I did it! I hit the “send” button!

Reading time: 2 minutes, 26 seconds

Yesterday was the day I'd dreamed of for years. I hit the “send” button and shipped my manuscript off to the publishing company. I'm talking about my new memoir, Please, God, Don't Make Me Go! A Foot-Dragger's Memoir.

Here's the book description from the back cover:

What’s a comfortable—and cowardly—suburbanite to do when her husband wants to move their young family to Colombia, South America, so he can teach missionaries’ kids?

Linda K. Thomas has always planned to chase the American dream. Adventure doesn’t appeal to her, and she’s ill-equipped for missions work. She begs God, “Please, don’t make me go!” but after months of soul-searching, she hears Him say, “Go!”

So, with flimsy faith and wobbly courage, she sets out with her husband and kids on a life-changing adventure at the end of the road in the middle of nowhere with Wycliffe Bible Translators.

When culture shock, tropical heat, and a boa constrictor threaten to undo Linda, she’s tempted to run away and hike back to the U.S. Instead, she fights to settle in and soon falls in love with her work alongside modern-day heroes of the faith disguised as regular folks. God has sent her where she didn’t know she wanted to go.

Once life is under control and easy, she gets a surprise—a request to go to one of the world’s most dangerous drug-dealing regions where hundreds of people have lost their lives. Colombia is perilous in other ways, too. Marxist guerrillas don’t like Americans or missionaries, proving it with bombs, kidnapping, and eventually murder.

Linda won’t trust God to help her make the trip, and she can’t trust herself, either. Gripped by anxiety, she longs to stay in the only safe place, the mission center. She prays, “Please, God, don’t make me go!” But once again He urges, “Go!” Thus begins a fierce internal battle.

In this heartwarming, sometimes humorous, sometimes shocking memoir, you’ll walk alongside a young wife and mother as she faces two universal struggles: 

• choosing between her plans and God’s, and
• choosing faith and courage over fear and cowardice.

Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go! will motivate the timid to cancel membership in the Society of the Faint-Hearted, and it will inspire every reader to enjoy God more and embrace new adventures He dreams up.

I was ready to send the manuscript a year ago but ran into one technical problem after another after another. The past year has been a nightmare as far as technology goes. But I sure did learn a lot! Too bad using one's brain doesn't burn calories. . . .

When you're ready to publish, contact me and I'll share tips to help you avoid the snags I encountered. Publishing my first memoir, Grandma's Letters from Africa, was much easier than publishing this second one. I willingly chose the method I used this time. It's just that I bit off more than I could chew.

They say old age isn't for wimps. Let me assure you, writing and publishing a memoir isn't for wimps, either. 

Don't let me scare you out of publishing our own memoir. The bottom line is this: It is possible for you to write your memoir and get it published. Yes, it is. Never doubt that.

You just need to commit to doing it and seeing it through all the way until you're holding your memoir in your hands and thumbing through the pages. You can do this!

I nearly melt in tears when I think of all the people who helped me get the manuscript polished, the interior formatted, photos just right, and the cover designed (well, actually . . . ahem . . . redesigned). And I thank God for His help and for sending good people to walk me through the technical parts.

I admit it: I'm tuckered out.

For now, here's my encouragement to you:

Keep writing.

Keep praying while you write, too.

Check out the Facebook Page for
Please, God, Don't Make Me Go:
A Foot-Dragger's Memoir

Tuesday Tidbit: Writers can mentor those they never meet

Sometimes you wonder whether writing your memoir will be worth all the hard work. Will anybody read it? Will it make a difference in anyone’s life?

But take heart. Your stories can impact others in ways you might never imagine.

Take, for example, what David Ramos recently said:

“Over the years I have had the opportunity to read hundreds of books by dozens of brilliant, God-loving, life-seasoned authors. Of these, a few have left impressions deeper than most.

“I wholeheartedly believe you can be ‘mentored’ by men and women you have never met. If you take the time to read their words and think deeply about why they wrote them, you cannot help but be shaped by them.

“These men have met me at the mountaintops and valley-lows in my life. They took my mind’s hand and led me to new places. Both places I didn’t know existed and ones I deeply feared….”

Hand in hand with God, 

write your stories.

Others need to know them. 

God can use your efforts 

and finished memoir 

to bless, encourage, mentor, 

and inspire your readers—

sometimes beyond your wildest imagination.

Do you know how your memoir will end? (Part one)

While you write your memoir, keep in mind where you’re heading: Build toward your ending.

But wait! Do you know how your memoir will end?

I beg of you, don’t settle for an anemic, trite “And they lived happily ever after.”

The beauty of memoir is that we write much more than just events and details. We uncover a story larger than the story on the surface.

We excavate a story deeper and higher and wider than the immediate story.

We dig it out—in pieces if we must—but we dig it out.

Dig until you find your gems, the gold, the silver.

That takes time and commitment and tenacity.

Don’t give up!

(Take a minute to read Dig it out, in pieces if you must.)

You have probably already written some of your stories/vignettes—that’s the easy part!—stories like:

• How did you rise above obstacles?
• Who did God use to show you what grace looks like?
• What did God do to heal emotional scars?
• Who did He bring into your life to turn you in the right direction?
• What unexpected opportunities did God offer you?
• What was the saddest day of your life?
• What was the happiest day of your life?
• What was the scariest thing you’ve ever had to do?
• What was the bravest thing you’ve ever done?
• What event or person helped you take off blinders and see yourself in a new and better way?
• Who/what opened your mind and heart to new worlds (emotional, spiritual, mental, physical)?
• Who showed you what forgiveness looks like?
• Who took a risk and trusted you?
• Who did God send to demonstrate how to parent your kids?
• Who gave you a second chance?
• Who did God send to help you believe in Him? Trust Him? Enjoy Him?

Set aside time to ponder and examine and pray about what God wants you to discover deep down in your life’s events.  Uncover the story that’s deeper and higher and wider than the surface story. Give yourself all the time you need.

As you aim toward your memoir’s ending, ask yourself: What principles, what life lessons do your stories illustrate?

What universal truths—or themes—come to light in your stories?

• Do your stories illustrate the importance of honesty, integrity, grace?
• Faithfulness to God and marriage?
• Helping the poor and sick?
• Choosing courage over fear?
• Resilience instead of giving up?
• Forgiveness instead of bitterness?
• Mercy instead of revenge?
• ...and so on.

What attributes of God shine from your stories? For example:

• His patience,
• forgiveness,
• unconditional love,
• omnipotence,
• wisdom,
• gentleness,
• faithfulness,
• holiness,
• and so on.

What Bible verse or phrase captures the point of your memoir? Here are a few suggestions:

• …a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair (Isaiah 61:3, NIV)
• His grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9)  
• Joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5)
• When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. (Isaiah 43:2, LB)
• The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercy never comes to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23, ESV)
• My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart. (Psalm 73:26, NIV)

Is there a quotation that embraces your memoir’s overall message? Here are a few suggestions:

• “Never believe that so-called random events of life are anything less than God’s appointed order. Be ready to discover His divine designs anywhere and everywhere.” C. S. Lewis
• “It is often in our darkest hour that the light of God’s presence shines the brightest.” Stacy L. Sanchez
• “The very circumstances which were meant to break Joseph’s faith in [God’s] promises were actually the events setting up their fulfillment.” David Ramos
• “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” C.S. Lewis
• “Believe me, the reward is not so great without the struggle.” Wilma Rudolph at God-sized Dreams 

 People long to discover universal truths, 

transforming truths, 

spiritual truths, 

underlying truths, 

relevant truths. 

Your readers long 

to discover them in your life’s stories 

so they can apply them to their own lives.

Once you can pinpoint them, you’ll have at least a vague idea of where you’re heading with your memoir—how you want to conclude it.

For now, get started on the above. 

Next Thursday, 

come back for 

Do you know how your memoir will end? (Part two).