Exciting News

I had this funny picture in my head of a freak-show barker shouting, "Come, See a Real Live Preacher".

RealLivePreacher.com. Click to find out more...

Exciting News

I mentioned in a recent post that I might have some exciting news to share with you. Well, I do. I have reached an agreement with Eerdmans to publish a book which will probably be called "Real Live Preacher." I'm every bit as excited as you might imagine and also a little overwhelmed and disoriented.

Eerdmans is a respected publisher with a long history. They publish books that they believe in. I think they believe in me, which is very gratifying.

Here's how it happened. I was contacted by Chuck Van Hoff, a senior editor at Eerdmans, who asked if I wanted to explore the idea of doing a book of some kind. I thought it was my buddy Larry from Dallas joking with me. I actually wrote Chuck back and asked if he really worked at Eerdmans. He did.

I had another contact from Debbie Notkin, representing Jossey-Bass, asking the same question. I want to thank Debbie, who sometimes leaves comments here, for her encouragement and help. I chose Eerdmans, but it wasn't an easy decision. I also had considerable help from Patrick Nielson Hayden and Nancy Hanger, bloggers who are in the publishing business. Nancy helped me find an agent, and the rest was just talking and coming to an agreement.

What does this mean for the blog? Chuck and I agree that the blog must continue. If I didn't have the blog driving me, I'd just go back to watching the Simpsons every night. So the blog will be my writing tool. The interesting challenge will be discovering how to merge blog content with book content. I'm impressed with Chuck and with Eerdmans for being willing to think in new ways. We'll see how it works out. I may have to take a short break from the blog from time to time so that I can produce something unique for the book, but I remain very committed to blogging.

I'll keep you posted as this thing unfolds.

I'm taking this one step at a time. I want to let writing be my calling and follow this path as it unfolds. I don't know where this is leading me, but the journey has been great so far.