The Best Thing About Being a Writer

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By Rikki Strong

The Best Thing About Being a Writer

Just about 18 months ago, I attended the Idaho Book Extravaganza. Mom got me entrance to the conference as an early Christmas present. There were seminars on epublishing, on indie vs. traditional, finding the right agent, how to use social media, and many other topics. Local publishers were there talking about what they were looking for in a new author. It was inspiring. Writers’ conventions are good for that.

Unbounded enthusiasm is a wonderful thing. The day after the Extravaganza, I started my blog, created a Facebook author page, and joined LinkedIn, Twitter, Hootsuite, author groups on Facebook, and talked my techie husband into learning how to create ebooks. My first independently-published book, Karis, was published less than two months after IBE and the roller coaster that is authorhood began.

The best thing, though, to come from IBE was not the kick in the pants I needed to actually do something with my books. It was becoming part of the Grace and Faith Author family. This group of inspirational men and women encourage each other, support each other, pray for each other, cry with each other, and celebrate with each other, and is what every “inspirational” writer (that’s what Christian authors are called now, right?) needs to make it through the tough world of authoring.

This community is a true example of what the Body of Christ should be. First Corinthians 12 talks about how the Body of Christ interacts with itself. Paul says that we are individuals but, as Christians, we are all part of one body. The Grace and Faith community is a wonderful example of this: We all write something different and have sometimes-heated discussions about our differing writing styles. Yet, when we need someone to help with marketing, there are people who are quick to post tweets for books and blog posts with which they might not completely agree may, truth be told, choose not read themselves. The Grace and Faith Author Community proves that—despite our differing theologies, our different denominations, and our different places in life—Christians actually can work together for the common good of the Body and everyone else.

If you are hesitant about reading Christian literature—as I have been in the past (but that’s another blog)—don’t be. Not here, at least. In our group of traditionally-, small-press-, and independently-published writers, we have authors of fantasy, sci-fi, books on how to coach a basketball team, steampunk, mystery, romance, writers who write self-help, devotionals, historical romance self-publishing how-tos, and nearly every other subject that is in any traditional bookstore. We have authors who would fit in well in the Christian bookstores and authors whose books would not be able to pass the Christian bookstore “censors.”

Best of all, though, if you want to read books by authors who truly care about the overall story in their book—even non-fiction—authors who care about their readers (not just money), and how their books help others, this is the place to find them.

My third book—and sequel to KarisFlash is available for KindleFlash6x9 and in paperback today! Stop by the Amazon page to check it out http://amzn.to/WNzPvV/ !

Rikki Strong has always been enamored with superheroes, and started writing the My Life as a Superhero series (currently Karis and Flash) when she was a sophomore in high school. She began writing for fun and profit in 2006 and has since written or ghostwritten more than 10 books and over 50 web articles. When not writing—which is most of the time—she is a stay-at-home wife and mom to a very active 6-year-old boy who is already about 500 words and 25 chapters into his own book.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/R-M-Strong/281097011925041

Twitter: @RM_Strong

Blog: http://rachelstrong.blogspot.com

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/106319550273644506645/posts/p/pub

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/rmstrong

FLASH Borrow/Purchase Link: http://amzn.to/WNzPvV

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2 Comments

  1. Great post, Rikki! Good luck on your newest book in the series!

    Reply
  2. Laura Ratcliff

     /  April 2, 2013

    What an inspiring article! I have been reading Grace and Faith for a while now but have never commented because I have not published anything yet. Now I feel that I can become part of the group. Thank you!

    Reply

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