The Voice Inside You

By Nancy Mehl @nancymehl

When I first started writing, I was excited about the future. I finally knew who I was. What I was born to do! But after a while I began to realize just how much work it was going to take. How much it would impact time spent with my family and my friends. It was clear that the price would be significant. Maybe more than I was willing to sacrifice. I had to make certain God and I were on the same page. Was this passion I felt coming from me alone, or was He showing me His will for my life?

So, I prayed. In fact, I laid a fleece before the Lord. This wasn’t something I’d ever done before nor would I recommend it. Listening to the Holy Spirit is the best way to hear God’s voice, but I was desperate – and extremely serious. God responded to my fleece in a big way. It took away any final doubts I had. So, I threw myself into learning the craft of writing, and I worked hard on writing novels I hoped people would want to read.

It took a few years of silence and rejection, but finally, I was getting contracts from large, traditional publishers. This was it! I was an author! I was certain the world was waiting for my wonderful, inspired stories. Every day was exciting. And then I read my first bad review. Yikes! I was shattered. How could this reader hate my book so much? Strangely, that bad review became larger and more important than all the good reviews.

Then someone I counted as a friend wrote a review on Amazon, criticizing my publisher for allowing my book to be published! What? How could this be? I contacted her to let her know that saying things like that could hurt my career. (Or so I thought). I assumed she’d apologize and delete her awful words. Uh, no. She got angry with me, and I lost a friend. It turned out she wasn’t really criticizing my writing. My book was pro law enforcement, and her beliefs weren’t the same as mine.

As the years went on, my writing changed some. My suspense became a little grittier. To me, this was success. I was now creating the stories I really loved. But again, not everyone shared my opinion. I lost some readers who thought I should only write what they liked.

Authors face many other things that can attack our confidence, including watching other authors have greater success than we seem to, seeing others win awards that we don’t, wondering why we’re not getting reviews from major publications when others are. Frankly, being an author is like walking through a minefield. There are so many situations that can make us wonder why we ever thought being an author was a good idea! So, when we face discouragement, what should we do?

We must go back to the beginning. We need to drown out all the negative thoughts and opinions with the Voice inside of us. The Voice who called us to write in the first place. His is the only Voice that matters. If you will listen to Him, He will take you where you’re supposed to go. Thanks to that Voice, I’ve had over 50 books published, including one releasing today, Cold Threat. If we will truly follow Him, someday, we’ll get to hear, “Well done, My good and faithful servant.” In that moment, we’ll realize that this is the only reward that ever mattered.

Nancy Mehl is the bestselling author of over 50 books. She’s won the Daphne Du Maurier Award, as well as an ACFW Mystery Book of the Year Award and a Carol award. She was also a finalist for the prestigious Christy award. Learn more about her at www.nancymehl.com.