Why hello, world! For those of you who do not know me, I am Quin Arrington, Christian Author and Writer… man, that feels good to say! My debut book And Then You Shall Have Good Success: Attaining Good Success God’s Way was published May 1, 2021. However, I officially announced its release to the world June 7, 2021.
Why the month gap? Ugh well, trial and error with publishing mostly. Little things like getting the formatting right, switching images to JPEG, and emailing Amazon back and forth for assistance was the primary reason for the hold up. Also, I simply had to have a photoshoot with my new baby, which I knew would set me back just a little bit more. But if I had to do it all over again, I’d do it exactly how it was done. I have no regrets.
Anyway, I wanted to tell you the process of how I became a Christian Author. It all started with the 2020 Pandemic. In March 2020, my daughter’s daycare closed. However, my place of employment remained opened as we are/were considered essential workers. Quite obviously, I was caught in a dilemma.
I had no choice but to stay home with my daughter. Thankfully, I didn’t lose my job (although I thought it was probable at the time). I had plenty of paid time leave, and management was understanding of the unforeseen circumstance that 2020 brought upon us all.
So, from mid-March to mid-May, I was stuck at home with my baby… and I loved every minute of it.
I spent the first couple of weeks bonding with my child, cooking, and cleaning my home. But every time I logged into social media, I knew God was calling me to do more with my time. I kept seeing 40 days this and 40 day fast that continuously. I remember this one particular post that pointed out the biblical significance of 40 days… Jesus fasted for 40 days, Noah was on the ark 40 days, Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days…
“Yeah, yeah, yeah”, I thought. I had no intentions of going on a 40 day fast. 40 days is a long time and I just wasn’t feeling it. But you know what, sometimes God will make you wish you had done what He asked you to do. I remember getting on social media one last time before I caved into the fast. I saw a very disturbing video… so disturbing that I unfriended the person who posted it. That video forced me off social media. But I still hadn’t surrendered to the fast.
Because I no longer had social media as a source of entertainment, I started cleaning parts of the house that I neglected. One of which was under my bed. There wasn’t much underneath the bed at that time. But there was one little object that solidified God calling me to fast for 40 days. As I pulled items from under my bed, lo and behold – I pulled out Dr. Celeste Owens's 40 Day Surrender Fast book.
“Ugh!!!” I thought. I did not want to surrender anything for 40 days! I just wanted to enjoy my unplanned quarantine vacation in peace with my baby. But I reluctantly opened the book to start the fast that changed the entire trajectory of my life.
On the course of that fast, I gave up social media, sweets, and an hour of sleep in the mornings for prayer and Bible study. God spoke vividly to me through that book, the Bible, and sermons. He clearly revealed to me that I should use my gift of writing for ministry (technically, I knew before this fast … but I’ll speak on that in a minute). So, while I fasted, I wrote short articles for Christ.
Eventually God lead me to Joshua 1:8. That verse stuck out to me like a big, bright, yellow, singing canary. It just wouldn’t let me go. I never attempted to write an article from it. I just sat on it for a while… I had to let it marinate.
And then, two people very close to me said in response to an article they read, “Waiting on that book…” And I instinctively knew Joshua 1:8 would be the framework of my first book.
But I had no clue how to write a book.
“How in the world am I going to create an entire 200+ book from one verse?”, I reasoned. “After it is written in a Word document, how do I create a tangible book? Lord, I am tech-illiterate, how will I do this? Editing could cost $2,000… a good book cover design could cost upward $500… good interior book design could cost another $500 … book promotion is another beast all together… Where will I get the money to do this? GOD, how will I do this???”
I won’t pretend that it was a piece of cake to write this book. I started in May 2020 and didn’t publish until May 2021. I originally thought the book would be completed by the end of December 2020. Then I thought it would be done by March 2021. But uh, no. This was a tedious project.
Not only did I write, re-write, re-write, and re-write again… send it to an editor only to re-write, and re-write, and re-write some more... but I also had to educate myself on getting published. You see, I think sometimes we have a misconception that because God gave you the idea, it will be easily executed.
WRONG!
Ask Joshua and the children of Israel how “easy” it was to get to the Promised Land. Ask Noah how “easy” it was to build the ark. When God gives us a task, it will not likely come easy. In fact, my wonderful book designer, Chris Wichtendahl (I don’t have time to dig into the testimony of how he became my designer!) offered to help me with the steps to getting published. But God said, “Aht, Aht! Learn it yourself” by way of this verse:
Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank.
(Proverbs 22:29, NIV)
In other words, God said you need to be skilled in your craft. You need to understand writing as a craft and a business. So, I learned my industry. There is a massive wealth of information online to learn of how to get published as a writer. My primary source of education came from a company out of the U.K. called Jericho Writers (yes, I was lead to them by their name alone).
I also read up on articles and watched YouTube videos. I researched market prices for editors and designers. It was something else! It was a behemoth of a task. But I stand before you today as a Christian Writer and Author because God directed my path. Every step of the way I asked God to show me, and He did. I asked Him to lead me, and He did.
Money wasn’t an issue… being tech-illiterate wasn’t an issue… knowing absolutely nothing about the writing/publishing industry wasn’t an issue.
Listen to me. Lean in so you don’t miss what I am telling you.
Nothing will be an issue for you to accomplish God’s goals for your life except maybe you.
If I had given up and said it was too much to write 200+ pages, too much to pay for editing and design, too much to educate myself on the industry, then it would have been me, not those “issues” standing in the way. Because at the end of the day, nothing I was worried about stopped me. None of it ended up being an issue. God made a way. So, if God placed something on your heart to do, do it! If it comes from God, nothing will stop you, and I do mean N.O.T.H.I.I.N.G.
I’m wrapping this up guys, but I said earlier that technically I knew God wanted me to write prior to my pandemic revelation. I remember sitting in an empty office at work while pumping for breastmilk. I read a scripture and began to write out a few points that stuck out to me from the verses. And very plainly my gut, my conscious, or what I now know to be the Holy Spirit said to me, “What good is writing that down for yourself?”
"Urgh?!" I said in my Scooby-Doo voice. I needed to write, yes. But I needed to write for others to see. There was no point in me writing down biblical revelation for myself when God calls us to preach to others. And so, I created a Facebook blog called “A Word”. But I hid behind the brand. I knew God wanted me to put my face out there. To show the world that I stood for Christ, that I write for Christ.
But I hid behind the brand. I hid because I didn’t want anyone calling me a Jesus freak. I didn’t want to be known as the super religious churchy girl. But baby when I tell you that 40 Day Fast knocked all of that scariness out of my body like some Theraflu! I came out of that fast wanting to wear the banner of Christ. I came out of it asking Christ to “put me in the game coach!” because the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
And so, now I’m outchea! (translation: I’m out here! – you’ll have to excuse my vernacular) I’m out here trying to do my part in the kingdom of God. I’m a far stretch from perfect, but I’m trying. I pray that if you aren’t out here with me, that God will reveal to you how to get out here. Because you are needed. God needs you out here! We need you out here.
I pray that my quick story has impacted you in the most positive way possible. If you are interested in my book “And Then You Shall Have Good Success: Attaining Good Success God’s Way”, the link is listed below. If you liked this article, you’ll love the book 😊 The book is available on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback Format. A Kindle device is not required for the eBook! The Kindle version can be downloaded to your mobile device.
Alright, that’s all you guys! Have a grandeur day and even grander week! God Bless!
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