The Next Chapter

Welcome to these first steps on my journey toward writing a published book.

You’ve come by at just the right time!  Because of a bizarre constellation of events that can only be described as providential, I am in conversation with a well-known press that’s interested in publishing a book that I’m still beginning to write.   For the last ten years or so, I’ve been entirely focused on homeschooling my five kids, navigating the choppy waters of faith and grief, playing on my local roller derby team, and recovering from the grueling gauntlet that led to my Ph.D. in English.  In fact, my doctoral work tortured the writing joy right out of me!  That’s why this whirlwind gift of an opportunity came as such a surprise.  God seems to have flung open a door that I barely found the courage to knock on with one, shaky knuckle.  Now, I’m trying to shim the edges of my fraction-teaching, read-aloud days with little slivers of book writing.  Within the next six months or so, these hours pages should frame up a story of lessons I learned from a bunch of brutal and beautiful women on the best roller derby team in South-central Indiana — lessons about loving like Jesus that I somehow missed over a lifetime of Sunday school.   I plan to ask for a million suggestions along the way, but feel free to offer your insights even if I forget to ask.  I’m so grateful you decided to join me here!