WHAT A JOY!

 

We have just had the most amazing weekend with an incredible friend and her husband. I first encountered Joy Velykorodnyy (or Joy Vee, as she is known in writing circles) a little over 18 months ago. Joy had recently published her first book, The Treasure Man, with Instant Apostle, and I read an article that she had written. In it she described how the book came about as if downloaded, and the surprise publishing offer she was made. Her story so resonated with mine, that I reached out. By email, if my memory serves. Joy graciously replied and offered a Zoom meet – she was based in Scotland at the time, and I in Wales. That first Zoom call was just what I needed, especially when Joy offered to pray for me. Several zoom and messenger chats followed, and we became mutual encouragers, sharing and praying for each other regularly, if from a distance. We had never met face to face until last weekend, when Joy and her lovely husband made the long trek over to visit us. What a joy! Literally.

We hit it off, just as we knew we would. Our poor husbands had to endure many, many hours of our writerly chat; over coffee in the coffee shop, in the car as we were supposed to be admiring the views, walking around ancient pilgrimage sites, over the Chinese takeaway…

Joy and I share many things in common, beyond our first names, and we had lots to talk about! We particularly share a love of writing fiction that also explicitly teaches biblical truth, as I’m sure some of you do. We even tried to come up with a new genre title for our kind of writing: Faith Fiction? Truth Fiction,? Kingdom Fiction? We both really believe that God can use stories to speak deep truths into people’s hearts, just as Jesus taught using parables. The more we talked and shared, the more we felt that God had brought us together as friends for a purpose. To encourage one another of course, but also to learn from each other, and to share our gifts. A collaboration of some sort going forward seems likely, and we believe God is in it. Joy of joys!

Now I have ‘met’ many lovely writer friends, particularly since joining the ACW. They have all helped and supported me tremendously, and in turn I have tried to be an encourager to them. Joy and I are part of a group of six authors who connected because we all published with Instant Apostle. We call ourselves ‘The Priceless Ladies’ (I’ll leave you to work out why!). We have a Messenger group and we also try and get together on Zoom periodically. These are my ladies to go to if I have exciting news, but also if I need prayer, or a word of encouragement, or just to vent! And we laugh A LOT! I am so thankful for them all, as I am for my local ACW group, and to FABCHOW, who support me in other ways.

Last month I wrote a very personal and revealing post here about how being an author is not always as it seems. Can I say how blown away I was with the comments and support I received as a result. Thank you! I really think my honesty touched a nerve with a lot of people. And that was good, because it took a lot to share it. Joy Vee and The Priceless Ladies were the first to read that post (which was revised several times) and it would not have been posted at all without their encouragement.

Writers need writer friends. But as Christian writers we need a particular kind of friend. Yes, it is good to have people to share our work with, to offer criticism and suggest improvements. But we also need friends that we can laugh with, cry with, and especially pray with. We need friends that we can be open and honest with, and also who will challenge us spiritually. I am so grateful to God for Joy Vee. She is a writer, and knows the writing business, but she is also a lover of Jesus who is determined to make her work count for eternity. Much of our talk this last weekend wasn’t about our actual books, or marketing, but about what God was saying to us about the gifts and opportunities He has given us. How we can best serve His Kingdom going forward. These kind of friendships really are priceless.

So I encourage you, if you have a writer friend, or friends, you can be real with, to cherish them, and work on building that relationship. If you don’t have a friend like that, then ask God to lead you to that person. And be bold to reach out to them… they may just be waiting for you! Be prepared to BE the friend that someone else needs. Ask God who YOU can reach out to, encourage, support. And be prepared that you might find that going forward those friendships challenge you, change your way of thinking, change your writing plans even! God is sneaky like that.

 

So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.

1 Thessalonian 5 : 11 NLT

Joy Margetts writes Christian Historical Fiction. Her debut novel 'The Healing' was published in March 2021, and her second ‘The Pilgrim’ in July 2022. She makes her home in beautiful North Wales and takes her inspiration from its rich spiritual history and stunning landscapes. She is also wife, mother and grandmother and a lover of the Word of God. Her personal blog and more information about her books can be found here www.joymargetts.com