#WednesdayWordswithFriends Welcomes @CarolynMAuthor Carolyn Miller!

Good Morning Again, Friends!

Today's guest is not new to our blog but always a pleasure to have, so please welcome Carolyn Miller back as she shares her heart with us.

When I first started seeing my books published back in 2017, I was told that whatever I first published would become what I’m ‘known for,’ and I’d need to put the other books I’d written on the back burner. I did this for four years, establishing myself as a Regency author, but then, as the Winter Olympics drew near, and knowing I had a contemporary winter Olympics story ready to go, wondered about venturing into the contemporary fiction market too. After a few knockbacks and a LOT of hard work, I saw that Winter Olympics book, Love on Ice, release as part of a contemporary romance series, just in time for the Winter Olympics earlier this year.

It can be easy to limit ourselves, to think we need to fit inside the box of other people’s expectations, or what our own experience says can be done. I touched on this in my recent historical release, Midnight’s Budding Morrow, where a marriage of convenience elevates a humble woman from a perceived servant role to ‘lady of the manor’, leaving certain people shocked at Sarah’s audacity, before coming to realize just how effective and honorable she was in her new role. 

I think this can prove true as an author, too, when we’re told to write only a ‘certain’ type of book, or write for a certain audience, or in a certain way. I’ve now got over 20 books published, a mix of historical and contemporary, and I’m so glad I didn’t just stick with what some people thought I should. It’s fantastic to see God touching hearts through my hockey books as well as my historicals, that these stories God puts on my heart don’t need to be for me alone but can be shared with a wider audience (all the way to Germany and beyond!).

I like giving characters opportunities to push past the perceived limitations, to surprise others with the way they handle new and daring situations, just like Sarah has to in Midnight’s Budding Morrow. Her husband is another who confounds the critics, with his new faith a far cry from his rakish past. I love a good redemption story, and many readers have testified about how good it was to see realistic, authentic characters they could connect with, that it wasn’t just the easy, ‘check-the-boxes’ kind of story. 

Our world is full of people who deliberately chose to do things differently, to not accept the status quo, or be limited by their past. Imagine if Joan of Arc listened to the naysayers and settled for hemming handkerchiefs. Imagine if Florence Nightingale hadn’t revolutionized nursing. As I get older, I’m learning more and more it’s not about what others do, think or say that I should be comparing myself to. 

So what is it that’s holding you back from the ‘more’?

When we look at a gravestone, there’s only a short dash between our birth and death. That’s way too short an amount of time to spend our life worrying about what others say we should or shouldn’t be doing. As a Christian, I believe the only one we should really be heeding is Jesus. What would Jesus have us do?

Perhaps that’s writing the story of your heart. Perhaps that’s putting your hand up for a different ministry, in – or outside – of church. Perhaps it’s loving your neighbor. Whatever it is, live free from the shackles of other’s opinions, so we can enter the life God offers us, that is ‘exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think’ (Ephesians 3.20). 

I’m so glad I stepped out of what I was told I ‘should’ write. I get messages from readers all the time about how they’re glad I pushed through and wrote other things too. 

So what is it that God might be leading you to do too?

Carolyn Miller lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, with her husband and four children. Together with her husband she has pastored a church for ten years, and worked as a public high school English teacher. A longtime lover of romance, especially that of Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer and LM Montgomery, Carolyn loves drawing readers into fictional worlds that show the truth of God’s grace in our lives. Her contemporary romance series includes the Original Six hockey romance series, and the Independence Islands series, and her historical series include the Regency Brides and Regency Wallflowers series.

Connect with her:  website |newsletter| facebook | pinterest | twitter | instagram | amazon | bookbub 

Buy Midnight’s Budding Morrow on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Apple

See Carolyn's previous visits HERE.

How true, Carolyn! Thank You SO much for sharing this wisdom with us today. Wishing you the best of luck and God's blessings in your writing career.

Hope Carolyn's post has given you something to think about friends and that you'll come back often for Wednesday Words with Friends and Saturday Spotlight.

Until next time, take care and God bless.

PamT