Glad To Be Here! What's Your Story?

Hey Rocketeers!

I'm so thrilled to be a part of this amazing Novel Rocket team.

Thank you Gina and Ane for inviting me. So many of my friends are here. Especially you, Jim Rubart!

What's my story? Isn't that such a common phrase?

"What's your story?"

"What's his story?" Or "Her story?"

With Robin Jones Gunn

All of life is a story.

Recently at the ACFW conference, the lovely and fabulous Robin Jones Gunn started each of her keynote sessions with, "I want to tell you a story..."

That simple phrase moved me to the edge of my seat. What was she going to say?

With emotion and depth, humor and tears, Robin shared how God changed her dreams to be His dreams.

She moved me from laughter to tears every time.

I've known Robin for years but we don't get to see each other often. Yet every time we do, it's love! We are sisters of the heart. And we are also sisters of the story.

When she tells a story, my heart comes alive. Not only because of her storytelling ability, but her amazing love for Jesus.

Robin inspired me. Touched me. Healed me with her words. Challenged me. As all good stories should whether written or spoken.

Clowning with Frank Peretti

So what's my story?

I started writing in '93, a year after I'd married my darling husband, henceforth known as Hubby.

Christian fiction was in it's infancy. World War II novels were all the rage.

Frank Peretti was wowing us all with This Present Darkness, and Lori Wick was the queen of romance. Brock and Bodie Thoene were the king and queen of historicals.

We purchased our first computer and I sat down to write. And I wrote and I wrote, for two year, on an epic WW II saga.

It was well rejected.

So, I found myself back in the corporate world and the season of writing subsided. However, I attended a couple of writer's conferences and joined American Christian Romance Writers. Yep, ACFW started as ACRW.

Eventually, I sold my first novel through a partnership with author Lynn Coleman.

I left the corporate world in '04 to write full time and bless the Lord, I've been at it for nine years now.

You see, writing is a process.

We want it to be quick, don't we? We want everything to be "now!"

We envy those who have a "fast rise" to the top. But some of those fist rises also quickly fall or stall.

Novel writing takes time, discipline and heart. Readers grow over years with each passing book. ;)

I've had some tough lessons in this publishing gig. Been disappointed. Felt kicked in the gut a few times.

But I knew one thing -- there was no place I'd rather be.

In the middle of writing a difficult book, the Lord gave me a verse. Isaiah 41:13:

For I am the Lord your God,
who upholds your right hand,
Who says to you,"Do not fear, I will help you."

Wow, I was encouraged. The writing was going to get easy now.

Nope.

A few month later I said, "Hey, Lord, I thought you said You were going to help me."

He said, "What makes you think I'm not?"

I hammered the table. "Because it's hard."

Then I burst out laughing.

Ah-ha, I understood. Just because something is difficult, hard, requires long suffering does not mean God is not in our midst, helping.

We have to see with those "spirit eyes" Paul talks about in Ephesians.

Look, life is a story -- with a beginning, middle and end.

It's what we do with the pages in between that matters.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

So, what's YOUR story? I'd love to chat with you about your life? What's going on?


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Best-selling, award-winning author Rachel Hauck loves a great story.

With a love for teaching and mentoring, Rachel loves to come alongside writers and help them craft their novel.

She is on the Executive Board for American Christian Fiction Writers and leads worship for their annual conference. Recently, she was named ACFW 2013 Mentor of the Year.

She is also the Book Therapist for My Book Therapy. Otherwise, she lives in Florida, where she is also a worship leader, with her husband and  dog.
Her novel, The Wedding Dress, was named Romantic Times Inspirational Novel of the Year. Her latest release, Once Upon A Prince, earned starred reviews from Booklist and Publisher's Weekly.