
I met author Deana Rogers at the Breathe Conference this past October. We talked about the paths we've taken on this journey of writing. By the end of the conference we were talking like old friends. I asked Deanna to share her story. I love the way she discovered the complexities of writing through this one seemingly simple project. If you live in the continental US and would like a chance to win a signed print copy of Deana's book, Wrapped in Grace, enter a comment below. You may also enter by sharing the post on your FB page with a comment or by Tweeting the link to this post using @WatersAuthor in your tweet. All comments are welcome, but again, the giveaway is limited to the continental U.S. only. (Sorry)
An Answered Prayer by Deana Rogers
It was autumn, 2014; almost time to go back to the Breathe
Conference for Christian writers in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I couldn’t believe
that a whole year had passed and I had barely made headway on the whole
platform idea.
I’d first heard about platform building at Breathe 2013, and
determined to make this writing life work, I spent countless hours during 2014
listening to tutorials in the library in an attempt to learn the foreign
language of website building. It took so much time to build the website that I
didn’t know when to write.
When I finally posted and got the word out, I did receive
encouraging and heartfelt responses from a few readers. But I didn’t know the
difference between a blog post and a 5-day in-depth study of the names of God,
so I couldn’t post enough to keep anyone’s attention.
Just before heading back to Grand Rapids for the conference,
I made the decision to look for readers in a more focused way.
What if I could write something and give it away? Advent
would be easy, I thought. I love
Christmas and the season has defined boundaries. I could start with pieces I’d
already written, fit it around a four-week schedule, give it away at first, and
have something more focused to blog about.
I had no idea how much work it would be, or how long it
would take, or to be honest, what real editing even meant. The biggest surprise was how much God would
teach me about his story through the process.
Not knowing where to begin, I started here:
Father in Heaven,
Amen
I think God answered that prayer. He didn’t just keep me
focused; he captured my attention and my heart all over again with his ancient
story and made it new.
Friends and family read and reread the early manuscripts and
helped me shape the book into a much more organized and user-friendly book than
I could have done alone. My brilliantly
talented nieces and daughter became my graphic design and photography team.
This Advent season, hundreds of people are reading and
journaling through the book. I am overwhelmed by the goodness of God and they
way he has entrusted us to tell his story.
Heavenly Father, as we write, steer our words
into sentences and paragraphs that bring honor to your name.
Deana Lynn Rogers loves
Christmas, sunshine, her giant family, libraries, and walks at sunset with her
husband Dale. She can’t get over the brilliance of God’s redemptive story and
how he chooses to tell it through the lives of imperfect and ordinary people. Deana and Dale live in Mesa, Arizona with any
of their college-age children who happen to be passing through for a
while.

Deana’s first book, Wrappedin Grace: The Birth Story the Changes Everything, is available at
deanalynnrogers.com and on Amazon.com.