Written a Good Book Lately?

“Praise to God for a Living Hope, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”- 1 Peter 1:3

**

For years I’ve struggled with the idea of writing a book. I’ve always loved writing magazine articles – the research was fun, but when it was done after a few days, I was ready to move on.

I’ve done fairly well in this area with 1,500 published stories in nearly 100 publications, including three Chicken Soup books -- for the Christian Soul 2, Coffee Lover's Soul, and Christmas Soul. The last 2 are being released in fall 2007. The other was released in 2006.

Yet it seemed writers were better off if they wrote books. Every time I went to a writer’s conference that’s all the people there were talking about – writing books.

The problem is, I’ve never wanted to write a book, even though I read dozens each year—mostly fiction. I admire fiction writers for their ability to create plots and dialog and characters. It really amazes me how it all comes together!

All right, I told myself recently, I’ll at least think about it. I'm even praying, asking God if He has a book for me to write. It would have to be non-fiction as my mind does not come up with plots.

Thus far, nothing has come to mind, so I'm not pushing it. I figure better no book than a bad one.

But I'm reading about how to put a book proposal together at least so when it comes time, I'll be ready. It’s Terry Whalin’s

Book Proposals That Sell: 21 Secrets to Speed Your Success (Write Now Publications).

I dreaded picking it up, thinking it would be like learning another language and that I would not understand it at all.

But having read Whalin’s blog (http://terrywhalin.blogspot.com/) for several years and profited from it as a writer, I was willing to try. He is a great writer and very easy to understand.

Glory be, at least within the first few pages, I was thrilled to see I knew much of the information! Perhaps that comes from studying the craft of writing for 15 years. (Maybe this is a clue I’m closer to writing a book than I had thought!). Whalin's book held additional information that was new to me and valuable.

Now I’ll read the rest of the book and think seriously about this project of writing a book. I know the work is not over when the book is published. That is when I have to be available for marketing it. But if I’m excited about the book and believe in it, it makes sense that I would want to promote it, right?

That means book signings, radio, print and possibly TV interviews, and a multitude of other guest appearances.

Thankfully, with my involvement in Toastmasters within the past year, my fear of public speaking has nearly dissipated. Recently I’ve stood and introduced myself to networking groups, given an impromptu speech, and volunteered to lead a Bible Study. Those are all activities that would not have appealed to me, or been as easy, one year ago before I started in Toastmasters.

So I’m growing and learning in all of these good areas and have to believe it will all come together when I do decide to write a book.

Have you thought of writing a book? Fiction or non-fiction? If you’ve already started, how far along with it are you?

Any thoughts you want to share about this would be welcome.

Take care,