Kimber the Magnificent here. I’m doin’ my tornado tail-waggin’ thing today. Know why? Cuz today’s one of my favorite kinda days! It’s a Guest Post Day with a New Favorite Author! It’s also a day when we get to find out where an author gets her ideas – setting, characters, plot and stuff like that. Have you ever wondered about that? We have!

So today’s your Bow-Wow Day! Yes siree, Lassie! We’re getting to know Anna Hawkes Cabral, author of Purposeful Work, Blessed Rest: A 6-Week Devotional for Mothers. (Our review will be up on May 8. So save that date! ) 

Anna’s goin’ to share with us a bit about how she wrote her first book, her journey to publication, why she wrote Purposeful Work, and some insights into her writing schedule and struggles. Lots of good stuff here! question and more! (Think of it as Sirloin Steak Day with a side of T-bone!!)

So I’d dig in now ‘fize you. Take it away, Anna:

By Anna Hawkes Cabral

I’d always wanted to write a book. Yet, interestingly enough, my first book wasn’t my idea. God led me to write it.

HOW I WROTE MY FIRST BOOK

I became a mom in 2014, and I had three children in the space of three years. Motherhood was joyful, but also hard. I struggled with feelings of insecurity, inadequacy, and guilt brought about by comparing myself to other women, my frustration at not being able to be a perfect mama, and sparse time spent in God’s word.

With time, as my children got older, and I spent more time in Scripture, I came to see all the lies I was believing about myself, others, and even God.

This journey in applying Gospel truth to motherhood took years. Toward the end of that journey, another mom and I set up a Christian mom ministry. And it was when I was ministering to other moms that I realized something that astounded me. Many of the struggles I had been through as a young mom were common struggles for other mothers too: guilt, inadequacy, overwhelm, insecurity, comparison issues.

One day in April 2020, one of my Christian mom ministry co-leaders asked me to do a presentation for the moms regarding mother/child relationships. When I was preparing my materials, everything that I’d been learning about how the Gospel relates to motherhood started surfacing. Memories of my past struggles, of God’s teaching through His word, came flooding in like a tidal wave.

I wrote what I could in word documents and then in a PowerPoint, but deep down I knew there was more to share than I could possibly do justice to in a 40-minute presentation. 

And that’s when I sensed God lead me to write my first book, Unique: A Testimony Of Hope In A Comparison Obsessed Mommy Culture.

HOW I BECAME A PUBLISHED AUTHOR

I began writing Unique in May 2020, and it took me a year to write. When I finished, I began querying agents. Actually, I didn’t get far! I sent emails to three agents, and I got a response from one. She loved my book idea. She didn’t love the fact that I didn’t have an audience to market my book to. Email me again when you do – she wrote. I knew then that publishing a book with a traditional publisher could take years.

By this time, I’d begun following a podcast for writers, which focused on independent publishing. As I listened to the episodes, I came to see that maybe there was another path for me.

Aside from the marketing, which I’d have to take complete responsibility for, it seemed like a dream come true. I would have full creative control. I could market my book according to my personality and boundaries. I could publish right away. So, I went forward and pursued independent publishing.

The first thing I did was to edit and publish a short devotional book I’d written in between editing Unique, called Beautiful Truth.

Then, in November 2021, after finally finishing the cover design, beta reading process, and final edits, I published Unique.

At this point, I could have just left it at that. After all, I’d published the book God had led me to write. But I didn’t. I enjoyed writing so much that a year after I published Unique, at the end of 2022, I published Impact: Gospel Hope For Every Woman. And then finally, at the beginning of 2023, I published my second devotional book for mothers called Purposeful Work, Blessed Rest.

By being obedient to God’s calling to write my first book, God inspired me to write multiple Gospel-centred books for Christian women.

WHY I WROTE PURPOSEFUL WORK, BLESSED REST

I love God’s design. I love how we created us for fulfilling and purposeful work. I also love that God designed us to rest. To delight in Him. To pause and just breathe!

Purposeful Work, Blessed Rest invites mamas to walk through these beautiful truths about God and His design for work and rest. It’s for every mother out there who struggles with stress and wants to rest in God and work purposefully in His Kingdom.

MY WRITING PROCESS

I’m an intuitive writer, which means that my outlines take shape as I write, rather than the other way round. Because I write out of my passion for the Gospel and how it relates to us as women, I don’t write to market.

My book ideas come about from my experiences with certain struggles and God’s teaching in my life. Thus, my books are testimonial as well as practical.

With time, I’ve gotten faster at writing. My first book, Unique, took over a year to write. Impact took a little under a year. At the moment, I’m writing a book about Social Media and I predict it’ll take around six months to write.

MY WRITING SCHEDULE

As I’m a freelance English teacher, an elder’s wife, and a mom of three children, I find it helps to schedule my writing as I do all my other responsibilities. What I do is that I block out an hour or two to write every morning. Since I write better when I’m out of the house, I set up a date with myself at a local coffee shop or library.

WRITER STRUGGLES

Although writing is my passion, it’s not without struggle. As I’m an independent author, I spend a lot of time doing marketing tasks like email, social media, scheduling book promotions, blogging, and podcasting. Some of these marketing tasks are enjoyable (email, blogging and podcasting production) and some are not as enjoyable (scheduling book promotions, editing podcast episodes, keyword search). But I guess that’s just part and parcel of the whole writing gig!

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