Venturing to Other Worlds

I’ve always wondered if my work is good enough. You know that feeling. When will the world find out I’m a big fraud? That I can’t write at all. When will my editors and my agent call to say, “We realized we don’t like your work and you have no talent.”

Am I the only one who feels this way?

I jokingly call this “The Elnora Syndrome.” I believed for a long time that Love Inspired felt sorry for me so that’s why they bought my books.

But we all know that a publisher doesn’t have time to feel sorry for anyone so we have to accept that our work is good enough.

I love writing for Love Inspired and now, I’m honored to have my first novella with Harper/Collins/Zondervan out in e-book form. An April Bride is the fifth book in the “Year of Weddings” novella collection.

When I first got news that I was invited to be part of this new adventure, I kind of panicked. At first, I thought I’d misread the request. Could this be a joke? But soon, I realized it wasn’t a joke. Even after my agent talked to the people involved, I still had the Elnora Syndrome. They would soon find out I’m a fraud, too.

However, I wrote a story that came into my head and while the subject matter was dark (a wounded soldier), I tried to keep things lighthearted since I needed a fast-paced story and I didn’t have a lot of word space. But I so loved writing this short story because I already knew and loved several of the writers involved.

This is the message I want to leave with you today. God puts us in the right places at the right times. I attended an RT conference so I could be there with other Christian Fiction writers. Because of that one choice (which I doubted and pondered many times over before deciding to go), I met several of the wonderful editors and staff members from HarperCollins Christian Fiction and I got to know several other Christian fiction writers as well as visiting with some of my LI editors and buddies. It was a good time.

I’ve enjoyed writing a wedding novella but more so, I’ve seen God’s hand in everything that brought me to this place.

And when I look back on my career, I can see his hand in all my decisions, good or bad. He gave me a former agent who heard me mention one time that I’d like to write inspirationals. She listened and found out about the then-new Love Inspired line and got me an appointment with the first LI editor when there were no appointments to be had. That lead to me selling to Love Inspired and … I could go on and on. So many people have come into my life and made a difference in my life.

So … don’t be like me. Don’t think you’re not good enough. You are you and the way you write can be enough. Good enough and … maybe the best ever. You just have to believe in yourself.

War changes everything … even their love. Bride-to-be Stella Carson can’t wait to marry her longtime sweetheart Marshall Henderson. But Marshall has been away serving his country and after suffering a head wound and being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome, he has distanced himself from Stella while recovering. Marshall returns to Louisiana just four weeks before the wedding, but as the big day draws near, Stella wonders if the man she’s loved for most of her life still wants to marry her.

Lenora Worth has written over 55 books for four different publishers. Her first Love Inspired “The Wedding Quilt” won Affaire de Coeur’s Best Inspirational for 1997, and “Logan’s Child” won Romantic Time’s Best Love Inspired for 1998. Three of her books have finaled in the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award and her Love Inspired Suspense “Body of Evidence” made the New York Times Bestseller list in Mass Market Paperbacks. With millions of books in print, Lenora continues to write romance and suspense for several imprints. Lenora also wrote a weekly opinion column for the local newspaper and worked freelance for a local magazine. She now enjoys full-time fiction writing and going on adventures with her retired husband, Don. Married for 38 years, they have two grown children. Lenora enjoys writing, reading, baking and shopping … especially shoe shopping.