Yesterday, I got the first proof copy of the personal memoir I've been working on for the last year or so. Yes, those orange tags mean that I need to make a few teensy, tiny adjustments.
However, having a paper copy of the book with a pretty cover means we are approaching launch day: September 1, 2014!
That's pretty exciting, and almost equally terrifying.
It's terrifying because this is a really personal story, and I don't think I look great in most of it. I feel like I've told you about every single time I was a complete idiot with a bad attitude and extremely suspect motives, thinking I was doing something great for God.
It's terrifying because I don't know if this a book anybody will want to read, and I've spent about a bazillion hours writing and rewriting it. What if my best isn't good enough?
It's terrifying because I'm self-publishing and I don't know if that's a well-considered choice, or simply chicken-hearted rationalization because I don't want to deal with all the rejection that is supposed to be a writer's lot in life.
Supporting my hope for a well-considered choice is the fact that I dipped my toes into the self-publishing waters a while back, with the Advent reader, and we managed to fling ourselves onto the Amazon best-seller list for about 20 minutes one day, just below Philip Yancey. Remember that? I feel like we can try that whole thing again and see what happens this time around.
A bunch of people pulled me through the whole Slough of Book-Writing Despond for over a year: friends and family who listened to me moan, beta readers, Katrina Ryder Super-Editor, and Andy my true love, who took care of all the technical things at Kindle (for the ebook version) and Create Space (for the print version). My friend Christie, the genius at Christie Kim Creative, did the cover, and I think it's just perfection. I am so grateful.
This is, I guess, a missionary memoir, since the story takes place while we were missionaries in the Solomon Islands.
However, this is not a missionary memoir about how to do everything right so that you, too, can save the world.
This is a memoir about how doing everything as right as I could somehow led to anxiety, depression, and a floundering marriage.
It's about a giant mess of pain and failure that I thought could never be okay again.
It's about how, somehow, God caught me in that mess and never let me go.
It's about how, some-crazy-how, failure can be the best thing that ever happens.
It's about how maybe life isn't so much about high performance and spiritual heroism, but maybe more about a daily walk of grace, freedom, and meaningful connection.
Ultimately, it's a love story. It's about the Love that never lets us go.
I hope you'll buy it and read it and pass it along to every person who needs to hear that message.
Don't worry, I'll put up the links when we're ready to launch!
BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!
I'm going to do an advance-copy giveaway contest, JUST FOR MY REGULAR SUBSCRIBERS.
If you're already a subscriber, watch your email for details.
If you're not a subscriber yet, subscribe by August 15, 2014 for your chance at a free copy.