Adventures have become a lifestyle for me. Matter of fact, if I am not in the middle of one, I tend to create one. I became a Christian by accepting Jesus into my heart as my Lord and Savior when I was nine years old. It has been an ongoing series of adventures ever since that event.
God speaks to His people and invites us on adventures—IF we have ears to hear and decide to listen to Him. God spoke to me last spring through a thought that popped into my head. I clearly thought (and I firmly believe He spoke it to me), “start your own label.” My first reaction was, “What’s a label?” I am still not sure about exactly what He means by “label.” After several days of thinking that one through, I asked Jeff, a teaching colleague, for help in getting my first book (co-authored and edited by myself and two sisters) ready for publication. He told me about the process and, specifically, how to procure an ISBN, the number code by which all books are identified for sale. I next hesitantly shared that I thought I heard God say, “Start your own label.” Jeff said, “Cool. Then go for it. And maybe you can tell me how to do the same one day.” Okie dokie, I thought.
A few days later, I found the courage to tell my sister Shirley. She really just wanted to get this first book out, but said, “Ok. I am not sure what that means, but look into it and get back to me. If God said it, you best listen.” Part of me was hoping she would say that I was crazy and why complicate our lives. But no. That is what started a long adventure of complications where I have said more times than I can count, “GOD, I have no idea what I’m doing. HELP!” And He has. I’ve met new people and learned lots of new things. It’s a daily process of new.
This has been the birth of SGBLit, Inc. Shirley, Gail, and Billie Literature. For now, Shirley and I are writing and Gail is business managing. Shirley is writing and handling the incorporation duties and shipping products with the company founded in Tennessee. Gail is handling editing along with the accounts, taxes, and banking. I am writing and working on setting up the electronic store/website here on Wix.
Since the day I read Shirley’s stories and agreed to do some editing for her and then accepted Shirley’s challenge to write the stories of animals who might have been involved in the Nativity story, it has been quite a journey. I opened my smarty-pants little sister mouth and asked why if she was writing about Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus, she had not included the little donkey who carried Mary and the baby to Bethlehem. Weren’t animals part of this story? Thus, it began.
Along the way, I discovered that what I intended to be animals telling stories for children simply is not that. The writing is for adults. My next project, however, is to adapt them into stories for children--under a new label called Mommy, Daddy & Me, or Family Companion Reader, or . . . This is much more difficult for me than the original writing. Funny how we all have a writing style even if we don’t realize that we do.
Also along the way, I have had the joyful opportunity to meet and work with other writers, editors, and artists—many of whom should have been too busy to answer my calls and questions. But they do, and I keep moving forward in publishing, writing, marketing, and selling books. God has even greatly blessed me with friends who have been willing to ease out of retirement to help with the technology. I am indescribably humbled out of great respect for people and their time--an asset at the top of the "big things" list for me.
The next adventure . . . audio recordings. Praying for a little help on this next step right now. But the recording, I think, will be fun--this is from my English teacher and mother self who has read to her students and kids in lots of voices for years. And in the baring of my soul category--a long-time dream has been to voice an animated film. I just didn't know I needed to write my own stories to live that dream.
Oh, spoiler alert, we have several more books and book ideas lined up. All are in varying stages of beginning or completion. If you would like to come along on a faith journey in a new season of life for three sisters, I invite you to get our first book and start down the road with us. All I can promise is an adventure.
(P.S. Not sure if I will add clothing or songs next so that the “label” part will make sense. Only God knows, literally :) ).
Billie
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