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Brittany Waggoner
Author of Prayers For When You're Mad, Sad, or Just
Totally Confused
Her
goal was to become a published author by age 21...
Brittany Waggoner's dream became reality last fall when her first book, Prayers for
When You're Mad, Sad, or Just Totally Confused hit bookstores five months after her
21st birthday.
It didn't come about exactly the way the Fuquay-Varina native had planned, but then, some
of the best things come in the ways we least expect.
As a high-schooler, Waggoner had volunteered to host a Christian television talk show (Teen
Scene on WACN-TV in Apex) for teens. A passionate desire to teach and encourage young
people blossomed in her because of the experience.
"Kids have the mentality that they are going to start God's
work after they graduate," she explained. "I encourage them to never wait on
ministry, but to see what they can do now."
After her own graduation, Waggoner headed to Cedarville University (Ohio) as a
broadcasting major determined to propagate these concepts. She decided to write an
energetic book for teens, but ended up landing a writing contract for a book on dating
instead.
Before she could begin the book, a chain of personal disappointments hit. Her beloved
grandmother died, she broke up with her boyfriend, and a job she was counting on failed to
materialize.
"I felt totally crushed," she said. "I didn't feel I had the energy or
ability to write a book to help kids have nice dating lives."
Waggoner's editor suggested that she set aside the dating topic and simply write about
what God was teaching her through her problems. Waggoner wrote Prayers in one and a half
months. "The book was completely born out of experience and of the lessons that God
taught me," she noted. "It's from my heart."
Full of illustrations and example prayers, Prayers is, according to Waggoner, a
handbook on the kinds of disappointments that teens face. In every disappointment, there's
a time when you make a decision about how you're going to handle that
disappointment," Waggoner explained.
"'Prayers' is a simple encouragement for the tough times."
This two-time Cal Thomas Scholarship recipient and former Miss Teen Raleigh hopes to write
additional books and expand her speaking ministry. |
