[Guest: E. B. Roshan] An Unexpected Gift

2020 has been a year of surprises.

A year ago, I had no idea that 2020 was going to be the year I would write, edit, and publish three novellas.

I’ve always enjoyed writing, but as a mother of two, an ESL teacher and volunteer interpreter, I didn’t have a lot of time to devote to it. A year or so previously, I’d joined an online Christian writing group. In the midst of everything else I had going, I enjoyed chatting with other writers of faith, helping to critique their work, and learning lots. I submitted a few short stories to the critique group, and I tried to write a novel, but it was a wreck.

Then the refugee center I worked at closed because of the Coronavirus pandemic. I was at home with my two small boys. The hours I’d been spending driving, teaching, and interpreting hung heavy on my hands. I felt starved for adult interaction and something to exercise my brain.

My involvement with the online writing group became far more important now that my “live” community had practically disappeared. I went back to that train wreck of a novel. Thanks to the encouragement of other Christian writers, I realized it did have promise. I could take it apart and weave more than one story out of it. So that’s what I did.

2020 wasn’t an easy year for anyone, but I find that when God sends big challenges, He often gives blessings along with them. One of my small blessings was the time and opportunity to write the beginning of a Christian Romantic Suspense series that would likely never have existed if my life had gone as I hoped and expected it to.