Posts Tagged: writing dreams

Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference

Steve Laube and Christy Hoss

My stomach was in knots as we drove onto the conference grounds.

Ridgecrest Conf Ctr

I remember that feeling from the very first conference I attended back in 2008. I wanted to turn the car around and go home, despite the beauty of the mountains surrounding us.

Driving to Blue Ridge writers conference

Why did I feel this way? I’ve been attending conferences for more than 15 years. I am certainly not inexperienced. Maybe it was the three-year break due to COVID or maybe it was because I am in need of some serious change as a writer.

As things got started and the first general session’s speaker began, my exuberance bubbled out. I couldn’t help but shout a few “amens.” Afterwards a writer turned around and told me how she appreciated hearing them and she gave me a beautiful card and pen.

I met up with a friend from Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference.

Christy Hoss and Jon Vonhof

To be truthful, it reminded me of my first conference: navigating a new campus, figuring out what workshops to take, and making appointments. But this time, the appointments were with old friends.

Steve Laube and Christy Hoss

Needless to say, the nerves went away quickly. And thanks to my praying friends and time on my knees, the conference is now a priority for me, not only to attend, but to be involved in.

God gave me some divine appointments, including one with the director of the conference just as we were preparing to leave.

Edie Melson and Christy Hoss

God is making all things new. Keep praying for me and the future of my writing. I will always keep you posted.

My Reason for Blogging

Christy Hoss writing on laptop

Christy Hoss writing on laptopRecently I read a blog post on writing. I try to read things that are uplifting and encouraging, but after reading this one, I crashed into a deep, dark hole of writing woes.

The article said that if you don’t have anything to offer your readers, why write?

So, I asked myself, “Why do I write?”

It goes all the way back to second grade. I dreamed of writing all my life. Now that I am published, my purpose for writing is to keep telling stories.

But why do I write a blog?

Does anyone care about what I have to say?

After much evaluation, I have come to the conclusion that I write because I want to connect with people. I want my readers to know I am a real, imperfect person with all kinds of problems, pursuing her life’s dream of being an author.

The point is, people need each other. If I reach one person with my musings, that is why I write.

I also have stories roaming around in my head that demand I put them to the page. If I don’t get them out, the characters will drive me crazy!

Also, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt God has called me to write for Him.

The Birth of a Book

When I was a second grader, my teacher, Mrs. Olson, told me I was destined to be a writer.

I wrote five pages about my dog and won first place in the writing contest Mrs. Olson created for her second-grade writers. That was in 1972 and I never forgot her words, always dreaming of becoming an author.There is no feeling more exhilarating than opening a box to find a dozen books with your name on the front. I compare the process to giving birth. There’s the conception, the long haul of putting words into story… and that is only the beginning.

For the most part, the process can take a lot longer than nine months of carrying a baby. Only writers can understand how much work it takes to finally hold your baby, the fruition of hard work in your hands: A book with your name on the over.

It begins with an idea.

Thanks to my friend Susan K. Stewart, who listened to my idea and said the three words authors love to hear, “Send it in,” I have a middle-grade book series.

The Rubber Band series by Christy Hoss

Susan and I became friends, and she shared with me her idea for a book that was burning on her heart. I loved her idea. I wish I could have said those three words to her, but because she is an editor, she had an “in” with the publisher.

Susan had a dream, one that involved her love of donkeys.

Recently, her dream was fulfilled. A box of books arrived at her doorstep and when she opened them up, her dream for Donkey Devos was born. I love it when dreams come true.

From idea to the page, from the page to pitching to a publisher, from the publisher to the editing process and from the editing process finally to print, writing is hard work.

But because I have dreamed of writing my entire life and recently birthed my second book, to me, the entire process truly is my labor of love.