Author Talks

With Abigail Lawrence

I’m Abigail Lawrence, but you’re welcome to call me Abi. I’m an author and the owner of Gathered Voices Publishing & Distribution, LLC, based in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

This page is a place for me to share the experiences behind my books and the work that continues beyond them. As time goes on, I’ll add news of presentations, travels, special events, and reflections from my writing life. I hope you’ll return from time to time to see what has been added.

MY WRITING JOURNEY

Family, my Christian faith, my love of animals, and my concern for people find their way into my writing. Sometimes a book begins with a question I need to examine carefully. Sometimes it grows from watching an ordinary moment unfold and realizing there is something in it worth sharing.

My publishing journey includes The Promises of God Spiritual Checkbook, published in 2017. Since then, my writing has taken several directions.

Forsaken No More grew from my concern for people who feel overlooked, wounded, scattered, or forgotten. Scripture, my own experiences, and stories others shared helped shape a book about God’s care for the forsaken and our responsibility toward one another.

Jehovah? Allah? Whom Do You Serve? began with a claim I had accepted and later felt I needed to examine more carefully. I returned to Scripture to consider what I believed about God, Jesus Christ, and salvation.

Then there is Elsa, my black toy poodle. Her experiences inspired Elsa’s Adventures and gave me the pleasure of sharing a puppy’s discoveries with children and families. Watching her explore the world reminds me how much there is to notice in the familiar places around us.

Each book has asked something different of me. Together, they reflect the concerns, convictions, questions, and joys that have become part of my life.

HOW GATHERED VOICES CAME TO BE

Bringing my books to readers introduced me to the many responsibilities that follow writing a manuscript. There were decisions about editing, illustrations, cover design, formatting, proofs, printing, and distribution.

I enjoyed seeing the books take shape. I also encountered difficulties that showed me how much I needed to understand about the arrangements behind publication.

One involved the administration of my books’ publishing and distribution records. When I wanted to move existing records between services, it took repeated inquiries and follow-up to understand what needed to happen.

I began asking questions I had not fully considered at the beginning. Who could change a listing? Which account held the distribution record? What would happen if I wanted to use another service?

Those experiences helped lead me to establish Gathered Voices Publishing & Distribution, LLC. I wanted to put what I was learning to work for other authors, helping them develop their books and understand the decisions involved in publication.

I want authors to have clear expectations, understandable agreements, and room to ask questions. I also want to understand what they hope to communicate so that the work of editing and production serves the purpose of their book.

The name Gathered Voices expresses that hope. People bring different experiences and ways of seeing the world. Helping someone prepare a book means listening closely enough to preserve the voice that makes the work their own.

THE STORIES WE CARRY

As I considered the people I hoped to help, I kept returning to those who have a lifetime of experiences to share but may never have thought of themselves as authors.

That concern became part of Gathered Lives: A Legacy Collection and its first volume, Why Our Stories Matter.

We can know someone for years and still know little about the life they lived before we met them. A conversation may help us understand a family tradition, a difficult decision, a period of service, or the work that sustained a household.

I want to encourage those conversations while people can still take part in them.

ALONG THE WAY

November 7, 2026 — Idaho Falls Public Library

On November 7, 2026, I spoke at the Idaho Falls Public Library about my books and the experiences behind them. During the questions afterward, a gentleman asked where the facts and material for Forsaken No More came from. I explained that the book drew from Scripture, personal experiences, and stories others had shared.

His question stayed with me. It brought attention to something that matters in both writing and listening—understanding how a person came to know the story they are telling.

I hope to share more of those moments here as opportunities arise. Some updates may be an announcement about a presentation or a new book. Others may be a photograph, a travel experience, or a journal entry about something I am considering as I write.

Please come back and visit. There will be more to share as this work continues, and I’m grateful to have you follow along.