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The Making of A Time to Trust


A teenage girl approached me with tears in her eyes. We were finalists at a national fine arts competition in Florida accompanied by thousands of other talented teens. One of my writing submissions was a true story that I assumed had no originality. Resting among dozens of well-written works by promising young writers, my story lay underneath like a hidden car mat, looking like just another failed attempt at creative non-fiction. Hundreds of writers crowded around the table beside us: “I just loved the way your ending turned out,”one mother patted her proud daughter on the back, “This is winning material!” a coach hugged her student. I watched the teenage girl flip my flimsy white pages and purse her lips. I attempted to study her expression as she closed the story and returned it to the pile.


“You wrote this?” Her eyes gleamed. “Yes,” I awaited her analysis. You’ve got to prepare yourself for anything. Everyone here is the top, brilliant writer of their state‘s fine arts program and knows it. Criticism is expected.

“Wow, it’s so…” she searched for the right words. “I can totally relate to this.”

“I felt God wanted me to be transparent.”

“Thank you for writing that.” She wiped a tear away.


My heart skipped a beat as she began to open up about her similar story.


Since that day in Florida, countless of teens have approach me with the same look of hopelessness and grief. I desperately wanted to talk to them, to tell them how to process such unexpected change, but how?


It was finally decided I would try to turn the simple essay into a book, so I could reach girls I may never meet in person. When I signed the book contract, I was merely a teenager with no high intentions in life except making sure I didn’t flunk math - much less aim to score a deal with a publishing company. Really, I only submitted my book synopsis out of curiosity. It was like a personal dare. I wondered if the story could impact one teenager, maybe it could encourage other girls, too. And what could possibly happen – they say no?


To my amazement, they said yes, and I signed my name on the dotted line. I soon found myself collaborating with graphic designers, editors, and project managers amid working, studying for my ACT, and, oh yeah, trying to survive math. While my friends were planning what to wear to homecoming, I was deep in the depths of draft 3, head swirling in title ideas, word counts, and sales blurb write-ups. It was exhilarating. I loved it. Still, I never dreamed anyone would want to read my story. It was too personal, too simple. But a little voice inside pushed me to finally compile my story into one clean manuscript titled A Time to Trust: one girl's journey through loss and change.

A Time to Trust is a memoir, which simply means it is part of my life story focusing on a specific theme. You’ll be introduced to my family and friends, my favorite tree, and even our fortress playground “The Mantis”. You’ll get to ride with me to summer camp, sit on my grandmother’s porch swing, and gallop across an open field. Most importantly, you’ll get to live inside my mind through one of the biggest changes of my life. Chances are, you just came through a really hard season yourself, or you are currently in the middle of one. I pray my story speaks to you right now to process how you would handle loss, because some time or another, you will experience unexpected change.


As you stay tuned for the book release in Spring 2022, check out the trailer and get ready to immerse into the world of A Time to Trust!


- Candice




Photo ©️ Robert R Hartley. All rights reserved.

1 comment

1 Comment


briagirl5
Feb 02, 2022

Hi Candice!

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