After the relief of Sunday night, I’m drawn heavily toward my sofa, toward jammies, toward snuggling children and a few weeks off. That time will come, and we’ve done it some. But the schedule is full and mostly, so is my heart.
Tomorrow I fly to Indianapolis to speak at The Influence Conference. We’ll talk about how to uncover hints of our unique design and how beautiful it can be when we dare to be who we really are.
This conference is one reason I’ve wanted to write on listening and quiet – traveling can yank the hush right out of me, and this month I’m doing quite a bit of it.
But there is more, and here is the main reason I’ve needed to write on listening this month.
Two months from today on December 10, my third book is due to my publisher. I know. I haven’t told you I’ve been writing a third book.
I’m writing a third book.
I signed with a literary agent back in February and signed the book contract in July. I’m just about 30,000 words in. It isn’t only for high school girls or even specifically women.
This book is just for people. I don’t say “good girls” even once.
I’ve wanted to tell you about it, but it just felt like a bit much with the release of Graceful this fall. I’m still figuring out what it means to be an author of books and a writer of a blog.
I’ve mostly kept it to myself – read some books in the way of research, worked quietly on the words, listened long and hard for clarity, voice, and heart.
It took me months to say yes to this book, because do I really want to do this? I know how hard this job is. I know what is required of a writer and her family.
The first two books came as a surprise, packaged together in a way I never expected. The past three years have been consumed with work on them, talk about them, thoughts and heart surrounding that message.
I’m proud of those two books. I hope you’ll still read them if you haven’t yet. I tell my story in them, one I have already lived and am still living in many ways. I wrote them with as much heart and authenticity I could manage at the time. But those books lead up to where life sits now.
This new book? Oh, this new book hurts. I’m digging deep into what it means to live life like a poem instead of a program, a lyric rather than a list. Is it possible? Can life really look like art?
So I hush. I have to. And I have my sights set on this:
One week from Friday, I’m flying over a thousand miles from home. I’m not speaking at a conference or a retreat. I’m not being paid to go. This one is for me, a trip for my soul to breathe.
I’ll travel alone, but there will be others when I get there. Strangers but not, because in Christ is there really such a thing? There will be a week of listening, of wise teaching, and lots of soul talk.
I will ignore my inbox. But I will still work on the book and continue to type out the words here on quietness and listening.
These kinds of posts are hard for me to write. Your turn.
This is day 10 of 31 Days to Hush. You can click here to see a list of all the posts, updated daily. If you would like to receive these quiet thoughts in your email inbox, subscribe now.
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