Last Saturday, I pulled into my garage and started crying… literally! Tears were streaming down my face as I was hit hard by a song on the radio. It wasn’t my first time hearing it, but this time, it hit me differently. Suddenly it became clear to me what I need to do. I marked that day in the sand—March 16, 2024. It will serve as my reminder of THE DAY I took God at his word concerning some things I had been praying about. It was also the day I decided this would be my very last blog post. More about that later…

As for the song, it was Build My Life by Pat Barrett. Below is a YouTube video with the lyrics so you can truly appreciate what the song says.

I know you can listen for yourself, so I will resist the urge to include the lyrics in this post. I’ll tell you my favorite part though, the chorus part that goes like this: “I will put my trust in YOU alone, and I will not be shaken.” The words are no revelation. I already knew that, but somehow when I heard the words being sung this time, it really sank in. I was overcome with emotions and knew it was time for me to seriously take God at his word and not be shaken.

My desire is to be a full-time author. Right now, I’m a full-time nurse case manager, and the storyteller inside me is competing for my time. She is losing the battle though. I know there is so much more that I need to do as an author, but time simply is not on my side. I’m not quitting my day job because I cannot afford to. However, as I work toward my goal, I know I have to invest more time and energy into writing and promoting my books. They say for an author, writing is the easy part. Marketing and promoting yourself and your books is the hard part. “They” are right!

This blog is not a time consumer. If you are a subscriber, you know I don’t make regular posts anyway. That is not why I am quitting. The main reason is because there seems to be no benefit of continuing. It’s cathartic for me because it’s an outlet for me to write ad hoc articles when something pops in my head. If you’re reading this, I would never know it because we don’t have a two-way-street. I honestly don’t know who reads my posts. I have failed at garnering any kind of active participation where readers actually leave comments. Unfortunately, I don’t watch my statistics enough to know what’s happening here, if anything.

So please accept my apologies as I throw in the towel as a blogger. Hopefully you have found some joy, encouragement, enlightenment, motivation, inspiration, and even entertainment of some sort here. If so, I encourage you to subscribe to my newsletter. I don’t want to be a passive writer who is not fully committed anymore. I’ve let go of the imposter syndrome feelings I’ve had for years. I’m not just trying to become a real author. I really am one already!

I am putting my trust in the Lord. As I set out on my new venture of truly pursuing my passion for writing, I will not be shaken by what I see or don’t see. I am on a mission to become a full-time author, publisher, marketer, promoter, and guest speaker. I will need to be all of those things because statistics are strongly against me. I am much more likely to fail or give up just like 99% of other aspiring authors.

Just know I did not set out for this final post to be depressing. I.AM.NOT.DEPRESSED. As a matter of fact, I am quite relieved to have both my confession and revelation in writing. I’m jumping for joy as evidenced by the video below which explains more about my newsletter.

If you’re reading this, please consider subscribing to my newsletter at this link: Books by Betty

My goal is to find readers and stay engaged with them. I want to be connected to people who are interested in reading my books. The newsletter will feature all sorts of things, including of course, the books from all 3 genres that I have discovered I have a passion for writing. More about that in the welcome email you’ll receive from me once you subscribe to the newsletter.

So for now, please know that I am not giving up. I simply see no reason to continue blogging. My journey has taken me down a different path in an attempt to attract people who want or actually need to read what I have to say. I will be writing more books than ever and releasing them much quicker than ever. It all changes now. Well, it all changed last Saturday. That was the day I took God at HIS word. I’m building my life as an author, not for vainglory, but to bring honor and glory to God.

I’ll leave you with my final picture. It’s featured at the bottom of every newsletter as a reminder to all who subscribe that I am literally jumping for joy that they are on this storytelling journey with me.

Signing off for the final time as a blogger. I hope to see you on the other side as a subscriber to my Books by Betty newsletter. I truly believe it will be worth your time.