“What Do You Do with an Idea?”
Book ideas have rolled around in my head and titles of great story potentials broken into my thoughts while I live life as a Christian, aunt, nurse, and traveler. In the past few years, I have turned more serious attention to these whispers of creativity, spending countless hours writing, worldbuilding, character forming, and studying all the above.
But three things made me decide to (finally) turn one of these book ideas into reality:
#1: My best friend is the most supportive friend a person could hope for.
She has read scenes from my works in progress, reread those scenes as I’ve reworked them, convinced me to keep some scenes I’ve scrapped, begged me to finish out scenes I’ve postponed finishing, and encouraged me all along to attempt publication. If she had never suggested it, I would certainly never have had the courage to try publishing any of my work.
#2: Reading other books has most definitely contributed to publishing my first story.
Two books factor into my publishing journey, the first being C.S. Lewis’ “The Problem of Pain.” Lewis is easily one of my top five favorite authors, but I had not read this work of his until last year. I confess that even now I have not finished it, because a short paragraph within is what hit me in between the eyes with the idea for “The Lionmaker,” and I put down his book to start writing my own. If you want to know which paragraph was so inspirational, stay tuned for a later post…
The second book in this story is Kobi Yamada’s “What Do You Do with an Idea?” I only bought Yamada’s book because the author’s name (understandably!) caught my eye, but I ended up absolutely loving the story. He described my experience with my Idea to perfection! His book continued to sit on my desk long after I had finished reading it several times, and as it sat there, continued to nag me. It said, “So, from one Kobi to another…what are you going to do with your Idea?”
I put down Lewis’ book to start furiously jotting down ideas for my own on June 14, 2025. Fast forward 9 months, many beta readers, several illustrator queries, and countless hours researching publishing companies later, and my book is now in the design stage. I still can’t quite believe it, but I should have a book in print by late spring or early summer of this year. Those are words I never thought I would type!
#3: Having a special intended audience pushed this story idea forward like no other.
This book is not being published for fame. I do not expect most people in the world will notice my work, let alone recommend it to all their friends. And publication of this story is most certainly not being pursued for wealth, as the costs of editing, illustrations, and design have already far surpassed what I had budgeted based on my research. I do not anticipate making even all that money back in sales, let alone making a profit.
As an aunt to twelve, I love kids and reading with them! This first book of mine was written for my nieces and nephews (“neiphs” is our family’s term of collective endearment), out of love and a desire that they learn at young ages to trust God with their own lives. My hope is that you, too, may come to trust God more deeply as you consider the truths within these pages.
