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[Meet Ginny Dent Brant, an alumna of our Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference whose new book is just out. I remember sitting with her in the cafeteria discussing her father and her work-in-progress, now a new release. I asked her to share a little of her experience. Whether you attend a large conference like BRMCWC or a studio-sized conference like Southwest Christian Writers Studio, the experience may help get your career started.
Be sure to watch the book trailer at the end of the post. --ALG]
By Ginny Dent Brant
When I was in Romania with my dad, Harry S. Dent, I reveled in everything I experienced. Who would believe all this could have happened? Years before my dad almost lost his freedom due to Watergate. Was this the same man who persecuted me – now winning souls to Christ? It was then that I knew I would one day write a book about the change in my father’s life, but his care due to Alzheimer’s disease consumed me from 2000 to 2007.
In 2007 after my father’s death, I began my writing career with a book. Probably not my brightest of ideas. I should have starting crafting the art and building my reputation as a writer first. Instead I dove in headfirst with a book and almost drowned!
Oh, the mistakes I made. I wrote my book proposal and submitted it without any advice. No wonder agents ran in the opposite direction. Linda Gilden finally reviewed my book proposal and advised me to attend the upcoming Glorietta Writer’s Conference. She encouraged me to capitalize on the father-daughter relationship in my memoir. The workshops offered were just what a doctor would order to bring my project back to life.
I’ll never forget sharing my book proposal with a major publisher and the first words out of his mouth were “That title sucks!” Ouch, that hurt. But I knew God had given me that title My Simple Prayer—because everything happened as a result of my teenage prayers. Later that day I heard it again, “That title—it sucks! It took hearing it for the third time to shock me into finally realizing I needed a new title. I wallowed in my tears that day. I realized God was telling me to emphasize those prayers. In the end my simple prayer was woven throughout and emphasized again on the last page. I realized I had to toughen up to endure the race before me.
Then I attended Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writer’s Conference and I learned even more about how to write a book. Sometimes the advice I heard was hard to hear. I had to get the water out of my ears (after all I almost drowned), and listen to those who knew far more than I did. I needed a village to help me and God provided that village through Christian Writer’s conferences.
The title of my book was my main marketing tool and those few words took me more deliberating than any other words in my book. I met with Cec Murphy and I begged him to suggest a title. He said, “The title must come from within you, Ginny.” But it wasn’t coming! Steven James encouraged me to relate my book to people’s concerns. “It’s all about the reader,” he said. Ramona Richards looked at my elevator pitch and highlighted these words—from the white house to the world. About two months later in the middle of my dreams, the word “freedom” woke me up. After 18 months I finally had a title capable of grabbing someone’s attention—Finding True Freedom: From the White House to the World. Alton Gansky agreed to review my book proposal and encouraged me to not give up. He thought my story was very publishable.
I met with ten publishers through conferences and nine allowed me to submit. Then came rejection, rejection, rejection. Did I say rejection? “Memoirs are not selling,” “you’re a new author,” “mission stories do not sell,” “we love the story, but. . .”—I had heard it all. One publisher who almost took the book helped me to submit it to other publishers. With many doors closed, I persisted and looked for a cracked window. Finally, three publishers were interested, but with the economy, two wanted to hold until the economy improved. I went with the one who was ready to take it now. Time in my case was important. So I bit the bullet without any agents and negotiated my own contract with advice from other authors.
Then came grueling editing, editing, and more editing. No wonder publishers don’t want new authors! I was struggling to swim to the shore and wondered if it was in sight. Established authors warned me about the current I might face—spiritual warfare. I took their advice and built a trusted tribe to pray with me as the water currents attempted to pull me under. Then my publisher decided to take the fast route and turn the book out six months earlier. Yikes! I tried to swim faster and with a full time job and ailing in-laws, I finally reached the shore—only to find there was another island I needed to swim to—marketing. That’s another journey, but Jim Rubart and Michelle Adams taught us how to do that at Blue Ridge and I’m doing it now.
Yes, I’ve learned a lot, but I’ve got a lot more to learn. Writing is a process like learning to swim. And I’m still learning. I’m not a champion yet, but I did get my first book published. It took a village to mentor me and teach me the discipline of writing. It was Christian writers who kept me afloat. It’s not about me, it’s not about them—it’s all about Him. Writers work together. In our writing we hope to throw a life preserver to those who are treading water. The goal of our writing is to point to the only Life Guard who can save them and make a difference in their life. It’s not competition—it’s cooperation and coaching. And I have been the recipient of the sharing hearts of many writers. Thanks to all!
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