‘I get my inspiration from life itself’

I was born on the Canadian prairies in Champion, Alberta, back when everything was dust and depression. My mom and dad were farmers there. I’m sure that my grandparents would have answered “yes” if they were asked if they were believing Christians. But I’m not sure they understood exactly what that meant. Like lots of people who go to church, it wasn’t as personal as it became later. My parents were married in 1925 and children followed quite quickly. I had three older sisters, then a brother and then my mother lost a baby boy. This was something that hurt her deeply. She loved her babies. 

In her grieving over this, she went up into the loft of the barn and she said: “God if you’re really there, do something for me.” And he did! When I was born, next, it was to a Christian mother very young in her faith. It wasn’t too long after that, that my dad decided to move the family away from the prairie, further north in Alberta. One thing my mother prayed for was a church in the area, and there was one; the little church was actually in what had been the local pool hall.

My dad was a very honorable man, but it wasn’t until shortly before he passed away that he actually made a commitment. But he always encouraged and backed us up in our faith.

Believing for myself

As a youngster I believed everything I was being told at church. But it wasn’t until I was ten years old that the minister of our little church encouraged my sister and I to go to a summer Bible camp. We had a teacher from our local college who came around and visited churches and he visited ours and made the promise that, if we would learn the verses, he would pay our way to go to camp. So, our pastor took us down and we had a lady ministering at that camp. She would give little altar calls at the end. I felt that I needed to go forward at those calls, but I thought that if I did that, everyone would think that I had been pretending to be a Christian because they believed I already was. So, I held back and then one day when she finished up her service, she didn’t say you had to go forward; this time she said: “Put up your hand.” Everyone was supposed to have their eyes closed, so I thought I could get away with that. I put up my hand, and then she said: “And now come forward.” So, I did and my younger sister, Margie, went along with me and that was when I really understood that one had to actually apply your belief to your heart. From then on, I attempted to live according to God’s word and his plan, and I knew I was a child of God.

I graduated from Mountain View Bible College in Didsbury, Alberta, which was where I met my future husband, Edward. We married in May 1957 and had four children, three sons and one daughter. 

Finding my way as an author

I had a slow start to becoming a published author. I wrote things for our denominational paper and I wrote poetry like I did as a teenager, but it was just for me. Yet I always did want to write. My husband was in the ministry and also a college professor and I was looking after our children. So, I put off writing for many years. The kids were teenagers when I finally felt that God said: “OK. It’s time now.” 

Inspiration is like a little bird hiding along the path; you never know what will frighten it up into flying off

I sat down and wrote my first story in longhand at the kitchen table when I was 42 years old. Then I had the kids help me with typing it because I knew you had to have it typed to present it. I tried to do some research to find out what to do with a manuscript. The first thing I did was wrong; I sent it out to a publishing house that I thought might publish that type of work and it came right back. (Their letter said: “We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.”) So, I thought I’d better do some more research. Edward, my husband, brought me home a book from the college library and it said you don’t send out cold manuscripts; you send out your proposal and ask if they are interested. I then sent out three or four proposals to different publishing houses, but I could not find a publishing house in Canada that was interested in the type of material [I had written]. So, I went to the US. The first one came back because it didn’t fit into their product line. Eventually, I heard from a female editor, and she said that she would like to take a look at my manuscript. That was Carol Johnson at Bethany House. I worked with Carol for many, many years. She was a wonderful woman and a great support.

I have now written or co-written more than 75 books! I said one time that an inspiration is like a little bird hiding along the path; you never know what will frighten it up into flying off. All of life can trigger a thought and get a story going in some direction. So, I would say I get my inspiration from life itself. Then I do some pre-thinking and planning, but leave myself room for change as I write. Then I go away by myself and write solidly from dawn ‘til dusk. My husband has been very cooperative with that. I could actually do a book in two or three weeks that way. Then I go home and do the editing and correcting. It’s not an easy way to do it because its very draining, but it gets the job done.

Writing was the ministry that God assigned to me

My first novel Love Comes Softly was written as a prairie story and published in 1979. It wasn’t my [personal] story, but a lot of the background to the story I understood. I was on a farm and understood the difficulties earlier in our days. So, instead of writing a present-day story, I did go back to what I understood and knew…I think it’s very wise to write what you know. There isn’t as much possibility of getting tripped up if you stay with what you know. I try to put faith in each one of my books – a personal relationship with God in some way. I feel very, very strongly that writing was the ministry that God assigned to me. And so my books are not just a story. I hope they always contain enough to encourage an individual to make that personal connection with God. I have always seen [writing] as a ministry, not as an occupation.

God with us 

I think the big thing to remember is that God is real, and he is there. There are lots of times in life when we go through very difficult things. But if we understand that he is there with us, and he loves us and is interested in us (and we hang onto our faith and make it real) then we can get through even the hard places. I was reminded of that again when I lost my husband in 2022. Just a few days after, I had a big meltdown and said: “I cannot do this.” God’s reply was: “Yes, you can. I’m here.” And every time after that when I felt lonely or was struggling, I’d remember: “He’s here.” I would say to every Christian: keep that in your mind. Our faith is the most important thing we have. So, always try to build on that. It won’t mean that life will be easy always; we all have our rough spots. But we have a strength and a foundation that is solid and good and we need to cling to that.

Janette’s latest book, The Pharisee’s Wife (Tyndale House), will be released in March.