It\u2019s official: I\u2019m pregnant, with a book that is.<\/p>\n
This morning I signed a contract with CASCADE Books, a division of Wipf and Stock Publishers, for the publication of Grace Sticks: The Bumper Sticker Gospel for Restless Souls. Grace Sticks<\/em> is both light-hearted spiritual memoir and unsystematic theological travel guide for other restless souls seeking more direction, more truth and more life.\u00a0 Along the way I\u2019ll invite readers to consider how something as seemingly frivolous as the bumper stickers they attach to their cars or entertain in traffic are themselves spiritual aspirations of sorts that point to One who is The Way, The Truth and The Life.\u00a0 (Just think the adventuresome spirit of a Jack Kerouac meets a bit of the free-wheeling conversationalism of a Rob Bell, meets a young woman’s irreverent sense of humor.)<\/p>\n For those of you unfamiliar with Cascade Books, here is a description taken from their website: \u00a0they specialize in \u201cnew books that combine academic rigor with broad appeal and readability.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cEncompassing all the major areas of theology and religion, Cascade Books has published such major authors as Stanley Hauerwas, J\u00fcrgen Moltmann, John Milbank, John Howard Yoder, Margaret Miles, and Walter Brueggemann.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Now\u00a0<\/em>is when I\u2019m told by more seasoned authors the real pain begins, so I\u2019m especially grateful to be undertaking the editorial process with the good and capable people of Wipf and Stock, especially my newfound editor, Rodney Clapp.<\/p>\n Writing a book is one of the most impractical things a person can ever do.\u00a0 It rarely pays the bills, usually involves a lot of sweat and tears, and can often result in one\u2019s name being dragged through the mud for what one did or didn\u2019t say.<\/span><\/p>\n Writing- and ministry, for that matter- is not what this girl once envisioned as a future when, at the tender age of 14, she awkwardly posed for the \u201cMost Likely To Succeed\u201d award in her eighth-grade class yearbook.\u00a0 She was tall and lanky, wore braces and barrettes, and stood next to the smartest kid in her eighth-grade class.\u00a0 The boy who shared this dubious honor in adolescent geekiness went on to become a plastic surgeon. \u00a0She was going to become a lawyer or a television anchorwoman. \u00a0She went on to do, as it\u2019s turning out, a host of impractical things that made her restless soul sing.\u00a0 (Ain\u2019t life grand?)\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n On that note, here\u2019s this week\u2019s mental health break, with the hope that you, too, may do what you love and what makes your soul sing- whether it\u2019s tummy tucks and nose jobs or writing books that a few people will read. \u00a0<\/span>The addition of the orchestra in this version of “The Logical Song,” by the 80’s band, Supertramp, performed only three years ago by Roger Hodgson and accompaniests, is especially endearing:<\/span><\/p>\n