Fabulous Friday Feature-Beth Vogt

Today I welcome an author who has a tremendous gift for writing, teaching, mentoring, and friendship. She is a Christ-like lady who can warm your heart:
Beth Vogt

Enter to win Beth's new release,
Catch a Falling Star. 

Scroll to the end of the post to see how to enter.

I felt honored and blessed to meet Beth at ACFW. I'd seen her presence at My Book Therapy, spoke with her on FB, but really understood her tremendous gift as a writer, teacher, mentor, and friend when I met her at the conference. 

I asked Beth to share how God has led her on her journey. This is what she answered:

When Life Doesn’t Go According to Plan: Things Change … And So Do I

Every novel wrestles with a Story Question – the great “what if?” of the heart and mind. The Story Question for my second novel, Catch a Falling Star, crystallized quickly: What do you do when life doesn’t go according to plan? There were many versions of this question woven into the story:

·      What if your dreams of motherhood elude you?

·      What if Mr. Right keeps turning into Mr. Wrong?

·      What if your career crashes and burns?

The catalyst for Catch a Falling Star was a conversation with a friend whose life, while successful in lots of ways, lacked some of her lifelong dreams. She wrestled not only with “what if?” but “what now?”

Everyone faces life not going according to plan – and that’s one of the reasons I believe readers will connect with Catch a Falling Star. Yes, it’s a romance – but it’s a real life romance.

Here’s the funny thing: As I focused on my deadline, I forgot that whole “life not going according to plan” reality applied to me too.

At first it was little things disrupting my schedule. I joked that I was learning to write through the interruptions in my life, not in spite of them. Ha ha – no big deal.

Then the back pain flared up. Okay, that happens. I have a “wonky” back. At times it degenerates into a “wretched” back. But I keep on writing. I walk on my treadmill – sometimes writing at the same time, thanks to the “tread-desk” my husband made for me. I do yoga – avoiding any and all poses that might recreate the double black eyes I sported for almost a month after trying the “Crow” position.  

This time? The pain went from “wonky” to “wretched” to “now I’m immobilized to the point I can’t sit up … I can’t get in my bed … and I can’t think to write a word, much less a scene.”

Wonderful.

Did I mention I was on deadline?

I couldn’t write for 10 days. Ten days. You know that whole “ticking time bomb” element screenwriters put in movies to build tension? I had a virtual “tick, tick, tick” inside my head, ratcheting up my anxiety and doing nothing to relieve my pain.

My life wasn’t going according to plan. The question was: What was I going to do?

I admitted there was nothing I could do to fix my back. I couldn’t regain those writing days. I took the advice of two trusted mentors and accepted I wasn’t going to meet my deadline. And then I called my agent and talked about an extension.

My agent was understanding – and handled the request for me.

My editor was understanding – and granted the request.

And I had to be understanding – gracious – to myself. Missing the deadline wasn’t the end of the world, even though my former-editor self wanted to react like it was. I realized if I could have met my deadline, I would have. When life doesn’t go according to plan that means things in my life change – and that I have to change too.

What do you do when life doesn’t go according to plan?

Beth K. Vogt discovered that God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.”  After being a nonfiction writer and editor who said she'd never writer fiction, Beth's inspirational contemporary romance novel, Wish You Were Here, debuted May 2012 (Howard Books.) Her second novel, Catch a Falling Star, released this week. Beth is an established magazine writer and former editor of Connections, the leadership magazine for MOPS International, as well as a former consulting editor for MomSense magazine. She is also the Skills Coach for My Book Therapy, the writing community founded by best-selling author Susan May Warren. Connect with Beth at   bethvogt.com.

To enter the contest for an autographed copy of Beth's book: "Catch a Falling Star":

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Winner announced on my facebook page.

Thank you, Beth, for Joining us This Weekend!