Tricia Goyer: My Writing Life
MY WRITING LIFE:
My writing journey began in 1994 when I attended my first writer’s conference with my friend, Cindy Martinusen. Cindy and I went to the same church and we both had dreams of becoming writers. Everything at Mt. Hermon was new to me, but I just followed the instructor’s directions.
It took two years of hard work, but I was soon writing magazine articles for publication. Over the next five years, I also worked on missions’ curriculum, a devotional book, and study notes for the Women of Faith Study Bible (Zondervan). (My friend, Cindy, is now a published author too of four novels!)
During those years, in addition to writing, I was also raising three small children.
In 1999, I felt God asking me to start a crisis pregnancy center in our town. I didn’t want to do it. I was busy enough writing and taking care of kids. I also was working on novel projects—with no success.
Finally, I relinquished my dreams to God. I knew I needed to be obedient, even if I never got a novel published. Instead of closing the writing doors for good, the opposite happened. God brought people into my life who shared these amazing stories from World War II. I knew those were the books I was meant to write.
Two years after the pregnancy center was up and running, I had the contract for my first novel, “From Dust and Ashes” (Moody, 2003). Three more have followed: “Night Song” (Moody, 2004), “Dawn of a Thousand Night” (Moody, 2005), and “Arms of Deliverance” (Moody, July 2006). I’m currently working on my fifth novel.
Oh, and I’ve written parenting books too. “Life Interrupted: The Scoop on Being a Young Mom” (Zondervan, 2003). And “Generation NeXt Parenting” (Multnomah 2006). I’m also working on a marriage book for Multnomah.
My kids are older now—ages 16, 13, and 12. I’m also still involved in the pregnancy center . . . yet it’s grown and changed in amazing ways. We now have two full time directors and over fifty volunteers. Since that time I’ve discovered that God just needed me to get the ball rolling!
HOW THINGS WORK:
I don’t have a paid outside job, but I don’t write full-time either. I spend the mornings homeschooling my three kids. I work with them until 1:00 p.m., and then I write in the afternoons. Of course, there’s also music lessons, sports practice, grocery shopping, etc. so when I write, I have to produce words.
When I’m nearing a novel deadline I write 2,000 words a day. When I’m not on deadline, I’m usually writing articles, future book proposals, and researching for the next novel-to-be.
I also volunteer once a week at our Teen MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group. I’ve found, as a writer, getting out and connecting with people in the community is one of the best things I can do. It pumps me up to see God at work on a daily basis. Being a servant to others feeds my soul in a way that only makes sense in God’s eternal way.
I remind myself that (Lord willing) I could be writing for another 40 years, yet my kids won’t be around forever. That’s one reason I’ve chosen to homeschool. I want to have as much time with them, and as much influence on them, as I can during this time God’s given me.
I also know that it’s not healthy for me just to stay chained to my computer all day. I write best when I interact with life—with other believers AND with people who need to hear the good news about Jesus. God gives us gifts and talents for the benefit of the body of Christ—sometimes it’s good to interact with that body in real and tangible ways.
Like you, I’m one of those people who wants to use all that God has gifted me with. I could seriously spend 40 hours a week working for the pregnancy center or 40 hours a week writing, because I love it some much! Yet, I know that kids grow quickly. I want as much time with them as possible, and that’s another reason I homeschool. I figure that I’ll only have seven years left before my youngest son graduates, but after that I’ll have 40+ years (Lord willing) to work in these other ministry areas.
I don’t want regrets and my continued prayer is, “Lord, bring my heart home. Make them my first priority, even when I get so excited about all these other things.” After all, it’s easy to see lives changed through PCC work. It’s easy to feel good about seeing my books in print. But motherhood, of course, often doesn’t have the same type of visible reward system.
