What Next? Part 3

 

"And all of these, though they won divine approval by [means of] their faith, did not receive the fulfilment of what was promised, Because God had us in mind and had something better and greater in view for us, so that they [these heroes and heroines of faith] should not come to perfection apart from us [before we could join them]."
                                                                        Hebrews 11:39-40

Within days we celebrate Christmas, in a carol we sing, ‘our hopes and fears were met in Him tonight’.  Hebrews 11.1 gives a list of those who await the fulfilment of their faith.  Apologies last month in confusing the name Bridgerton with Sanditon which was written by Jane Austin!  One day perhaps my historical novels set in London from 1966 to 1976 will be unearthed from the millions of those published. And many future generations lives will be touched with the love of the Father God who desires a relationship with them. 

Anything is possible with God especially as we see as writers, the extraordinary leap of innovations in our time. 

 It took centuries to go from pen and ink to the invention of the typewriter in the 19th century.  In design it barely changed in a hundred years. I learnt to type in 1963 as that began. Then copies were created using carbon paper between sheets of paper. A rubber erased mistakes, and when encased like a pencil it was a great step forward.  I wrote my first novel to build my typing speed. Thirty years later when I wrote my second, a sci-fi of 250,000 words based on the London Underground, the age of the typewriter was over!  The only remaining feature the now unnecessary qwerty keyboard.  Both those books reside in files on my bookshelf, where I suspect they will remain. 

Typewriters rapidly evolved once electricity was applied to the keys and paper carrying carriage, at a press of a button it returned to the margin and turned up a line. A major redesign removed the carriage and placed a platform inside the machine and used first, interchangeable metal golf balls carrying letters in different fonts, followed by daisy wheels. That platform carried the ribbons in cassettes not reels, and later a choice of thin black plastic tape for a sharper finish. The rubber, followed by Tippex white fluid, then disposal strips had been used to cover wrong characters but by 1980 small spools, or clear sticky tape, dependent on ribbon/tape, were added. A dedicated backspace lifted that in place, you retyped your mistake and it either covered or lifted off the wrong characters.  

 

In 1982 my husband bought a BBC computer and used his coding abilities to write perhaps one of the first word processors. This recent YouTube video shows the same model typewriter typing from Windows 10 as it did then using the BBC computer and our TV screen!!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkAH6fEygPQ

Amstrad was next, a green screen and using DOS, and wa much improved with WYSIWYG = ‘What you see is what you get’!  It had a white screen with layout capabilities enabling you to work and see the finished result. Next came the Personal Computer with a mouse.  I started with WordPerfect, but soon Microsoft interlinking their Word programme with spreadsheets and databases overtook it. And for writers the progression of spell and grammar checkers, automatic correction, and so much more including synonyms which is so useful.

In 1992 Demon Internet arrived. I had written three books with a similar idea of Kindle today. My thought to sell through my website the books as a files, but with no broadband, copyright security or ability to receive personal payments other than cheques, it was a non-starter.  When in 2005 half the UK had broadband, I had met a publisher through ACW bringing hopes of a book deal. They sent the file to the US, but it came to nothing, as did a Literary Agent to Harper Collins with the same result.     

Finally in 2007 Brian prepared and sent via the internet my files to the biggest, cheapest printer in the land, and that same year Amazon bought out the fledging Kindle, which I took advantage of.  Amazon only sold books stocked by wholesalers, and it took another decade until Paypal opened up personal receipt of credit card payments and I could sell from my website.  By the time my fourth book in the Hearts Desire Series was ready it was digitally printed by my usual company, and Amazon’s now free ‘printing on demand’ scheme. 

 The hopes and dream of every writer is now fulfilled, free publishing and their books for sale and delivery across the world. That which sounded impossible sixty years ago, is now possible. 

I have written on this blog since its inception, now I ask the Lord, “What next?”  I believe, but can barely imagine, we will see the greatest outpouring of His Holy Spirit since time began.  There is an acceleration in many areas, most recently in young people following the Lord, many will be the inspired writers’ of tomorrow. To write succinctly takes me hours, and with a need to concentrate on completing the last two books of the series, I believe its time to leave space for a new writing voice.

Thank you to those who read my blogs and wrote encouraging comments.  May you all see your hopes met in the Lord for nothing is too difficult for Him who loves and inspires us.