“The heart loves who it loves and no one else.
And it makes no excuses for it.”
And it makes no excuses for it.”
The One True Love of Alice-Ann, by Eva Marie Everson
At least that’s true for me.
I find myself wondering at times if I made the right choices in my life. What if I had turned left instead of right? What if I had gone to this college instead of that one? For that matter, what if I had followed my dream of becoming a writer while a junior in high school (that time when we’re supposed to know—at the tender age of 16—what we want to do with the rest of our lives) rather than opting for a career in nursing?
What if I had said no instead of yes to the thousands if not millions of questions I’ve been asked over the course of my lifetime?
Am I the only one? Am I the only one who wonders and then chastises herself for wondering? Or is this the way of writers everywhere—never mind if they’re crossing into their sixth decade?
Years ago, my great-aunt told me she had married my uncle immediately before he’d left to serve our country in World War II.
“He didn’t come home for four years,” she told me. “I couldn’t have known that when I made the decision to marry him, but it sure was hard to be away from each other so long.”
It was this story mixed with my constant ponderings on the choices we make that led to the story line for The One True Love of Alice-Ann.
The heart loves who it loves . . .
Alice-Ann has to make a difficult decision—as all the important ones are—and so she turns to God. To His Word, the Bible.
The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses (Psalm 25:17).
There are times in our lives—whether as everyday human beings or as writers—when we have serious decisions to make. When we try to make them alone, we often find ourselves wondering, Did I make the right choice?
But when we take them to God and ask Him to guide us, we find the worries and concerns less pressing. Especially as writers.
I cannot count the times when I thought I wanted one thing for my writing career, yet when I took my request to the Lord, He told me no. Or the dreaded “not yet.” What do we do, then, when making our own choices might possibly thwart the plan of God?
Well, let’s clear that up. No man can thwart the plan of God (Job 42:2) . . . but we sure can make the path rocky. And the writer’s road can be difficult enough.
This agent or that one? This publishing house or that one? Third person or first?
Yes, even the latter question deserves some time with God when you find yourself at a brick wall.
Case in point: A few years back I wrote the novel Five Brides for Tyndale. The editor and I discussed telling the story of five women who wear the same wedding dress (within a few years of each other) in the point of view of the fourth bride and in first person. But when the writing was done, we all agreed that it needed to be rewritten, this time in third person point of view with all five brides having a story.
Trust me, I did a lot of praying as the rewrites began, but I knew I was doing the right thing. (As I wrote the first draft, I’d not felt so certain.) That book went to #1 on the CBA bestseller list for fiction. But what if I had not chosen to go with the third person idea?
Hmmm . . .
Here’s another choice some of us writers must make: School or no school?
Just recently two high school students asked me (separately) if I thought they should simply start writing after high school or attend a university and study creative writing. I told them to pray about it, of course, but I also let them know that if I could change one thing, it would be that I had gone to college to study my craft. “Enjoy those four years,” I said. “This is the time of your life and now is the best time to hone your craft.”
Does that mean one cannot be a good writer if they choose otherwise? No.
Case in point: me.
And most of the writers I know.
But there you have it, you see? Most of the writers I know took another path, yet God led them exactly to where He wanted them to be. When I think of my journey, I cannot help but smile. Yes, it would have been easier had I chosen differently, but still God had a plan. An unthwartable plan.
And, wow . . . I can make a plotline out of that!
So, writers: stop questioning . . . and start trusting . . . and keep writing.
What about you? Can you think of a time or a season in your life when you thought the path led one way, only to discover God had another journey in mind altogether?
Do leave a comment today, for an opportunity to win a copy of The One True Love of Alice-Ann. Winner announced in the Weekend Edition.
Living in rural Georgia in 1941, sixteen-year-old Alice-Ann has her heart set on her brother’s friend Mack; despite their five-year age gap, Alice-Ann knows she can make Mack see her for the woman she’ll become. But when they receive news of the attack on Pearl Harbor and Mack decides to enlist, Alice-Ann realizes she must declare her love before he leaves.
Though promising to write, Mack leaves without confirmation that her love is returned. But Alice-Ann is determined to wear the wedding dress her maiden aunt never had a chance to wear—having lost her fiancé in the Great War. As their correspondence continues over the next three years, Mack and Alice-Ann are drawn closer together. But then Mack’s letters cease altogether, leaving Alice-Ann to fear history repeating itself.
Dreading the war will leave her with a beautiful dress and no happily ever after, Alice-Ann fills her days with work and caring for her best friend’s war-torn brother, Carlton. As time passes and their friendship develops into something more, Alice-Ann wonders if she’ll ever be prepared to say good-bye to her one true love and embrace the future God has in store with a newfound love. Or will a sudden call from overseas change everything?
