All this talk about dreams lately… and one is coming true for me in less than a week.
I’m in a pivotal place in my writing career, a crossroads of sorts. My book Juxtaposed did very well for Christopher Matthews Publishing. It was their #1 best seller for 2012. It garnered the attention of an amazing agent, Chip MacGregor from MacGregor Literary, and Chip pitched it for a rerelease to everybody who is anybody among the big publishing houses with Hope Givers coming down the pike for a two-book deal.
This is actually not the dream that came true. I did not, in fact, get picked up for a two-book deal by Simon and Schuster or Random House or Thomas Nelson or any one of the others whose doors he knocked on on my behalf, God love his heart. But you know what?
Every path to success has twists and turns and blockades, walls that stand in our way in this life sometimes. I love what Randy Pausch said in his Last Lecture about those walls:
“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”
But the wheels in my mind are constantly spinning… On Christmas day I’m pretty sure that the little baby Jesus, whose birthday it was supposed to be, gave me something: an idea.
And ideas become things, if you recall from last week’s post.
Between courses of our Danish smorgasbord, I felt a surge of Creativity, sat on the couch in my living room and channeled the vision for RAIN Magazine. As I write this, almost every thought that flowed through me last December 25th has become a tangible reality and the spring issue will launch online this coming Thursday, March 20th. I will release three more issues in 2014 on the first days of summer, fall, and winter.
Each issue has a theme:
Spring – Hope for the World
Summer – Getting Outside Yourself
Fall – Living in Abundance and Surrender
Winter – Reflection, Revision, and Renewal
I have chosen four charities this year to receive a portion of the profits for each magazine sold:
The City Impact Center in Las Vegas, Nevada
The people who work with the CIC are revitalizing the inner city of Las Vegas by providing free medical care for kids, after school programs, pre-school, senior housing, a community garden, food for the homeless, and a pay-it-forward program that is bringing the neighborhood together.
This organization provides free counseling for people who have been affected by child sexual abuse, reaching out on a national level to those who still suffer from this trauma.
Treasures of Africa Children’s Home
The abandoned children in Moshi, Tanzania, Africa have hope for the future because of the love and dedication of some amazing people. This AIDS orphanage provides protection, quality health care, and a solid education to the precious treasures in their care
These brilliant people in Ethiopia had a fantastic idea that become a thing… they join widows with orphans and establish a household for them to live in safety and provision and have changed the trajectory of precious souls.
I hope you’ll pick up RAIN Magazine and share it with your loved ones. May it uplift and encourage and inspire you on your journeys!
All my love,
Daisy Rain
Daisy Rain Martin is the editor in chief for RAIN Magazine. She is also author of Juxtaposed: Finding Sanctuary on the Outside and If It’s Happened to You, which can both be found on her website. Look for Hopegivers: Hope is Here in 2014.