Tuesday, May 29, 2012

An Impossible Road to Publication by Dineen Miller



Being a writer isn’t easy. I have a feeling there is a sea of heads bobbing up and down out there. It takes a lot of work, and you get a lot of rejections. Sometimes the road to publication can seem downright impossible. . .

What made me nearly give up.
In the fall of 2010, I was so hopeful that we (my agent and I) had found a home for The Soul Saver—Lexie’s story. I believed that The Soul Saver and the nonfiction book I co-authored, Winning Him Without Words (Regal Books), were a perfect match, like Fireproof and the Love Dare.

Needless to say, I was pretty upset when the rejection came from what I thought was a sure thing and my last hope. What I considered the heart of my story was the very issue they didn’t want to deal with.

I was crushed.

God bless my wonderful agent who stood by me and encouraged me not to change the story, to just hang on a little longer. I went to God in prayer and laid The Soul Saver and writing fiction at His feet, asking Him to take the desire to write it away if I wasn’t supposed to. It was too painful.

Then I let it be.

A couple months later, God released me from doing design work (my day job)—something I’d been praying about letting go so I could write full time. Up until this time, I kept hearing, “Not yet.”

So why now? It didn’t make sense. Nothing had changed. I assumed it meant I would need more time for the SpirituallyUnequalMarriage.com ministry and our Winning Him book releasing in a few months.

This “release” happened on a Saturday. My agent called Tuesday to give me the unbelievable news that a publisher had made an offer on The Soul Saver.

How God opened the door for The Soul Saver in a place I least expected.
The Soul Saver seemed to cross genres with a story that fit women’s fiction, a thread of danger that fit suspense stories and a supernatural element as well. One house even said they liked the story but didn’t know how they would market it.

So when the offer came from a house I had already assumed wouldn’t be interested, I was floored. But isn’t that so like God? Like Gideon defeating 120,000 Midianites with just 300 men, God wants us to know that it’s Him who brakes down barriers and opens the door to the impossible.

Not only had God opened the door in the unlikeliest of places, He brought my story to a publisher that supported its connection to our Winning Him book and our marriage ministry. (Thank you, Becky Germany and Barbour Publishing!)

I have another story to tell—one I’m not sure will find a home. Sound familiar? But I know God is faithful. He’s the one who makes the impossible possible.


In addition to writing for Spiritually Unequal Marriage, Dineen Miller has won several prestigious awards for her fiction. She’s also a C.L.A.S.S. Communicator and has been featured on the Moody Radio Network, Family Life and Focus on the Family Radio.

Married for 24 years to a guy who keeps her young, she lives in the Bay Area with her husband and two adult daughters, who surprise her daily with their own creativity.

She is the co-author of
Winning Him Without Words: 10 Keys to Thriving in Your Spiritually Mismatched Marriage and the author of The Soul Saver.

The Soul Saver
Lexie Baltimore is in the supernatural battle of her life. In obedience to God’s calling, Lexie uses her dreams and sculpting to help others. But will she have enough courage to help herself when she becomes torn between her atheist husband and a godly man? As events unfold, Lexie becomes entangled in a twisted plot. Will she unmask the evil before it’s too late? 

See the book trailer here.