Books and writing, Writing and running....

Yesterday, when I returned home from seeing Les Miserables (one of my all time favorite books) there was a big box at my front door.  Inside was....

Colleen Wait's books

I looked over the contents for a moment and thought, wow, I wrote those.  It was a very surreal moment.  I may never be #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list or sell millions upon millions of copies, however, as my husband so aptly put it, "Very few people have written even one book. You have accomplished much."   He says the same thing about my running.  

He's right.  I may never win.  I may never be rich and famous, however, I have put myself out there.  I have run the race. I put my heart into words, opened myself up to judgements and criticisms, rankings and place. 

It's odd.  Until now, I have never compared my running to my writing. I'm not the best at what I do, however, I work hard, train hard, do my very best.  Whether or not I win the race or the readers love my writing isn't all that important.  I love what I do.  I love to run and I love to write.  Once, I told someone that I wished there could be a mind-controlled tape recorder so I could do both at the same time.

Another similarity is how I commune with God.  On my runs, long or short, I pray.  It's our time and I covet that time with Him.  Sometimes, it's what motivates me to get out the door.  When I write, I often use the scriptures and I will spend hours reading and studying to get what I think fits the story.  Before I write anything, I pray.  What does God want me to write? Even now, I stop to pray, what do You want me to say? My hope, my prayer, is that someone will be reached for God through my writing.  If I publish 20 books and one person comes to Christ through my writing, then I have done what God has instructed me to do, "He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.''  Mark 16:15. 

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 says it well:  
²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. ²⁵ Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶ Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. ²⁷ No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

It is my prayer, dear reader, that you will also read this and be inspired to run to get the prize.

Happy New Year

Be Blessed

Freedom Race, an excerpt

  "You beast! How dare you invade our planet and tear our lives apart, and then call us uncivilized!?" Francene screamed just to keep warm.  She knew nothing she said would change his mind.  Her strength was quickly fading.  Becoming angry gave her a short rush of adrenalin.
 
  Fromar scooped up a handful of rocks and began throwing them at Francene, then Nina and Patty.  Oh, god, they thought, as the rocks pelted their bodies, we're going to be stoned to death, just like they did in the Bible.  Francene remembered the story her grandmother told her about the adulterous woman facing stoning and how Jesus saved her and about Stephen being stoned to death.
 
  The people in the complex had begun to come back outside when they saw the Prinatorian leader return.  They felt helpless, afraid to do anything to help.  The aliens were shocked, confused, why is our leader doing this?  This is not right. Has he gone mad?  If I try to stop him, what will he do to me? What will the others do to me?  Fromar saw the people and ordered them and his guards to throw rocks, but they just stood there, including the aliens, and stared, dumbfounded.  This made him angrier so he threw harder, hitting the three prisoners with sharp accuracy.  The blood from the prisoners wounds stained the freshly fallen snow, slowly draining them of their life.

Freedom Race, an independently published novel.

Book covers

I have decided to change two of my book covers.  What do you think I should do to make them better?