A year ago the extent of my writing was a grocery list and a FB post.  What a difference a year makes.  It occurred to me that I have finally burst out of my tiny bubble and that people are following my blog that aren’t even related to me 😉

I thought I would play a little catch up.  I started this blog at the end of May.  It has been so much fun to write and I am thrilled that it is resonating with so many people.

I actually only started seriously writing about a year ago.  I was inspired to write a book about my journey through Infertility.  I went through a particularly difficult year in 2013 filled with unsuccessful fertility treatments and a lot of tears.  I felt so alone and misunderstood.  And that is crazy because one out of EIGHT couples struggle with Infertility.

But no one talks about it.

Except me.  God divinely reached into my little brain and pulled out that filter.

So that was that.  I decided to write a book, tell my story, and share how I survived through it all.  In December 2014, I self-published “Full Heart Empty Womb: How I Survived Infertility … Twice”  After, I took a deep breath, enjoyed the holidays with my family, then jumped into the second part of my journey after the new year.  And boy did I underestimate what an undertaking that would be.  I had to focus on promoting my book…promoting me.  This was wayyyy out of my comfort zone.  This is the girl who never even sends out Friend Requests on FB because I am scared of rejection 😉

I have had some ups and downs.  Just when I was overwhelmed and at my lowest, God gave me the
encouragement I needed to keep going.  He has plans for me.  One night in February, I was having one of my typical insomniac nights.  Up thinking, worrying, and stressing about everything out of my control.  How can I reach more people?  This is too much for me to do on my own!!  I finally got out of bed and went to my office.  As soon as I pulled up my email, I found an email that reminded me that I am not doing any of this on my own.  God is here guiding me every step of the way.  It was an email from Proverbs 31 Ministries and the subject line was “You’re called to speak or write.  Now What?”  Well, yes.  Yes I am!  Then when I opened the email, it said, “Do you ever feel alone in your calling as a Speaker, Writer, or Leader?”  I mean….HELL-LO!  Talk about a direct encouragement from above exactly when I needed it!  Even at 2:20 a.m.!!

I waited a respectable amount of time….well until 5:30…and woke up Eric to talk about me going to the She Speaks conference this Summer.  I had a whole speech prepared about how it would be beneficial  for me and my book.  I didn’t even get to my second bullet point before Eric was telling me to register.  How grateful am I that I have such a supportive husband??!!

So here we are six months later and I am leaving for She Speaks this Thursday.  And I am SUPER PUMPED.  Not only am I going to go to sessions to help me improve my writing, but I also have appointments with two major publishing houses about publishing my book.  I am glad I self-published because, honestly, I think I would have lost my nerve if I hadn’t just pushed through all the way to completion.  However, I would love the opportunity to publish on a wider scale so I can reach more people.

Regardless the outcome, I am thankful.  I have been praying about this so much and I know that it is all in God’s hands.  Hopefully, my book will be picked up, improved upon, and I will be able to help a lot more women.  If not, I am satisfied with knowing that I have helped a lot of women already because I wasn’t afraid to tell my story.

Pretty sweet situation to be in.

I am ready to head to She Speaks with my 31 page book proposal (gasp!), business cards (just hysterical), a lot of prayers (hint hint), and confidence that God will do His thing (no matter what it is).

And, of course, my Mema’s pearls to wear in my interviews.  (And I think Mema is looking down from Heaven and is smiling).