Guest Post - Christine Lindsay

A WOMAN’S WORK IS NEVER DONE…or…THE PRICE OF SUCCESS AS A WRITER

by Christine Lindsay

Is it possible that some of us writers are workaholics because we like it?

At the start of my fifties I began my long-desired writing and speaking career. While things were challenging, God gave me the strength to rise to that challenge, and I thoroughly enjoyed reaching those long-sought-after goals.

OH MY, I FELT FULFILLED. I WAS WOMAN. HEAR ME ROAR…AND ALL THAT STUFF. 

But fifteen years after the fact, I also discovered that it was hard to shoehorn leisure time into my schedule. When was the last time I relaxed, took a day off? Sometimes months would go by.

AND THE BIGGER COST:

This past spring it dawned on me that my dear husband was suffering from loneliness due to my extremely busy schedule. The wrongness of this hit me between the eyes.

Around the same time I ran into two different sets of women. Six of one and half a dozen of the other, you might say.

The first group warmly reminisced about the wonderful holidays they had camping with their husbands over the years. The other group shared that quite recently their husbands had passed away, unexpectedly, suddenly, and all these dear husbands were around the age of sixty.

My husband was sixty.

A GOD-INSPIRED SOLUTION

On the way home from that speaking trip the question echoed in my mind. What am I waiting for? That week we purchased a brand new, little travel trailer. My husband didn’t take much convincing.

On our first trip in July we drove through the majestic Canadian Rockies, and at the summit of Roger’s Pass I noticed a large artillery gun. I asked my husband why on earth that was there, and he explained that avalanche control experts shot artillery shells into the snowcaps to trigger avalanches. They did this to control the snows from building too high and thick and thereby causing a fatal avalanche.

WHAT I LEARNED DRIVING THROUGH THE ROCKIES

I mulled this over and compared that to the changes I was making in my life. My marriage had to come first, even at the expense of my writing and speaking ministry. So, like the avalanche control experts, I chose to cut back on my writing so I could spend more togetherness time with my husband.

My little Christmas novelette Heavenly Haven is the culmination of that thinking. I hope and pray that my characters, Jack and Shaina, will inspire you to keep your priorities in line as well.

Heavenly Haven by Christine Lindsay

Avalanches happen to other people, not us. Marital problems happen to other people, not us, especially nine days before Christmas. At least that’s what Jack and Shaina Burke thought. Married for ten years, avalanche control expert Jack, and Shaina, only wanted to celebrate their December anniversary in a romantic way, until the shifting snows on the mountain bring havoc tumbling down upon them.

Heavenly Haven is available as an Ebook on Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, and Kobo.

About the author:

Christine Lindsay is an Irish-born writer, proud of the fact that she was once patted on the head by Prince Philip when she was a baby. Her great grandfather, and her grandfather—yes father and son—were both riveters on the building of the Titanic. Tongue in cheek, Christine states that as a family they accept no responsibility for the sinking of that great ship.

It was stories of her ancestors who served in the British Cavalry in Colonial India that inspired her historical series Twilight of the British Raj of which Book 1 Shadowed in Silk has won several awards, and Book 2 Captured by Moonlight. Christine is currently writing the final installment of that series called Veiled at Midnight to be released August 2014.

Also coming out February 2014 is Londonderry Dreaming, a romance novella set in Londonderry Northern Ireland, not far from Christine’s birthplace.

Her newest release a short Christmas story, Heavenly Haven, has just been released as an Ebook Oct. 15, 2013.

Christine makes her home in British Columbia, on the west coast of Canada with her husband and their grown up family. Her cat Scottie is chief editor on all Christine’s books.

Christine Lindsay would love to connect with you on her website www.ChristineLindsay.com, or drop by her blog for inspiration www.ChristineLindsay.org or follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest