Good-Bye 2018 by Liz Bradford

So Long, 2018!

WOW! 2018 is over! Here comes 2019…


What a year it’s been. Ups and downs. Insane stress and anxiety. But also joys and accomplishments I had only dreamed about.


The year started out rather innocuously. But then May happened… I’m still in shock at the crazy twists that month threw at me.

  • My three year old going into anaphalactic shock after eating flax seed. We knew she had food allergies, but flax? Apparently. I’m grateful for epi pens.
  • I gained a sister(-in-law)!!!
  • I decided to bite the bullet and self-publish my books (and signed up for Self-Publishing School).
  • My grandmother died…

I don’t want to do May again…

 

But let me back up.

 

As many do, I really enjoy choosing a word to focus on for the year. For 2018 I chose the word ZEAL. I was going to attack 2018 with zealous determination, especially when it came to my writing career. And holy cow, did I! But not the way I had anticipated. My goal had been to find an agent and move towards traditional publishing. Then I had the idea for another series (Check out this post). My thought with that series was to self-publish it as I moved The Detectives of Hazel Hill series towards traditional publishing. So, I started looking into self-publishing.


My husband then challenged me. “Could you have the first one published by Swordgirl?” (Swordgirl is a women’s conference I attend every year.)

 

My jaw dropped. “Maybe the following Swordgirl? There’s no way I can have it ready by October!”


I was still thinking timelines according to traditional publishing. It is truly amazing how much you can get done in five months if you set your mind to it. Oh, and have God’s backing. (I could NEVER have done what I have accomplished in the last seven months without Him!)


I’ll try to keep this long story short… after watching a webinar Chandler Bolt did and getting a free coaching call with someone from Self-Publishing School, I walked into my husband’s office to ask about money… I fully expected a “we can’t afford that!” instead I got “Who am I to stand in the way of what God has called you to?”


WHAT?!?!


I did it. I signed up and learned the ins and out of self-publishing. I published my first book by Swordgirl in October. And then a Christmas novella by Christmas (I was beginning to wonder if I’d have it done in time). WOW!


This year has been full on JOY and TRIUMPH!


But this year has also head an intense amount of stress and anxiety.
Honestly, I’ve never really struggled with anxiety. Of course, like most, I’ve had spouts of anxiety from time to time, but never would I have classified it as a struggle in my life. And I know it doesn’t come even close to what some of you experience from day to day. But the burning and tightness in my chest… I really wish it’d go away.


Whenever I feel it coming on I have to turn the music on and start worshiping. As my friend Mackenzie says, “Praise is the devil’s kryptonite!”


This year has also been marked with grief and regret.


I miss my grandmother. But what hurts the most, is that she’s not missing from my daily life. I wish I had made a point to connect with her more. We lived so far away, and that made it ‘easy’ to be distant. We had never been very close, but I didn’t do anything to change that. It struck me most poignantly when my cousin was telling me how she had taken my grandmother out for drinks. I wish that had been me. But my cousin lived near her, and I didn’t. That conversation made me realize how important it is for me to help my kids be close to my mom and dad. And that proximity really makes a difference.

Goodbye 2018 by Liz Bradford
My brothers and I with my grandmother


I’m glad that the last time I did see my grandmother I was able to tell her goodbye, knowing it was likely the last time I would see her. Although, I wish I had tried harder to see her again. I wish I could have made it happen. But I’m also glad that the last time I saw her she didn’t seem as sick as I know she was.

But she’s with Jesus in heaven! Praise the Lord.


What a year! Oh, and the year did include another trip to the ER and another dose of epi for my three year old. I loathe food allergies.


While 2018 held so much awesomeness, it held enough “yikes” for me to be done with it. Bring on 2019!!!


I am full of aspirations for 2019! Really, I may be crazy…

An Answer to Prayer? by Liz Bradford

An Answer to Prayer?

I woke up one morning a few months ago with an idea for a story. As it has happened before, I had a shadow of an idea from a dream I had. I went about my morning and watched our church service on my computer since someone was sick and we were staying home. I didn’t give a ton of thought to the story, yet.

 

As I listened to the sermon, I was challenged to pray a big prayer. A prayer bigger than I had ever dared to pray. I prayed it… and moved on with my day.

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Another Idea?!?!

It happened again… I thought I was pretty solid in my ideas and my plan for my books… but then I got a new idea… Really, another one?

 

After I wrote my first full book, Not Alone, I decided that it would be the first book in a series. Immediately I knew the series would be three books. I had three characters that needed their stories to be told. It took me a few years to get to writing the third book. I had a baby and my brain turns to mush when I’m pregnant, so writing took a backseat for a while. But when E was a little over a year old I was finally able to fully jump back in the saddle and start writing again (I had been doing some heavy duty editing of book one). But as I started flushing out what I was going to write in book three another idea came to me.

 

Where’d the idea come from?

 

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Story Ideas

Where’d That Idea Come From?

Many people as writers, “Where do you get your story ideas?”

But some days I’m like, “How do you not have ideas?” 🙂Story Ideas - Liz Bradford

 

If I had time to write all my ideas I think I could fill an entire library!

 

Most of my ideas are inspired from something else.

 

Other stories work as a type of spring board for my ideas. I’ll watch a show or read a book and a little piece of a character or storyline will jump out at me, and I’ll follow it down a little bunny trail. Or I’ll see a news article, and the same thing happens. Sometimes the idea comes out of seemingly nowhere. Sometimes the story idea will even come out of a dream I have. I’ll play the scene or character out in my head and see where it takes me. If I find something worth pursuing, I’ll write the idea down. I use Evernote a lot for this since I can just turn on my phone and type up a new note. I also have a binder that holds all my ideas and notes until they can take on a life of their own, but I’m using Evernote more and more since it syncs with my computer, and I can just copy and paste into my writing program. Read More

Adding Hours to the Day

“I wish I just had a few more hours in my day!”

Ever say that? Bet you have. I’m not sure I’ve ever met someone who said they had enough time in their day. I know I say this on a regular basis. There are so many things vying for my time. I want to write. I have to homeschool. I need to clean (oh my goodness, do I need to clean… and purge). But I can’t seem to get it all done. Never. If I’m excelling in one area, you can bet that the rest of the areas are suffering.
But I know God has called me to specific things. In addition to being a wife and mother, I am a writer and homeschooler. So God, if you want me to do these things you are going to have to work a miracle!

And He says, if you want a miracle, you have to put a little effort forward.

Ouch.

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