How God Allows U-Turns Began

I would almost bet everyone of us has had an idea at some point in our life that we DID NOT follow-up on and suddenly one day we see that idea in the flesh, developed by someone else, and we say, “I thought of that! Why didn’t I jump on that idea when I had it?”

Am I right?

The key to accomplishing ANYTHING is to take the pro-active first steps needed to make a dream idea become a reality. Let me clarify that. For those of us with creative minds, getting brainstorm ideas is a pretty commonplace occurrence. And not all of those brainstorm ideas are really viable once we talk ourselves through them. Not only are many of them NOT viable, but often when we give a brainstorm idea some careful thought, we find ourselves losing interest almost immediately.

That’s because many initial brainstorm ideas don’t grab us by the heart strings. But it’s those brainstorm ideas that won’t leave our mind…those creative ideas that continue to invade our thoughts…and begin to take over places in our heart and soul…that we must listen to. It’s those ideas we have that we mull over day in and day out…that we wake up thinking about and go to sleep dreaming about…it’s those brainstorm ideas that we need to listen to. It’s those brainstorm ideas that we need to follow-up on and take pro-active first steps to make reality.

That’s how it was for me and God Allows U-Turns as it is known today.

The title was initially associated with my memoir…my life journey about coming from decades of aimless searching to a place of faith that transformed my life. But that book never sold. I couldn’t get an agent, publishers turned it down, and I didn’t have the money (or the desire) to self-publish it. But I knew that reading the real-life testimonies of other men and women empowered me in my early walk of faith. I soaked up every true story I could find on how people came from a place of non-belief to belief. Books like “Born Again” by Chuck Colson, “Stormie” by Stormie Omartian, “Just One Victory” by Becky Tirabassi, and “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis, to name a few.

I knew in my heart that reading true stories of over-comers brought hope and healing to readers. Yet while my story may have been a powerful testimony to God’s redemptive love, I was basically an unknown entity in the publishing world.

One day the idea came to me that perhaps it would be better to include my personal story in a collection of true short stories. Surely someone was publishing true short stories about people who had over-come really hard-core obstacles like addiction, abuse, abortion, and so on. And so I went in search of a faith-based anthology where I could send my story. At that time (2000) there were only a few anthologies in the CBA market…and none of them were accepting true short stories that dealt with the nitty-gritty hard-core issues of life. Instead, they were mostly inspiring and hopeful collections that contained the safe, warm and fuzzy stories that Christians had grown accustomed to.

The light bulb went off over my head.

But was this just another brainstorm idea that in time would fade away…only to replaced by another brainstorm idea? Or was this one different? And if so, what made it different?

I couldn’t get the idea out of my mind. It took hold of my heart and soul. It became my passion. Was the faith-based community ready for a collection of true short stories that approached the sensitive issues that folks had been hiding in their closets for years? Was the time right to expose the ugly skeletons in our closets and really talk about what redemption and salvation was all about?

That’s when I began in earnest to do the research, to develop a plan, to fill one legal pad after another with notes, ideas, concepts and strategy. That’s when I began to read books on marketing, publishing, development and such. That’s when I began taking classes and attending seminars on Internet marketing and web site development. That’s when I began to develop a comprehensive strategic plan for my outreach and then a full-blown book proposal to present my new brainstorm idea to a group of literary agents in search of the one agent who would capture my vision and help me traverse the waters of the publishing world.

I worked hard. I prayed hard. I took pro-active steps to turn my brainstorm dream into a reality. I called my new book series concept: GOD ALLOWS U-TURNS – True Stories of Hope and Healing.

Ladies, we all have dreams. We all have passions. For those of us who write, it’s a matter of taking that first step from thinking about writing to actually writing. Gulp. From knowing in the back of our mind that in today’s world the marketing and promoting of a book by the author is a vital component and therefore if we don’t know a thing about that aspect, then we must do what it takes to learn about it. If we don't know how to write a professional book proposal, then we need to do what it takes to learn how to write a professional book proposal. Today, countless resources are at our fingertips. Today, doing what it takes has never been easier.

Doing what it takes.

That’s the bottom line of how God Allows U-Turns began. With an idea. A brainstorm idea that wouldn’t let me go. A passion that needed commitment from me to go from dream to reality.

Do you have something that won’t let you go? Dotsie Bregel had a brainstorm idea to start an international web site for baby boomer women. A grand and glorious idea, to be sure. But do you think she suddenly woke up one day and it went from dream to reality? Hardly. It took a great deal of work. But she started with that first step of commitment to make it happen.

It’s never too late to achieve our dreams, ladies. Never. We’re never too old to learn something new. Never. That said, I’ll bid you a fond adieu for the day and let’s connect again soon!

God’s peace to all, and bless your day!