I had the pleasure of meeting Joyce Ackermann back in November when our county library had their first annual local author fair, and our tables sat side by side. What a joy it was getting to know her!
Joyce’s debut, SCATTERED: FINDING GOD IN YOUR STORY, is a highly-recommended inspirational read. I’m excited to introduce you to this budding new author who writes with amazing beauty and honesty and courage!
Joyce’s Author Journey
Thank you, Brenda, for having me on your blog, I’m thrilled to be here today.
I have to be honest, my journey started with just one, itty, bitty word.
“Write.”
I had spent the better part of the past 25 years looking back over a life I had been given that I didn’t understand.
And I so desperately needed to understand.
So, when God said, “Write”.
I took the pen God was handing me and I wrote.
Writing became a refuge for me.
A secret place for me to meet God and talk to him about all of the fears that continually haunted me. Those unspoken fears from a childhood I had spent the better part of my life trying to hide from.
Ten years of writing and healing.
Ten years of choosing courage over fear.
Ten years of believing in a God who I would find, had been fighting to reach my heart.
And as cheesy as this is going to sound, walking through the writing and publishing process has taught me that freedom is found in the journey.
Sounds like a sentiment on a tea bag.
I know.
But there’s a lot of wisdom on those tea bags.
Like the one that says, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”.
This journey has been one of a thousand miles and a million miracles.
One being that I didn’t die in the process of writing this book.
I’m serious.
Writing a book is like having a baby.
I’ve done both.
Hand me that epidural.
I’ll take the childbirth please.
Did you know that the female body produces hormones that cause you to forget how painful childbirth is?
. . .So that you’ll do it again.
. . .And so you’ll encourage your friends to have lots of babies too.
Because, No, of course it didn’t hurt that bad.
Uh, riiiiiiggght.
I think authors must produce those same hormones after publishing a book.
So, either because I don’t think it’s fair that I should suffer alone or because my body is pumping me full of hormones that are helping me to forget how painful writing a book can be, I am a big, scratch that – make that – HUGE fan of people writing as a form of healing and connecting with the heart of who God is.
I’m not crazy.
Promise.
No, really – I’m actually pretty normal.
Believe me, I know it can be a scary thing to pour your heart and soul into something concrete that people can point to and criticize.
But writing is this white space where we get to be real with God.
Our secret place with him.
A place where we can share our journeys without judgement and receive the healing we so desperately need.
God is a safe place to hide,
ready to help when we need him.
Psalm 46:1 (The Message)
And it’s here where we are held as he whispers to us, “The true victories as an author are not necessarily how many readers pick up your books but whether or not you had the courage to write them in the first place.”
My hope is that whether you are a reader or a writer or a fantastic mix of both, that you’ll find the same courage and freedom in your own story.
About Joyce ~
Joyce is a normal person. . . mostly. She is a wife, mom of 3 amazing kids and a chubby beagle who holds the record for being the best, worst dog ever. She homeschools her kids, sings loudly in the car, & blogs on her Write Nites, which she believes are all reasons to drink obscene amounts of Starbucks. You can follow her at www.joyceackermann.com.
About Scattered ~
Have you wondered where God has been hiding?
Do you struggle to share the deepest, darkest places of your past with anyone?
Do you wish you could make sense of your life?
Have you questioned where God has been hiding all this time?
You are not alone.
Scattered is a book about finding God in the toughest moments of your personal story, through writing. A book about reaching out and discovering that healing is never more than a few words away. It is a collection of conversations over coffee, sharing someone else’s story and finding the courage to tell your own.
Heartfelt, funny, and a fresh perspective on finding God was never more than a keystroke away.
