by jphilo | Nov 29, 2007 | Book Updates
Waiting is so hard, especially for an impatient person like me. I was sure that yesterday would be the end of waiting for me. The publication committee at the house considering my book proposal, A Different Dream for My Child: Meditations for Parents of Critically and Chronically Ill Children, met yesterday. And my proposal was on the agenda. Finally, after months of waiting, I would have an answer.
Only that’s not how it happened. I got a call from the editor. The committee liked the writing. They think the topic is important and that there’s a hurting audience that needs to be reached. But they aren’t sure how to crack the market so the book gets to parents and families who need it. So the marketing people want a month to come up with a plan. If the plan’s viable, the book might be published.
I was a little disappointed until I looked outside and saw the red oak tree. A month ago, it was the last tree in the yard still hanging onto it’s leaves. Every day for weeks I checked to see if the leaves had fallen. They hadn’t. But then we went on vacation, and I got out of the habit. When I looked today, its leaves were all on the ground.
All my watching didn’t move things along, but when the time was right, the change came quickly. So I’m still waiting for the right time. And I’m pretty sure God’s chuckling as He teaches me another lesson in patience.
by jphilo | Oct 30, 2007 | Book Updates
I’ve mentioned before that my writer friend, Ginger, and I are collaborating on a novel. It takes place in a remote area on the border where South Dakota and Montana meet. Ginger has written and published several novels, but this is my first stab at fiction. Lately I’ve been thinking I may have bitten off more than I can chew.
Every day I sit in at my keyboard and the self-doubt channel begins broadcasting. Why in the world did you think you could write a novel? You’ve only written short magazine articles and devotionals before? Do you think you have anything to contribute? Ginger could do a better job on her own. That nasty voice drones on and on, day after day. So far, I haven’t located the remote, so I can’t turn the thing off.
Yesterday, I ignored the broadcast long enough to begin the telephone scene I had glibly told Ginger I could handle. Do you know how hard it is to write a good phone scene? Neither did I until I started writing it. Still, the longer I stuck with it, the more I enjoyed it. I hope to finish the scene today. It would be a lot easier if I could turn off that pesky voice.
As I searched for a picture to accompany this post, I knew what was needed – a picture that conveys the vastness of the horizon on the border of South Dakota and Montana. I remember when I stood on that butte and took that picture, conscious of the grass underfoot, on Chimney Rock to the left and the trees nearby. I saw the haze in the distance, but I didn’t focus on it. Too far away.
The picture helped me understand why I feel so inadequate. My focus has been on the horizon of the novel, a the finished product which months away. But the sense of inadequacy fades when I concentrate on what is close at hand – one small scene that needs my attention today – and no more.
Will you look at that? I found the remote.
Ahhh, quiet.
by jphilo | Oct 3, 2007 | Book Updates
My friend Ginger lives in Idaho. We met a year and a half ago at the Write To Publish conference in Wheaton, Illinois. We became friends when we learned that we had both lived in same remote area near the Montana/South Dakota border. Since Harding County, where I used to live, and Russell County, where she used to live, have a combined population of about 3,000 people we knew our meeting was a divine appointment. So for the past year we’ve been collaborating on a mystery novel set in the area. In fact the picture above, of the Jump Off in Harding County, was taken during a research trip to our old stomping grounds last June.
A few weeks ago, we hit our writing stride. We made daily progress on the novel and were typing toward our goal of having the book half finished by the end of September. But an email on September 23 halted our busy fingers. Ginger’s email said she’d taken her elderly mother to church that morning. Then lunch with Ginger and her husband, her mother went to her own trailer for a nap. A few hours later, when Ginger checked on her, her mother was dead. They think her heart gave out. In today’s email, Ginger said she’s grateful that her mother didn’t suffer. But she misses her every day. It will be a while before she’s ready to move forward with the book.
All that’s happened reminds me that I often live according to whatever path I create for myself. The reality is, that God makes the path I follow. And once in a while He reminds me that when He puts puts me on a road similar to the Jump Off. He lets me see just enough to keep going, but not enough to see the final destination.
I imagine that’s how Ginger feels right now. So I’ll be praying for her as God leads her through this hard time. And one day when she’s healed enough for the journey, we’ll hit the writing road again. Who knows where we’ll end up?
