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Junkyard Wisdom Book, So you think you're a writer?, Uncategorized,

#1 New Release!

Okay, so I’m officially bewildered. When I started writing a book I kept wondering who would actually buy it. Sure, I knew friends and family would. And I could give a lot away as gifts for people who support the nonprofits I love.

But I never expected to be the #1 new release on Amazon! And there it is. Junkyard Wisdom, my little side project meant to be self-published, is the #1 new release in Christian Stewardship on Amazon.

Of course this might just mean 12 people ordered it on a slow day when other books sold 11! …

Junkyard Wisdom Book, So you think you're a writer?,

You Can Now Order My Book!

It’s here! Amazon listed my book and you can now preorder it here. You can also order the Kindle version here.

And get this — with almost no promotion we’re the #1 New Release in Christian Stewardship! Plus we’ve been in the top ten for Social Issues, and among the top 100 in Personal Growth.

Wow! I’m stunned by this response! All writers wonder if anybody is going to buy their book, but I had good reason to wonder. Let’s face it — I’m not a household name, do not have a big platform of followers, and a …

Junkyard Wisdom Book, So you think you're a writer?,

It’s starting to seem real now!

With the release of the book just two months away it’s starting to seem real now! My publisher just posted this about the book, which is a great explanation of the theme and focus of my writing. Let me know what you think!

The last few weeks have been filled with edits, galley reviews, cover details, and on and on. It’s all fun of course, but there’s a ton of detail involved. Really thankful to have a talented co-writer in David Jacobsen, an assistant in Anne with an eye for detail, and a patient D’Aun as I answer email …

So you think you're a writer?,

Editing Angst

I had editing angst. Writing a book involves a lot of steps, some more complex than others. The one process I was dreading was turning the manuscript over to an editor and letting somebody else rip it apart.

I don’t mind somebody ~~correctly~~, um, correcting my spelling or grammar. That’s all welcome. But having somebody reshape the flow of the book, question the assumptions, or challenge the ideas … that’s intimidating.

Nobody would ever define me as having thin skin. I’m a landlord, so I’ve heard it all. But writing is an artistic process and finding your voice takes …

So you think you're a writer?,

I Have a Publisher!

Last week I did something that I thought would never happen: I signed a book contract with a publisher!

I never thought it would happen because the publishing industry is changing rapidly, and no-name authors like me usually have to go the self-publishing route. Throughout this book journey it seemed unlikely I’d find a traditional publisher.

But then a contact in the publishing industry suggested Deep River Books in Oregon. I emailed Bill Carmichael, their principal, and for the last couple of months we’ve had some great conversations.

The most important thing to me was control over the final product.

…

Junkyard Management, So you think you're a writer?,

Progress on the Book

Today is the last day of my writing sabbatical and I head home this afternoon. The book is coming together really well and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with David. We worked well together with many laughs and almost no disagreements. And the result is we have a solid working outline, more stories than we know what to do with, and all the Scripture references to back up the lessons in the stories.

One other positive step is a highly respected thought leader has agreed to write the foreward. I’m not sharing who it is just yet because so much …

Junkyard Management,

Book Update

For some time now I’ve been thinking about a book and drafting ideas. A few months ago I hired a ghost writer, David, to help. And next week I begin the formal process of working with him.

In advance of our time together David gave me homework assignments to write stories, ideas, chapter outlines, etc. Which was fairly easy because I’ve been doing that a long time.

What surprised me was how much I’d written. It was around 35,000 words! To get a handle on all of this David created a word cloud to see what jumped out. Here it …