Today I'm super-excited to welcome back writing legend and author Janet Chester Bly as she shares about the deep struggles and emotional investment needed to write a novel.

For the Christian fiction writer, the whole project involves a journey of fellowship with God. He provides the idea, enables the writing gift, and empowers the ability to begin and complete the project.

1) Pray.

I daily talk through with Him the development of crafting the story and scenes.

Prayer includes God’s will be done in and through the story, that reader’s hearts will be touched and prepared in some way to receive divine truth.

And when it’s done, pray for wisdom in creative promotion.

2) Wrestle.

Agonize through the spiritual theme. In my recently released novel series, The Trails of Reba Cahill, the characters thoughts and actions and the evolving story, little by little revealed recurring issues. I either experienced them or lived it through them. On the negative side: deceit, lies, and bitterness. On the positive end: confession, truth, and forgiveness. Staying with that thread throughout helped me find where to begin, what defined the middle, and how to reach the conclusion.

3) Be willing to wait.

My books may take months to write and publish. Or more likely, years. Creating takes time with a multitude of starts and stops, to really know the crux of the story.

4.) Acknowledge the team.

Sure, the main discipline of the sweat and strain of the actual writing may be up to me. But I don’t really do it alone. Others come alongside in various ways, with advice and inspiration, resources and research. I’m so thankful for each bit of input. I try to call them out in some way—in the book’s acknowledgements or token gifts.

A sample writer’s prayer: “Heavenly Father, make this a story created by you. Bring it to life for your purpose. Work through my mind. Challenge my heart. Give voice to the characters to reveal something you want to say to each reader. Through the privilege of this project, minister to me, through me, and in spite of me. Keep me going toward the goal of getting this done, in the midst of life happening. Bring yourself glory. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

About Wind in the Wires

A cowgirl named Reba searches for love and family. An old man seeks justice that turns into an eerie story of lies and betrayal. Will the truth be too hard for either to bear?

About Janet:

Janet Chester Bly is a city girl with a country heart. She doesn’t corral horses or even mow her own lawn. “I’m no womba woman,” she says. But she followed her late husband, award-winning western author Stephen Bly, to the Idaho mountain top village of Winchester to write books and minister to a small church. When she lost him, she stayed for ten more years. She manages the online Bly Books bookstore, https://www.BlyBooks.com, down in the Lewiston, Idaho valley now.

Janet and her three sons—Russell, Michael and Aaron--completed her late husband’s last novel, Stuart Brannon’s Final Shot, Book 7, Stuart Brannon Series, a Selah Award Finalist. The family project process can be find on her website blog under the series topic, “Finishing Dad’s Novel”: http://www.BlyBooks.com/blog/.

Contact Janet online:

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/BlyBooks/
Facebook Personal: https://www.facebook.com/janetchesterbly/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janetchesterbly/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlyBooks
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/janetcbly/ 
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/269265.Janet_Chester_Bly
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janetchesterbly