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| Ane Mulligan |
~ Dawn
Ane
Mulligan’s Journey to Publication
My journey to publication hasn't been short or easy. In
2003, the hubs told me to write a book. I quickly realized that was God's call,
because as soon as Hubs said it, God turned on a light and an idea dropped into
my otherwise empty mind.
I found an online Christian critique group, who told me plainly
I had a lot to learn. What an understatement. POV? Never heard the term.
Omniscient? That's what God was. Show don't tell? How do I tell a story without
telling? Yikes!
I spent the next three years writing and growing. In 2006,
an editor took my manuscript to committee. While I waited for the result,
expecting a contract naturally, I got an agent, but the editorial committee
said no. Then, God called my agent into ministry.
I was discouraged and cried out to God, asking—okay,
whining—why wasn't I getting published? I knew God called me to write. Stories
bubbled in my mind all the time. I needed a sign. Then, an editor told me I'd
learned the craft, giving me the encouragement to keep working.
I signed with my second agent, and in 2010, she called to
say my manuscript was going to pub board. Yippee! Pub board loved it, but their
slate that quarter was full, so the editor was going to hold it for the next
one. Only she retired before that and her computer hard drive was wiped clean.
I was lost in cyber oblivion. Then my agent retired.
Do you see a pattern here? Once again, I whined. And God
said, "Wait. Trust me." He didn't offer me another choice, so I chose
to trust. He gave me a new agent after some specific prayer, and soon, we
received an offer for a 2-book contract.
But once again, God said no and we turned it down. By this
time, I began to wonder if I'd ever publish. Yes, that was my goal, but if God
had something different for me, I was fine with it.
Then, in August of 2013, nearly eleven years after I began
this journey, my agent called me to tell me we had an offer from Lighthouse
Publishing of the Carolinas. And my heart quickened. All right, God! This was
it. This time, He said, "Yes."
There are two things I've learned during this journey. Never
ever give up, and God must be part of the equation. He has a time and place for
each of us.
I believe people let down their guard when they think
they're being entertained. Through fiction, I can entertain readers. Through
fiction, I can present seeds of God's truth. Then when they least expect it,
the story can reach out, touch their hearts, and change them. And isn't that
why we write?
Tweetables:
Two things Ane
Mulligan learned during her journey to publication—never ever give up, and God
must be part of the equation. Click to tweet.
Through fiction,
we can entertain readers—through fiction, we can present seeds of God’s truth.
Click to tweet.
Through fiction,
we can entertain readers. Then when they least expect it, our stories can reach
out, touch hearts, and change people. Click to tweet.
With
a friend like Claire, you need a gurney, a mop, and a guardian angel.
Everybody
in the small town of Chapel Springs, Georgia, knows best friends Claire and
Patsy. It's impossible not to, what with Claire's zany antics and Patsy's
self-appointed mission to keep her friend out of trouble. And trouble abounds.
Chapel Springs has grown dilapidated and the tourist trade has slackened. With
their livelihoods threatened, they join forces to revitalize the town. No one
could have guessed the real issue needing restoration is personal.
With
their marriages as much in need of restoration as the town, Claire and Patsy
embark on a mission of mishaps and miscommunication, determined to restore
warmth to Chapel Springs —and their lives. That is if they can convince their
husbands and the town council, led by two curmudgeons who would prefer to see
Chapel Springs left in the fifties and closed to traffic.
While a large, floppy straw hat is her favorite, Ane has worn many different ones:
hairdresser, legislative affairs director (that's a fancy name for a lobbyist),
drama director, playwright, humor columnist, and novelist. Her lifetime
experience provides a plethora of fodder for her Southern-fried fiction (try
saying that three times fast). She firmly believes coffee and chocolate are two
of the four major food groups. President of the award-winning literary site,
Novel Rocket, Ane resides in Suwanee, GA, with her artist husband, her chef
son, and two dogs of Biblical proportion. You can find Ane on her Southern-fried Fiction website, Google+, Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, and Pinterest.
