You could write every word of your book yourself and still have to tell Amazon that you used AI. You could also run AI over every page and not have to tell Amazon anything. The line isn’t where most writers think it is.

Here is the short answer on Amazon KDP AI disclosure. Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Amazon’s self-publishing platform, requires you to disclose AI-generated text, images and translations, including your cover. You don’t have to disclose AI-assisted content, where you created the work and used AI to brainstorm, edit or error-check it.

Between CJ and me, we have published more than 70 books, most of them through KDP, and this question comes up on our coaching calls all the time. We are not lawyers, so we will show you Amazon’s own words. Then we will walk through seven examples, cover design, copyright and one privacy setting to check today.

Key Takeaways

• Disclose AI-generated content. KDP requires it for AI-made text, images, covers and translations, even after heavy edits.
• AI-assisted content needs no disclosure. That covers brainstorming, editing, refining and error-checking work you created.
• Ask anyone you hire, in writing, whether they use AI on your cover, illustrations or manuscript.
• AI-generated content can’t be registered for U.S. copyright. Your own words can, so register your books.
• Turn off model training in ChatGPT and Claude before you paste in your manuscript.

What Does Amazon KDP AI Disclosure Require?

KDP requires you to tell Amazon about AI-generated content whenever you publish a new book or republish an edited one. The AI section of KDP’s content guidelines reads: “We require you to inform us of AI-generated content (text, images, or translations) when you publish a new book or make edits to and republish an existing book through KDP.”

AI-generated images include your cover and interior artwork. AI-assisted content is different, and Amazon says so plainly: “You are not required to disclose AI-assisted content.” The guidelines don’t say whether readers ever see your answer or how Amazon uses it.

One detail surprises almost everyone. Content counts as AI-generated “even if you applied substantial edits afterwards.” A passage could be 80% your own revisions, but if it started inside an AI tool, KDP still calls it generated.

Go to the source. I have self-published since 2008 and watched writers get worked up over rumors. Check KDP’s current guidelines before every upload, because they may change.

What Is the Difference Between AI-Assisted and AI-Generated?

The difference is who created the original words and images. Amazon doesn’t care which tool you opened. It cares where the content began.

KDP defines AI-assisted this way: “If you created the content yourself, and used AI-based tools to edit, refine, error-check, or otherwise improve that content (whether text or images), then it is considered ‘AI-assisted’ and not ‘AI-generated.'”

Brainstorming counts as assisted too, as long as you created the final text or images yourself. Either way, KDP holds you responsible for making sure everything in your book respects intellectual property rights.

Seven Examples: Is It AI-Assisted or AI-Generated?

Here are seven situations Kingdom Writers bring to us, with how each lands under KDP’s definitions.

Number three catches people off guard. Heavy editing doesn’t move AI-drafted text into the assisted column, because the words started in the tool, not in your mind.

Number five matters if you are planning a picture book, and our guide to self-publishing a children’s book covers working with an illustrator. Number seven applies only to the translated edition.

What If Your Cover Designer or Editor Uses AI?

Ask every person you hire, in writing, whether and how they use AI. An editor, cover designer, illustrator or ghostwriter who quietly uses AI can turn your book into AI-generated content without your knowledge.

Some designers and illustrators now use these tools to shortcut their process and don’t mention it. If they generated your cover art, you are still the one answering KDP’s question.

An editor who uses AI to check words you already wrote keeps your book in assisted territory. A ghostwriter or illustrator who generates content moves it into generated territory. You need to know which one you are hiring. What a book editor does is a good primer before you start asking.

Get it in writing before the work starts. Undisclosed AI could cause trouble with your KDP account or delay a launch you have planned for months. A short written answer now costs far less than a surprise later.

Why Do We Still Hire a Cover Designer and Illustrator?

CJ and I still recommend hiring a human cover designer and illustrator, even though ChatGPT now makes beautiful images. AI-made art has to be disclosed, and nobody knows what that label might mean down the road.

CJ points out that Amazon already treats some content differently. Under KDP’s eBook royalty rules, “Works in the public domain or consisting primarily of public domain content are only eligible for the 35% royalty option.” Original, in-copyright work can earn up to 70%. That is half the royalty.

We are not saying Amazon will ever treat AI content that way. We have no idea. But we would rather not find out with our own books.

So here is our approach. Use AI to brainstorm what you want, hand the idea to a human designer, and ask in writing whether they use AI. If AI did create something in your book, check the disclosure box. Never hide it.

Can You Copyright a Book Written With AI?

In the United States, you can’t register copyright for AI-generated content. The U.S. Copyright Office requires a human author. In Thaler v. Perlmutter, the courts upheld that rule, and on March 2, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

Copyright is different from commercial rights. OpenAI’s Terms of Use say you “own the Output” from ChatGPT, so you can sell what it generates. The same terms warn that “other users may receive similar output.” Your AI-generated chapter may not be unique.

Here is what that means for a Kingdom Writer. The words you write yourself can be protected. AI-generated words can’t, so someone else could copy them. That is one more reason to keep the writing yours. Other countries set their own rules, so research yours.

Should You Register the Copyright for Your Book?

Yes. I now recommend registering your books with the U.S. Copyright Office. My opinion has changed on this. You own the copyright to your own words when you write them, but registration matters more than it used to.

Here is why. In the $1.5 billion Bartz v. Anthropic settlement over pirated books used to train AI, self-published authors could receive about $3,000 per title. According to the Authors Guild, books that weren’t registered with the Copyright Office in time were left out.

Registration takes a few extra steps, and it isn’t expensive. It gives your words legal standing if they are ever copied or used without permission.

We are not attorneys, and this isn’t legal advice. For anything contract-level, talk with an intellectual property attorney, and check current guidance in your country.

Does Putting Your Book Into ChatGPT or Claude Train the AI?

It can, unless you turn off the training setting. Members often ask whether pasting their words into AI adds them to a huge database other people could draw from. There is always some risk when you use AI, and each of you has to decide whether to take it. You can still add a safeguard in under a minute.

In ChatGPT, open Settings, select Data controls, and turn off “Improve the model for everyone,” as OpenAI’s help center explains.

In Claude, open Settings, select Privacy, and toggle off “Help improve our AI models,” as Anthropic’s privacy center explains.

Each setting applies to new chats from the moment you change it, so turn it off before you paste in any part of your manuscript. Using a different tool? Look in its privacy settings for a similar switch.

Why Should You Always Check Yes When AI Created Content?

If any part of your book is AI-generated, check yes when KDP asks. Honesty is a Kingdom value. Proverbs 12:22 says the Lord “delights in those who tell the truth.”

Hiding AI use puts your KDP account at risk, and it costs something more important: your integrity as a writer who represents Christ.

If you would rather not disclose, change the content, not the answer. Have a designer redo your cover, commission new illustrations, or rewrite the AI-drafted passages yourself. Then your honest answer becomes no.

When you aren’t sure, ask. You can contact KDP directly with questions, and our Amazon KDP publishing guide walks through the rest of the upload process. The simplest way to stay out of the gray areas is to write your own words.

Want Help Writing Your Own Words?

The surest way to keep your book on the AI-assisted side of the line is to write it yourself, and that takes time set aside. Our free 15-minute Writing Restart call meets on Zoom the first Wednesday of every month, and Kingdom Writers show up and write together on the call. Bring your manuscript and your next sentence.

Inside Christian Book Academy, our membership community for Kingdom Writers, you will find 17 AI tools built with guardrails, and we keep adding more. They help you brainstorm and get feedback without rewriting your words, and we pay for the usage. New members also get our AI for Christian Writers guide.

Use coupon code AIWRITERS to join Christian Book Academy for $1 your first month. After that, membership is $49 a month.

Final Thoughts

AI is changing fast, sometimes daily, so treat this as accurate at the time of writing. The principle underneath won’t change: tell the truth about how your book was made.

If you haven’t read part one of this series, start with Should Christian Writers Use AI to Write a Book? It covers how CJ and I decided where AI belongs, and why God holds the plan while you hold the pen.

Next week, in part three, I’ll edit a piece of my own writing with AI and show you what I keep and what I throw out.

The God who called you to write delights in truthful lips. Write your words, disclose honestly, and trust Him with the rest. Your book was never meant to be anyone’s but yours and His.

Frequently Asked Questions About Amazon KDP AI Disclosure

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Every conversation about AI and writing comes down to one question: who is holding the pen, and who is holding the plan?

The pen is your words, your stories and your testimony. The plan is the direction: what you write, who it is for and where it is going. CJ and I believe God holds the plan and you hold the pen.

So is using AI to write a book a good idea for a Christian writer? We don’t recommend letting AI write your book. Yet I use AI almost every day, and CJ uses it too. Both are true, because AI works as a tool when God sets the direction and your own words fill the page.

If you have been quietly wrestling with this, you are in good company. Many Kingdom Writers feel the pull of a tool that promises to do the hard part for them. Here is how we decided, where we draw the line, and how AI can serve your calling instead of replacing it.

Key Takeaways

• God holds the plan, you hold the pen. AI can serve as a tool, but it should never set your direction or write your words.
• We don’t recommend using AI to write a book. We do use it for marketing, brainstorming and feedback.
• Pray before you prompt. Ask God for the strategy before you open any AI tool.
• Let AI interview you instead of writing for you, so the stories come out in your own words.
• Verify everything AI tells you. It can give wrong answers and even invent testimonials.

Is Using AI to Write a Book Wrong for a Christian Writer?

Using AI is not wrong in itself, but we don’t recommend using AI to write a book for you. AI can be a helpful tool. The moment it starts holding the pen or the plan, something has gone wrong.

Writers fall along a whole spectrum here. Some Kingdom Writers use no AI at all, and we respect that. Others let AI draft entire chapters. CJ and I sit in the middle. I use AI for marketing, brainstorming and feedback, and I keep it out of the writing of my books.

Here is the line we draw. AI may help you think, organize and edit, but the words on the page should come from you and from your time with God. That line also matches how Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), its self-publishing platform, separates AI-assisted books from AI-generated ones, which we cover below.

How Did We Decide Whether to Use AI?

We prayed before we decided to use AI, and we keep praying, because the tools change constantly. I resisted for a long time. I worried Google would penalize our blog posts, I had no margin to learn something new, and letting a machine write for me felt wrong. It still does.

Then our copywriter stepped down to start his own business. Copywriting, the writing that helps you sell, drains me in a way teaching never has. For six or seven months I wrote every email, social post and sales page myself.

In November 2024, within days of each other, a close friend and one of my coaches both asked whether I had tried ChatGPT for my copy. I don’t think that was a coincidence. I prayed, sensed the Lord say “check it out,” and have been learning to use it responsibly ever since.

What Does “God Holds the Plan” Mean When You Use AI?

God holding the plan means AI never sets the direction for your book. As CJ puts it, there are good ideas and there are God ideas, and one God idea beats a thousand good ones. AI is a tool, not a guide or a compass.

CJ compares AI to a knife. A knife can hurt someone or cut someone free, and the hand holding it decides which. Moses had a staff and David had a sling. The power was never in the tool.

1 John 2:27 reminds us, “you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you.”

When the Spirit sounds a warning bell, we pay attention. So CJ’s habit is simple: pray before you prompt. Like the prophet in Habakkuk 2:1, “climb up to my watchtower” and “wait to see what the Lord says” before you open any tool.

Why Don’t We Recommend Letting AI Write Your Book?

We don’t recommend letting AI write your book because your book needs to carry your voice, your experience and your stories. You also can’t fully know where an AI tool’s words came from.

You will hear slick internet marketers promise you can write a book in a weekend with AI. It is tempting, because the writing is the hard part. But a book God placed on your heart is meant to come through you.

There is a practical reason too. Amazon’s KDP content guidelines require you to disclose AI-generated text, images or translations, “even if you applied substantial edits afterwards.”

AI-assisted content, where you wrote the words and used AI to brainstorm, edit or error-check, needs no disclosure. Nobody knows yet what Amazon may do with that information later. Part two of this series walks through the rules in detail.

How Can AI Help You Write Without Writing for You?

AI helps most when it asks you questions instead of answering them for you. Here is my interview method for a chapter that won’t come:

1. Pray and ask God what the chapter needs to say.
2. Open ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and paste in your chapter outline.
3. Ask it to interview you.
4. Answer in your own words, out loud or on paper.

I often do this in voice mode on a walk, earbuds in.

AI also works as an editing companion. My self-editing tool won’t rewrite your work. It flags crutch words or a scene missing emotion, and you do the rewriting, the same principle behind our five steps to self-editing.

Heather, a member of our community, said AI “is great for generating ideas for things that are not our actual writing–but things like ideas for social media posts, marketing copy, etc. that just give inspiration, and then you use your own writing and ideas to actually create the content.”

Where Does AI Go Wrong for Writers?

AI goes wrong in two ways: it gives wrong answers, and it can change how we think. Even OpenAI’s own Terms of Use, which govern ChatGPT, warn that output “may not always be accurate.”

I found this out researching live-streaming software for our YouTube channel. The AI steered me toward one tool. When I dug in myself, I found another with the same features for $30 a month less.

Invented content is worse. We have gathered hundreds of testimonials since Christian Book Academy began in 2015. More than once, I have handed an AI tool those testimonials and watched it write a new one. When I asked, it admitted it had made it up.

Let AI do first-pass research, then verify everything it tells you, especially anything about a person. You can train a tool with memory or saved instructions, but you still need to stay involved.

Can Using AI Make You Feel Like a Fraud?

Yes. When AI does too much of the thinking or writing, many writers start to wonder whether the work is theirs. Kingdom Writers feel this sharply, because authenticity matters so much to us.

I learned it firsthand. While testing AI so I could teach our members, I asked it only to brainstorm a book. It took over and started writing the book for me. They were my ideas and my stories, yet I felt like a fraud right away. After that, I put strict guardrails on how I use AI.

The other risk is dependence. People call it brain rot: we stop exercising the muscle of our own mind. A one-on-one client recently told me she had leaned on AI too much. Think of yourself as the conductor of an orchestra, with AI as one instrument. If something feels off, you don’t have to use it.

What Does It Look Like When AI Serves Your Calling?

AI serves your calling in three places, CJ says: marketing, brainstorming you bring back to God, and feedback on words you already wrote. Most writers we serve would rather write ten chapters than one social post.

Susan came into our Author AI Workshop afraid of AI. Afterward she wrote, “the fear is gone – can’t wait to try AI and make it my assistant – this is what I’ve been needing.” Tammy said, “I’m not afraid of it now in helping me without doing all of my writing and taking away my voice.”

Patty used our outline AI tool for her novel. It gave her “the starting conversation,” and she added that “my characters are led by the Spirit more than an outline sometimes.” That is the right order: the tool offers ideas, and the Spirit leads.

Paula put it this way: “Now I know I can ALWAYS ask the Holy Spirit in to this process, and not feel enslaved to the AI leading.”

Where Are You on the AI Spectrum?

Picture a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means no AI at all and 10 means AI does the writing. CJ and I land around a 5. We use AI to brainstorm and give feedback, and never to write the book.

Wherever you land, give other writers grace. Many Kingdom Writers choose no AI, and thoughtful Christians make that case well. In a Christianity Today essay from April 2026, Nadya Williams calls using AI to write “a disordered and deforming means of fulfilling a good desire.” These are our convictions, held with open hands.

Want Help Using AI Without Losing Your Voice?

AI can’t do the most important part for you. You still have to sit down and write. That is why we host the free 15-minute Writing Restart call on the first Wednesday of every month, where Kingdom Writers set aside time and write together.

If you want guardrails built in, come join us inside Christian Book Academy, our membership community for Kingdom Writers.

Members get 17 AI tools for brainstorming and feedback that are instructed not to rewrite your words, plus our AI for Christian Writers guide. We pay for the AI usage, so the tools cost you nothing extra. You will also find monthly virtual writing retreats, Progress Pods and 15-minute writing challenges.

Use coupon code AIWRITERS to join Christian Book Academy for $1 your first month. After that, membership is $49 a month.

Final Thoughts

Whatever you decide about AI, remember the order. God holds the plan. You hold the pen. AI, if you use it at all, is a tool in your hand and never the voice on the page.

If you want a place to start, our four steps to writing a Christian book begin with prayer, not a prompt, and so do these prayers for writers.

The Lord did not call a machine to write your book. He called you. Climb the watchtower, listen for His direction, and then write the next sentence in your own words. He is faithful to finish what He started in you.

Next week, in part two of this series, we walk through exactly what Amazon KDP asks you to disclose about AI, including your cover and illustrations. Where are you on the AI spectrum? Bring your number to our next Writing Restart call.

Frequently Asked Questions About Using AI to Write a Book

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You have been carrying it for a while now. The book God gave you to write.

And somewhere along the way you started calling it procrastination. You told yourself you are undisciplined, or disorganized, or that you simply do not want it badly enough.

I want to challenge you on that today.

If you feel called to write a book and the book is still not written, the cause is usually not laziness. In fifteen years of walking with more than 1,000 Kingdom Writers, CJ and I have watched the same three patterns surface again and again, and not one of them is a character flaw. They are predictable, they are nameable, and every one of them has a way through.

Here is the part most writers have never been told. When God gives you a message that will reach people for eternity, you should expect resistance. That is not a sign you heard Him wrong. Most of the time it is a sign you heard Him right.

Why Does Writing the Book God Gave Me Feel So Hard?

Resistance usually shows up strongest around the work that matters most. That is the pattern we see over and over inside Christian Book Academy, the $49 per month membership community CJ and I built for Kingdom Writers.

The writer who feels nothing at all about her book is rarely the one carrying a real calling. The one who feels the weight, the fear, the strange reluctance to open the document, is usually the one who heard something true.

Resistance is not a verdict on your calling. It is often confirmation of it.

So the question is not how to make the resistance disappear. The question is which form it is taking in your life right now.

Reason One: You Are Waiting for a Season When Writing Will Feel Easier

Waiting for an easier season is the most common reason a called book never gets written, because the easier season does not arrive. You have probably said some version of it to yourself. I will write when things calm down.

I have said that to myself for years.

I kept thinking life was going to calm down. It would calm down when this happened, when that resolved, when the season shifted. It never did. Things have not calmed down, and I am only now coming to realize that is simply part of life. Something always needs my attention.

But the writers who finish are not the ones who wait around for a quiet season. They are the ones who learn to write inside a loud one.

Fifteen minutes at a time. With grace instead of guilt. Going at the pace of grace.

If finding the time is where you keep getting stopped, we wrote more about that in our guide to finding time to write a book.

Reason Two: You Are Trying to Write It in Your Own Strength

Writing in your own strength will exhaust you physically, emotionally, and eventually spiritually. This is the quietest of the three, because from the outside it looks like diligence.

You are working hard. You are showing up. You are gritting your teeth through it.

And it is wearing you down in a way that rest does not fix.

Relying on yourself alone does something else too. It cuts you off from the very thing that gives your writing weight. The book was never meant to be produced by willpower. It was meant to be written in partnership.

So here is the question worth sitting with: what would change if you opened yourself to His grace instead of grinding this out on your own?

Reason Three: You Are Waiting Until You Feel Qualified

Nobody God called in Scripture felt qualified first. If you have ever thought who am I to write this book, you are in good company, and I mean that precisely.

Moses said it. When God called him from the burning bush, he protested that he was slow of speech and tongue, and God answered that He would be with his mouth and teach him what to say (Exodus 4:10-12).

Gideon said it. Jeremiah said he was too young (Jeremiah 1:6-8).

Some of you are saying the opposite. You are saying you are too old.

But God never once called someone who felt ready. He calls, and then He equips. The feeling of qualification is not the entry requirement, and waiting for it to arrive is waiting for something that was never promised.

If age is the specific fear, we addressed it directly in the signs God is calling you to write a book.

Which of the Three Is Actually Holding Your Book Back?

Naming the specific pattern is what turns a vague sense of failure into a solvable problem. Most writers recognize themselves in one of the three within a few seconds of reading them.

Recognizing it is the first step. Working through it with people who understand the calling is what actually moves the book.

Come Work Through This With Us at the Kingdom Writers Conference

The Kingdom Writers Conference is a free online event, and the October 2026 gathering is the Write with God edition, hosted Wednesday, October 28, 2026.

This is our twelfth conference. I still cannot quite believe it.

We handpicked a lineup of speakers who will each share a different way they have learned to partner with God in their writing. Prayer. Listening. Rhythms. Rest. The practices most of us were never taught, or that we know and simply need reminding of.

It is completely free. We kick off live on Zoom at 11:00 AM Eastern with CJ sharing the keynote message. If you cannot make it live, that is not a problem at all, because you will have access to the replays for five days.

Get your free ticket to the Kingdom Writers Conference.

And if someone came to mind while you were reading this, a friend, your sister, someone in your writing group, send them the link. This conference was built for them too.

Final Thoughts

You are not behind. You are not disqualified. And you were not meant to do this alone.

The book God gave you is still the book God gave you, whether it has been sitting for six months or sixteen years. Resistance did not cancel the calling. If anything, it confirmed there was something worth resisting.

So stop white-knuckling this book. Learn to write from His strength instead of your own, fifteen minutes at a time, at the pace of grace.

If you need a place to restart, our free Writing Restart toolkit and live writing session is built for exactly that.

Frequently Asked Questions About Feeling Called to Write a Book

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How to know if your book idea is from God, with four tests you can repeat and one shift that frees you from second-guessing every idea.

You sit down to write and before a single sentence lands, the questions start. Is this idea from God, or is it just me? Is this the book He wants, or the one I want? What if I spend two years on the wrong thing?

So you go looking for a clear answer before writing a word. That looks like faithfulness. It feels like waiting on the Lord.

But if you have been asking the same question for three years and there are still no words on the page, something else is going on.

To know if your book idea is from God, test it rather than feel your way through it: check it against scripture, bring it to wise counsel, look for settled peace rather than excitement, and watch whether it bears fruit over months. Those four tests are repeatable. A feeling is not.

What follows is one shift in how to think about hearing God, and four things it looks like on an ordinary Tuesday morning.

How to know if your book idea is from God without waiting for certainty

Clarity in scripture usually comes while people are moving, not before they start. The hunger for certainty comes from something good. It is reverence. Nobody wants to spend two years on something God never asked for.

There is a phrase I have heard from the Lord many times: do not create an Ishmael. Do not build something in my own strength and call it His. A good idea is not automatically a God idea.

But look at the pattern. Abraham left before he knew the address. At the Jordan at flood stage, the water did not stop until the priests already had their feet in it.

My friend Shay Vine says it like this: God cannot direct a parked car.

So God is likely not withholding the book until you phrase the question correctly. More often He speaks as you take the next step. Put your foot in the water and He guides the rest. As Paul wrote, we walk by faith, not by sight.

What it looks like when the pattern shows up while you are moving

Kingdom Writers usually see the pattern during the work, not before it. Roxanne Drury, one of our Christian Book Academy members, went through a challenge inside the membership called the Short Book Blueprint.

Afterwards she charted the topics from each day and saw that God had been pointing at the same theme, the same story, all four days. She said it was then up to her to take the one faithful step.

Here is the part worth sitting with: she did not see that pattern before the challenge. She saw it while she was doing it.

Phyllis Calderin, also from our membership, was working through the first draft module and said it confirmed what God had told her almost two years earlier. Rosemary Jones set out to write a lead magnet with ten tips and realized afterwards that it was actually the start of a book, because she had a story for every one of them.

None of them got their answer by waiting for it. They got it by starting something.

What is a weekly business meeting with God?

A business meeting with God is a scheduled block on your calendar where you bring Him the work itself and ask for strategy: what to write and when. It is not your quiet time and it is not a devotional. It is a standing appointment about the book.

Right now the questions about your book run loose in your head all week. This gives them one place to go.

In Luke 1:80, John lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel. The pulling away came first.

Setting one up takes three things: a notebook used only for this, a block of time once a week, and whatever helps you settle. A candle, instrumental music, whatever quiets the internal noise.

What to actually do in that meeting

Start with gratitude, bring the one thing you need clarity on, write down what you sense, then brain dump the rest and make a plan in pencil. The pencil matters, because God may change it.

Begin thankful. Then name the specific thing you need clarity on and pause there. Ask. Write what you sense as it comes, without rushing.

Then empty your head onto the paper. Everything circling about the book goes into the notebook, which frees up an enormous amount of room.

It often takes a few pages to reach the gold. Most people quit after half a page, decide they are not hearing anything, and conclude they are bad at this.

Nobody is asking you to run a perfect business meeting with God. If you sense nothing at first, welcome to the club. That is normal, especially early. Keep writing what you are thankful for and the direction usually comes as you go.

On our Find Your Focus calls inside Christian Book Academy, I run mini versions with a two-minute timer and a prompt. What members report most often is not a dramatic revelation. It is confirmation that they are on the right track, which is frequently what we needed most.

Write it down first and judge it later

Capturing an idea and evaluating it are two different jobs, and running them together is how Kingdom Writers lose what God gives them. He drops something in, and instead of writing it down you start assessing. Is that God? Is it good enough? Where would it even go?

In that half second of analysis the thought is gone, and you are left trying to remember what it was.

Same principle as the messy first draft. Capture now, judge later.

Use whatever you will actually use. CJ keeps a running text thread to himself, which he does not particularly recommend but which works for him. I love sticky notes, and I will put them in page protectors in a three-ring binder.

Come back later with fresh eyes and sort. Sometimes I read one and think no, that was my flesh in the moment. Sometimes I find one I had completely forgotten and it turns out to be the good one. Most of what feels uncertain in the moment reads very differently a week later.

Four tests instead of a feeling

Test the idea rather than feeling your way through it. Four checks, each repeatable on a day when you feel nothing at all.

Scripture first. Does it line up with what God has already said? He does not contradict His own word.

Wise counsel. Bring it to people who know you and who know the Lord. Not everyone. A few people who genuinely meet both conditions.

Peace, specifically. Peace is not the same as excitement, and it is not merely the absence of fear. It is something settling over you.

Fruit over time. Does it keep coming back? Has it survived a few months?

Timing is its own question. We once set a goal of 300 members based on Gideon in Judges 7 and assumed it would take a year or two. It took seven. It did happen, praise God, but we were badly wrong about the timing while being right about the promise.

You may already have your answer

Often the next thing you need is not more information, but obedience to the last clear thing He showed you. We watch writers ask God about chapter seven when chapter two is not written, or ask publishing questions before they have a topic or an outline. If you never finish the first draft, the publishing questions never matter.

So here is the gentle question. Is there something God has already shown you about this book that is still sitting there? A story for chapter five. A direction you already sensed.

I learned this the hard way. At a fundraiser years ago, the speaker said that if you have not heard from God in a while, it is probably because you have not obeyed the last thing He showed you. I knew immediately what mine was. I had not been hearing Him clearly in that season, and He had asked me to forgive certain people, and I had not done it. I did not want to.

That next week I took the steps and reached every single person. There was so much freedom in it, and I began to hear His voice clearly again.

This is where a great deal of overthinking lives. It is not that you cannot hear God. It is that you did, and the step is scary, so asking again feels safer than starting.

That is not a character flaw. It is being human and wanting certainty.

The fix: write down the last clear thing you believe He said about your book, and do that thing. Or set a timer for two minutes and ask what He wants to say to you about it today. Sometimes 15 minutes of obedience is what gets you moving.

Come write with us

Hearing God for your book is not a test you pass before you are allowed to start. It happens while you write.

Inside Christian Book Academy, our $49/month membership for Kingdom Writers, we teach the business meeting with God as an ongoing practice rather than a one-time breakthrough, alongside the curriculum, coaching calls, and Progress Pods. The Short Book Blueprint challenge Roxanne went through runs inside the membership too.

The companion to this post is our free guide and video training, How to Hear God’s Voice.

And if you have heard Him clearly and still are not moving, that is a different problem with a name. Read five Christian writing mistakes that cost you years.

Final Thoughts

The questions will keep coming. Write them down, because they tend to get answered one at a time, in His timing rather than yours. You are not behind, and you are not disqualified for still having them.

God is not hiding the book from you. He is more willing to speak than we usually are to sit still long enough to listen.

Put your foot in the water. He will guide the rest.

Frequently Asked Questions About Hearing God for Your Book

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Five Christian writing mistakes that keep Kingdom Writers stuck for years, and the one thing you can do this week to break the loop you are in.

You have been carrying this book for years now. And if you are honest, somewhere along the way you started to wonder if the problem is you.

It is not.

The Kingdom Writers who stay stuck longest are almost never the ones doing nothing. They are working and serving and raising families the whole time. Showing up. Putting in the hours. And still standing in the same place they were standing five years ago.

The five most common Christian writing mistakes are rewriting the same section, waiting for a big block of time, believing you need to learn more first, writing without accountability, and waiting to feel qualified. Every one of them feels like progress while you are doing it. That is what makes them cost years instead of weeks.

These are not five things you did wrong. They are five loops, and we have been caught in most of them ourselves.

Mistake 1: You rewrite the same section instead of moving forward

Chapter one has been rewritten more times than the rest of the book has been written. How many times have you redone that opening?

It genuinely feels like progress. This is real work on the real book, and the page does get better every time. But you are polishing a section instead of finishing a draft, and you lose all perspective on whether that section even belongs there.

The writing brain and the editing brain are two different modes. Run both at once and the editor always wins, because the editor’s whole job is to find what is wrong.

The fix: highlight the rough spot, leave yourself a note, then keep going. Your first draft is not your final draft. Nobody has to see it, not even your editor. You cannot edit a page that does not exist.

If procrastination is the shape this takes for you, we wrote more about five reasons we procrastinate when writing a book.

Mistake 2: You wait for a big block of time

Waiting for a free afternoon costs years, because the seasons do not calm down. The belief underneath is that real writing needs a long uninterrupted stretch, so the manuscript waits until things settle.

CJ and I are in our fifties now, and I have lost count of how many times I said “once this is done” or “once that happens.” Life will always have something going on this side of heaven. Meanwhile nothing happens in the gaps, and the gaps turn out to be most of your life.

Anthony Trollope wrote 47 novels while working full time as a Post Office surveyor, measuring his writing in 15-minute units at 250 words each (James Clear).

The fix: write for 15 minutes a day. Not because 15 minutes is magic, but because it is the only version that survives your real calendar, including your bad days. Dictate into your phone, capture a few notes, write one paragraph. It counts.

I was stuck editing 21 Prayers for Writers and did not want to touch it. So I got a kitchen timer, flipped it to 15 minutes, and told myself that was all I owed it. What happens most of the time is that the timer ends and you are in the flow and you want to keep going.

I also kept what I called the finish the book jar. Five dollars went in after every session. When the book was done, I got to spend it.

Mistake 3: You think you need to learn more before you are ready

Another course, another workshop, another book about writing, and it genuinely feels like you are getting closer. Buying a training gives you a hit of progress that sitting down to write the next paragraph does not. Purchasing feels like a decision.

CJ puts it in terms of running. You can read every book and watch every video about becoming a better runner, but that is not the reality of it. You have to get outside and practice, whatever the weather is doing. Races do not train themselves.

Preparation is safe. A first draft is exposure.

Years ago we spent $3,000 on a course called Amazon Selling Machine. CJ even flew to a conference in Las Vegas for it. At the time that was an enormous investment for us, and we were genuinely excited, because it was going to grow a whole new part of the business. Then it sat there. Life moved on. We never did anything with it.

The fix: you already know enough to write the next paragraph. Pick the one thing you are going to apply, close everything else, and go.

If you are still working out whether this is your season at all, read what it actually means to become a Christian writer.

Mistake 4: You write alone without accountability or deadlines

Nobody is waiting for your next chapter, and that is why the book keeps losing. There is no date on the calendar. If this whole week passes without a word written, no one notices.

This one hides well. Writing is a solitary act, so being alone with it feels normal. It can even feel holy, because you are partnering with God in the work.

But a book with no deadline and nobody witnessing the progress will always lose to the thing that has both. Tyranny of the urgent. People want things from you, other deadlines are real, and the book slides to the back burner.

When we ask the writers we have worked with since 2010, more than a thousand of them now, what actually changed things, accountability and consistency come up more than anything else we offer.

The fix: one person, one standing time, one date on the calendar. Progress Pods inside Christian Book Academy are peer-led groups that meet weekly, and they have moved more books across the finish line than anything else we have added. You can build the smallest version this week with one friend, even if what they need accountability for is a budget or training for a race.

Here is how a writing accountability group works if you want to start one yourself.

Mistake 5: You are waiting to feel qualified

You are waiting for a publishing contract, a platform, a credential, or somebody official to tell you that you are allowed. This one feels like wisdom. It sounds like humility. It can even sound like waiting on God.

Here is the reframe. A publishing contract is a business decision made by a company. It is not God’s validation of your calling. Those are two different things.

CJ and I have self-published over 70 books in the last 17 years through Body and Soul Publishing. If we had waited for a contract, we might not have published a single one of them.

The fix: take the step that is actually in front of you. Permission is not coming in the mail. You are not disqualified, and you are not too late.

If that voice is loud right now, we wrote about working through self-doubt as a writer.

Which Christian writing mistake has had you?

Most Kingdom Writers recognize themselves in more than one of these, and for plenty of us the honest answer is all five in rotation.

None of these means you failed. They mean you have been working without a way through.

Come write with us

If you recognized yourself more than once, that is not a character flaw. It is what happens when you carry a book alone for a long time.

That is what Christian Book Academy, our $49/month membership for Kingdom Writers, is built for: curriculum in order, coaching calls, and the Progress Pods where writers meet weekly and notice when you go quiet.

Start smaller if you would rather. Our free guide, 8 Surprisingly Simple Writing Tips, covers quieting the inner critic and getting the messy first draft down.

If you have already spotted your loop but still do not know where to start tomorrow morning, read how to know whether your book idea is from God.

Final Thoughts

Whatever you write this week, even if it is small, celebrate it. We say celebrate every word and we mean it. That is not a consolation prize. That is how the book actually gets written.

Progress, not perfection.

You have been faithful through a long season that did not leave much room for writing. God has not been tapping His foot waiting for you to hurry. The same God who gave you the book is patient with the pace.

Pick one loop. Break it this week. Fifteen minutes counts.

Frequently Asked Questions About Christian Writing Mistakes

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Wondering if it is too late to write a book? After 15 years walking with Kingdom Writers, here are 5 reasons the years behind you are not a verdict at all.

How many years have you been carrying this book?

Four? Twelve? Twenty-five? Whatever your number is, I want to say something gently before you answer it out loud. Somewhere along the way, you may have started reading the delay as the answer. You added up the years and you decided they meant something about you, or about what God thinks about you and your book.

They don’t.

It is not too late to write a book, and the years behind you are not a verdict on your calling. Time passing tells you that time passed. It does not tell you what God thinks. My husband CJ and I have walked alongside Kingdom Writers since 2010, and we have helped more than 1,000 writers finish and publish the book God put on their hearts inside our membership, Christian Book Academy. Over and over, the testimonials that come in after a book publishes start the same way: “I have been trying for five years.” “I have had this book idea for 20 years.”

So you are in very normal company. Below are the five reasons we gave on Kingdom Writers TV, including the fourth one that almost nobody says out loud.

Is it too late to write a book?

No. If you feel called to write a book and you have been carrying it a long time, the delay is not disqualifying and the window has not closed. The years may feel like evidence, but they are only a record of what your life has been full of.

Here is how it usually adds up in a writer’s head. If God wanted this, it would be done. It is not done. So either I heard Him wrong, or I failed, or He changed His mind.

None of those three is true.

What is true is that the assignment God gave you does not expire, and the book you can write now is a different book than the one you would have written at thirty. That second part is the one we want you to sit with, and we come back to it below.

Why delay is not a verdict on your calling

Delay is not God’s no. It may be His not yet, or it may be that your life has been genuinely full. Scripture is full of long gaps between the promise and the fulfillment, and the gap was never the verdict.

Joseph had the dream, and then he went to prison. As CJ put it, the prison came after the promise, not instead of it. Read Genesis 41 and you see the years in between were not wasted, they were where the man was formed.

Moses was 80 when God handed him the assignment (Exodus 7:7). He had already lived a whole life he thought was the wrong one.

So stop reading meaning into the calendar. The calendar is not speaking to you.

Which version of “too late” are you actually carrying?

“It is too late” is almost never one thing. It is usually one of three, and each one needs a different answer. Naming yours is the fastest way forward, because the wrong answer to the wrong fear does nothing.

CJ has a name for that third one. He calls it living in the land of regret. If that is the one you came in carrying, stay with me.

What does it mean when a book idea will not leave you alone?

After 15 years of doing this, here is the pattern we notice: when someone asks us if it is too late, they have almost always been carrying the same book the whole time. Not a new idea every year. The same one, coming back.

Be careful here, because this is not a formula. We are not saying every idea you cannot shake is from God. We are saying an idea that keeps returning year after year, while you were busy and tired and not even looking for it, is worth taking seriously. Most ideas do not do that.

One of our members, Lois, told us her book topic was chosen by the Lord a few years ago, and that Christian Book Academy gave her a new resolve to let this new start be a final new start.

Sit on that phrase for a second. The final new start.

What has stayed with you that you cannot shake?

Why the years did not disqualify you

Now the heavy one. The version of “too late” that is really about shame says this: you wasted the time, and the wasted time proves you are not someone who finishes things.

I want to push back gently. Those years were not empty. You may have been raising a family, or working, or caring for people, or walking through things you did not choose.

And here is the part almost no one says out loud.

The book you would have written at thirty is not the book you can write now. You did not have the experiences then that you have now. CJ says it well: there is a whole other lens you look through with experience and time. Now that we are in our fifties, we think about things very differently than we did in our thirties.

You are not behind, and you are not disqualified.

How lost years become material

My mom is the clearest example I have.

She walked through a multiple myeloma diagnosis. It was 80 percent in her blood, which most people do not survive. But there are new treatments now, and we believe in the healing power of God, and He healed her. They now say 5 percent or less. We are believing for zero.

Here is the part that matters for your book. She had started writing before any of that happened. She had already published a book of stories from her childhood, and she wanted to write one about her adult life. She could not have written the story of God healing her from cancer if she had finished that book years earlier.

Because she wrote it later, five or six years after she started, she had that story to include. She ended up making the whole book about miracle moments. She is now having Bible studies with her neighbors, and lives are being affected in her neighborhood and her city.

Do not think of those years only as lost time. They may be the material.

Who is on the other side of your book?

Before you decide it is too late, picture the one person your book is for. That question changes the math, because the calculation stops being about you and starts being about them.

It could be your kids or your grandkids. It could be the woman in your church who is right now exactly where you were twenty years ago. It could be your neighbor, like my mom’s neighbors. It could be people on the internet you have not met yet.

Those people do not need the version of you from twenty years ago. They may need the version of you from today.

The legacy you are leaving is not late. It is finally ready.

How small is the restart, really?

After a long gap, people assume the restart has to match the size of the delay. Ten years off means I need some enormous push to get back in. That belief is exactly why the restart keeps not happening, because you end up waiting for ideal conditions.

CJ compares it to farming. If you wait for the perfect conditions to plant, eventually you will not see any fruit.

The actual restart can be 15 minutes. This week, not next month. Today, on the book you already have, not a new one.

And please do not go back to the beginning and re-outline the whole thing. That feels like progress and it is not. That is how another year goes by.

Open the file. Read the last page you wrote. Write one paragraph forward.

Progress, not perfection. Fifteen minutes of obedience may save you fifteen more months of delay.

If the honest problem is that there is no room in your week, here is how to find writing time in a full season.

Where to go from here

If you are ready to start again, we made something for exactly this moment. The free Writing Restart toolkit has the three rules of restarting, the re-entry steps, and a prayer to carry you back to the page. It comes with an invitation to our next free live call, where we write together for 15 minutes.

And if what you actually want is people who notice when you go quiet and pray you back to the page, that is what Christian Book Academy is. It is our membership for Kingdom Writers, $49 a month or $450 for the year, with a free 30-day trial. Inside you get the Kingdom Writers Path, monthly coaching calls, virtual writing retreats, and peer-led Progress Pods that meet every week.

Still working out whether this book is yours to write? Start with five signs God is calling you to write a book.

Final Thoughts

The years behind you are not a verdict, and they are not wasted. We pray often that God would restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten, and we have watched Him do it in writers who were certain their window had closed.

Whatever version of too late you came in here carrying, you can set it down today. It is a little like taking off a backpack that has been weighing you down for years.

There is somebody on the other side waiting for your book.

So go write that one paragraph today. I double dog dare you. Set a timer for 15 minutes, and then come pray over your next step with us.

Frequently Asked Questions About Writing a Book Later in Life

You're reading Is It Too Late to Write a Book? 5 Reasons It Isn’t, originally posted on Training Authors with CJ and Shelley Hitz - We help Christian writers take a step of faith and finally finish your book! and copyrighted by TrainingAuthors.com.

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Wondering if God is really calling you to write a book? Here are five signs you can actually check, not five feelings to wait on.

Most of us are waiting for something unmistakable. A voice. A dream. Someone walking up to us with a word that settles it once and for all.

And while we wait for that, we walk right past the ways He has been confirming it for years.

The signs God is calling you to write a book are usually already in your house. They are in your journals, your notes app, the talks you gave at church, the same conversation people keep starting with you. You did not count them because they did not look like what you were expecting.

CJ and I have been walking alongside Kingdom Writers since 2010, and we have helped over 1,000 of them finish and publish the book God put on their hearts. We have had this conversation hundreds of times. By the time somebody asks us the question, the answer is usually sitting right there.

So here are five signs. Not five feelings. Five things you can go look at today.

You do not need a seminary degree. You do not need a platform. And it does not matter one bit whether you were good at English in high school.

Stay with me for the fifth one. It is the one most people already have and dismiss, and it is usually the clearest confirmation of all.

Sign 1: The idea will not leave you

The most common sign is the one people trust the least. An idea that keeps returning over years, without you feeding it, is worth taking seriously as a calling rather than a passing interest.

It comes back in the shower. At two in the morning. In the middle of a sermon that had nothing to do with it. You have tried to set it down. You told yourself you were too busy, or that someone else already wrote it better.

But here is where discernment matters. Not every idea you cannot shake is from God. Some things stick around because they are from Him. Other things stick around because we want them.

The check is this: did you keep this alive, or did it keep itself alive?

There is a real difference between an idea you have been feeding and an idea that survived on its own while you were busy raising a family, working, caring for people, and serving in ministry.

If it kept itself alive through a season when you had nothing left to give it, pay attention to that.

Sign 2: You already have the material

Look at what is already in your house. Journals, notes on your phone, blog posts, talks you have given at church, devotionals you wrote for your family. Most writers who ask whether they are called have been quietly collecting for years without calling it that.

CJ calls this the kindling for your writing fire.

Rosemary, one of the writers we have worked with, set out to write a simple lead magnet with ten tips in it. When she finished, she realized it was the start of a book, because she already had a story for every single tip.

Another writer, Roberta, had been writing poems and testimonies for thirty-three years before she saw the book sitting inside them.

Neither one was collecting on purpose. They just kept writing about the same thing.

God usually gives you the material before He gives you the assignment.

That pile is not nothing. That pile is the sign.

If you write fiction, this works the same way. It is the story you keep starting. The same character who will not go away. The same question you keep writing your way around. If writing time is what you are short on, here is how to find time to write a book in a full season.

Sign 3: Your story lines up with the message

This sign gets missed because it involves the part of your life you would rather not talk about. The thing you walked through. The years you would take back if you could. Very often that is exactly what the book is about.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says God comforts us in our troubles so that we can comfort others with the comfort we ourselves have received.

Notice that the comfort has a direction. It came to you, and it was never meant to stop with you.

If the message you want to write is the message you needed and did not have, pay attention to that.

This is where a lot of writers get stuck on whether they are qualified. You are thinking about credentials. Many times God is talking about experience.

My best selling book, Broken Crayons Still Color, came out of the stories I would rather not tell. My deepest, darkest seasons. That book is the reason we are now on YouVersion, where we have 24 devotional plans.

I was a math and science person with a degree in physical therapy. English was my worst subject in high school. I have still written and published over 50 books, and together CJ and I have published over 70.

God uses our weaknesses for His strength.

Sign 4: Other people keep confirming it

People who do not know each other keep telling you the same thing. That pattern, not any single compliment, is the sign worth weighing.

The words are usually some version of “you should write this down” or “have you ever thought about writing a book?”

Be careful here too. Encouragement is not always a calling. Kind people say kind things.

What matters is the pattern, not the compliment.

Not one person being nice. The same specific thing, coming from people who have never met each other. They did not get in a room and coordinate. They have never met, and you keep hearing the same thing.

Pay attention to what they are actually pointing at. Usually it is not “you are a good writer.” It is “the way you explained that is what helped me.”

Listen for that one.

Wise counsel has always been one of the ways God confirms direction. We just expect it to show up looking more official than it does.

Think back to the people who have said something to you. Did they actually know each other?

Sign 5: You care more about the reader than the book

Here is the one almost nobody counts, and we think it is the clearest sign of all. When you picture the book finished, what do you actually see?

It is not wrong to want to be a published author. That is a good goal. But which one speaks louder?

Are you picturing the bestseller list and the book contract? Or are you picturing the person reading it, and their life changing?

CJ and I were on our virtual writing retreat kick-off call recently, talking about the Ray Boltz song “Thank You for Giving to the Lord.” I started weeping on that call. That song is about a life that was changed.

The Kingdom Writers we watch actually finish are almost always the ones who can name the reader.

I recommend putting one person’s name or picture on your writing desk. Maybe it is your daughter. Your grandkids. The woman in your church who is right now where you were 20 years ago and does not know that anybody made it through.

A calling to write is really a calling to serve someone. I think of it as a form of discipleship. How many of us have been discipled by a book we read?

This is the sign that will still be there on the hard days. Wanting to be an author will not get you through those. Wanting someone to be impacted for eternity will.

What if you have known for years and still have not started?

Knowing you are called and actually beginning are two different problems, and the second one is solvable. If you have seen yourself in these signs for years without writing, the issue is not discernment anymore.

That is worth naming plainly, because a lot of writers keep re-asking the calling question when the calling was settled long ago. The real obstacle is a starting problem, or a stalling problem, and those have practical fixes. Here is more on how to find the motivation to finish your book.

Come write with us

If you saw yourself in any of these five signs, that is not you talking yourself into something. That is a confirmation you already had and never counted.

Every month I host a free live Zoom session called the Writing Restart. It is for writers who know God gave them the book but have not started yet, or who got stuck along the way. The next one is Wednesday, October 7 at 11am Eastern, and you get a free toolkit when you sign up for the free Writing Restart.

And if you want the roadmap, the community, and people who notice when you go quiet, that is what CJ and I built Christian Book Academy for. It is our $49/month membership for Kingdom Writers, with the Kingdom Writers Path, monthly virtual retreats, Progress Pods, and a Next Steps coaching call every month.

Barbara Robbins is writing hers there right now. Her Tiny Testimony Book is about how the Lord brought her family through a tornado that virtually destroyed their home, without a single injury. Her story lines up with her message. That is sign three, lived out. If you have a testimony like that in you, the Tiny Testimony Book Workshop walks you through getting the first story down.

Final thoughts

You probably did not need all five signs. Most people know by two or three whether they are called to write that book.

The signs were never meant to be a test you pass. They are confirmations God has been giving you, some of them for years, while you waited for something louder.

Your book is not a project with a person attached. You are a person with a calling attached. And the God who gave you the material before He gave you the assignment is not going to abandon you in the middle of it.

Go look at what you already have. Then write for 15 minutes today.

Frequently Asked Questions About Knowing You Are Called to Write a Book

Last Updated: October 7, 2026

You're reading 5 Signs God Is Calling You to Write a Book, originally posted on Training Authors with CJ and Shelley Hitz - We help Christian writers take a step of faith and finally finish your book! and copyrighted by TrainingAuthors.com.

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Listen Below:

Subscribe to the Podcast here.

Click here to leave a review and subscribe to the show.  Read my step-by-step tutorial and find out all the details here.

Notes from this episode:

Together

As authors with a message to share, the questions we ask often start with, “God how do I…”. His response is, “Together!” When you become stressed, worried about the outcome, or get stuck, remember God is near and wants more than anything to give you comfort, confidence, strength and wisdom to complete the mission He’s placed before you. Like the Good Shepherd He is, God will provide everything you need to succeed, that includes togetherness in a community like what you have here in Christian Book Academy.

Author Bio

Dak Frederick is a Legacy and Life Story Coach and has spent hundreds of hours helping writers reach their goals. His clients describe him as patient, humble, and deeply invested in their success.

Beyond writing, Dak is a singer and musician who enjoys playing the piano. He’s been joyfully married for fifteen years and is a proud father to two girls.

Dak is a Retired U.S. Marine Gunnery Sergeant. He holds a Master’s in Counseling from Liberty University, a Bachelor’s in Communication, a Bachelor’s in Ministry, as well as Digital Marketing Certificates from eCornell University. You can connect with him at: http://www.empoweredtopublish.com/.

Resources:

If you’re ready to take a step of faith and finally finish your book, we have a few ways we can help you. 

Free Writing Week Challenge: Create a Writing Habit in 15 Minutes a Day

Even if you feel overwhelmed or stuck in procrastination, sitting down to write for just 15 minutes a day is the best way to finally reach your writing goals. Most writers think they need hours of uninterrupted time to make progress in their writing. However, in this free challenge, we will show you how much you can accomplish in just 15 minutes of focused writing.

Click here to create a consistent writing habit this week.

Book Writing Lab Workshop – Map Out Your Book in Just 90 Minutes

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Want More Support? Join Christian Book Academy

Most writers stay stuck and never finish their first draft. Inside Christian Book Academy, we help you partner with God to write your book so you can become a published author. Finally, ditch your self-doubt and take a step of faith so you can finish your book.

Join Christian Book Academy (coupon code PODCAST)

Get 50% off your first month by using the coupon code PODCAST at checkout.

You're reading Together, originally posted on Training Authors with CJ and Shelley Hitz - We help Christian writers take a step of faith and finally finish your book! and copyrighted by TrainingAuthors.com.

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Listen Below:

Subscribe to the Podcast here.

Click here to leave a review and subscribe to the show.  Read my step-by-step tutorial and find out all the details here.

Notes from this episode:

Little by Little

Exodus 23:27-30

Here we have the Israelites moving through the wilderness and received the hopeful promise of a land they would possess. 

But it would not come at the snap of God’s fingers. It wouldn’t even come in a year. It would be a gradual process. Little by little. 

There are very practical reasons for this:

• If the land were cleared of its inhabitants immediately, the lack of human maintenance would cause crops to fail and the land to quickly revert to wilderness…oh great, more wilderness! 
• With vast, uninhabited, and uncultivated territories, predators and wild beasts would multiply and pose a severe physical threat to the Israelites and their livestock.
• The phrase “little by little” highlights God’s method of preparing His people. He gives them time to increase in numbers, become organized, and learn how to manage and care for their new inheritance. 

For you mothers and fathers out there, think about the preparation and planning that takes place in those 9 months of pregnancy. Not only buying and receiving baby items but the preparation of your hearts and a 9-month course in maturity as you wait for this gift from the Lord. 

As each of us prepares to give birth to our book babies, there is a process God takes us through. Little by little He molds and shapes us. We grow as Kingdom Writers one hard-earned sentence at a time. 

Yes, there are moments when we wish we could snap our fingers and have the book published. But we would miss out on so much and wouldn’t be prepared if put in that position so quickly. 

Just as the Israelites wanted to possess the land immediately, people often desire instant answers, success, or perfection. These verses remind us that “little by little” growth protects us from being overwhelmed by blessings or situations they are not yet equipped to handle. 

What are some examples of “wild animals” that could become too numerous in our lives if not for the little by little process God takes us through in life and with our books? 

(Pride, self-sufficiency, overwhelm with new responsibilities, lack of structure in place, worshiping success, etc). 

I see one other glaring reason I think the Lord gives His people this “little by little” strategy: He wants us to rely upon Him every step of the way. If we got everything we wanted in an instant, we would be so prone to living our lives as if to say, “Ok God, I’m good to go! I’ll let you know if I need anything else.” 

Maybe the Lord has given you a vision of a promised land to come. If so, embrace the “little by little” process He has for you. It will be worth the wait.

Resources:

If you’re ready to take a step of faith and finally finish your book, we have a few ways we can help you. 

Free Writing Week Challenge: Create a Writing Habit in 15-Minutes a Day

Even if you feel overwhelmed or stuck in procrastination, sitting down to write for just 15 minutes a day is the best way to finally reach your writing goals. Most writers think they need hours of uninterrupted time to make progress in their writing. However, in this free challenge, we will show you how much you can accomplish in just 15 minutes of focused writing.

Click here to create a consistent writing habit this week.

Book Writing Lab Workshop – Map Out Your Book in Just 90 Minutes

If over the last year, you’ve struggled to get your book written, this workshop is for you. Choose your book topic, write an outline, and create a writing plan in just 90 minutes! Finally, feel confident that you will actually finish your book.

Get started now for just $27

Want More Support? Join Christian Book Academy

Most writers stay stuck and never finish their first draft. Inside Christian Book Academy, we help you partner with God to write your book so you can become a published author. Finally, ditch your self-doubt and take a step of faith so you can finish your book.

Join Christian Book Academy (coupon code PODCAST)

Get 50% off your first month by using the coupon code PODCAST at checkout.

You're reading Little By Little, originally posted on Training Authors with CJ and Shelley Hitz - We help Christian writers take a step of faith and finally finish your book! and copyrighted by TrainingAuthors.com.

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Notes from this episode:

Ask, Seek, Knock

As independent authors, we wear a lot of different hats. Writer, marketer, business owner, bookkeeper, book designer. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed at times. And because we’re Kingdom writers, we also face the obstacles the enemy throws at us. 

God provided all the answers we need in His Word. 

Let’s look specifically at Matt. 7:7 NKJV, “Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

How many of you find it hard to ask for help, to seek for what you need, or to knock on the necessary doors? 

Yet, as Luke 18:17 tells us we are to approach the kingdom of God like a child.

They are innocent, trusting, and act without hesitation or fear. Kids have no problem asking for what they want! Somewhere in our growing up years, we lost those qualities, but we need to recover them.

Without fear or hesitation and coupled with belief and faith, God wants us to…

Ask for his message, his words to put onto the page. 

Seek him and his wisdom for how to do what he’s called us to do.

Knock on the doors God leads us to. But also realize our books are like knocking on someone’s door. Those who buy them have opened their door to our words. Our marketing is a knock on someone’s door.

We are God’s children, and he delights in us. He isn’t going to hesitate to give us what we ask, seek, and knock for.  

About Debra:

Debra L. Butterfield is the author of eleven books, a freelance editor, writing coach, former editorial director of CrossRiver Media Group, and a former copywriter for Focus on the Family.

Resources:

If you’re ready to take a step of faith and finally finish your book, we have a few ways we can help you. 

Free Writing Week Challenge: Create a Writing Habit in 15-Minutes a Day

Even if you feel overwhelmed or stuck in procrastination, sitting down to write for just 15 minutes a day is the best way to finally reach your writing goals. Most writers think they need hours of uninterrupted time to make progress in their writing. However, in this free challenge, we will show you how much you can accomplish in just 15 minutes of focused writing.

Click here to create a consistent writing habit this week.

Book Writing Lab Workshop – Map Out Your Book in Just 90 Minutes

If over the last year, you’ve struggled to get your book written, this workshop is for you. Choose your book topic, write an outline, and create a writing plan in just 90 minutes! Finally, feel confident that you will actually finish your book.

Get started now for just $27

Want More Support? Join Christian Book Academy

Most writers stay stuck and never finish their first draft. Inside Christian Book Academy, we help you partner with God to write your book so you can become a published author. Finally, ditch your self-doubt and take a step of faith so you can finish your book.

Join Christian Book Academy (coupon code PODCAST)

Get 50% off your first month by using the coupon code PODCAST at checkout.

You're reading Ask, Seek, Knock, originally posted on Training Authors with CJ and Shelley Hitz - We help Christian writers take a step of faith and finally finish your book! and copyrighted by TrainingAuthors.com.

Connect With Us Online:

Google + (Shelley)  | Google +  (Heather)  | Twitter  | Facebook | Pinterest