Flourish Writers Podcast: Cultivating a Kindred Writing Life

Writers of all kinds, this one is for you! And even if you’re not a writer, I think you’ll find something encouraging here on this new episode of the Flourish Writers podcast!

Here’s what Flourish Writers has to say about the episode….

“No one gives you permission to show up as a writer.

You validate yourself when you start sharing the message God has placed on her heart.

When you start sharing that message, it’s an act of obedience. You have no idea how it’s going to grow.

At FlourishWriters, we see first-time published authors smiling with their books in hand. It’s tempting to look at them and think they have a special power or ability.

When you hear their backstory–the number of years they spent growing in the craft and the courageous things they did along the way–you realize most of us start out in obscurity with a desire to serve.

Those who keep showing up will eventually experience divine encounters. They’re not lucky. They simply didn’t quit.

Still, it’s hard to keep rejoicing when everyone else is holding their book. Why does it seem like others are getting all the breaks?

Christine Marie Bailey is one of those girls who had been writing all her life but mostly for herself. In 2005, she started blogging and wrote as a hobby for 10 years. Eventually, she turned to freelance writing, but she didn’t consider herself an author until she turned in her first manuscript to a publisher.

How did she get from hobbyist blogger to published author?

She wasn’t looking for a traditional publishing contract. She was simply growing where she was planted, seeking to be faithful with the message God placed on her heart.

But she wasn’t hiding away either. She had to take action on the call God placed on her life to write her stories for others and that pulled her outside her comfort zone.

Christine says, “My tendency is to shrink back from center stage. It’s uncomfortable, but fruit hangs low outside comfort zones.”

In this NEW podcast episode, Christine Bailey shares how to:

  • sustain your vision through years of writing in obscurity;

  • believe that your voice is worthy of recognition;

  • find the fruit that hangs low outside your comfort zone (there’s nothing comfortable about it, except later when it’s amazing!);

  • validate your message on platforms much bigger than yours; and

  • dream big when designing your book baby

This conversation is full of intimate revelations about the fear Christine had to overcome when she started writing her book, the writing prompt that saved her, the tools she used to track progress, and the supernatural process the Lord led her through to complete the manuscript in the midst of a busy life as a farmer, wife, and mother.

She survived and even thrived and the result? The Kindred Life: Stories and Recipes to Cultivate a Life of Organic Connection.

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