#238: What Could Be Possible When You Publish Your Book (Finisher Series)

Welcome to Kingdom Writers, where we help equip and empower Christian writers of all genres to share your unique gifts with the world. We're your hosts, C.J. and Shelley Hitz.

This podcast is filled with spiritual encouragement as well as prayers to help you overcome the resistance you face as a writer. Your story matters.

Welcome to our Finisher series. So if you've been following along, last summer we did our breakthrough series helping you break through those obstacles keeping you from writing your book. Then in the fall we did our Overcomer series, just helping you overcome and really do what God has created you to do in your writing. Now it's time for the Finisher series and we are going to be focusing this series on helping you cross the finish line of publishing your book. This is spiritual encouragement, but we're also going to be talking about some practical things and we record these live inside our private group for Christian Book Academy. Now I would love to invite you to join us. Just go to ChristianBookAcademy.com I hope this episode encourages you today. Hey Writing Week. We are so excited to be with you here live today or if you're on the replay. My name is Shelly Hitz and I'm CJ Hitz and we are the owners and creators of ChristianBookAcademy.com Christian Book Academy is the sponsor for this free Writing Week challenge and so we are just thrilled that you have joined us. We have been hosting this writing week since 2015 and thousands of writers have joined us and have just accomplished so many. So much so we are just so grateful that you're spending this time with us and we're excited to see what God is going to do. So if you're here live or if you're on the replay, let us know that you're here. Introduce yourself in the comments. We have been watching and seeing you post in the group and it's just been so fun to see all that God is accomplishing through you already. Like we we like to say this in our Christian Book Academy membership. We are here with you and we are praying for you. So we want you to share also in the comments. What have you accomplished so far through Writing Week? What has been an aha moment for you? We would love to hear from you and I just wanted to share a couple of the comments that you guys have been giving as feedback. We're just going to share your first names but we love just being able to see what you're accomplishing. Melissa said on day one I am thrilled. I wrote for an hour and A half. And she said, guess what? I finished the introduction of my book. Congratulations, Melissa. That is so exciting. She says 1267 words. I know it's a draft that needs editing and revising. Of course, that's what we do. We create that first messy draft and then we get to self editing and professional editing. She says, but it's an accomplishment nonetheless. I truly give praise to the Lord all the more. I'm excited to keep going. I love hearing that. I love hearing that excitement. And she says, thank you for your guidance, Shelly. God bless you. Well, I'm just thrilled that you joined us, Melissa.

Congrats, Melissa. You know, what you're doing there with those 1267 words is you're priming the pump, so to speak. That's really what this week is about, is priming the pump. You know, if you know anything about a well, you know, you're, you're really priming it before the water begins to come up and you know, is able to be enjoyed, you know, as a refreshment or whatever it's used for. But consider this week a primer.

Yes.

For perhaps.

Many more words that you're going to be writing that eventually take shape in a book.

So exciting. We're so proud of you.

And then Corrine says, I'm excited to report and I think this was from day two. She says, I'm excited to report. I jumped into the challenge this morning and my goal was to finish up some research and start the next chapter of my work in Progress with a 500 word count. Goal for the day. I accomplished the research. I wrapped it up and I wrote 1237 words. Congratulations. That is so exciting.

Great job, Corrine. Well, I've got a couple here. The first one is from someone named A.B. and they say I'm just feeling wow for myself today. I finished a short humorous story which is consisted of 1618 words. I can't believe this. And I kicked off this challenge very well and hoping to be in this kind of mood for the remaining days. Thanks to you for the motivation. Well, congratulations AB on those 1600 words.

Here's to the next 1600.

Amen.

And Kath says five more devotions edited and rewritten today. Woohoo. Discovering my sweet spot has changed from. And these are hours here, 9 to 1 to 11 to 1 and 3 to 5. So you know, Kath, I think you've realized the value of having intervals where you do a night, an 11 to 1, 2 hour block, have a break, do whatever you need to do and then you're re. Energized for that next two hours instead of just plowing through the full four hours, which some people, that's what they prefer. But it's just cool that in this, this writing week, you've. You've learned that about yourself. And I think that's what all of us need.

We learn more about where our sweet spot is. Each of us have something unique in terms of when we write best.

Yeah. And you can use that information forever, you know, and different seasons. The sweet spot might be different. Some of you right now, because of COVID 19, might be working at home instead of an office. So it might change your routine. Some people might be at home with you. But when you learn your sweet spot, that is key. And there's so much clarity to that. So. Hey, Deanne. Hey, Deborah. Hey, Lou. Peggy says I struggle with being hard on myself when I don't accomplish when I think I should. You help me to stay positive, living in the present with hope for the future instead of looking at the past. Thanks. You're so welcome, Peggy. And we are just cheering you on.

You know, I can relate to that, Peggy, because I had many times where I beat myself up. You. You have these great intentions, right? You're. You're thinking about it even the night before. You know, you have your whole day practically planned. And then either sometimes life gets in the way. Feelings or emotions get in the way.

Yeah.

And before you know it, you're past your sweet spot of what your hours are, and you're just beating yourself up. You're like, man, I wanted to get more done today. But, you know, the neat thing is, is that God's mercies are new every morning. And I many times have learned to say, you know what? It didn't happen today, but if the Lord wills me to live tomorrow, I'm going to try to take advantage of that day. And I'm telling you, the Lord.

He many times restores what the locusts have eaten if he eats one of our days. Many times I'm finding that he's given us two and three days in a row of great writing. And so it doesn't always happen that way. But I just know that the Lord will help us through those struggles. And I've seen it in my own, My own writing.

Yeah.

So a question that we want to ask, and this is, this is for everyone, but we're really even targeting some of you who are very new to this. For the first time, you're not members of Christian Book Academy yet, but think about this.

How many of you are currently working on a book like you're specifically writing words that are a part of a book? If so, what kind of book? And so for those of you that are on, that are new to this whole writing week, go ahead and put in the comments. What is it that you're currently working on?

And if you're a Christian Book Academy member, we want to hear from you too. So post in the comments, let us know what are you currently working on and we would love to hear.

Yeah, so for, for me, some of you know, I just finished up a book that is now going to be going into the editing phase and it's titled Encounters with Jesus. 21 days of drawing Close to the Sun. And so that was an accomplishment for me. I thank God that he allowed me to finish that. It took longer than I envisioned. Again, getting back to that, you know, many days that I was beating myself up. But the Lord brought me through that and so I'm excited for that next phase.

Yeah. And a lot of times, whatever project we're working on, it can take longer than we anticipate. And that's where I've been saying a lot lately. Write your plans in pencil and allow God to change that if needed. Lou says she's writing a small book on leadership. Deborah says she's working on a novel. Awesome. We love that. So if you're on the replay, go ahead and post as well. Or if you're here with us, share in the comments. We love seeing your comments and seeing what you're, what you're working on.

Yeah. So another question I have is, that's a follow up to that is what could actually be possible with that book that you're currently working on? So once it's finished, what is possible once it's finished? I want you just to mention some of those things in the comments. Those of you that have written books, what have you seen became possible as a result of actually having that book in print or Kindle form? Go ahead and share that in the comments. We'd love to hear that.

Yeah. And this is something that I often ask in our in person writing retreats. And you know, so many, there's so many different answers and it just depends on why you're writing your book. You know, a lot of times, you know, once your book is published, then it can impact lives. Right. Right now it's just in your head, it's just forming.

And you know, it also has the potential to earn you book royalties and help support your family. It has the Opportunity to open up speaking engagements for those of you who would like to be speakers. Having a book really makes a huge difference. And it's one of the best ways to market a book, too. There's tons of ways to do it. You don't have to be going out and doing speaking, but that's an opportunity. You know, there are so many things that books can do for you, and I want you to think about this. Books are door openers. So books can be a key that turns the lock and opens new doors of opportunity for you. And I want you to see this as something that God can use in many, many ways. You know, we have seen so many different opportunities open up to us because we took the step of obedience, the courageous step of faith, to write the book, to finish it, to publish it. And so we just want to encourage you to keep taking the next step. It's just one step at a time. Lou says what is possible. New perspective for leaders and teams, speaking engagements and more writing opportunities. Yes. I mean, there's so many things. So I want you to actually think of this book, or whatever project you're working on as a key that can be a door opener. It can open up opportunities for you.

And.

We'Re getting some other comments. Yeah. And Dak and Britney says, I wrote a quick Kindle ebook to help Christian service members. It needs plenty of refinement, but family and friends purchase for people they know. Yeah. And it can be a source of encouragement. It can really help help them. Right. And so I want you to think about that, and I want you to write that down for yourself, because this can be something that helps motivate you to cross the finish line.

Shelley, while we're thinking about that, quickly share why it was. You even wrote that very first book in the first place. You remember which book that was?

Yeah. So my very first book published in 2008, was called Mirror, Mirror, Am I Beautiful? And it's since been revised several times. I now have a co author, Heather Hart, and and have handed off that ministry to teen girls to her. But at that time, we were traveling around the country speaking to teens and adults. And a lot of times when we would speak to teenagers, CJ would take the guys, I would take the girls, and we would share with them. And I shared a lot of my testimony of the brokenness that I had been through and how God had really healed me and set me free. And girls would come up to me. And because I was vulnerable, I share about the sexual abuse I had, the pornography addiction that I had and how God really healed and set me free and my grandma was murdered and all of these other things. But they would then come up and want to share with me. So vulnerability breeds vulnerability and God will show you what to say. And you know, we've covered this in multiple podcasts before, but.

So I started writing a resource on a website in 2007 to give to the girls because I didn't have enough time to counsel them afterwards.

In 2008, our friend Philip Telfer from mediatalk101.org he showed us a self published book, Print on Demand. And it was amazing, it was high quality. And all of a sudden the Lord was like, you could do this. You know, I had been writing articles for the website over the last year and I had abundance of material and so I combined that, I edited it, I made sure it flowed, added a Bible study guide and that became our first book. And to be honest, I probably gave away more than I sold. But it was a resource to put in people's hands to continue to be able to impact and influence their life in that season.

And you know, we have no idea where those books ended up, how many hands they went to. Maybe one teen girl read it and then she passed along to a friend, maybe that friend passed it along. You just never know. You hear stories about books just gaining in popularity simply because copies are just being exchanged left and right. And so then that breeds sort of a viral buying online or on the website that you're selling them from, but you just never know. And I think it's just an example to say, hey, take that step.

You're knowledgeable about something that you have experience in and others need to know about that. Others need to be encouraged by that. You're essentially leaving like this.

Large tract, gospel tract, or whatever information that you're sharing in a book form and giving them plenty of insight and encouragement.

So, and even if your book is not Christian in nature, the spirit of God is, you know, you know, is flowing through you to write that book. So there's still many ways that that God can use that and will use that. That first book, I have a call or an invitation to salvation at the end. And we also give it away free on our website. So, so there's people from all over the world that have downloaded it free that have, you know, read it online. And I just remember getting testimonies and we still get them today. Heather Hart told me, you know, she still gets them today. Of people who've accepted Christ. I got from like South Africa from Venezuela from, I think it was Korea from Japan, I mean all over the world, all over the United States, Canada, sharing with me that they accepted Christ. And so you never know what your step of obedience will accomplish, whether it's in the business world, whether it's fiction and entertaining people, whether it's, you know, in a ministry format. And we have books that we keep on hand. And so recently, probably a little over a year ago, I had to hire a new housekeeper because our previous housekeeper was going in a different direction and our new housekeeper was coming into our home. And one day I just felt led to give her a few of our books. And the next time she came back and she said, shelly, I've been reading your books. I didn't know what she believed, what her beliefs were, but she said, I've been reading some of your books and it's really interesting. We started conversations, spiritual conversations, because I gave her those books. And so this is another way books can be door openers even in your sphere of influence. So let's say you have a business book, you could have some books on hand, give it to somebody and that book is like a business card. Whatever your sphere of influence, your book can somehow be a door opener with face to face relationships as you give that. Well, the end of the story. Well, and the story is continuing. But the end of the story that I'm going to tell today is that one day the Lord really impressed on my heart to show Jesus with her. And God gave me an open door a time, you know, it was an opening. And I just asked her what she believed happened after we died. And one thing led to another, I was able to ask her what she believed about Jesus. And in that moment, in that day in my living room, she prayed a prayer to receive Christ into her life. And I've been able to continue discipling her as she comes back every two weeks to clean our house. And so you just never know what your book will do. Books are door openers. And we also just recently bought our condo. Actually this morning we closed on our condo. Those of you that have been following along know that this was just a huge thing our landlords wanted to sell. And it's a whole nother testimony in and of itself. But God provided everything that we needed above and beyond. And we're so thankful to now the owners of our condo. But our realtor came over and he was meeting with us and I decided to give him a few of our books. And my book broken crayons still color was there and in the midst of talking, I just pointed that book and I shared part of my testimony in the book. And I said, I share this in the book. And it led one thing to another. He's a Christian, but we were able to minister in a really deep and meaningful way to pray for him. And it was just such a, such an impactful time. And it was the book that opened the door.

Yeah. You know, and.

We'Re thankful that the Lord allowed us to cross paths with him. I believe we're going to have a long term relationship with him. As soon as some of this quarantine stuff dies down, we're going to actually have him over for dinner and we just enjoy talking with him.

I don't think he'd mind, you know, us sharing that. By the end of that evening, when Shelley shared the books with him, he had shared quite a bit of his life with us. And he was in tears as we prayed for him at the end. And, you know, I think it's just, again, it's one of those ways that a book helped open the door to more discussion and conversation, gave somebody permission to go deeper with us.

Yeah. And he said, if you guys are going to be praying for people, you need to have tissues close by.

Yeah.

Tissues. The last month have been a little hard to come by, huh?

Right. Oh, my goodness.

Well, I, I felt impressed to share just a few words of encouragement, even just again in the midst of this.

This self isolation, this quarantine time that we're in with, with the coronavirus and, you know, whether we like it or not, we all find ourselves in this reality right now. And I really believe that those of us that can make the most of it and really stay positive, keep our mind and our eyes upon Jesus are the ones that are not only going to navigate this time most effectively, but we're also going to. Our lives are going to speak volumes to those who are watching us. And there are many that are just freaking out. They don't have Jesus. They don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. Many of them are on the.

Edges of even perhaps being kicked out of their apartment or, or whatever it may be. And we have a grand opportunity in the midst of this to proclaim the peace that we have. You know, I was thinking about Paul, and many of you know that Paul wrote a good portion in the New Testament among those letters he wrote to the Philippians. And I want to just read you a verse from Philippians 1, verse 12. Listen to this. He says, and I want you to Know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the good news. And what has happened to Paul? Well, many of you know that Paul was writing that letter from prison. You know, Paul himself was in isolation.

Yeah.

While in prison. Now, he did have contact with his jailers, and there were some that were many times.

Allowed to bring him necessary supplies. Friends, that was a privilege that I think he. He received in favor from men and God. But.

You know, again, and I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that every. Everything that has happened to me here has helped notice that he says has helped to spread the good news. So he was looking at this as, thank you, Lord. Thank you for this opportunity that I'm in right now. He chose to see the positive. He chose to see the eternal value of his own imprisonment. And he refused to dwell in the negative, but instead looked to the opportunities, thanks to the circumstances that he found himself in. And I guess one of the things I want us to ask is.

What'S possible because of this situation that we find ourselves in? What could the positives be of being in isolation right now, of not being able to maybe be in our normal routine? What are some ways that we can redeem the time that we have? That. That's extra. Many of us probably do have some extra time on our hands now. Many of us work from home. And so our lives are very similar to even. Even before this quarantine.

I feel like mine's a little busier.

Yeah. But you and I have felt isolated and imprisoned, no doubt, during this COVID 19 crisis. But again, what would be possible in these circumstances? We are Kingdom writers who send out messages of hope. I want you just to think about that. Paul's letters went to the Philippians. They went to several churches.

Yeah.

With specific things that he was writing to them, things that even are relevant to us in 2020. We still read his words as the word of God. God inspiring him. What's possible? Because you and I are isolated. How could our message go out to a hurting world and impact them in ways that we may never know? Do you think Paul understood the full scope of how his words would impact people?

No.

And again, they weren't just his words. And I don't want to say that our words are as important as Paul's words, but what I'm saying here is that you and I may write words that we put in social media, in a blog post, in this book that go out. We have no idea how it's going to impact People. But it could be that 50 years from now, those words are still impacting people in ways we have no idea. I mean, Paul's words, thanks to God, are inspiring people nearly 2,000 years later, and so thankful there are many other authors who didn't make it into the word of God, into. Into the Bible. Their words are still inspiring thousands of people every single year that are. That they wrote words just as old as Paul's words. So consider that. Now, I want to read you another couple verses from Philippians. Let's skip down a couple chapters.

And before you do, I just want to say, like, in Christian Book Academy, we help you write words that will outlive you and publish books that will fulfill your calling. And that's part of our tagline, but we really, truly mean that. So writing words that will outlive you. They say C.S. lewis has sold more books after he died than when he was alive. So the other thing that's possible when you publish a book is impacting people after you're in heaven, after you're gone, you know, there is that possibility of impacting lives with words that will outlive you.

Yeah. Amen. Another contemporary of Louis Tolkien who wrote Lord of the Rings, he was disappointed with his book. You know, he actually considered not even publishing it until others encouraged him to do so. But he struggled. He even had bouts of depression. And in times where he thought, is this even worth it? Is it even going to be read?

How many of you have had thoughts like that?

I think we know all these years later whether or not the Lord of the Rings have been read.

Right.

Not only read, but watched.

I think we all can relate, you know, and having those struggles at times and those doubts.

Yeah. So Paul goes on here again, this same Paul who's in prison is writing these words. Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything.

Yeah.

Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. So I think when we look at the life of Paul, writing these words in isolation in prison, in what could be a very gloomy situation.

Here, he's writing words that I think could be a blueprint for you and I in surviving a pandemic and thriving quarantine. Pandemic. Yes. Not just surviving, but thriving in the midst of it.

Amen.

Him writing these words again, these precious words were written by a fellow Kingdom writer while isolated in prison. Paul gives us hope That's a key word there. Hope that we, too, can have peace that guards our hearts and minds, regardless of the circumstances that we find ourselves in. And every one of us are in a little different circumstance right now, but what we all have in common, and I really believe that shared struggle and shared circumstances really helps unite people even more.

Even though we can't be in bodily form like in church together, which we. We, Shelly and I miss. I know you guys miss being there, being able to give somebody a hug in the Lord. We miss that, of course. But we're in the midst of a struggle right now that's uniting millions upon millions upon millions, fellow believers all around this world, because we're united by the spirit of God, not just our. You know, we're not just a physical body here. This is the spirit of God uniting us. And so we believe that as we speak through this technology, wherever you're at, that we are united in this shared struggle and that we're even united in Paul's struggle. Who wrote this letter from prison shared these encouraging words about a peace that passes all understanding, that will guard your hearts and minds. That very peace is something that we share in as well, and we have access to. And so take those words to heart. I want to encourage you just to reread the letter to the Philippians, just all four chapters, and it's a quick read. You probably get it done in 15, 20 minutes. And just let those words saturate your soul and realize, man, this man was writing from some dire circumstances, and yet these words are just beautiful. And you and I have an opportunity to write beautiful words in the midst of a trying, yucky circumstance in many ways, and yet we can make the most of it.

Yeah. And for any of those that don't know, we have a podcast called Kingdom Writers. That's why we keep referring your Kingdom writer. And cj, you often say, we are priestly pens.

Priestly pens in the hands of God. Yeah. I believe. Or the author of life. Yeah. Priestly pens in the hands of the author of life. So we're pins that the author of life is using through our lives to impact people around the world, people that we may never meet, most likely won't meet until perhaps the other side.

Yeah. And so for those of you I know there's several of you said that you've had those same doubts, those same thoughts, the insecurities, you know, when you think of yourself as you are a priestly pen in the hands of an. Of the author of life. Let him flow through you, no matter what you're writing, if it's a technical book on PowerPoint or if it's, you know, a novel or children's book or a devotional, allow God's spirit to flow through you. And that takes away the focus on us. It's we're now focusing on Him. We also have a breakthrough series on our blog you can find@trainingauthors.com blog where we go into these things in much more detail and that can help you as well to overcome. But we like to really give you a time on these trainings and these encouragement videos to really hear from God so we can say things. But what is God saying to you specifically right now in your writing as you're being consistent this week during Writing Week to write? Ask God, what is he saying to you today? We're going to give you a minute to do that. I'm going to play some music by our friend Tammy Sorensen. She's given us permission to do that. And we're just going to give you a minute. Pray, ask God, what is he saying to you today?

All right, share with us in the comments. What did God say to you? What was his encouragement to you? What is he saying about your book or your writing?

Each week I just pray and ask God if there's a picture of encouragement that he wants me to share with you. And yesterday as I was praying about this, I just started seeing a staircase. And it made me think, C.J. remember, we were missionaries in the for those of you that don't know, we were missionaries in the country of Belize, Central America for two years. And CJ Remember when we went crossed into Guatemala, we went to the Tikal ruins.

Yeah.

Well, some of these ruins have, like, staircases or stairs that, like, feel like they lead to heaven, like, forever.

And, you know, the picture I got is that some of you for, you know, when you start your writing or if you're thinking about writing a book, you look up and it just feels overwhelming. Sometimes it just seems like I don't have the strength to climb this. How am I going to do this? You know? And on those runes, there's no, like, handrail or is there? I mean, it's just, you just have to do it one step at a time.

And so I just Mayans didn't need handrails.

And so I just feel like the encouragement for you today is focus on the next step instead of looking at everything that's, you know, that's coming and feeling overwhelmed or that you can't do it. Or who am I? Or all of these things. What is the next step? And then take that. So right now in Writing Week, that's to stay consistent with at least 15 minutes of writing a day. And if you know anyone that would still like to join us, you can still join us@writingweek.com it's free. But just take that next step, that next 15 minutes and then the next 15 minutes and then the next. One step at a time. Take the pressure off. Let's take a deep breath.

And just have joy in the process. God is with you. He is going to help you. We are here with you as well. And Jan shared that. She said sense from God that it's not about her. He says it's about him. And that's so true. Like, you know, putting that focus on God. Lou says, the picture I got was of so many faces. Yeah, that just gets me excited. All the faces and all the people that God is going to use, you know, as you publish your book.

Jill says, he showed me a dirt path in a meadow with wildflowers and birds. A peaceful, lively path going up a slight slope.

I love that. And, you know, you can ask him further, like, what, what is, what does that mean for you? But I just feel like he's giving you that, that picture of peace and of, you know, just what it's like to write with him. You know, I mean, let's not do this on our own strength. Amen. Let's tap in to the power and the spirit of God who can do anything. Same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. Romans 8, 11. And so, so exciting. Dan says, I heard God say, I am your recommendation. See yourself as I see you. Oh, that's good.

Yeah, that's great.

And Dak and Brittany. I'm thinking it might be Brittany, is this you, Brittany? She says, keep going. He has a plan. Yes, he has a plan. He has an agenda. This next series that we're getting ready to start in May for Christian Book Academy, our weekly live videos is going to be all about kingdom marketing mindset. And so we're going to be talking about really connecting with God for strategy. And you can even use a lot of what we're going to be covering for when you're writing your book as well. But we encourage you. Keep going. This is day three of the writing week challenge. It's a seven day challenge. We do take Sundays off, so rest and relax. If you want to write on Sunday, go for it. But cj, why don't you go ahead and end in prayer. We'd to love, love just for you to pray a prayer of blessing.

So, Father, we just thank you so much again for this time together. Yes, I ask, Lord, that you would encourage everyone who is even going to be watching the replay. Yes, we thank you for those who were able to be here live. I pray that you bless each one of their lives. I ask, Lord, that we would never be lacking in words that would glorify Jesus. And I ask that your Holy Spirit would give us inspiration from the moment we wake up to when we lay our heads on our pillows and perhaps even in our dreams. I pray that you would inspire us, Lord, in ways that we wouldn't normally be inspired. Yes, I pray that you would continue to help those who are a part of the writing week for the first time, perhaps. I pray that you encourage them, that they'd feel your presence right by your side, right by their side as they're writing, that they've got fuel from the Holy Spirit with everything that they write. And I just ask, Lord, that anyone who would.

Be a good fit for being a part of the Christian Book Academy, we pray you draw them, Lord, in whatever ways you desire. And we want to have people in the academy that are benefiting and being encouraged and that are able to maximize the writing gift that you have given them. And we are asking that these words that are written would be seeds that would continue to grow into.

More paragraphs, more chapters, and ultimately books. And we, we thank you. And we're going to give you all the glory and the honor, Lord, because there are many times that we can walk up those steps that Shelley mentioned. We get to the very top and we have no idea how we got there. And we just turn around and all of a sudden we've risen above the clouds. We've got this incredible view, whatever it might be.

We give you the glory and the honor, and we're asking that you would continue to allow us to be priestly. Pens in your hands. The author of life. And we'll ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Well, that's awesome. And Dax says it's Dak, the guy in the picture. Thank you for joining us, Dak. We're so excited. And deanne says, I want to encourage all in this challenge to keep moving forward. God's grace and favor will hold you up. You've got this. And we'll be talking about it more next week. But currently, Christian Book Academy is open for enrollment@christianbookacademy.com and we decided to move up our two day virtual writing retreat. A lot of writing conferences are canceled. A lot of you are at home right now. We were going to have this in May, but we decided to move it up to April 24th and 25th. And so when you join Christian Book Academy now, you'll be able to attend that two day virtual writing retreat is a member favorite. If you're a member and you're here and you've been on a retreat, let us know how much you enjoy them or what you've accomplished. But we'd love for you to join us. And so check it out. Keep going in Writing week and we will see you. We're going to be here live in the group again next week, same time, same day. So Wednesday at 3pm Eastern we'll be here to kind of celebrate all that God did and to talk about our next steps. So we'll see you next week.

Love you guys.

Bye bye. Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of the Finisher series. It really means the world to us that you would invest time and be here with us today. So thank you. We have a free gift for you. We recently just made this available to the public. Previously was only available to the paid members in Christian Book Academy, but it's a copy of my publishing map. I hand drew and lettered this map out for you and it literally takes you through the steps of of publishing your book. And our members love this resource. Some have said they print it out and they use it every single time they publish a book. You'll also get access to a video of me explaining the publishing map to you. And so I really hope that this also helps you overcome any confusion or overwhelm regarding independent publishing. And you can download this for free@trainingauthors.com.

Or just swipe up and the link will be in your show notes. Thank you again for joining us. We love you all so much. See you next time.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Kingdom Writers. We believe that you as a Christian writer have a specific role to play in the Kingdom of of Heaven to impact lives for eternity.

And because of this, we choose to pour out our lives into encouraging writers like you to not only tell your stories, but to take the courageous step of self publishing your stories in books that will outlive you and leave behind a powerful legacy. This podcast is sponsored by Christian Book Academy where we help you give birth to your books. We we invite you to join our community of Kingdom writers.