I first met Jolina at an ACFW conference years ago. I’ve always liked her and her books are wonderful. Recently, I came across her Facebook post below. I knew I had to reach out and have her tell a bit more of the story. That became this Q&A feature. Enjoy! And be sure to let me know what resonated with you!
Jolina’s Facebook post:
Three years ago, I made a foolish pact with myself that if I wasn’t published again by the time I was forty, I would quit.
Well, I am not sure what “quitting” would even look like, considering words are the way I process the world.
However, forty seemed a long way off, and I believed I could reach my goal with perhaps a year to spare. Long story short (pun intended), I did not reach my goal because, though I do not turn forty until August, the publishing process is so slow that you really need to be contracted for two years before you actually see your book in print.
This spring, four months before my birthday, I was driving home from a field trip with my daughter when I received a text from a friend in the publishing industry. I asked my daughter to read it aloud, which she did.
My friend wondered if I would be interested in attending an all expenses paid, six-day writing retreat.
Needless to say, I squealed and slapped the steering wheel. The longest writing retreat I had ever had was a two-day whirlwind trip where I stayed in a purportedly haunted Victorian boarding house by myself. (I had slept with one eye on the dour portrait above the mantle.)
So, I filled out the paperwork, submitted a portion of my work-in-progress, and then waited to see if I would be selected. Then, due to the number of applicants, they pushed the deadline back two weeks. I waited some more.
The day we were to know, I heard nothing. I was making supper while trying not to refresh my email again.
I even told my oldest daughter, “I don’t think I got in.”
She said, “Did you want to go?”
Swallowing, I had replied, “More than I even realized.”
But then I refreshed my email one more time. At 6:01 I heard from the organization. I had been selected to attend!
I may have jumped up and down, which made my daughters smile indulgently at their mother.
The timing feels so profound because this writing retreat takes place about a week before my fortieth birthday.
I am not giving up writing. My daughters deserve to see their mother persevere despite setbacks, and I love the power of story too much to ever throw in the towel.