So I’m Writing a Book

I didn’t want to tell you, actually. Actually, what I wanted to do was just surprise you at the end when my book was all perfect and published and everything. Because, if I tell you now, well, it may never be perfect or never be published and then I’ll feel dumb.

But I read somewhere that when you want to write a book, you should tell people because otherwise, you might never write it. Still, it’s taken me a while to tell you. I’ve been thinking about writing this book for three years and started writing it seven months ago. It took me that much time to work up the courage to talk about it with this corner of my world. 

So if you’ve been wondering why I haven’t been posting as much here, that’s why. I don’t have a ton of time for writing, and when I do, most of it is going towards my book. Not just writing it but figuring out how to write it. I had no clue how to write a 6000-word chapter that made sense or that anyone would want to read. So much of what I’ve been doing is reading and researching how to write a book. And then, reading and researching even more about how to get that book published. 

Let me tell you something, loyal fans, I’m not particularly optimistic about that part. A friend said to me, “Maybe your book will pay for your kids’ college education,” and I laughed way too hard. Over 95% of published books sell less than 2000 copies. In all my research, one thing is abundantly clear: there is no money in writing books. In fact, it’s more likely that it could cost me to get my book out into the world. 

I found one Christian literary agent who looked like a promising option until I read on his website that if I didn’t have at least 20,000 social media followers, I shouldn’t even bother sending in a proposal. I’m only short 18,000 (give or take a few). The hard truth is that there are just too many books published every year and not enough people who read books anymore. I’ve noticed that Amazon book searches now take me straight to the audiobook version. Podcasts and Netflix and Tiktok are what people want. 

This is why I have questioned myself only a bazillion times in the last seven months when I sit there staring at a blinking cursor and thinking about all the other things I could be doing with my time. I’m sure you are wondering the same thing by now. 

So why am I doing this? I suppose it comes down to the reason why any writer tries to write a book: I have something to say and it’s time to say it and even if no one reads it but my family, I want to try. I do feel like God is leading me to do this, but I don’t feel like He’s giving me some sort of guarantee that this book will be successful. Maybe He will just use this project to help me become a better writer or to change the perspective of just a few people. Maybe it will just end up as a 60-part blog series. 

After all, the topic I am writing about started out as a blog post. Back in 2016, a few months before the election, I wrote a post on a whim, with very little editing, one evening after my kids were in bed. American Christians, You Might Need to Start Living Like Missionaries shocked the daylights out of me when it suddenly started getting hundreds of shares and tens of thousands of hits. I think it’s just about my most popular post ever (other than the ones I’ve written on Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, which still get tons of traffic but do not make me popular, so they don’t count).

But that post 8 years ago got me started in contemplating the ideas that are now becoming my book: Living as a missionary in Africa taught me how to live as a Christian in America. How do I live as one who is not home yet? My book will be filled with stories of my life overseas and how those experiences gave me a blueprint for living as one who is “longing for a better country” (Hebrews 11:16), even in America.

My book is only about 30% done (and I hope to finish it by next year), but I’ve learned that this is the point when I should start sending out proposals to agents or publishers, so here I go. Thanks to all of you for being my biggest cheerleaders. I would never have even attempted this without your encouragement.