About the Author:
Reluctant Burglar, Jill Elizabeth Nelson's debut novel of romantic suspense, was released in September 2006. The next in the To Catch a Thief series, Reluctant Runaway, releases in March 2007 and then Reluctant Smuggler in January 2008. Jill loves the peace and quiet—no traffic jams and no long lines—of the rural Minnesota community where she lives with her husband of twenty-five years. Their four children are all but grown, with the youngest a senior in high school. In the summertime, Jill's family enjoys camping and hiking and horseback riding. Visit her at jillelizabethnelson.com. Her Stealth and Wealth page offers an opportunity to win a signed copy of her latest release.

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God's Glory/My Story
by Jill Elizabeth Nelson

Answer the Call

My cell phone rang, and I sat up stiff at the table. Then I slipped out of the room into the hotel hallway, leaving behind the clatter of utensils on plates at the writers' conference awards banquet. I stared at the phone's caller ID and swallowed my heart back into place. My agent was on the other end. What news would she have about my novel manuscript that went to committee today at Multnomah Publishers?

My writer's journey began over thirty-five years ago as an introverted child with her nose always in a book. The characters and worlds in the stories held much more fascination than my day-to-day existence.

In sixth grade, I was blessed with a teacher who fed my rich inner world. Every day at a certain time, she perched on a stool and read from the most wondrous books. A desire quickened within me to become a storyteller, not just a reader of stories. That year, I wrote my first novel—a ridiculous mystery about a group of kid sleuths.

I continued to write for high school and college newspapers, published poetry, and won awards. In 1979, I graduated from college with a degree in literature and creative writing. Then I took a job I considered temporary until I decided what was next in my life. The temporary relocation turned permanent with marriage and the start of a family. Freelance writing faded into a distant dream.

Little did I know that this was a good thing. I hadn't the confidence or the maturity to navigate the publishing world or handle success. I was just getting my life straight with the Lord again after a period of rebellious living in college.

In the late eighties, I tried to revive my novelist aspirations, but my motive was money, not ministry. I even garnered favorable attention from an agent, but she urged me to write in directions that made me uncomfortable. Could I ignore my Christian values in order to bring in the extra money our family desperately needed? In the end, I could not, and I thank the Lord for sustaining me through the temptation. But the experience was so stressful that I laid down the dream for good—or so I thought.

In the year 2000, with my kids starting to leave the nest, a story grew in me. The compulsion was like the need to breathe. I began to write again—and this time from a position of strength in God.

I finished that manuscript and moved on to another, then another. All the while, I networked with other Christian writers. At first, on-line only as the Lord connected me with Christian Writers Group and then American Christian Fiction Writers. In 2002, I won a scholarship to attend the writers' conference at Mt. Hermon , which led to contacts in the publishing world that sustain me today.

In 2004, a woman I had met at Mt. Hermon became my agent. Then in 2005, my romantic suspense manuscript, Reluctant Burglar, went to committee at Multnomah Publishers while I was attending the Christian Writers Group conference themed "Answer the Call."

Now I stood in the hotel hallway with the ringing phone in my hands. What else could I do? I answered the call.

Fellow writers, answer your call in the Lord's timing. He knows how to prepare us, and when we can handle the fulfillment of the desire He's put in our hearts. I'm living testimony that if God can bring the dream to pass for this middle-aged unknown, He can do it for anybody.

© 2006  Jill Elizabeth Nelson