Book Progress Update!

The blog has been a little quiet lately because I’ve been focusing my writing efforts on the book and learning all I can about the mysterious publishing industry. I had a chance to pitch my book to Thomas Nelson a few weeks ago and it was so exciting!

I will call my expectations going into this meeting “hopefully realistic”. Thomas Nelson is a huge publisher and it’s unlikely they would pick up a writer like me with no “following”. The marketing of a book is really up to the writer more than the publisher, and without have some sort of base to market to, I’m not super attractive to them as as first time writer. However, you never know, I just might be that diamond in the rough they are willing to take a chance on! So my fingers were crossed, but I knew I shouldn’t put too much emotional stock in rejection.

When the day came, I had a 15-minute pitch meeting which turned into a half hour! They loved my story and the premise of my book and they had a lot of great feedback and pointers. However, as expected, they were less than impressed with my 500 facebook followers! They were very friendly though, and they left the door open to return in a year or two if I was able to build up a larger following, so I thought that was pretty awesome. I walked away from our time together having learned a lot, and feeling  much more prepared for my next go. Aaaaand, I also am going to start pursuing some smaller publishing houses who are ok with the “less famous” writers!

I think I would also like to write a few more chapters of the book before submitting my proposal again. I’m learning this process takes so much longer than my Enneagram 3 Achiever personality would prefer, and post-cancer Crys moves at a much slower pace than pre-cancer Crys! I’ve been learning that about myself too… I’m trying to find that balance between giving myself grace on the days when the productivity just isn’t there, but not getting stuck in that de-motivated funk. Some days are just going to be “bad cancer days” (turns out you can still have those even when you are cancer free), and that’s ok.

So now what? Well my serial-killer-chic decor is growing and has now taken over. I’m pretty sure the entire book is already written, just in various forms of post-its all over our dining room walls! Also, I’m turning my main focus to continuing to share my story through speaking. I have a dream of one day creating a ministry for cancer patients and survivors, which I will share more about in the future. But for now, while the book and ministry slowly come to life, the best way I can help others is continuing to share my story in person. Whether that’s at church services, online conferences, women’s events, wherever there are people who need encouragement to keep going, cancer or no cancer!

So I would love your prayers for favor and open doors for all these endeavors, and if you come over to our house for dinner anytime soon, you aren’t allowed to judge our dining room decor.