Dreams and Such

Back in the days before blogging, I "blogged" via a weekly email. It was something I began as a discipline to write something besides journal entries each week. My mom {who has always been a champion of my writing} told all her friends to sign up to receive it, and that was my start at blogging.

One of my work friends {in the 5% of those signed up to receive the email outside of my mother's influence} said I really needed to put those emails into a blog so I could reach more people.

Truth?

Reaching more people terrified me. Each week, when I wrote the email, I would craft it with the entire email list in mind. I deleted and edited sentences based on specific reactions I was afraid to receive. But blogging? That would mean I might have no idea who was reading. How would I edit then? So I ignored my work buddy.

Then one day, he called me into his office, told me he'd set up a blog for me. He handed me a paper containing the blog address and my password.

And that's how I started blogging.

For a while, I did both. The weekly email and the blog. And during one of those years, I offered my email readers a little bonus at Christmas: daily emails containing an advent devotion. They could sign up if they wanted, but they didn't have to. Much to my shock, several did. And every day I'd send out an email with this writing project I'd worked on a couple years before that.

And they said what a lot of people say when they read the writing of someone they know and love:  You should write a book.

You thought being bold and brave enough to blog was a big deal. BOOK WRITING? Oh hives.

Finally, with a couple of writing conferences under my belt and a rare surge of courage springing from within, I pursued publishing that book. And every door I tried...closed. So I put it aside.

And then...along came WestBow Press. Thomas Nelson {major Christian publishing house} began a self-publishing arm. Pursuing publication with them meant digging into my own money to finance the project. It was scary, but I wanted to try, so I did it.

As always, God's timing was so perfect. The year I published the book was the same year I had my heart broken in love...and I needed something good to happen.

The first day I saw the first copy of my first book...was about a million dreams come true:

The first copy came in July, and throughout that fall season, I had a few book signings, mailed many copies, and even had a radio interview on a little show we like to call Mid-Morning.

 I have loved this little book - and the journey it gave me that year.

I began to read, after I wrote and published the book, more about the world of self-publishing. There were pros and cons and it seemed writers were very divided on how to do it. And even more than that - it seemed that those who had ever had a chance to publish a book traditionally had no desire to step away from that forum.

Until now.

This week, I read a post and watched a video {by two different people} who have both had good success with multiple books published traditionally, but published their most recent book on their own. Their reasons were different, but their choice was the same.

I've had some ideas swirling in my head for a while now - for more books. And as they swirl, I think about how I might go about writing and publishing them. {Time to write is the first huge hurdle!} But I'm realizing my dreams are becoming far less about the number of copies I might sell and more about the impact in the lives of the people who read however many copies sell.

We're taught to dream big, but what if we dreamed small? I would rather have God accomplish lasting things in the lives of a few people through my words than have my words reach millions but make no difference in them.

So that's where I am in dreamland. Praying for the right words and the right doors to transport them to those who need to hear them, regardless of how many it might be.