Friday, April 6, 2012

Mount Hermon Results, thank you Jesus

Above is my roommate, Sue Tornai, we were a perfect match to room and ride together, thank you Sue.
   Hearing, Listening to, and Loving God
  While at Mount Hermon Christian Writers’ Conference, Mar 29 – Apr 2, I had an amazing experience. I actually listened to what God was saying to me. “Priscilla, you are out there promoting your own efforts with your historical romance. Wasn’t our story about Jesus, Joseph and Mary traveling to Egypt good enough for you?”
    Well, as Liz Curtis Higgs said, I felt the ‘hot hand of God on my back’. Just before this, the Lord spoke to me in one of the workshops that said writers need to focus on their writing, not different genres. At the conference no one liked my historical romance, and during my mentoring track for a work-in-progress I submitted a historical romance and the leader tore it apart. I can’t give her credit for that, it was God’s doing—just another way to wake me up.
   What did I do? I listened and did what I should have done from the start. I put aside my historical romance and never mentioned it from Sunday thru Tues (the remainder of the conference that started on Thursday). I told everyone that I wrote biblical fiction. On Monday morning, I had an appointment with the senior editor of WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing, the evangelical division of Random House and she asked me to send her my manuscript. Below is a snippet about the book
    Gifts for the Road is complete in 91,200 words.
    It’s about trusting God, while facing the unknown, as the Holy Family leaves Bethlehem for Egypt under the threat of Herod’s soldiers looking to kill Jesus. The family is also pursued by two thieves seeking to steal the Magi gifts. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus travel with Mary’s maidservant, Joseph’s friend, and borrowed servants. The wayfarers visit family, sleep in caves and are hosted by Jewish families living in Egypt. Among their adventures, they encounter wild animals, ride camels and sail the Mediterranean. Answering questions along the way as to why they are so far from home, Mary and Joseph share prophecy and the birth of Jesus. Some believe them, some do not. Joseph takes his family one hundred and fifty miles south along the Nile, where they spend six months in a cave and one of the thieves becomes saved. Before heading home on a Roman vessel, Joseph and those with him help a destitute family in Alexandria get back on their feet.

1 comment:

  1. I love your testamony about following the Spirit's leading at Mount Hermon. Can't wait to hear from Multnomah. I'm praying for you.

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