My Writing Breakthrough - Believe it!
- Oct 14
- 3 min read
By Christopher Greyson
My name is Christopher Greyson, and I’m a Wall Street Journal bestselling author with an amazing career, none of which would have happened if it weren’t for my 11-year-old daughter’s encouragement.
When I began writing, I was working three jobs, living in a third-floor apartment, barely supporting my family, and trying to get a writing career started. Everyone said it was an impossible dream. They all said I was foolish and that the little spare time I had, which I used for writing, would be better spent elsewhere — except my daughter, Laura.
Laura, like me, has the heart of an artist, but she also possessed something I was lacking — faith. Every day she would walk me out to my car, pray with me, and say, “Someday, Dad, you’re going to be an author — believe it.” She’d give me a big thumbs up and blow me kisses as I drove away to my horrible job. Ten hours later, I’d come home, work on my two side computer businesses, and crawl into bed exhausted.
But each new day, I’d wake up at 4:30 am, and sneak into the only room where I could write and not disturb anyone— the bathroom. I used the hamper as a writing desk and wrote as fast as my fingers could fly. Word by word, page by page, I completed my first novel — Girl Jacked.
Excited, I sent off query letter after query letter and received rejection after rejection. Everyone told me to quit. “You’ll never be a writer!” they said.
Yet, here was Laura telling me not to lose faith and keep at it.
So I did. And I wrote the second book in the series, Jack Knifed. Both books were very well received by the few people who read them, but there were hardly any sales.
Everyone told me to stop. They all said it was impossible to make a career as a writer. Give up. Stop. QUIT!
But here was Laura. Every day she’d walk me out to my car, pray with me before I headed off to work, and say — “Someday, Dad, you’re going to be an author — believe it.”
So I kept at it, but I was losing hope. I decided to write one more book. If Jacks are Wild didn’t do well, I’d accept the agony of defeat. So one last time, word after word, page after page in my bathroom, I wrote.
And something very strange happened. My few sales grew and kept growing. Fantastic book reviews started showing up on various websites. I wrote more books, and I landed on the Wall Street Journal’s bestselling list. The Girl Who Lived rose to the #1 book on all of Amazon and won 6 awards. Now, I’ve written The Color of Death with #1 New York Times bestselling author and former congressman, Trey Gowdy, as well as 20 other novels.
But, do you know what? I still run into people who tell me that it’s virtually impossible to make it as an author. They say you need an agent, a publicist, and an entire creative team. My reply is always the same. “Do the work, keep the faith, and anything is possible.” Wisdom learned from that little girl who walked me out to my car and prayed with me day after day. I think back to the morning after I quit my day job, sat at a real desk in my own office in our new apartment, and Laura stood in the doorway. She blew me a kiss, gave me a thumbs up, and said, “You’re an author, Dad — believe it.”
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