In case you missed it last week (on Facebook and Instagram), here’s the unboxing video for my latest book, The Traveler’s Path. My production team, as you can imagine, put in long hours to pull this whole thing together, so a heartfelt shout out to all of them. (Actually, my wife held my phone and said, “go,” so she was the entire production team. But still.)
Unsurprisingly, I did not get it on the first take, so look for the blooper reel…some day maybe.
The book, my eighth, is now available for pre-order, with an expected shipping date of March 25. As you can imagine, I’m proud and excited and even a little nervous, though nervousness subsides with age, along with a few other things.
In college days, I was on the staff of the student newspaper, the Calvin College Chimes, and there was an inside joke among staff members (there were SO MANY inside jokes) about being a “serious writer.” In our early 20s we all aspired to be “serious writers,” a term we then disparaged and mocked.
Well, my dear friend James Leunk (the only one of us on the Chimes staff who pursued an actual career in editorial work, with a long stint at Gannett, owner of USA Today, among other media properties), recently conferred on me the coveted title “serious writer.” Only 50 years later, I can now claim to be what I once longed to become.
There are acknowledgements pages at the end of The Traveler’s Path, of course, but I should give a special shout out here to Mrs. de Jong, my fifth grade teacher, who once told me that I knew how to write a good story. No baseball coach ever told me I could play good baseball, in spite of the hours I devoted to the sport, so it was Mrs. de Jong’s encouragement that kept me going for - let’s just say, conservatively - much of my life. So, here’s my thanks to Mrs. de Jong and all the other teachers out there who speak words of encouragement to little boys and girls who long to be good at something.
Pre-order today from Amazon.com.
And hey, if you have a crumb of generosity in your heart, please leave me a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or wherever you leave snotty comments for serious writers like me. (If you don't believe me about snotty reviews, have a look. My favorite review on Goodreads is from a reader who received a free book, my memoir, on a Goodreads giveaway promotion. She wrote, quite generously, that since I was a pastor the book must be for pastors, not for her. So, one star. Thanks, ma'am.)
Oh, and please invite me to lead adult ed at your church. My author tour begins soon!
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