Isaiah 40:30-31 says, “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
This passage recently resonated with me as I reflected on my writing process over the past year and a half. Writing a book was hard work. The process involved vulnerability, creativity, focus, perseverance, and risk. I’ve cycled through a process of running, walking, and needing to renew my strength.
The running involved makes me think of the first drafts I wrote and rewrote, the stories I jotted down, pulled from journals, rehashed in my memory and compiled into a rough outline. I wrote without editing, and then re-read and edited and cut and added. My thoughts moved faster than I could type, but eventually I got it all into a finished draft. I printed it out, wrote all over it, and set chapters in piles on the floor of my office, reordering them. Some faithful friends read it and gave feedback that I worked into it. When I mailed that manuscript about a year ago, the woman at the FedEx place asked me if I’d like to assign a value to the package. Technically I knew it was the value of the paper, but emotionally its value was priceless. I was handing her a piece of my soul. As I handed it to her, I finished running and I needed to slow to a walk.
The editing process was the walking. I had to move slowly through the book, reworking and cutting and rewording sections of chapters, and substantially paring down the facilitator’s guide. I had to sit with my anxiety and take a deeper look within myself as I saw that what I had written was actually becoming a physical book that people would read. I needed to walk and not be faint.
The final edits were complete, and there was still a month or two to wait until I would hold the book in my hands. It was a time of soul-searching and needing to renew strength, to not grow weary. I took on new challenges of marketing and seeking reviews. I took a retreat. I began a consistent meditation practice. I went to Taekwondo. My strength was renewed.
In two days, I’ll be ready for Revealed to soar as it is released into the world, into the lives of readers and out of my hands. My creative process has become a finished product. I am ready to celebrate, and soon I will be ready for another run.