The Long and Short of It

 

What is my most memorable experience in Christian writing?

Two come to my mind and together they taught me a lesson. These two constitute the quickest acceptance, I ever received from a magazine editor and the slowest. The slow one ended up getting picked up by a secular magazine, so in terms of experiences in Christian writing, I guess I haven’t received a “yes” on it yet.

“Mom, I’m pregnant. I’ve made one mistake but I’m not going to make more. I am not going to marry the father, at least not yet, and I’m not going to abort my child.” This is how the fastest acceptance article began.

My daughter, a sophomore in college on a volleyball scholarship at a Christian college, woke me with a late-night phone call with these words. The article went on to share her story, a story of bravery in the face of adversity and shame. With me beside her, supporting her, my brave daughter explained her situation to the dean of students at her school. I will always remember how this woman responded. After saying my daughter would not be expelled, she said, “At this school we do not believe in premarital sex, but we are pro-life. And to be prolife, you have to be pro-unwed mothers because they are the ones who abort most often.”

My daughter chose to come home anyway and continued studying at a different school while living at home. She gave up her starting position on the volleyball team and faced personal embarrassment and judgement from others because she knew the life growing inside her was created by God and precious.

My grandson was born six weeks early. Both she and the baby became septic and nearly died. By God’s grace they both made full recoveries. A few weeks after the baby was born, I overheard her on the phone discussing abortion with a friend. She said, “Don’t talk to me about abortion. My baby was born at a gestational age when babies are still aborted. While others are killing their babies, I did everything I could to save mine. I gave up college life, volleyball, was sick the entire pregnancy, and both he and I nearly died afterwards. I know how precious life is!”

How I admired my brave little girl and oh how I love my grandchild. I asked her if I could write her story and she eagerly agreed. I titled it, “And Baby Makes Two; a Profile in Courage”. One morning I sat at my laptop and submitted it to a pro-life magazine. In less than thirty minutes I got a return email from the editor wanting to publish it. I went cold thinking this story would actually be made public. Did I really want this level of transparency for my daughter and my family?

Just then, my daughter came downstairs to the kitchen where I was and started pouring herself orange juice. I sheepishly told her I had just sold her story. I told her it wasn’t too late to change our minds. I could email the editor back and say on second thought we don’t want it published. She grinned from ear to ear and enthusiastically gave her permission once again. 

This story has been sold and resold many times. It is my most widely read article because of how many times it has sold but most importantly, it has blessed the lives of countless thousands. 

The slowest acceptance, on the other hand, is a short memoir I once wrote about my high school football team’s Cinderella run to a state championship. It’s a great story, sort in the “Hoosiers” vein. In fact, I think the story of that school and that year would make a great family-oriented high school sports film. It’s a treasured memory for me because I was a senior and a cheerleader that year.

That article sat unpublished for over four years. I submitted it many times but kept getting rejections. I realize it’s more of a human-interest story than one with a strong Christian message, but don’t Christians enjoy heartwarming human-interest stories too? Finally, it was picked up by a regional magazine with a large circulation and had a wonderful three-page spread with pictures. I was thrilled with the final result.

And my take-away from these two experiences? Like they used to say in the 1960’s and ‘70’s, “keep on keeping on”. Success in writing may come quickly or at a turtle’s pace, but if it’s your passion, keep learning the craft, keep writing what is on your heart, and keep submitting, however long or short it may take to reach your goal.