Making Dreams Come True – Part 4

*********************************************************

If you haven't read the previous parts, you may want to do so first. See:

·         Making Dreams Come True – Part 1

·         Making Dreams Come True – Part 2

·         Making Dreams Come True – Part 3

*********************************************************

I sent queries to many agents and publishers

After the book was complete, I sent queries to many agents and publishers. I never did find an agent, but in April 2008, White Rose Publishing, a company that publishes only Christian Romance, read the beginning and a synopsis and asked to see the whole book. That was something none of my writing friends had experienced yet at the time. I sent the manuscript to White Rose immediately. As I had learned in class, I started working on a new novel while waiting to hear back from the publishers.

Planning a trip to the Holy Land

My wife Lois and I were leaving soon after sending the manuscript to the publisher on a trip to the Holy Land. However, I knew the publisher would need at least 90 days to decide, so I wasn't concerned about the book. In fact, I was looking at the trip and good way to keep from thinking about what the publisher might say.

Soon, I forgot all about the book.

Just a few weeks before or planned departure we learned that Lois was too ill to go anywhere.

She had been having minor respiratory problems off and on since we got back from China in the summer 0f 2007. The doctors had not been able to find anything wrong. Then, during a routine check just before our departure, her dermatologist said she was jaundiced. Again, we thought it must have something to do with the China trip. We had taken a river cruise on the Yangtze and had visited a number of smaller towns. I had been banned from donating blood for a year because of the possibility of malaria. Lois' doctor checked her for malaria. The test was negative.

In the next post, I'll tell you what happened when Lois had endoscopic surgery.

Bloodmobiles and Bookmobiles

June 16, 2011--Today, I donated two pints of blood using the ALYX method for a lifetime total of TEN GALLONS. I accomplished one of my goals. Since I started rather late in life, and most of my donations were one pint at a time, I wasn't sure if I would achieve the goal or not.

I'm telling you this for two reasons. First, I'm proud of it and want to share my achievement with you all. But, mostly, I want to encourage you to donate if you're not already.

I gave blood in Austin for the first time when Dudley Baker scheduled the Bloodmobile to come to our church, Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Austin, Texas, in April, 1986. I was forty-nine at the time and had never donated blood in Austin, and only a few times elsewhere.

We turned in chits to the church each time we donated to provide blood for anyone in the church if it was ever needed. This gave me the incentive to continue donating over the years. I wasn't always regular, and sometimes got banned for a year at a time because of travel to places where malaria was a problem. In my case, parts of Mexico and China. The blood bank also monitored my travel to Europe, and I almost hit the maximum days in the mad-cow areas. Between 1992 and 1996 I had been in Europe eighty-four days and the limit was ninety days.

It took me twenty-five years to donate ten gallons of blood. But, the only reason I got started is because a friend at church asked me to. How about you? Are you donating blood? If half of the people reading this give a pint of blood, there would be another ten gallons available for those in need. Wow!

Okay, what does this have to do with bookmobiles?

The first time I donated was in the bloodmobile, which is similar to a bookmobile. When I drove a bookmobile, I learned the library would send us to places where they were considering building a substation. And that's what bloodmobiles do. When they find an area where business is good, they open a substation. That's what happened here in Georgetown.

Let me know if you donate a pint or two.

Taking a Break From Writing

Several friends have asked why I haven't mentioned my recent trip to China in this blog. I'm not sure. But, for one thing, it's not easy to tie it in to the purposes for the Christian Bookmobile blog. At the top of every posting, you'll see:

My goal is to provide something of interest to both readers and writers who like fiction that shows the love of God without being preachy. Since my book is set in Austin, Texas, this blog also includes some of my memories about growing up in Austin before it became weird.

So, a trip to China where Celeste and I sang in five choral concerts doesn't fit the goal of the blog. In fact, I made an effort to take a vacation from working on Where Love Once Lived while on the trip. Although I had written enough articles to post one each day while we were gone, I only touched a computer once in China and that was to get better seats on the plane for our return trip.

Besides seeing most of the tourist sites in Beijing, Shanghai, and Xi'an, we rehearsed and gave concerts. The night before we sang at the Great Wall, we got together in the parking lot outside our hotel and went over the music. We had joined up with a group from Mineral Wells, Texas and it was the first time we had rehearsed the American music concert together. Another day, we rehearsed the Haydn Mass in Time of War for three hours.

The trip was wonderful. Often, the choral aspects of such trips become secondary to the singer's tourist activities. Not so, for this trip. The concerts were the highlights of the trip. The Chinese loved what we did. In one venue we were in tight quarters and an older woman stood behind me, looked over my shoulder at the music, and sang along. I shifted the music over to where she could see better and encouraged her. All those around her smiled.

By the time we reached the Shanghai Expo, most of us knew Great Gettin' Up Mornin' by heart since the words are repeated. Ryan Heller, our conductor for that part of the tour, looked pleasantly shocked when we dropped our music folders on the floor so we could clap along with the music. The audience cheered and clapped with us.

The Chinese cheered most loudly when we sang The Jasmine Flower, in Chinese. We had the words written phonetically, but we must have sounded right because the audience cheered every time we sang it.

So, you see, there's not much in here about writing. Perhaps, the only way to justify this post is to say, all writers need to take a break from time to time and do something to collect new information to write about. When you read Where Love Once Lived, for example, you'll find I've included much about a trip or two to Germany. In fact, the book was completed while in Germany. But, that's a story for another day.

This was an unusual post, so please feel free to let me know what you think about it.

According to God's Schedule

Celeste and I returned from a two week choir trip to China so late Friday night it was officially Saturday. We could have used three or four days to recover from the long flight, but as soon as we got to church Sunday morning we were reminded we had signed up to help restore some houses in Georgetown, Texas where we live.

Helping with the community restoration project was something I wanted to do, but what bothered me was that I hadn't written or worked on the book publishing project in more than two weeks. I didn't take a laptop with me and I didn't activate my iPhone in China. It was a two-week vacation from the Internet and all things digital. I felt a little proud, since I am sometimes criticized for spending too much time staring at a monitor or an iPhone.

Even so, I'd looked forward to our return home so I could get back to my computer. It wasn't to be. God decided I needed another week away from my routine.

The community restoration project work was from 6:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., and, with the 100+ degree heat, we were exhausted by the time we got home. After a shower and meal we were ready for sleep. Keep in mind we had not yet adjusted to the 13 hour time change.

It was a hard week. Yet, so fulfilling. There's something special about working, praying, and eating with people from several churches. There's a feeling of accomplishment that only a team of dedicated people can achieve in a short period of time.

I did some carpentry work, scraped paint, and cleaned up messes. I did chores that didn't require much thought. And I enjoyed them all.