowhere where I dreamt it to be, but I’m not giving up because it doesn’t look like what I envisioned. Trust me, I have done all the things hip, popular bloggers say to do, and they all agree it takes time. My faith, however, is not in this blog alone, or at all really. My faith is in God and I know in due season, I will step into each and every promise He has for me, and along the way my family Heaven is just going to get bigger and bigger because more and more souls are connecting with Christ Jesus the purpose God has for their lives.

There you have it readers, this blog is to stretch and grow me as a writer, build an audience to impress a traditional publisher, and to connect people with the heart of God and the truth of Word, in a out of the box kind of way. I’m not on wattpadd because I didn’t think of that, but I may be in the future. We’ll see.

Thank you so much stopping by the blog today. If you don’t know Jesus the Messiah as Savior, friend, and brother… then I don’t believe it’s by chance you discovered my blog. Feel free to comment if you want to know how to know Jesus and to be known by Him today. Or if you’re not ready yet, start by reading the Gospel of Mark… it’s short, it’s simple, and it’s all about Jesus! You can read the Bible at Biblegateway.com. I highly recommend the New Living Translation, God’s Word Translation, or the English Standard Version. The Passion Translation is growing in popularity but I haven’t checked it out personally yet, so I can’t recommend it personally, but people I trust love it, therefore, I think it would be okay to give it a whirl!

Much love,

Bri