I’ve been asking my friends how they keep pressing on when they might feel like giving up. Why? Because I need the encouragement to keep pressing on when I feel like giving up! Maybe you do, too?
If so, I hope you’ll listen in on my conversation with my neighbor and friend, Cammie Quinn.
After working with a high-profile publishing house for three years on a novel that felt like it took a lifetime to write, she got a rejection letter at the end of the whole process. It was just three sentences, which she summed up like this:
“In this world of so many people trying to get books published, yours was just not extraordinary enough.”
But that wasn’t the worst. That came the same week when she got a lab report back from her doctor. Her eye had a cancerous tumor. They would have to take it out. Cammie says:
“I felt like I lost my health and my dream in the same week.”
Her fears magnified when she thought of her husband and two young kids. “Is the cancer going to spread? Am I going to die from it?”
That night, she walked out to pray in a field near her house. “I was just broken,” she said. “I was asking God ‘Why?’ I thought You wanted me to be a writer. I’ve thought this my whole life from childhood. I don’t understand. And now, I might even die from this cancer. I was thinking, ‘Where are You, Lord?’
“All of a sudden, this meteor came across the sky. It was a big one that just lobbed over. It was as if God had drawn his finger across the sky and said, ‘I’m here. Just trust me.’ It affected me so deeply. When things like this happen, you can say it was a coincidence. You can try to explain it away. But to the person it happens to, they know deep down. They know it’s God speaking. It just changes you, and you can never really completely explain it to somebody else because it’s so personal.”
Cammie felt God’s peace. She pressed on. She said:
“I started praying that God would allow me to see Him better with one eye than I did with two.”
She also asked God what He wanted her to write about and began writing articles for newspapers and newsletters, as well as co-authoring a book with her pastor.
Last year, after fifteen more years of pouring her heart and soul into a new novel, she was able to finish AND publish it for the world to read. It’s called Follow the Wind Home, an epic Civil War novel about grief and loss and moving on when you find yourself loving too much.
And THIS year (THIS weekend!), she’s publishing her second book called Going Home, a collection of real and fictional short stories about small-town life in Central Illinois written especially for those in the autumn of their lives.
If you’ve ever faced disappointment or felt like your dreams have been derailed, I want to encourage you to take some tips from Cammie. Watch our whole podcast episode and/or read or listen to her novel and short stories. You’ll be glad you did! As Cammie says:
“It’s not about making a big splash on the bestseller list—it’s about being faithful with the talent God gave you. I don’t know what He’s going to do with that book. I have to stay humble. Whatever He decides to do, it’s up to Him. But having seen His promises afar off, like those who are mentioned in Hebrews 11:13, I think He gives us glimpses to keep us going.”
Here’s the link to watch our whole conversation:
And here are the links to her books (which I had the pleasure of helping her publish!):
- Follow the Wind Home, her epic Civil War novel about moving on after loss
- Going Home, her collection of short stories about small-town life in Central Illinois
Keep pressing on!
Love,
Eric Elder writes for page, stage & screen to glorify God’s name so Christ may be seen! Use this link to subscribe or unsubscribe.
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