I never had a burning passion to write a book. Like a teapot simmering on a stove’s back burner, my idea to write a novel also sat. I’d take the subject out every once in a while, think about doing something, and then I’d shake my head, return the thought to its cubbyhole in my brain, and move on with my life.
I was a trained journalist—my specialty was creating four-hundred-word essays in under fifteen minutes. My advertising background could sell you a pack of unknown-flavored gum, make you think you initiated the idea, and convince you that the gum was wonderful. My entire writing experience amounted to short, clever sound bites that sold products or services to an unsuspecting audience.
Write a book? Ninety-some thousand words? I couldn’t imagine such a feat.
But the teapot on the back of the stove kept simmering.
Over time, the teapot began to bubble. Steam sputtered from the spout. The idea within shouted to be tasted. I poured a little in my imaginary cup and sipped. Not bad. I decided I should at least try to give the idea a voice. If I completed the story, the teapot would be silent and I could live in peace.
Or so I thought.
Something strange happened. The characters pulled me into the storyline, taking on personalities, making demands of me, and directing the plot the way they thought it should be. I became their hostage.
I attended conferences, took classes to hone my skills, and studied instructional books like they were energy drinks. All that information had to be cataloged. Not everyone agreed how books should be written. Oxford comma? Show the action? Tell it? Speaker tags? Action beats? So many things to be learned. My head spun.
The first book was a travesty. Wasn’t going anywhere as it was. But writing it had awakened something in me. The more I wrote, the more I wanted to write.
I wrote another. And another. All neatly gathered in my computer hard drive like unsung heroes awaiting their spot in the sun.
The ultimate test came when a publisher asked to see my latest manuscript. I had submitted a small sample at a conference, choosing editors who said they would look at stand-alone books. The novel I’d written had few characters and I couldn’t see any future spin-offs from the story.
When the editor questioned me about my story, she threw me a curve. Could I turn this into a three-book series? Her company preferred to sell series over single titles.
My heart sank. I didn’t see how I could write two more from this storyline. Panic set in.
I went home—brain on fire. I scrambled through the story for something from which I could create another novel. I searched through the pages of other works I’d written looking for scraps. I was a wreck. So much hung on this. But God must have known what I’d need because He provided the material.
I wrote a proposal listing two new stories as a basis for a series. One book had nothing more than a paragraph to give it life. The other slept in my files, written but unpolished. The editor approved the suggestions. Three weeks later, my e-mail inbox read “Contract Offer.”
That first book, An Anchor on Her Heart, hit the market July 15, 2017—five years ago this month. The biggest surprise—my seventh novel releases in 2023.
That teapot just keeps on bubbling.
Patricia (Pat) Lee has had a fascination with words and what they can do since she wrote her first short paragraph at the age of six. She doesn’t remember the content of her story, but her teacher became excited at what she’d done. “Obviously,” Pat says, “words made people happy.”
Pat worked as a stringer for a local newspaper during her middle and high school years representing the school’s news to the community. She received her B.A. in Journalism from the University of Oregon, then went on to work as a tabloid newspaper editor at her local church.
After she married, she began her freelancing career and sold to various publications, including Expecting, Moody Monthly, and Power for Living. More recently she has published in two anthologies, Cup of Comfort Bible Promises and Heavenly Company, as well as featured articles in Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse Magazine. An Anchor On Her Heart, her debut novel, released in July, 2017. Love Calls Her Home, A Kite on the Wind, and Love’s Autumn Harvest followed. A fifth book is due to be released in 2023.
She lives were her husband in the Pacific Northwest. They have two grown children. She is a member of Oregon Christian Writers (OCW) and American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW)
