Three years ago…
Has it really been that long?
Apparently it has, though it doesn’t feel that way.
Three years ago, on December 2nd, I published my debut short story, Beneath the Willow Tree. I was someone who hadn’t been writing seriously for very long, but was spurred into it by the discovery of books that thrilled me and my new favorite genre, Christian fantasy.
When I thought about writing this short story, it wasn’t hard for me to decide on the themes. They were things that had been on my heart for awhile, that had been just waiting for the chance to come out. Out of the themes came the world, the character, the plot.
And to this day, I’m still surprised at how much I packed into that little short story and the conversations in it as well. Of how well it wove itself together, despite my limited writing experience at the time.
Perhaps that’s just a part of what Beneath the Willow Tree is. I went forth to write and to publish not knowing what I was getting myself into, but driven by a passion to tell a story that came from my own story, from a Story, and somehow it turned out good.
I started off publishing doing nearly all the things you shouldn’t do. Like having no website. I didn’t know much, but I did know not to expect a lot of copies to sell, as I hadn’t done any marketing for it, and so I wasn’t disappointed in that regard. And I don’t regret the choice I made. I have regrets about some of the things I did, but overall, I don’t regret publishing. I don’t regret taking the plunge. I would even say that it needed to happen that way for me.
Because I’m an overthinker. I grasp and hold onto things when I shouldn’t. If I had done exhaustive research, if I had waited, would I ever have published? I don’t know. Or maybe I would’ve, and been disappointed in the results, and it would’ve stolen my joy.
What if I had been so focused on the perfect release that I forgot the passion that made me want to publish? What if the need for each detail to be perfect made me forget the story itself?
But this way, I just went ahead and did it, and had joy in it. On a whimsical passion, yes, but better that than a well planned out release motivated by fear. And I don’t want to lose that. Don’t want to lose that fearlessness.
So maybe, since Beneath the Willow Tree is about the choice to trust, and since I believe God had His hand on this journey and that’s why it turned out so good despite that… Maybe that’s just the type of publication this book was meant to have. Maybe, if I remember what He did, it’ll help me keep my fearlessness, my trust in the Man with no Mark, as I go forward to write and publish more on this journey.
It would be so easy, on this journey, to grasp for control and try to make things perfect. But this journey started out of something that wasn’t planned. Started out of a love for stories, for the Story and the God who writes it, and I don’t ever want that to change. Don’t ever want to take my eyes and my trust from Him. Though other things have changed, will change, I don’t want that to change. Because I’m so thankful He lets these stories be a part of His Story.
So, to all those who have joined me on this journey, who have read Beneath the Willow Tree, who have supported me, thank you. Thank you for letting me and this story be a part of your story. Let’s go forth without fear, only trust, okay? Let’s trust and see what God can do with our stories, written and otherwise.
Until the next post,
Abby
This choice, this Man without a Mark, could be her redemption or her undoing.
Nova's world is controlled by the Mark. Embedded in the skin of all born in her world, those who are stronger control the weaker by it. Pain, betrayal, and fear are imprinted on Nova's soul as her Mark is in her skin. Her one solace in this Mark-controlled world is a willow tree on the bank of a lake that she goes to sit under at the end of the day.
But one day, she meets a Man different from them all. He is Mark-less. And beneath the willow tree, he tells her who he is, and the choice he offers her. The unheard of, the impossible, what she has dreamed of.
But for Him to do it, she must trust him, something she is sure she cannot do again.
Beneath the Willow Tree is a Christian fantasy short story. It can be read and enjoyed by non Christians.