Article: Encouragement Leads to Guidepost’s Grand Prize

By Lorene Masters

Lorene shared the following after reading A Matter of Encouragement, an article I posted on this blog in March.

After my first writer’s conference two years ago, I learned that the world of writing is full of intelligent, cutting-edge agents and publishers who are not afraid to tell you how they really feel. And how I sincerely wished that they would not be so bold when it came to me and the critiquing of my proposal letters and manuscripts. Their critique was all over the board from, “you are a gifted writer with a great story that needs to be told,” to “you need to start all over and write this as fiction,” and “who told you that you could write memoirs because you clearly cannot and you must not have read very many of them or you would know how to write one.”

But as God often does, he saved the best for last and for me that was Les Stobbe.  I was quite overwhelmed by the time I got to my last agent appointment, but Les was so genuinely kind that my fears were all put aside with one welcoming smile from him. He took my proposal letter and read it all the way through (not all agents do this) and even read the first several pages of my manuscript. In a spirit of godly love, he offered me constructive criticism that day and in our email correspondence to come. I took his advice, applied it to my manuscript and entered it in the Guideposts book publishing contest and won the Grand Prize!

I am currently working on two books and when I feel discouraged with the whole publishing process, I remember the kindness of a man who gave me a chance when I was wondering if I could even survive the day in this sometimes erratic world of writing.

4 thoughts on “Article: Encouragement Leads to Guidepost’s Grand Prize

  1. Les is a kind, caring man – a giant in the industry – who has a heart for new authors. He doesn’t make promises he can’t keep but listens and takes time to give advice. This gives hope and determination to move forward.

  2. Thank you for sharing Lorene’s blog, Les. I also found that same experience. But with God’s guidance through my daily walk with Him, listening to your advise, and taking into consideration the expertise you have, I secured a publisher for my book, “Between a Hard Place and a Rock.”
    Our God is an awesome God!

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