This three-part blog was originally titled “A Long Labor of Love, aka the Dreams and Nightmares of Writing and Publishing a Book.”

This is the second part of my journey. Tomorrow is the launch day for Jesus Gets Hand-Me-Downs, and I will be posting the third part of the story.

Finally, I started writing the stories. Even as I wrote, I wasn’t sure how to put the book together. What is the proper format? Over the next few years, I puzzled over many ways to put the book together.

As well as just a book to read, I wanted to teach lessons within the stories. What do I want the lessons to be? Theology, of course. Stories of interest to the reader? Biblical accuracy. Moral values. Activities to enhance the message. Additional facts that bring stories and lessons to life. To enable readers to see the land, country, and people in the story.

I knew I would need to give readers all this extra information without pulling them away from enjoying the story. Or, in the words used in the writing community, pulling them out of the story. So how can I do this? I can put the information within the story. That would, without question, pull readers out of the story. I can put them in a sidebar. That would keep the information together with the story, but it also risks pulling them out of the story.

Another possibility is to include additional information in the appendix, with references that connect the story to it. I could also create a companion study that includes the activities and information from the appendix or another book.

You, my readers, are now probably as confused as I was as I figured out how to present this book.

I wrote most of the stories during this time. I spent a great deal of time creating many charts to keep stories, activities, and teachings properly together.

The bottom line was that I was still spending most of my time rewriting and reorganizing the book, not accomplishing getting it published.

Finally, something happened that pushed me to actually work on the publishing process. I don’t remember exactly what the push was, but I felt as if the Holy Spirit was screaming at me to get my act together and complete the project. (I know He doesn’t scream. However, that was what I was hearing in my head.)

To Be Continued…