We were lucky to catch up with Kristen Belveal recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kristen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

Ideas come pretty easy for me. Whether I’m coming up with concepts for a marketing campaign at work, topics for books, or something else creative, I come up with more ideas than I can count. But making those ideas into reality takes a lot of discipline. Right now, I spend a lot of my spare time creating content as a Christian author and designing patterns and graphics for my clothing company Apolothreadics, but I’ll focus more on the writing process.

When I have an idea for a book, I usually start with a brain dump of all the sub-topics or plot points that I could include in the manuscript. Then, I organize those pieces into an outline that makes sense with the emotional or spiritual journey that I want to take readers on. Next, I set goals for how I’m going to execute writing each point in the outline. For both fiction and non-fiction, I compile some research and assign it to each character, chapter, or plot point. After that, I start writing the book with a loose schedule (usually writing 100 or more words per day during lunch at work or my sons’ naps). After the first draft is written, I go through several phases of self-editing, beta reader testing/feedback, and finally proofreading to get everything in a publish-ready state.

Going through the process of organizing my thoughts around my ideas and documenting them in an easily accessible place like a Google Doc, my notes app, or my idea journal makes my ideas seem more solid and easier to execute, so I highly recommend coming up with some sort of system for organizing your ideas and that upfront work if you plan to act on them.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I have been a writer for pretty much my whole life, starting with one paragraph stories as a small child and evolving into novels, novellas, and Bible studies as I matured and came into a saving faith in Jesus. Most of what I’ve written has been Christian fiction like my retelling of Rahab’s story The Heart of a Harlot, but I’ve also written a Bible study on the book of Luke and a friendship breakup devotional called When Best Friends Aren’t Forever.

I also recently started my own very green clothing company called Apolothreadics, where I weave biblical messaging and symbols into clothing for women, men, and kids. While I’m just getting that off the ground, I’m really proud of and excited about it because I’m getting to combine different kinds of inspiration like band merch and ethereal aesthetics to create cute, comfortable, conversation-starting apparel for believers.

My first design was a black cropped hoodie with a white silhouette of a woman with a hammer and tent spike and the words “She is beauty, she is grace, she’ll put a spike into your face.” It’s inspired by the story of Jael from the book of Judges and has kind of an edgy vibe that former emo kid Christian will love. On the flip side, I have a couple of dresses with a blue, chinoiserie-like pattern of doves and olive branches inspired by Noah’s ark. I got so many compliments when I wore it to work one day, and I’m so excited about using fashion to help people share their faiths.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Every Good Endeavor by the late Tim Keller and the faith-and-work fellowship program that he created have been hugely influential in terms of how I view business and my career. They introduced and reinforced the idea that Christians should see their work as worship and potentially glorifying to God even if we’re in corporate America instead of vocational ministry. That doesn’t mean that we should shove the gospel down people’s throats in every meeting or only hire people who share my beliefs. It means always working with integrity and excellence because our work is a testimony to our faiths and God’s character. It also means treating my coworkers with compassion whether that looks like bringing a coworker dinner when they’re on medical leave, sharing difficult feedback with kindness, or owning up to mistakes even when it’s uncomfortable.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Over the years, I’ve had to unlearn that you have to make a lot of money or gain a lot of influence from pursuing your passions for them to matter and worth doing. But the quality of what we create is not solely determined by how our creations are received by the public, and our joy shouldn’t be either. While it’s great to get a paycheck big enough to pay the bills or get a multitude of social media followers for doing what we love, it’s okay to just create for the sake of self-expression whether you’re work is enjoyed by thousands of people, gains you enough money to buy some shoes, or just helps one person. It’s kind of like Jesus leaving the 99 sheep to find the one. Sometimes you’re meant to have a meaningful impact on a niche audience whereas some people are meant to appeal to the masses. Both have value, and both are worth pursuing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kristenreedauthor.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/kristenreedtx/
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kristenreedauthor
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristenreedbelveal/
• Other: The Etsy shop for my clothing line Apolothreadics is https://apolothreadics.etsy.com/, and my Amazon author page is https://www.amazon.com/stores/Kristen-Reed/author/B00A1OX9H6

Image Credits

Headshot by Danielle Marie Porter