#176: Nancy Booth shares her experience of co-writing with God

Hey, everyone, this is Shelly Hitz, and I'm here with one of our Christian Book Academy members, Nancy Booth. Welcome, Nancy.

Oh, thanks, Shelly. I'm glad to be here.

Nancy has been with us now over two years. And during that time, you gave birth to your very first book. Yay.

I certainly did.

So tell us a little bit about your journey and about your book. My.

Well, yeah, I found CBA through, I think, the writers challenge. And it was something that I had on my heart for about five, six years. And I thought when I first started the book that it was going to be my journey with listening to God. So that was where it started. I was passionate, am passionate about prayer.

As I worked through it, actually, I think it was. I'm not sure when you did it, but I think it was probably after the pandemic.

The emphasis changed a little bit because UNCJ did peace over panic. Oh, yeah. And the emphasis, because I was going to tell my story and then do a prayer practice because the book features 12 different prayer practices and then people's stories. And so I was going to tell my story and then share the practice. And your.

That what I heard from that retreat with you and CJ that 24 hours was share my prayers with my people. Yeah, yeah. So that, that was the driving force of the book. And.

So then it became, well, I better be talking to other people about their conversations with God because it's all about hearing God, want to hear God connect with him in prayer.

So what's the title again?

It's want to hear God connect with him in prayer.

Awesome. And you have your book right there, right?

I do. It's right here.

Awesome. Your book, baby.

So I ended up interviewing.

A couple of them are my stories, but I interviewed then 10 other people about their.

Hearing God. And then that illustrates the different prayer practice, such as, you know, breath prayer or lectio divina or, you know, different ones.

Yeah. And so it's really, it's. It's inspirational because you're hearing people's testimonies, but it's also very practical because you get those 12 different practices that, you know, the reader can apply to their own life. Right. And so that's so exciting. And I know, like, it's been a journey for you, but getting that book published, it was like such a great feeling. Can you describe a little bit of how you felt the first time you held your book in your hand?

Yeah, well, part of it was I wrote this.

Because. Because part of it was I felt like God was co writing it. With me.

Yeah.

Because I really wanted to. To be. Since this was about listening to God, I wanted it to be.

That I was listening. But also the first time I got it, for those people who are moms, they, when they hold their baby, the first time they look at fingers and toes, well, it's like, you know, looking at this, like, oh, wow.

Wow.

It was, it was very exciting, you know, to see it in. In finished print.

Yes. And so those of you know, anyone that's listening that might be in the process of either just dreaming, you know, they're still in that dreaming stage that you were in for six years, or maybe they're in the writing phase or even just starting to work through the steps of self publishing or finding a publisher. What kind of advice would you have for them?

Well, one is that they're asking God to be speaking to them and can count on him to give them encouragement and actually direction in their writing. Two would be to have a prayer team behind them.

As they are writing because it makes a huge difference.

Yeah. And then three is to have.

A group of actual people who are going through the process, like with cpa and be able to say.

One, I don't know what I'm doing, or two, to encourage. Because there were times I wanted to quit. Right. That's just part of the process. Kind of this way, you know, up and down the roller coaster. The roller. The roller coaster. Right. And.

And.

So having the support around you, one, knowing God's with you. But two, having people pray and then three, having that community of support and knowledge base where you can go for information. So those, I guess those are the three pieces and maybe the virtual retreats.

Yeah.

Because at least for me, that's a dedicated time to write.

Yes. We currently are doing those once a month. It's two days, Friday and Saturday, so you can come and go. But those are amazing times to come together as a community and to get some writing done and have that accountability. But also the prayers and encouragement. But do you think you would have published your book without Christian Book Academy?

No, I absolutely know I wouldn't have. I mean, in the self publishing field, I personally need.

Lots of people around me and the expertise that's in your courses and the encouragement, just lots of pieces. Because I was thinking about that. It's the virtual writing piece, the Facebook encouragement, the courses, and now just the author challenges and the continued building of community to keep on going. So it's all those pieces.

We're so glad that God connected us.

Right.

And just that you found us a couple years ago and started this journey and we're continuing it. Now you're working on the marketing part, which is a whole other thing, right? Well, it certainly is parenting your book, baby. But thank you so much for sharing part of your story and your book. If somebody's interested in getting connected with you or and even like, maybe they're interested in these 12 prayer practices and they want to grow in their relationship with God. Like, how do they connect with you?

Well, two ways. My book is on Amazon, so want to hear God connect with him in prayer and in both Kindle and paperback. And then my website is just Nancy B. Booth be like and boy nancybbooth.com and so you can get a hold of me at my website as well. So.

Awesome. Well, we just love having you as part of our online Family Kingdom Writers in Christian Book Academy. And we're just so excited for you and all that God's doing through you and will continue to do through you. So thank you so much for sharing.

Well, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Yeah.

And I hope that you all were inspired. It is possible. It is and truly is. Yes. And God will provide what you need at the right time and connect you with the people that are going to help you as well. So thank you so much, Nancy.

Thank you, Shelly.

We'll see you all next time. Bye Bye.

Thank you.