Day 18 :: Authors

31 ways What is it like to be an author?

Well today, it means I’m sitting in a hotel room alone in Moore, Oklahoma while all my friends with the Girls of Grace tour hang out together at the church.

I remind God a lot that I am way too extraverted to be an author- I’ve been sitting at this desk for approximately twelve minutes and I’ve already called our worship leader Amanda Noelle once.

While it requires some good amount of alone time, one of the joys of this career [and there are many], is meeting, spending time, and being friends with so many incredible authors and writers.

I just could not be more amazed at the words many of my friends are writing right now.

My pastor Pete Wilson just released Let Hope In. It’s one of those books that will minister to you right where you are in every way. Pastor Pete is an important voice in my life and he has spoken many of these truths into my life. I’m so so glad that same wisdom can travel anywhere with me.

Emily Freeman’s A Million Little Ways is going to move your heart like whoa. I’m excited that it is the next Bloom Book Club selection. I totally plan on participating. I love honing and exploring the art that is in my life- I think you will too. It starts on MONDAY, so go ahead and grab your book and get to reading!

There are many many more. I won’t start to list them because I would leave someone out, but I know you have your favorite authors too. I’ll tell you what I know about us- you and I LOVE US SOME BOOKS. Just look through all the posts and comments about books! I think reading is our community’s favorite hobby, huh?

Those authors that you love? Do you know they cry on their keyboard? Do you know they walk laps around their living room, their house, their neighborhood trying to replace one adjective so that you will feel a moment, not just hear it? Do you know that they miss time with their family and friends to create a piece of art they will never see appreciated by the reader?

Do you know that last week I walked into a bookstore and the lady said, “Sorry, we won’t carry Speak Love because we have only sold one copy of Perfectly Unique.” and she smiled at me like I was a failure. And I’m supposed to be gracious when she’s talking about my heart and soul on paper and how she won’t make it available to her customers?

This job is so very hard. I’m sensitive today for a lot of reasons and I sit here wondering if being an author is going to feel like the most expensive call and exquisite gift God has ever sent my way?

Fiction authors feel that too, just like us non-fiction ones. And poets. Anyone who sets their life down on paper and sends it away to the world has agreed to lay bare their soul in some form or fashion.

It’s not for the money or the bookshelf space [obviously] that we do this. It’s for the love of words. For the love of reading. For the love of providing for the reader.

. . . . .

SPEAK LOVE NOW

Every author needs to hear his book or her book has made a difference in your life. I cried like a baby when I met Catherine Marshall’s grandson [her book Christy is my all-time favorite] and I teared up telling Robin Jones Gunn that her fictional character Christy Miller was one of my best friends in high school.

So take time today to pop over to the website of your favorite author and tell him or her why their books matter to you. You could send them an e-card via twitter? Or just write on their facebook wall. Just take time to speak love to the people who are pouring their words into your life every time you pick up a book.

 

QUICK REMINDER! Free shipping over at AnnieBlogs Store until the end of the month! Just use the code SPEAKLOVE2013 and you won’t pay a penny to get the goods to your front door.

 

This is Day 18 of 31 Ways to Speak Love. You can click here to see a list of all the posts in the series.

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