The Unconventional Journey of an Unexpected Christian Fiction Author – Anne Perreault

Embracing Unexpected Paths and Crafting Compelling Tales

Meet Anne Perreault, a Christian Fiction author whose unconventional journey into storytelling took an unexpected turn. Despite never crossing paths in person, Anne and I quickly bonded over our shared love for crafting compelling tales filled with excitement, adventure, and God’s gift of forgiveness. Join Anne as she shares her story, exploring the twists and turns that led her to embrace writing and captivate readers with her vibrant narratives.

Thank you, for having me, Heidi. It’s an honor and a pleasure.

Being a Christian Fiction author is NOT something I planned on doing. I love stories. I love telling stories. I love excitement and adventure in my stories. As a kid, I was always making up something to entertain myself in my head. Or I was performing skits to entertain my family and friends. But actually writing a book?

No. No way. No how.

See, and that is where God comes in. He’s such an amazing planner, it’s humbling. Man, in form of my teachers, told me to never do it. God said, I’ll mold you and make you so you can be used by Me. I will give you all the tools you need. But, you’ll be unaware of it. It’s all My doing.

And so, I went about my business. Sure, I thought about writing when I was a kid. I mean, with all the stories in my head, who can blame me. But as I said, my teachers strongly discouraged me. Little did they know. In high school, I became aware of the power of education and knowledge. I thrived on learning, finally. I’m a bit of a late bloomer. In college, I wrote and wrote and wrote. I loved writing papers, doing research, and finding the right words to answer essay questions.

And then came real life…

…real kids…

…real marriage.

The thing was that even during those hectic times, I had a story playing in my head. And when things got tough, I’d block everything and go to my happy place where nobody knew and nobody could follow.

Until God got ahold of me. That was a shocker in the first place; to realize that God actually cared of my thoughts. And we had a chat about those thoughts and where they really ought to go when things were tough. He wanted me to turn to Him, rather than hide in a place nobody was aware of.

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 2 Cor 10:5

It took a while for me to realize what God was asking. When I did, I made a point of running to Him, instead of making up a fictional place to hide. It was a good thing, because things got rough. My husband of 14 years spent two years in Iraq in support of the troops. He was a water chemist and tested the water on base in Iraq. That left our little family of five without a father and husband, but during that time, God became our all. During that time, I also started my first attempt at writing. I was homeschooling and my daughter was a voracious reader. I felt that there weren’t any quality books for young girls to read. So, I allowed my imagination to go wild again.

It took me 12 years to finish this story for her. She never read it. It kinda makes me sad, but it’s okay. She designs my covers, so there is that. When my husband came home, finally, we moved to Vermont and it was here that God knocked me over with, well, let me tell you.

I was sitting in the library, finishing the last sentence of the story I wrote for my daughter. I looked at the screen and thought, Now what, God?

Now what, God?

A little bit of advice. Never ask a question unless you’re willing to hear the answer. Because God answered immediately. I heard His voice in my heart and it kinda shocked me to the core. His answer? Write the story.

Write the story.

I knew immediately which story He was referring to and I may have actually laughed. And then I came up with all these excuses to not write the story that had been in my head for most of my life. He listened patiently, like a Father and His petulant child. When it was His turn to speak, boy did He speak.

We worked out a ton of things in my reluctance to write. I would love to share these with you quickly.

1. I am creative. I may not put together a beautiful bouquet of flowers or knit a sweater (please don’t ask me to), but He has made me creative in my own way.
2. He created me for a specific task in mind. And He equipped me perfectly for it. All those papers and essays in college and grad school were leading to this one place. He was giving me a choice to step into this, this labor of love.
3. I was forgiven in full, paid by the blood of Christ. Not because I was so good and wholesome, but because Christ paid it all.
4. He was going to show me the way forward. All I had to do was to step out and allow Him to lead.
5. He was going to reveal Himself to me as I wrote. He was going to heal that which was still broken inside me to create the woman He wanted me to be.

Obedience is tough.

It took me about 3 months to finally give in. Yes, He was patient and listened to me, but I … He walked me through my doubts and fears. When I finally accepted the challenge, it was like He said. I had been born to write. Over the next couple of years, 4 to be exact, I wrote and wrote and wrote so hard, I had amassed an impressive arsenal of stories. Some have been published, others are still waiting … impatiently perhaps.

In the past 8 years, I’ve published 22 books. They were all written under the tutelage of my Savior. I’ve learned so much about our relationship with each book that we write. I love this working relationship we have. Now, that does not mean I don’t struggle. Every time I go to publish, something always hinders that process. Writing is difficult, no matter who you partner with. But there is a lot of growth and peace that passes understanding.

I hope that this lifts you up and helps you to see the faithfulness in our God. I invite you to check out my books on Amazon and wherever books can be found. Feel free to follow me on social media and subscribe to my newsletter.

Linktree, Amazon, Goodreads, and Bookbub

Thank you, Anne, for sharing your heart, your story, and your stories with us. You have lifted my spirits today. Reader, if you haven’t read Anne’s work, her recent release If I Dream,* is one of my favorites. Read my review on Goodreads.