Since today is a day of Thanksgiving here in the US, I thought it was a good time to combine saying thanks and sharing just a little more about the book-writing process in one post.  I had already turned in the final manuscript and my editor, Michelle, asked me to write my acknowledgements.  Oh…I hadn’t even thought about that!  I felt like I could write a book of thank yous to people, but I didn’t want to bore readers, so I mentioned the key people and kept it brief.  I’d like to expand on those acknowledgements here, though, to let you know why I mentioned who I did… My family, of course, for all of their love.  This one is obvious.  My family has been a huge part of this entire journey.  My mom prodded me to start a business and my parents were my initial investors.  They have also

The impossiblepossible thing had happened.  I had received a book contract from Thomas Nelson and I signed it.  (You can read about how it happened HERE.)  It was now my job to produce 35,000 encouraging words and over 250 inspiring photographs in 10 chapters.  And I only had about 3 months to do it.  AND I’ve never written a book before.  Oh crap.  Lots of deep breaths and tears and prayers and pep talks came after that realization.  I kept bringing myself back to taking one page, one photograph, one chapter, one idea at a time.  I also kept reminding myself that the people at Thomas Nelson are good at what they do and they had confidence in me.  I can do this. The first thing we did was put together an outline for the book.  I sent along my initial ideas and then went back and forth with my

I’m being a bit facetious with that title.  Or perhaps hopelessly optimistic.  The amazing thing about this blog journey is that it always surprises me.  I think, “Oh, such-and-such would be pretty far-fetched, so it probably won’t happen.”  But then it does in some unexpected and amazing way.  So, will my book end up taking me on a world tour?  Who knows.  Probably not, but I’m getting an updated passport just in case I have the chance to visit our northern neighbors or visit my girls in the UK! I don’t have a grand book tour scheduled through Thomas Nelson, my publisher.  This is going to be a grassroots “book tour.”  Me coordinating with people who want me to come to their place of business to sign books, teach a workshop, give a seminar, or to fetch coffee and doughnuts or all of the above.  Having never done this before, I’m totally