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

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

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 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.

Connect With Us Online:

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

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.

Connect With Us Online:

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

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:

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

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:

Rooted

“This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land. “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭17‬:‭5‬-‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Why plants & trees need water.

Practice:

• Cultivate silence – creating quiet spaces for prayer, listening, stillness, meditation on God’s Word is vital for deepening our roots, perhaps even more in our day and age than at any other time in history, due to the amount of sheer noise. 

• Gratitude – a deeply rooted life overflows with thanksgiving. “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”

Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭2‬:‭7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

As Kingdom Writers, these practices are nonnegotiable if the words we write are to be fruitful and life-giving. As our roots go down deep into the Living Water of Jesus, we will overflow with words that impact and refresh others.

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 Rooted, 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

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:

Permission To Turn Up The Volume

Read Luke 19:28-40

It is more likely that inanimate objects like rocks would cry out to Jesus in worship than for the King of kings to enter his capital city without honor. 

Jesus encouraged the joyful praise of the people, He didn’t suppress it. But how quickly things would change in less than a week, as many of these same people would yell, “Crucify!”

Human beings created in God’s image make much better worshippers than mere rocks. 

Line in the movie Troy by Achilles when fighting Hector. 

A few other instances of inanimate objects crying out in praise:

“Why, mountains, did you skip like rams? Why, hills, like lambs? Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob. He turned the rock into a pool of water; yes, a spring of water flowed from solid rock.” – Psalms‬ ‭114‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands!” – Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭12‬ ‭NLT

“Praise him, sun and moon! Praise him, all you twinkling stars! Praise him, skies above! Praise him, vapors high above the clouds!” – Psalms‬ ‭148‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all livestock, small scurrying animals and birds, kings of the earth and all people, rulers and judges of the earth, young men and young women, old men and children. Let them all praise the name of the Lord. For his name is very great; his glory towers over the earth and heaven! He has made his people strong, honoring his faithful ones— the people of Israel who are close to him. Praise the Lord!” – Psalms‬ ‭148‬:‭9‬-‭14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

As Kingdom Writers, may our written words give others permission to turn up the volume and burst into cheers with the joyful praise that our King Jesus is due. Let’s not give rocks any reason to cry out. 

Our joyful praise and worship now is practice for the future coronation of our King in that same city of Jerusalem

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 Permission To Turn Up The Volume, 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

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:

Light for my path

Psalm 119 is divided into 22 sections, which represent the 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. 

“Nun” = 14th of 22 Hebrew letters. It signifies a “fish” (representing life/continuation) or a “faithful/bent-over servant,” symbolizing humility and submission. (Joshua son of Nun)

“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭119‬:‭105‬ ‭

“A Lamp for the next sentence”

As Kingdom writers, we often want God to show us the whole story at once—the full outline, the perfect ending, the flawless draft. But this little verse reminds us that God usually gives light for the next step, not the entire road.

A lamp doesn’t flood the path with daylight. It reveals just enough to move forward safely. In the same way, God’s Word may not reveal your entire book, message, or calling today—but it will illuminate your next paragraph, your next idea, your next faithful act of obedience.

“For their command is a lamp and their instruction a light; their corrective discipline is the way to life.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭6‬:‭23‬ ‭

“Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts. Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.”

‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭19‬-‭21‬ ‭

If we give God’s Word daily attention, it will provide us with the direction, correction, and wisdom we need to be the best Kingdom writers we can be. 

We are humbling ourselves and acknowledging our need when we open God’s Word. We won’t find anything in the world that matches its substance and guidance. 

It’s ‘alive and active’ as Hebrews 4:12 says, because the same God who spoke creation into being by His word is the same God who spoke the words in our Bibles. He’s the same God who will empower our own written words that point to Him. 

Closing:

God is not asking you to see the whole journey. He is asking you to trust Him with the next line.

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 Lighted Path, 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