Looking Ahead

In my last post, I wrote about being disappointed. Well, that is part and parcel of the writing life. Every writer has to learn to put today's rejection behind them and turn their eyes on tomorrow and I am doing just that.

The manuscript that my husband and I co-wrote is now in the hands of another traditional publisher who is showing interest. Hopefully, it will not be as long a wait before we hear this time. They sound interested, but then again, so did the previous publisher, right up to the point where they declined it, lol!

Meanwhile, I have my hands full with other writing! In recent weeks, I have received and signed numerous contracts from magazines for articles or devotions. These include "Power for Living" who bought both an article and a devotional, "SEEK" who bought three articles, and "The Secret Place." I also just received a complimentary copy of "Clubhouse" magazine for an article they bought over a year ago but just now published it in the current issue.

I also am making headway on the books I need to write for my main publisher, Pix-N-Pens (a division of Write Integrity Press). Two books co-written by my friend Shirley Crowder and myself will be coming out this year--the 1st in our devotional series in late summer / early fall, and the 4th in our prayer series in late fall / early winter. I will give you those exact dates and show you those covers when we have them. I will be very involved in final edits for both of those this summer. The 2nd manuscript in that devotional series is due to our publisher in mid-August, and I am also hoping to start mapping out and beginning to write on the 3rd in the series which will be due to our publisher next winter sometime.

And added to that are my speaking engagements. I will be teaching on freelance writing in June at the KY Christian Writer's Conference and on missions at the Women's Advance Conference in July.

Whew! I hope to get some pool time in too! Happy summer all!

Dissapointed

Well, we finally heard from P&R (Presbyterian and Reformed) Publishing—the publishing company we have been waiting to hear from regarding the book co-written by my husband and me. They turned us down. ☹ We had high hopes we would be receiving a contract from them, but now we know that we will not.

Why were we so hopeful? The manuscript has been extremely well received by those who have read it and we have significant written endorsements from major denominational leaders for it already. It’s a powerful story that has been cited by one prominent denominational leader as the best history of Southern Seminary for that time period that he has ever read. But our hopes rose for more than just those reasons. One denominational leader, who will remain unnamed since he is a public figure and I do not have his permission to name him, actually had some insight into the publication committee’s thoughts on the book.  As recently as a month ago, this man felt certain P&R would be sending us a book contract.

So, what happened? Of course, there is no way of really knowing the answer to this but coincidently in recent weeks and months, since the time we first submitted our manuscript to them for consideration, some of the leaders of the conservative resurgence of the Southern Baptist Convention have made the news for unflattering reasons. Our book is about the conservative resurgence as it played out at Southern Seminary. I think it’s quite possible, if not likely that P&R suddenly felt they did not want to be publishing and promoting a book that pertains to this movement whose leaders are currently receiving negative press.

So that, as they say, is that. We move on and wait for other doors that God may open and other avenues to tell our story. I’ll keep you posted in the journey.