Whew, Done!

I finished the Walking In The Will of God manuscript this morning and have sent it to my publisher. I'm relieved to be done with it, though I did enjoy writing it and believe that God will use it to help many people understand that knowing His will is much easier than their legalistic pasts may have led them to believe.

The original manuscript was about 35,000 words and I've increased it to a little over 50,000 in the past few weeks. My editor, Paul Gossard, has been a real help with his suggestions.

People sometimes ask me how books are written. Authors all have their own approach, but here's what I do.

1. An idea for a book comes to mind.
2. I jot down 8-12 topics around the general theme which could serve as chapters.
3. I begin to write. Unlike some authors, I don't have a thorough outline before I start. One of my friends, an author too, has an extensive outline of his books before he ever starts writing. I'd want to shoot myself if I had to do that. I write in a free-flow style and see what comes out. (Sounds disorganized, huh?)
4. I finish the book, then go back and look for places to add more illustrations or maybe to cite other authors. (I didn't cite other books in this last one.)
5. I send it to my publisher, who assigns it to an editor.
6. The editor makes editorial suggestions, such as, "Say more about this, add an illustration here to help explain what you're talking about, move this section to the top of the chapter as an opener, etc."
7. I make the revisions and submit the final manuscript.

This time, I did something I've never done before. I paid somebody to take the audio teachings I've done on the topic and put the content into a written manuscript form. That way, I had a head start on writing the book before I even started. Until now, I've never had anybody help me with putting together a manuscript, but it occurred to me some time ago that I could do that and possibly produce more material that way. I've done the same thing with the 101 Lies content. So when I start working on that, I'll be way ahead of the game as opposed to starting from scratch.

I enjoy writing, but don't assume that means it's easy because it's not. Plus, just because I enjoy writing doesn't mean I always want to do it. Like anything any of us do, sometimes I write because I have a deadline, not because I feel particularly inspired. To tell the truth, it's not totally unlike the times we all had to write term papers in college. So, if you're in college, don't be a slacker in that area. You never know where it may lead :)

My advice to aspiring authors? Write. It's that simple. Just write. If you want to write so you can become a published author, don't do it. That's a pitiful reason to write. If you want to write because you sense it's in you to do it and you enjoy it, then do it and don't worry about what will happen. God will do what He wants. I have material I wrote when I was in my twenties. You'll never see it...it's too legalistic :) But I wrote even then because I enjoyed it. I have another completely finished book that my publisher didn't want to do. I may or may not eventually publish it myself. It's totally different from anything else I've written. I wrote it just because I wanted to do it. I recommend the same to you - if you want to write, do it because you enjoy it, but don't assume it will be published.

One guy said to me a while back, "I've written my first book, but I haven't decided who I'm going to let publish it yet." I just smiled inwardly and thought, "You are in for a rude awakening." Being published by a professional publisher is like winning the lottery. I'm not exaggerating by saying that, especially now when publishers are cutting back on production because of the economy. One thing I often recommend to people is to self publish. There are advantages to that too... but that's a story for another day. Right now, I'm done writing! I'm off to PF Changs for Chinese food!