Is the Lord telling me to cast out my net?

https://pixabay.com/en/winter-season-snow-cold-old-cabin-208847/

I’m a private kinda person. With 99% introvert qualities. Seriously, if I could, I would probably live in a (comfortable) remote cabin and thrive. Give me my husband, my little dude and my laptop and I’ll be good to go. Wait. Add my Pugs, please. And books. Lots of books. Okay… and Wi-Fi. Hehehehe. I said comfortable, remember?

Because I struggle connecting with people, and opening up, I’ve never submitted any of my work to a traditional publishing house. I’ve been writing for eighteen years this year, dreaming about publishing my stories, all in the comfort of a hermit-like-writer environment. Why? because, REJECTION stings. I’m sure everyone knows that. The idea that my work gets rejected for whatever reason, terrifies me. (Perfectionism streak.)

Eventually my husband (Bless him) grew tired of my whining and convinced me to join ACFW's. I think 2013… or 2014 perhaps? Anywho, I joined and only then did I start putting my work out there in the Scribes Loop (Online critique group – I recommend joining ACFW’s to anyone hoping to enter the CBA publishing world.) for OTHER people to read. *Gasp.* That’s also where I found most of my amazing crit partners.

Somewhere along the journey the idea of indie-publishing became more and more appealing to me. See, indie-publishing is mostly a one-man show. No need for you to approach unnecessary people. If you want, (you probably should) you hire an editor. If you can, you do your own cover work. No rejection. No damaged pride. Also, you’ll be in charge. Whooop! But I realized after some introversion that my reason for finding the indie-publishing world enticing… was wrong. 
I was being disobedient.
Deep down I knew I wanted to pursue indie-publishing to avoid rejection. Then Deanna posted about her publishing journey,and the more I mulled over her post, the more the following scripture came to my mind:

Luke 5:3-6Amplified Bible (AMP)

³ He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little distance from the shore. And He sat down and began teaching the crowds from the boat. ⁴ When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon [Peter], “Put out into the deep water and lower your nets for a catch [of fish].” ⁵ Simon replied, “Master, we worked hard all night [to the point of exhaustion] and caught nothing [in our nets], but at Your word I will [do as you say and] lower the nets [again].” ⁶ When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets were [at the point of] breaking;

A simple act of obedience yielded a tremendous catch. It would’ve been missed unless Peter obeyed.

So now I’m being obedient and polishing a novella to pitch to a traditional publishing house.
Am I terrified – You bet’cha!
Will I be traditionally published? I don’t know.
If I get rejected, will it sting? Of course.
Will I sulk and cry and indulge in chocolate and ice cream ? Probably. 
But, I reckon there’s something that I need to learn and that’s why I’m gonna listen to the Lord. I’ll give y’all an update when I actually do sub my novella, and the outcome. Of course there's the  option of approaching other publishing houses if I get rejected this time, and that gives me hope. And I might just attempt it.

Maybe after this lesson, I will have the Lord’s peace and finally be able to pursue indie-publishing.

I guess all this rumbling can be summed up in one question: Is the Lord telling you to cast out your nets on the other side?

I hope this will inspire you to do some self-introspection and yield to the Lord’s will.

Until next time, be blessed.

~Lucy