By Barbara Bras
Thank you for inviting me to be the featured CWOW
member this month. It’s an honor. In thinking about what may be interesting, I
thought I would answer a question I often receive: what inspired me to write and publish two
books within a year?
It’s a bit of a story. Unlike many authors, I didn’t
always write, nor did I yearn to write. In fact, the opposite was true for me;
fear of judgment discouraged me from writing. Judgment from my mother, an
English teacher and a strict perfectionist who demanded excellence in
everything, especially writing.
In spite of the circumstances, my love of reading led
to my first profession, teaching English at the high school level. Teaching
laid the foundation for my career, which ultimately resulted in twenty-five
plus years in various corporate environments as a Human Resources leader.
Naturally, during my career I wrote a great deal, including proposals, papers,
and communications of all kinds. But never anything creative, I never even
journaled.
Almost two years ago, our Pastor handed out little
pieces of paper during his sermon that said, “ENOUGH.” He questioned our inane
desire to accumulate things when we already have the one thing that is needful.
Just as Mary choose to worship at the feet of Jesus rather than be distracted
by the world, so must we choose what is most important. (Luke 10:42) It struck
a nerve.
Shortly thereafter, I made the decision to leave my
position of ten years. Unsure of my next move, I focused my energy on a burning
desire. Ever since the Lord provided a son for us through a miraculous
adoption, I believed He wanted me to share it as an encouragement to others. I
had tried to write the story many times without success. I signed up for retreat
that promised, “Write your book in a weekend!”
The three-day retreat required nonstop writing, first
in long hand, then on the pc. Amazingly, at the end of the third day I had not
only finally written the story of the miraculous adoption, I had shared the
incredible disappointment and heartache of the years that followed, all captured
within the context of my life and the life of my ancestors. Wrapped
in God’s Grace, a Life Rediscovered had materialized. I felt a great
release and I thought that would be the end of my writing.
Over the next few months as I edited the book, I
followed the system of editing for 45 minutes, and writing new material for 15.
What emerged during those 15 minute segments became Cassandra’s story, or She
Who Knows, a Tale of the Heart. The story unfolded in front of me, inspired
by the woman who supervised my student teaching in Honolulu back in 1977.
Barbara Robinson was an inspiration to me both as a
teacher and as a person. As we worked together that semester, she shared many
stories and took me under her wing. She told me the story of how her
grandmother, a musician, had come to islands and married her seafaring grandfather.
She spent a great deal of her childhood isolated in the mountains on Maui,
presumably to recover from an illness. When finally allowed to return to school
years later, her years of isolation and her archaic English made for a lonely life.
She also believed she that she had an usual gift, which she decided was better
left unused.
So what began as an effort to share my story and
encourage others has developed into a love of writing and a desire to serve the
Lord through my new passion.
Soli Deo Gloria. To
God Alone Be the Glory!
Barbara Bras
