Season for Pruning by Darlene L. Turner

Spring is here and with it comes the clean-up of debris left from the winter months. The snow hides everything and we must remove the dead vines and leaves in order for growth to happen in a new season. This reminds me of the pruning every writer does in their journey. What can we learn?

Writer community is precious – We need each other to support, encourage, be accountable to, critique, and also to rejoice with. We all know much of a writer’s life is spent in solitude. Just knowing we have a community to reach out to brings comfort. Let’s keep in contact with our friends.

God’s timing is always best – As I pull out the dead vines, I think ahead of when I can plant. Is it time? Or could there still be frost? If I plant too early, I may lose everything. It’s the same with our writing. If we try to go ahead of God and don’t seek Him, we fall flat on our faces. His timing is perfect.

Yes, even in our publication journey. We may want that contract right away, but perhaps we

aren’t quite ready, or we just haven’t found the perfect fit. We can’t rush the process or God’s timing. He’s pruning us to be the best writer we can be.

The BIG picture – I love to think of the beautiful flowers that will pop up and the yummy veggies we will enjoy as I plant every seed. There’s always a reason why our writing journeys emerge the way they do. There could be something better in store for us along the way that we can’t see. God knows the big picture and surrendering to Him is the only answer.

You can find new life hidden amongst the dead – When I weed through the dead leaves and vines, I see new growth. There is life in the writer’s pruning season. We may think it’s all negative when we go through rejections, but we learn and grow from each one. New growth is important in the writer’s world, but we must stop and allow God to show it to us. When we do, we’ll be blessed.

Just like I look forward to the colorful summer blooms, I can’t wait to see what He has ahead for me in my writing journey.

I want to sprout tall for Him!

How about you? Is God taking you through a pruning season? Share your story.

This reminds me of the pruning every writer does in their journey. What can we learn? via @darlenelturner #SeriouslyWrite #amwriting

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Border Breach

When drugs are smuggled across the border it’s their duty to stop the culprits…at any cost.
Forming a joint task force, Canada border officer Kaylin Poirier and police constable Hudson Steeves have one objective: take down a drug-smuggling ring trying to sell a new lethal product. But when the smugglers come after Kaylin and Hudson, this mission becomes more than just a job. Can they live long enough to solve the case?


Darlene L. Turner is an award-winning author and lives with her husband, Jeff in Ontario, Canada. Her love of suspense began when she read her first Nancy Drew book. She’s turned that passion into her writing and believes readers will be captured by her plots, inspired by her strong characters, and moved by her inspirational message. You can connect with Darlene at www.darlenelturner.com where there’s suspense beyond borders. Darlene’s debut, Border Breach, launches April, 2020 from Love Inspired Suspense.

Darlene’s social media:

Facebook: https://bit.ly/2Woy8dK
Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Qso27O 

LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/2UhbelT
BookBub: https://bit.ly/2QrdkhP
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Instagram: darlenel.turner

A Season of Pruning by Marissa Shrock

Deep down, I always thought getting the contract for my first novel was too easy. I spent five years learning to write fiction. When I was ready to seek publication, I found an agent and had an offer from a publisher within less than a year. A year and a half later, my young adult, dystopian novel was released and went on to final in a major award.

But sales were low, and my publisher refused to buy the sequels. My agency purged its client list, and I didn’t survive the cut. The career that’d once seemed so promising was dying before it’d had a chance to live.

As I walked this difficult road, I concluded that God was using this painful experience to prune away attitudes and junk in my life. The good news is that when God prunes, it’s to make us more fruitful (John 15:2).

I learned I should never compare my season of pruning to someone else’s season of fruitfulness. Comparisons are easy when we meet and become friends with other writers. As we celebrate our friends’ successes, we secretly wonder why contracts or massive amounts of sales aren’t happening for us.

God showed me all authors write one word at a time, and those words matter to him. Just because he chooses to bless someone else with more talent, more contracts, more money, more awards, and a bigger platform, doesn’t mean that what we’re writing isn’t important. It’s humbling when expectations don’t match reality, and when God’s plan isn’t what we expected.

Though this experience was difficult for me, God has been faithful and has provided a way for me to share my stories. I’ve indie published the sequels to my debut novel and have moved on to writing cozy mysteries.

Though I’m excited by the new possibilities, I remind myself daily that my novels will be what God wants them to be. He’ll take my books where he wants them to go, and he’ll do the same with your work as well.

  

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Marissa Shrock loves to read a variety of genres, so her own work includes dystopian thrillers and cozy mysteries. She’s the author of the Emancipation Warriors Series and the Georgia Rae Winston Mystery Series. Her debut novel, The First Principle, was a Carol Award Finalist. Marissa enjoys playing golf and traveling to new places, and her home is in Indiana.