Prostitute at the Well

For the past few weeks I?ve been querying Literary Agents in hopes that one will take the bait and represent my new novel, The River Keeper. To date I have sent out 47 proposals and out of those I have only received two personal messages back. I took one agent?s suggestion to heart and revised several chapters per her input. I do believe the changes improved the book and I am thankful to that agent.

The second personal message sort of hit me in the gut. It read like this: I really like your writing, but the religious elements here I think would make the book a pretty tough sell in the competitive Young Adult market. I love those first few words: I really like your writing. But, I hate the word ?but.? B?u?t, those three little letters can simple ruin your day.

At the beginning of every chapter of The River Keeper a scripture that is relevant to what will happen in that chapter is written. So of course it is full of religious elements. But, this time I will not take the advice of an agent. I refuse to take the scripture out of The River Keeper. The entire story is woven around God and the fact that He can make good come out of anything. I truly believe this so I won?t back down from my convictions.

Wouldn?t it be wonderful if The River Keeper was released into the world of young adults and that they would read the scriptures and yearn to learn more about the mysteries that are woven throughout the Bible? Maybe if they read the inspired words of God they would find their place in a world full of uncertainty.

I can see the craze now: Young adults everywhere are inspired to read the greatest book ever written. Instead of The Twilight Series or Hunger Games these young people will be reading about miraculous healings, a sea that opens to let thousands of people safely through to the opposite side, a blind man who pastes mud on his eyes and sees for the first time. A Samaritan woman at a well, who may or may not have been a prostitute, is forgiven of all her sins. What about a boy who kills a giant with a stone and a slingshot, sounds sort of like The Hunger Games doesn?t it? Then there?s this story about the biggest zoo in the world inside a boat called an Ark. What about that man named Jonah who lived for three days inside the belly of a huge fish and was then spit out on shore. And, don?t get me started on the complex enigma of angels that walk among us?

I could go on and on about all the great stories that are inside the Bible. Are we letting our young people down by not sharing the mysteries of God? Now don?t get me wrong I am not a religious nut. I?m just a sinner who is trying to live a little better everyday and spread the Good News of Jesus. It scares me to think that a young person would become so intrigued by some literary work that promotes vampires and not know what is written inside the greatest Book of all.

When I was a teenager I received a copy of The Way, The Living Bible. I truly don?t know how I would have made it through some of the things that happened to me as a youngster if I hadn?t had this Book to turn to. Every answer to every question you might have about life is found in the Bible. You can see by the worn, and tattered cover that my Bible was used.

This blog is titled, Prostitute at the Well, got your attention, right? Why is that? Worrisome isn?t it? So, this old gal won?t be prostituting herself out to the world by denying God His say in my work. The scripture, or so-called, religious elements will stay in The River Keeper, whether it ever finds a home at a Literary Agency or not.

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Matthew 10:33

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But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

Tagged as: "The River Keeper", Bible, Hunger Games, literary agent, Matthew 10:33, The Way - Living Bible, Twilight Series, Young Adult