Today my guest blogger is Lesley Turner. Lesley is a single-again mother of two children with six grandchildren. She is actively involved at her local church as a volunteer administration assistant. Lesley has had two biographies published and co-leads a writing support group at her church. She is an avid reader and loves to help other writers by encouraging, editing, reviewing or using her experiences to assist where she can. Her current WIP is another biography and she has plans to begin work on a devotional in the near future.

Thank you Lynne, for the opportunity to tell my story of how I became a published author.

I started writing through a series of amazing events in 1998 at the age of 52. I’ve been an avid reader all of my life, courtesy of encouraging parents, but had never entertained the idea of actually writing a book myself. From a small child I’d appreciated what writers could do with ideas, plots, piecing together stories that I could immerse myself into, taking me to places I could only dream of, whether real or imagined. It was like another world that I could slip into when the mood took me or when I had the time to hide away somewhere with my latest birthday or Christmas gift, or a story carefully chosen from the library.

In 1998 a cousin by marriage came to stay in our house. His daughter was murdered in 1993 and the court proceedings ended with an acquittal of the accused. Ken was looking into taking the perpetrator to civil court much like the OJ Simpson case. I was asked to help by formulating letters to lawyers, judges, politicians, etc. I also assisted with research into legal matters. One day, while out walking, he asked me to write his book. I was taken aback to say the least but he suggested I think and pray about it.

To make a long story short, it was God who showed me that it was His plan for me to write. I was clueless as to how to start such a project. I had no computer, was not even slightly computer literate so had to trust God to not only provide the physical means, but also copies of the many documents I would need to research the whole story properly. Six years later Halfway to Justice was accepted by New Holland Publishers in Sydney and was released in March 2005.

Ken had forgiven the perpetrator publicly and although we didn’t hide the forgiveness angle, we didn’t labour the point in this book. A Christian book store (Koorong) wanted to stock it but because of some of the content, they couldn’t. So it was decided to write a Christian version focussing more on forgiveness. The Power of Forgiveness became a reality and was released in February 2009 by the same publisher. There was no fairy tale ending to Halfway to Justice and while writing of The Power of Forgiveness I was having a real struggle about how to end the book. Again it was provided by a final twist in the tale. God knew how this book would end and it gave Ken some closure.

Writing books has opened many other doors for me. I am an editor (with ‘L’ plates), a reviewer when I get the chance (still learning what to do on Goodreads), a proof reader when asked, and I actively encourage writers whenever I can. God has given me a special gift, entrusting me to use it wisely and well. I love to assist others and co-lead a writing support group at my church. It is a pleasure to pass on what God has taught me over my journey and I delight in seeing others getting published.