by jphilo | Apr 22, 2009 | Book Updates
The weather this morning was full of promise – warm, still, and cloudless, the sky intense and blue. The magnolia buds sensed the warmth and sent forth pink feelers to test the day. They may bloom tomorrow or the day after that, but the promise is there. They will bloom.
I should have been joyful to see the petals peek through their fuzzy grey blankets, but my thoughts were with a family who recently lost their son to neuroblastoma. Little Braeden was just shy of his fourth birthday when he died early Saturday morning.
I haven’t met Braeden or his family, but my book is being published, partly because of them. When the Discovery House Publishers selection committee was considering my proposal, they asked one of their co-workers, Braeden’s dad, to read it. The editors asked him if a book like it would have been beneficial to them. Yes, he said, it would have been helpful.
The book will be released in September, but Braeden’s life was nipped in the bud. My future holds promise, sweet as magnolias in the spring, while Braeden’s family grieves though the promise of heaven is their sure hope. While their loss remains raw and wrenching, I am praying that God’s promises will be real to them, revealed to them as hope in their grief. And one day, I hope to share letters with them, letters from parents encouraged by the stories in a little book that came into being, in no small part because little Braeden lived.
by jphilo | Feb 12, 2009 | Book Updates
Yesterday my editor said A Different Dream for My Child will be released sometime in September. Instead of being pleased to have a specific date for scheduling speaking engagements around the release date, for contacting magazine editors willing to run articles related to the book, and to share with my family and friends, I immediately panicked.
September? But it’s only six months away, give or take two weeks. So much needs to be done. There are query letters to magazines, articles to write, a website to build, medical and parent support groups to contact. How can I possibly get it all done while getting Mom’s house ready to sell and helping with her finances, working on the mystery novel with Ginger, writing for Facets and Health Connect, preparing two months worth of kids’ devotions for a new Tyndale House publication, and not neglect my husband, son and daughter? Suddenly, my life seemed as convoluted as some of my sentences, and my undies were definitely in a bunch.
Then I thought of my early days of teaching, when I spent much of the month before school began getting my a hot, stuffy classroom “ready.” August after August, I worked myself into a frenzy trying to prepare nine months worth of material by the first day of school. After about twenty years (call me a slow learner), I realized that on the first day of school I only needed to be ready for the first day of school, or at the most, for the first week.
Maybe there’s a lesson to be learned from my teaching career. I don’t need to be ready for September in February. I need to be ready for today, for this week at the most. So this afternoon, I’ll look at what needs to be done by September, break everything into doable bits and choose one small thing to tackle tomorrow. My learning curve for the next six months will be high, it’s true, but that’s a whole lot better than twenty years!
by jphilo | Oct 22, 2008 | Book Updates
Today I hit the Big 6-0, and I’m doing a happy dance to celebrate. I finished the sixtieth and last devotion for my book. Since the manuscript isn’t due to the publisher until January 1, you probably think I’m doing the overachiever thing. I assure you, I’m not.
In the next couple days, I’ll do a light edit on the eleven devotions in the final section of the book and paste them into a preliminary order, something I’ve already done to the first five sections. I still have to send individual devotions from the last two sections to anyone mentioned in them so they can give approval and suggestions. The introductions for all six sections need to be written, and then I’ll paste everything into a first draft of the entire manuscript, kind of like connecting strings of Christmas lights.
But wait, there’s more. Once the first draft is all together, I will send the electronic manuscript to several cold readers. They’ll have two weeks to read it and make comments. Then I’ll consider their comments and incorporate many of them.
But that’s not all. After those changes are made, I’ll print a hard copy and edit it all by myself. My goal is to have everything done and the manuscript sent to Discovery House Publishers before Christmas. Sort of an early present to myself. Thinking about what remains to be done overwhelms me, especially since I have to squeeze in baking pies for Thanksgiving, making holiday Chex mix with Mom, and Christmas shopping.
But I refuse to worry about those things today. Today is all about hitting the Big 6-0 and doing a happy dance. Life is good!
by jphilo | Oct 17, 2008 | Book Updates
Four years ago, when I told my sibs I had signed on with an agent, they were a little suspicious. Okay, so they were used to my slightly embellished stories from childhood and my drama queen tendencies, but would I spread a story about a make-believe agent?
Past experience convinced them I would, and for years I had no way to prove them wrong other than our contract which, out of modesty, I don’t flash around. In the years since I met Les, we haven’t connected much so any other kind of proof was in short supply. I attended a workshop Les conducted at my very first writing conference in 2002, but we didn’t meet. All our correspondence after I signed with him in 2004 was through email until the spring of 2006 when we met at Mt. Hermon, but I was too giddy to ask anyone to take our picture.
But this past September, were both at the American Fiction Christian Writer’s Conference in Minneapolis, and he asked if I’d like to go to dinner and meet some of his other clients. I said yes in a hurry. Two clients had their cameras with them, and after dinner we asked our server to take a picture of us. I begged the others to send me a picture, citing my need for credibility with those who know me best. So here’s proof. The gentleman in the middle is my agent, Les Stobbe. From left to right, the writers are Beverly C. Varnado, Sue Duffy, Martha B. Hook, and me.
I’m pleased to announce that Les has agreed to represent the Gina Lindsey Mystery Series co-written by Jolene Philo and Virgiinia Work. With that news, I need to quit blogging. It’s time to work on my two manuscripts and give something to keep Les busy.
by jphilo | Oct 15, 2008 | Book Updates
Today I’m pleased to introduce you to Nic. The two of us spent a year in fourth grade together. He was a student. I was the teacher. Nic’s a 9th grader this year, with a drivers’ permit and an old VW Beetle he’s fixing up with his dad.
Nic’s a kid with a grin on his face most of the time. When he was in fourth grade, his grin was biggest the day he came in and said his annual check up revealed no sign of the cancer he’d overcome when he was a toddler.
Nic was in middle school when the cancer returned in his thigh bone. But a year later when he agreed to be interviewed for my book, he was grinning like always. The pictures posted on his CaringBridge page, show he’s still smiling.
His battle with cancer continues, and his story is pretty amazing. I encourage you to visit CaringBridge and read about him and his family. His grin will have you smiling in no time.
But don’t get any ideas about riding in his refurbished VW before I do. I’ve already called shotgun for a spin around town right after his family members have their turns. There are certain perks teenagers give to their fourth grade teachers. I plan to take advantage of all of them.
by jphilo | Oct 3, 2008 | Book Updates
For the past two days, I’ve been writing devotions for the “Death of a Child” section of my book. I feel quite presumptuous writing devotions designed to comfort parent who have lost children. What right do I have to approach the subject as the parent whose two children are living?
I’m somewhat qualified to write the other sections of the book – Diagnosis, Hospital Life, Juggling Two Worlds, Caring for a Chronically Ill Child, and Surviving Childhood illness – but for this one section, I feel wholly inadequate. But the publishers want the issue addressed, and it would be unrealistic to write a book for parents or critically and chronically ill children without addressing the reality of childhood death.
So I am exceedingly grateful to the parents who have lost children and agreed to be interviewed. Their experience are poignant and joyful, grief-stricken and hopeful. As their stories weave in and out of the devotions, the grace and wisdom of parents who have suffered much and still pronounce life good amazes me.
I cry when I think about writing their stories. I cry as I write their stories. I cry as I think of what these parents have suffered and how willingly they share their children’s stories with newly bereaved parents. I cry when I think of how this book, full of their stories, honors the lives and deaths of children no longer on this earth. I cry when I think about how God has used these stories to cover my inadequacy.
I reach for the tissues and pray for the parents who have lost children, who are about to lose children, and for the children who are dying. I pray for my children, both living, grateful for my inadequacy in this subject area. Keep my children safe, I pray. Keep me wholly inadequate.
Please, Lord, please.
