Fabulous Friday Feature-Gail Gaymer Martin

Today I welcome author: 

Gail Gaymer Martin

To win a copy
of Gail's book
Treasure of her Heart or 
By the Firefighter

Scroll to the end of the post 
to see how to get your copy.

Gail is a fellow Michigan writer. I've enjoyed getting to know Gail recently and simply had to asked her to share with us how God has led her on her writing journey. This is what she said:

The Lord's Path to Publication

I’ve learned an important lesson in my writing journey, and that is the Lord sometime has to knock me in the head before I realize what He’s trying to tell me. Perhaps you are the same kind of person. Facts have to drop into your lap and then you say, “Oh, could this be God telling me something?”

I didn’t start writing for publication until many years after I had been told I had a writing talent. My 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Blackburn, wrote a note about it on my report card (and yes, I still have the card.) I’ve always written poetry as a child and then short stories, which I called novels. I created my own Nancy Drew type series with a girl named Cathy Lake and her three girlfriends. They had mysteries like the Mystery of the Rag Doll and the Mystery at Moon Lake. I still have those little notebooks too. I’m a packrat.

Later I wrote skits and plays for church and for our education staff for holiday programs, and naturally professional writing for my career as a counselor. But it wasn’t until I decided to retire from counseling and took another position as a college instructor that I began to think about writing for publication.

With my expertise in counseling and the educational credentials, I wrote parenting and teen issue articles for magazines, and for some reason found a home in Christian periodicals. From there I also added short stories and articles for Christian Sunday school papers and kids magazines. I wrote poetry for devotional booklets and devotionals.

One day, I looked at the hundreds of articles, poems, devotionals and short stories I’d sold, and I stopped cold. Could the Lord be giving me a “hint” that I should pursue my childhood dream to write books? I loved the elements of story and have always been a voracious reader.

So God finally guided me in the direction He wanted me to go, and I began writing fiction. I wrote about three full novels in one year, and began submitting way too early. I’m grateful I learned from rejection (or their kinder word: pass), and I looked for ways to improve my novels. In mid 1998, one year after I started writing fiction, I was asked by a publisher if I had another novel ready. Their concern was that the novel I had submitted might be too controversial for the very conservative readership. I said yes, even though I only had my very first novel that had been rejected so many times I couldn’t count. 

I worked on it for two weeks, using all the skills I had learned since I’d started the novel in 1997. I edited, cut scenes, added new scenes, made sure the dialogue moved the story forward. I sent the manuscript to them and received a phone call eleven days later that they wanted to contract the novel. I was thrilled.

That day I knew the Lord has His way and that my wants were heard but not acted on unless He saw a value in the direction I’d chosen. From that time, I always think of the Bible verse that says, “In his heart, a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” I still use that verse to guide me as I write. I know that my wants and hopes will only come to fruition in God’s good time and not my own.

Wishing you God’s amazing “determined steps” for your writing hopes and dreams.

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Multi-award-winning novelist, Gail Gaymer Martin is the author of Christian contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and women’s fiction with 55 published novels and four million books in print. CBS local news listed Gail as one of the four best writers in the Detroit area. She is a cofounder of American Christian Fiction Writers where she serves on the Executive Board and a member of Advanced Speakers and Writers and Christian Authors Network. Gail is a keynote speaker at churches, civic and business organizations and enjoys presenting workshops at conferences across the U.S. She is a lifetime resident of Michigan    

You can connect with Gail at: 

Website: www.gailgaymermartin.com 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gail.g.martin.3      

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GailGMartin  

GoodReads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/83354.Gail_Gaymer_Martin  

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Treasures Of Her Heart, romantic mystery

A fashion-buyer, looking for a life with deeper meaning, leaves her career for a small town in northern Michigan to assist running her ailing great-aunt’s floundering antique business. Caught in a mystery while searching for her aunt’s missing fortune, she faces an investment company in pursuit of her aunt’s property. While saving her long-distance romance with her faithful friend, she struggles to escape her attraction to a smooth-talking womanizer. Can she overcome temptation, locate the fortune, find love and the truth to the treasures of her heart? Click here to Read an Excerpt and Reviews

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An Old-Fashioned Christmas, including my short novel, Yuletide Treasures

Many of us have a secret picture of Christmases past—a time when windows shimmered with lacy frost and candlelight, fireplaces kept a home warm and snug, ladies’ skirts swirled and gracefully skimmed the floor, and gentlemen were gallant and true. Experience Christmases spanning over one hundred years through nine inspiring historical romances, beautifully and economically packaged for you and all your gift-giving needs.

This collection includes Yuletide Treasures, a short novel:

Arriving at the wealthy Mandalay home in Grand Rapids, Michigan shortly before Christmas, 1875, Livy is charged with her young nephew’s safekeeping and to slip Helen Mandalay a mysterious package from Livy’s brother.  A spinster, Livy is drawn to the handsome Mandalay son, Andrew, home from the lumber camps.  But Andrew has other thoughts.  Ignoring his mother’s urging to court a woman from the church — someone like Livy, Andrew prefers more earthly woman.  Despite their attempts to oppose God’s will, Livy and Andrew are led ‘on a path they had not planned to travel.

Click here to Read an Except and Reviews  

To enter the contest for either of these books by

Gail Gaymer Martin: "Treasures of Her Heart" 
"By the Firefighter"

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US only winners may choose Kindle or paperback

International winners will win a Kindle copy

Winner announced on my facebook page.

Thank you, Gail, for Joining us This Weekend!

Don't forget to comment!

Reader, Please leave an encouraging word for Gail in the comment section. Have you experienced the same uncertainty of what God wants you to do?

If you don't have an answer, that's okay, just say howdy-do in the comment section to enter the contest. I love chatting with you.

Thanks so much for joining our chat today.