#145 Heather Erdmann finally finished her first draft after learning this one thing and went on to publish it a few months later

So welcome, Heather. Thank you for being here tonight.

Thank you. Gosh, where do I start? We have a local writers group that I've been a part of off and on for many years. And I always wanted to be a writer, but just kind of dabbled in it and never knew how to make it anything, like, fruitful. And then last fall, one of the members told us about online Christian Writers Conference that was going to be held on Facebook, and it was Christian Book Academy. And I was kind of like, okay, I'll go. You know, I just. I'll just listen in. And I think I had to work several days, so I just. I'll watch the replays. And I wasn't into it until I started. And I was like, oh, my gosh. It was literally an answer to a prayer. I had just prayed, like, a few weeks earlier, saying, God, if you want me to pursue this writing thing, you need to give me the direction. Because I just don't know. You know, I knew there was so much that I didn't know.

About writing and the process of getting published and stuff. I mean, it's one thing to write it down, but to actually bring it to life into a book is a totally different thing. And so I never really got very far other than just writing a few pages, because I knew, like, what was the point? I'm just gonna write it and nobody's gonna see it anyways. But anyways, I went to the conference, and it was so helpful and so exciting because they were exactly the answer to prayer that I knew. This was the guidance and the hand holding that I needed for every step of the way, like Shelly has training for, from literally writing your first draft, which is where I was stuck. I was definitely under the impression of trying to write, like, the perfect first draft. So I'd get a few pages in and be like, oh, this is terrible, or, this has to go here. And I knew things had to move around and something. I put it away for months at a time. And one of the trainings talked about getting.

Ugly, messy first draft, just get it out of your head and onto paper. And I was like, that is the key that I needed. Because I'm like, I can't edit or work on anything if I don't have it, like, in existence. So I literally spent from that conference in September to the end of the year and gave myself permission to just write the draft, no matter how it turned out, if nobody ever saw it.

Yes, that's so good.

And, yeah, and I followed. I joined Christian Book Academy in December and followed all the trainings to finish my final draft, to hire an editor, a formatter, and actually just published Unlocking the mystery of marriage, Loving your spouse, the way Christ loves the Church. It just went live on our 28th wedding anniversary. So it was a really cool thing because God gave me the idea, like, at a women's retreat back in April of 2019. He gave me the whole outline and everything.

Wow.

So it became a reality. Yeah. Just may 14th, this.

Just 10 days ago.

Yeah, exactly. So all from September to May. Like, it went from like a nothing to a published book. So it was definitely.

Yes.

A God thing. Yeah.

I got chills because, you know, it just. Your story just is such a God story because, you know, God gave you that book and then for you to just stumble upon our conference. Right. Basically. But it wasn't. We don't believe in coincidences. We believe in God instances. Right. And so, you know, God just provided what you needed at the time. And then for you to publish that book on your anniversary. How amazing. So.

Yeah. And the exciting thing, too is I have an agnostic brother who's 12 years younger than me, and we've been estranged for many years just being. Because he's 12 years younger. And my parents went through a messy divorce. And I mean, long story, but we just haven't seen a whole lot of each other. And he's getting married June 4th. And I prayed that I could get the book done before the wedding so that I could give it as a gift because the gospel is clearly presented and it won't be a weird way to give them the gospel. You know, here's a wedding gift. You know, on top of their regular gift, here's my book, you know. Yeah. So they can. And maybe they'll read it, maybe they won't. But I'm like, it's a chance to get the gospel into their hands. And so that also was an answer to prayer of the timing and everything. So.

Yeah. And I always say that, you know, books can be door openers. And so people would. That know us, you know, like your brother, like, he's going to be more open typically to maybe even just like holding on to your book. Maybe he might not read it right now, but maybe later or. But it's like. And people are not going to just throw your book away. Right?

Yeah. It's like, wow, I'm really proud of my sister. Look what she's done. And it could plant a seed. You never know what's going to happen. But I love, you know, that before you joined Christian Book Academy, you said you only could ever, like, get a few pages out, right? And you know, once you gave yourself permission to write that ugly, messy first draft, then you were able to move on to the self editing and the professional editing. And now look, you have the final product. So we are so excited for you. We're just cheering you on every step of the way. Congratulations, Heather.

Thank you.

Just so excited for you.