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

Despite the fact that I just wrote a book I feel like I’m totally the wrong person to give advice to an aspiring author on how to get published.  I thought it might be helpful, though, or at least interesting, for me to share my experience and the process.  So, here we go… I’ve shared before that I’ve never thought of myself as a writer.  I was never good in English at school, disliked writing papers immensely and have always been lousy at spelling and grammar.  I have always thought it would be fun to put together a decorating book, but that thought was the kind of thought you have like – it would be so fun to own a horse farm or it would be fun to live in Paris.  It’s something you talk about and think about, but it’s something other people do.  Not you. I started to think it

 November 17, 2010, I put it out there – I said I was going to start working on a book and just see where it took me. In November 2011, I had a book contract in hand from Thomas Nelson.  In November 2012, I’ll be at my first book signing.  Totally insane.  I finally have my book, Inspired You, in hand.   I posted it on Facebook, but haven’t mentioned it otherwise.  My friend Barb Blair texted me last night, asking why I didn’t call her screaming when I got it in the mail and she called me a stinker.  Once I got the giggles out about a grown woman calling me, also a grown woman, a stinker, I thought about it.  Why didn’t I?  I’m in love with the book.  I’m proud of it.  (I can, of course, see tons of things I would do a little differently, but

The next ten days are going to be intense. I’m making my final push to finish the photography and projects for the book (as well as tweaking some of the tutorials.)  I did have a very productive day, so I am feeling like I’m in a pretty good place, but I do have to squeeze as much as I can into every minute.  I think I definitely will need a massage when it’s all done and maybe a full day in bed watching movies. I can’t show what I’m working on, but I can show a few sneak peeks…     …and my house is a mess.     Mini is helping to keep me straight, though.  She even cleaned out my van today, since it was a disaster. Despite the stress and the hard work, I’m really enjoying this process and I’m learning so much about what I would