Why I Write

"Kristi, why do you write?"

That's a loaded question! It always makes me feel like I'm looking into the double-barrel of a shotgun.

"Well...um...because...I have a story to tell?"

Well, duh! The truth actually is a lot deeper than that. Years ago I decided to try writing a story about my third great-grand parents--blending my love of family history and Amerian history. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I knew two things, the book would be Christian and it would be accurate to the time and place they lived in. The one thing that will make me toss a book across the room is historical inaccuracy. For example, I once read a book my Mom loaned me about a horse farmer in Kentucky during  the Civil War. The characters were sympathetic to the South and talked about how the Federal money they found on a Union soldier was worthless in Kentucky at the time. News Flash! While Kentucky was a slave state and many people there were sympathetic to the South, the state never left the Union!! Much of my family came from Kentucky, and a 3rd great grand father on both sides of my family fought in the Union Army. Federal currency would have been the currency they used to buy whatever they needed. I put the book down and never finished it. If a person is going to write anything, a reasonable working knowledge of the subject matter is of utmost importance. (IJS~~Okay, I got off on a bit of a rant there. Sorry.)

Having said all of that, I still haven't answered the question as to why I write--why I hope to one day have a publised work on the shelf at Wal-Mart or Barnes & Noble. Simply put, I write to share the Gospel with people. I want others to meet God through the pages of a book, to see characters in real and believeable situations overcome struggles through His love and mercy. Lord knows where Iwould be without the fictional characters brought to life by people like Janette Oke, Karen Kingsbury, or Lynn Austin. For a time the works of such authors were the only thing reminding me that God wanted me to turn back to him. Honestly, I was like one of those cartoon characters hanging over a cliff on a rope with only one strand left intact. Christian fiction became my final strand. As I read books like Kingsbuy's Baxter Family Series or Austin's Refiner's Fire Series, I became alarmingly aware of the place I was in spiritually. I had all but walked away from the faith that had guided me most of my life. Thankfully, I did eventually heed God's calling and he pulled me out of that place of darkness.*

Ultimately the answer to the question is this: I write to give God glory by reaching others through the stories he gives me to share. See, It really has nothing to do with me and everything to do with Him. (See Philippians 2:13-16) My prayer for anyone who reads this is that they will do what they do, whatever it is, to share Christ with others--to hold the Gospel out to a crooked generation so hearts will be turned to Jesus.

In Him,
Kristi


*Note that I had been writing a book before the events leading up to this point in my life, and by God's grace He kept me from pursuing other writing genres. There were times I would sit down to write and NOTHING would come...good or bad.