Newsflash!

Local Christian Writer Releases 10^th Book

            A local woman from Apopka, Colleen Wait, is set to release her tenth book, Jacob’s Well, in May.  Wait is a Christian-Inspirational writer, blogger and free-lance editor, and has been publishing her full-length books through Create Space and Amazon Kindle for about five years.

            While cranking out two books a year may not seem like a big deal to the average Joe, it definitely stands out when you realize these books came about in the midst of a chaotic full-time schedule of medical transcription and raising two children of her own, plus two “bonus” daughters with husband, Mark.  Add the many hours of volunteer service to youth and the homeless at the West Orange Church of Christ, in Winter Garden, and ten books is definitely a big deal. “Big,” however, is not a word anyone would use to describe first impressions of Wait.

            One of the first things you notice about Colleen Wait is her stature.  Wait is tiny, as in vertically challenged, standing at barely five feet.  She’s also lean, as in marathon distance runner lean.   As a matter of fact, if all you ever knew about Colleen Wait is her dogged determination to master the 26.2 miles of a grueling marathon you’d walk away impressed.  But that determination has been brewing for decades, and was borne out of an even more remarkable towering faith.  And once you know the height of her faith, Wait stands taller than anyone in the room.

            Writing has been an outlet for this naturally shy woman since her challenging childhood.  The result was an avenue for creative expression, as well as a coping mechanism for her hardships.  Those hardships are the foundation on which she built the soaring faith that is the source of all her stories.

            In Jacob’s Well, Wait tells the story of Analeigh Kendrick, a teenage girl who is led by her faith in God to sow goodness in the midst of bad circumstances.  It is a story of planting seeds, both agricultural and spiritual, in the face of hardship and opposition.  Wait says she hopes readers will walk away with a sense of hope, and will be encouraged to pursue their own opportunities to share goodness in challenging times.

            Wait is a genuinely reserved person who says she wishes she could be more like the main character in Jacob’s Well. 

            “I’m not outgoing or outspoken.  I get knots in my stomach when talking to people [I don’t know well].  I force myself, but it doesn’t come easily,” said Wait.  “I know my gift is in the written word, not the verbal.”  Now Wait uses her writing in an effort to help others who may be struggling.

[Other books written by Colleen Wait are:  Freedom Race, Captured, Lessons Learned at Summer Camp, Sanctuary, Remnant, Man in the Mirror, Love on the Run, Mount Mission, and Black Purple Sky.  All are available through Amazon.com and Create Space. You can follow the author on: colleenwaitwrites.blogspot.com ]

             -Laura Ann Day

****  Jacob's Well will be free on Amazon 5/10/2013 and 5/11/2013 ****

The Apopka Chief 5/24/2013