A Book in the Offing

I'm back. You probably didn't even know I left--and left this blog hanging, flapping in the breeze.
I left because I felt like I was writing into the black hole, with all of those blogs out there, what did this one matter? And because I'm a writer by trade, I have a bit of a prima donna mentality. I WRITE to be read, knowwhatImean? I don't write just to write. I admit it.

But Sharilyn and Becki used to read my blog, and you know what? They matter. So Becki and Sharilyn, fasten your seatbelts. I have a lot to say.

Guess what? My book, God, Up Close and Personal, is going to become a reality. (Becki, you always BELIEVED, and thank you for that.) Several months ago, I sent three chapters of my manuscript to The Writer's Edge, a Christian writer's service. It's a service that is highly respected by the Christian publishing market, and you pay them something like $150 to evaluate your manuscript. You get either a thumbs up, or a thumbs down. If you get a thumbs up--and I did--then they list your book on their website, and publishers peruse that website looking for new material.

Of course, I expected that finally--FINALLY--my book would be discovered. In fact, after a few weeks on their website, someone from Tyndale Publishing called me and wanted me to send some of my chapters to them. YES! I had believed that God would bring me a royalty publisher, but never, ever did I believe it would be the venerable and highly-respected Tyndale. And, in fact, it wasn't. I never heard from them again, even after calling and leaving a message.

Hmmm. OK, Lord, what now? What now? A handful of Christian vanity publishers contacted me, and I treated them with veiled scorn. I was above vanity publishing, even though it is far more respectable now than it was ten years ago. All of the writer's manuals tell you to steer clear of vanity publishing, because no one will take you seriously.

But that was before the publishing industry became so incestuous, wanting only to publish works from established authors; and fearful, afraid to take on new authors who have no platform, notoriety, or even a popular blog.

And then it happened. I'm not sure what happened, but something changed in my head and in my heart. I received yet another e-mail from a vanity publisher, and something, perhaps the Holy Spirit, nudged me. "Why not?" it said. "Why not self-publish? Did it ever occur to you that if you self-publish and your book begins to sell, it will be apparent that it's Me doing it, and not the marketing department of Tyndale (or some other similar royalty publisher)? Remember, I'm the wild, unpredictable God, not one who takes the obvious path."

So then I sent an e-mail to my husband, giving him all my arguments as to why I'm thinking of doing this. He knows that I have a tendency to follow after bright, shiny objects, so I wanted to convince him that I'd been chewing on this for a while--not just suddenly jumping on the bandwagon. Of course, this involves cold hard cash--in the thousands--and I wasn't sure how he would respond. Without hesitation, he shot an e-mail back to me and said, "Absolutely. You should self-publish your book."

Whoa. Confirmation number one. But there was this one little glitch. My book was stored on a little flash drive which I'd managed to lose about seven months ago. Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to print it out before I lost it, so I did have a hard copy. But if I did not find the flash drive, I'd have to retype about 250 pages. And the thing is, I'd been looking for this flash drive off and on for months. I knew that it was around somewhere, and for some reason, God was not bringing it to light, even though I'd asked him many times.

So I went to God. "OK, Lord. I want to know that You're in this with me. I want you to give me the green light. I want you to say, 'Go, and I will go with you.' Please, Lord, bring the flash drive back to the surface." Wouldn't ya know, about a week after this prayer, my daughter came up to me and said, "Mom, guess what I found?" I knew, instantaneously, what she had hiding behind her back. It was as though a great big "YES" dropped down from heaven. YES, I'll go with you! YES, go forward, Gwenn!

Interestingly, she found the flash drive in the same suitcase I have used several times over the past year. It was in the inside pocket. But, of course, I never found it there.

God's timing is perfect. You know, I started that book when I was 49. I'm now 52--and for at least the last year and a half, I've been trying to find someone, ANYONE, who would give it a chance. It had to wait for His timing.

So, here we go. Movement. Finally. Praise God.