Multi-published author Brooke Cox says that while it hasn’t taken an actual millennium to write her latest book, it often seemed that long since she penned the first draft of her latest release, Dinosaur Eggs.
“Writing Dinosaur Eggs wasn’t as easy as sitting down at my computer and pounding out a story like Snoopy does while on top of his doghouse,” said Cox. “It didn’t take me months or a couple of years to write it. Nope. My writing journey for Dinosaur Eggs was a thirteen-year adventure with more than a few struggles. Not just struggles for the right words, characters, or plots, but for the right message.”
Cox says that journey began one fateful morning in the spring of 2007. She was walking with one of her friends when they passed by a manhole lid with large landscaping rocks lying in a circle on top of it. The rocks were elongated and an orange-brown in color.
“An image immediately popped into my geeky brain and I asked my friend if she knew what the rocks looked like.
“I don’t know. Rocks?” was the friend’s response.
“I could tell by the tone of her voice she didn’t see what I was seeing. Let’s face it, most people wouldn’t have noticed it either,” said Cox.
Cox said she kindly explained that it looked like a dinosaur’s nest and the rocks were eggs. But not just any dinosaur nest.
“What if they were a T-Rex’s eggs and she came charging at us to protect her nest? How cool would that be?” Cox asked her friend.
Her friend shook her head. “Oh Brooke. Only you.”
Needless to say, Cox’s imagination went into overdrive. She says she knew this was a story she just had to write and was excited to go get started.
“There’s no excitement quite like the thrill of a new idea for a story. Immediately I began writing Dinosaur Eggs.”
Cox said that in a matter of days she had finished the idea of a short story with a 17-year-old girl as the main character. And, of course, she meets a T-Rex face to face. But there were no battles in that draft.
“A couple of months later, I took Dinosaur Eggs with me to a writer’s conference. As an attendee, you are allowed to submit a piece to be critiqued by a professional,” said Cox. “Dinosaur Eggs went to a lady named Cindy Kinney. I was so excited when I discovered she had worked on Veggie Tales.”
Cox said Kinney told her she had potential as a writer, but still had a lot to learn.
“I totally agreed,” said Cox. “She enjoyed Dinosaur Eggs and thought it had potential as well. She told me I needed to make the main character a boy and take him down in age so I could make it into a middle-grade book.”
Cox returned from the conference full of energy and ready to dive into the book, taking Kinney’s critique to heart.
“I worked on and off on the book for years, creating plots and subplots, along with the intended inspirational message,” said Cox. “During this time, I also sent the story to my friends for feedback and suggestions.
At one point, Cox thought her book was finished and queried publishers.
“Each one rejected it. They all said the same thing. It was a good story, but too charismatic.”
Refusing to give up, Cox attended another writer’s convention with Dinosaur Eggs in book form, met with a literary agent, and asked for guidance on getting the book published. That agent advised Cox to turn her T-Rex into a dragon and tone down the religious aspect, replacing it with symbolism instead.
Taking the advice of a supposed expert, once again Cox set about making changes to her original storyline.
“Immediately, it felt wrong,” she said. “I’m talking wrong to the pit of my stomach. It was obvious to me that God didn’t want it changed.”
At that point, Cox turned her attention to another project, which was picked up by a publishing house, turned out to be a success, and won an award. But friends kept asking when she was going to finish Dinosaur Eggs.
“I knew God was using my friends to get me back to Dinosaur Eggs. I read over it again and came to realization: I didn’t like how the use of the armor of God sounded. This message was very important to me and I wanted kids to know how to use it. So, I prayed about it. I got an answer all right.”
Cox related that there is a bible teacher she loves to watch so much that she has her DVR set to record him. She had gotten behind on watching the recordings and decided to delete a few of the episodes.
“I deleted until I reached the one that aired on my birthday. I turned on that episode and the first words out of the bible teacher’s mouth were, “’Today, we are going to read over Ephesians 6. The Armor of God.’”
Cox said it was a good thing there weren’t any bugs flying around since her mouth was wide open.
“Seriously. I knew I was experiencing a “God thing.” I took out my writing pad and made some notes. By the time the show was over, I had reworked the ending to Dinosaur Eggs and had the answer to my prayer. Let me tell you, it fit like a glove. To me, it was perfect.”
But Cox realized she had a story that publishers might still be afraid to accept. Her mind went back to what the agent had told her, as well as what the publishers who had rejected the book had said.
“But I decided not to change the book again to make someone else happy. I refused to compromise the story God gave me. I was going to put this out there the way it was and see what God would or wouldn’t do with it. The book was picked up by Thunder Ridge Publishing and released two weeks ago.”
“I am so happy I laid Dinosaur Eggs in His hands.”
CoxBrooke3@gmail.com
Website: www.brookecoxstories.com
Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/DINOSAUR-EGGS