Choosing a Path

It has been a long time coming, y'all.

(Kindle Cover Shown Above)

Before I graduated college back in May, I had decided that I needed to do something - writing wise - about all the lessons I had done and gathered over my three years as a Base Group Leader.

I had decided, after a great deal of thinking and praying, that I was going to write a book. Not just a normal book either. A study guide. Something that could potentially help young adults and adults around the United States and (ambitiously thinking) around the world.

At first, it was going to be a study guide for women. It was easier this way because my lessons were already garnered for women, as I was a female leader. But the more I started to write, read the Bible, and go over the topics with my church group, that quickly began to change. My 'women's study guide' has changed into just a 'young adult' study guide. It's applicable to both men and women. And once I expanded that, it was so much fun writing this book for a broader audience.

My topics changed slightly, I had points that I had thought I was going to make take the backseat because better points were brought up or there were revealed truths that God placed on my heart that were a lot more important than the original ones I was thinking about.

May turned to June, June turned to July, and so on and so forth.

For ten weeks, every Wednesday, I would have a topic to bring to Bible study so we could discuss it. I got advice that I never would have if I had decided to do this alone. I got to hear people a whole lot wiser than me talk and I got to listen to what they knew about the topic I brought up.

After taking notes, the next few days I would edit and write on that particular topic. Some topics took an hour or so to finish, some took multiple hours and sometimes even days to complete.

I will not lie: sometimes I had to set the book aside to get my mind straight. There were a few days that passed that I didn't write anything or edit anything.

By October, I had my book almost completely ready. All I had to do was format the cover, fix the margins, and get the very last chapter done (I was missing a few sections).

The desire to procrastinate hit hard. Sometimes it won out and I wouldn't do anything with the book. Sometimes I dragged myself to Microsoft Word, opened up my document, and forced myself to write. It took much longer than it should have, but eventually I got it done. Then I ordered a proof - I thought it wise to see what my book would look like before I sent it out for the world to see.

Five days passed and it finally arrived...right before Thanksgiving. The margins were TERRIBLE. The pages were misaligned and the cover did not look as good as I thought it did on my laptop. Not to mention there were a lot of edits I needed to make now that I saw it on paper.

So I set back to work. It took days to figure out the margins, which was by far my most difficult dilemma of formatting this book. I settled for a larger size of the book and it looked pretty good on the laptop. I added some of the edits, knowing I could add the rest while I waited for the proof to come in.

So I ordered the second proof. Another five days passed before I got the proof, and when I got it, I was dismayed. The size of the book was HUGE. Way too big! I was groaning inside and wanted to throw the book at the wall. It just wasn't working!

Again, I hit the editing mode and got back to formatting. I made the size smaller - an in-between of the two sizes - and fixed the pages and added the rest of the edits. I checked again and again to see if I was seeing things right (and I was): the book looked like it needed to.

I was so relieved. It was done. My book was done.

And it took me two days to gather the courage to publish it because I was scared and nervous of my book actually going live. But I did. And then it went under review, and on Sunday night, I got an email notifying me that my book and Ebook were live.

I could have fainted because of the mixture of excitement and nervousness.

I started texting family and friends and spreading the news! I had confirmed orders of my book and promises of buying it the next few days. I was so overwhelmed and happy.

It took 8 months to make this thought into a reality. It wasn't an easy process. It wasn't a smooth road. But it was worth it. It's so, so worth it.

Not only can I more officially call myself a published author, I can start to make a living doing what I love. I am making an income doing what I've dreamed of doing since I was a little girl.

I could cry.

So it is with great excitement and a humble heart that I can say my book, Choosing A Path, is available to buy on Amazon and Kindle!

Here's the link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/169993357X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I really couldn't have done this without my support group. I've had so many people rooting for me that I cannot thank them enough. I'm blessed to have gotten this far, and I am so excited to see where God is taking me next.

Happy Reading!!