Since You Asked

Lyla helping me with sources a couple days before submission.

As you may have heard, I finished the book I mentioned in this post from a few months ago. Hurray!

It's a giant document with 340 pages, 73,251 words, 349,399 characters, 2,836 paragraphs, and 6,443 lines. It represents eight months of work, four drafts, and more hours in the library than I'd care to count.

If it's all right to say, I am really proud of myself.

Since I turned in my manuscript and especially after my subsequent Facebook post announcing that submission, I've had a lot of questions from my (super supportive) friends and family. Some of those I've been able to answer (in face-to-face situations), but many of them were online. So here are my answers for those of you I haven't seen in person for a while.

Q: What's your book about? How do you decide to write it? How did the project come about?

A: That question has a long answer. But here's the short-ish version.

Last April, I got an idea for a book. I contacted my friend, who is an editor at Covenant Communications. She said my idea was similar to one they had at their new products meeting and wondered if I would be interested in taking on the project they needed. I said Um, YES.

The project was to write a biography (essentially) as a collection of stories. I had a choice between three topics. I chose Matthew Cowley. You've probably never heard of him, but you should have. Elder Holland just dedicated the Matthew Cowley Building at the MTC in Provo.

Q: What's cool about Matthew Cowley?*

A: In one sentence: he was an outstanding missionary in New Zealand during the 19-teens and an apostle during the 1940s who performed incredible miracles. (Given an additional sentence, I would add that he was hilarious and fun and fascinating. But one sentence it is.)

*Someone asked me this question this morning.

Q: Title?

A: The two working titles I have are That He May Work Mighty Miracles: Stories from the Life of Matthew Cowley or simply Stories from the Life of Matthew Cowley, the Polynesian Apostle. But if it's accepted, the editor will have the final say.

Q: So you're being published?!

A: I wish it were that easy. There's a long evaluation process from here.

Q: So, what's the process?

A: Good question. I am learning that as I go, since I've never actually done anything like this before. Most of my information comes from this page. Essentially, it looks like my manuscript will go through a number of screenings, where different specialists at Covenant will determine how good the book is, how much it will cost to produce, how well it can be marketed, what kind of art could be included, and (most importantly) if it could turn a profit. This takes a few months. If it's a green light on all accounts (fingers crossed), we'll start with their in-house editing, production and marketing processes.

Q: What if your manuscript is not accepted?

A: I will probably drown my emotions in a can of Pepsi and several rounds of MarioKart before I submit it to Deseret Book, CedarFort, or any other number of publishers.

Q: If it's accepted, when will it be available?

A: That depends on a lot of variables, but everything I can find says about a year is standard.

Q: Was it fun to write?

A. Yes. It was also really really hard.

Cool! Congratulations.

Thank you!

(Really, thank you. I've been amazed by the support and love you've all sent my way. You're all the best.)