Since my book was released I’ve had a few requests to share what I’ve learned about the book-writing process. Friday seemed like a good day to do that. On the whole I found writing the book to be an overwhelmingly positive experience and one I hope to enjoy again. There are currently no plans for a second book but I do hope to begin again before too long.

What I’d like to do today is share just a few entirely subjective thoughts on my experience in the hope that it will prove useful or interesting to you.

Writing the Proposal

I was blessed to be able to avoid much of the thankless chore of submitting the book (unsolicited) to all kinds of different publishers and just hoping against hope that it would stand out above some of the rest. But usually there is no way of avoiding this. I do not have much wisdom to share when it comes to actually finding a publisher. One thing I can attest to, though, is the value of having a blog. More and more I think we’re going to see the blogosphere serving as a kind of minor leagues where writers can establish first that they can write well and second that other people will be interested in reading what they write. It is a proving ground, of sorts. In the coming months and years you are going to see more and more books written by people who came to the attention of publishers through their blogs. Get used to it.

Publishers differ on how much input they wish to have when it comes to the actual writing process. Some involve themselves in each word of each sentence while others prefer that you simply submit a manuscript to them when it is complete. In either case, it is usually best not to write a complete book before shopping it to publishers. Instead, write a complete outline and submit that with two very good sample chapters. Make these your two best, strongest, most complete, most biblical, most amazing chapters. Edit and proof-read them thoroughly and get others to do the same. Here are the areas you’ll likely wish to cover in a proposal: A Brief Introduction to the Book, The Need for This Book, Competition or Similar Books, The Audience for This Book, Biography, Promotion (ways you will be able to promote your book), and Endorsements (people who are likely to endorse the book).

In your proposal outline every single way you may be able to sell the book through your own channels. As the publishing industry changes, it is becoming increasingly important that you prove able to assist in selling the books. This is particularly true with smaller publishers.

If all goes well, your proposal will be accepted and you’ll be offered a contract. This contract will help you understand that, unless you end up selling books like Don Miller or John Eldredge, you won’t be wanting to quit your day job anytime soon!

Writing the Manuscript

When you begin to write the book you’ll probably learn how silly your initial proposal was. The outline will morph and evolve until it’s scarcely recognizable. It’s all part of the game, I guess. Just yesterday I had a friend, who is also writing a book, remark on the strange nature of writing. You hole yourself up for days researching a subject and writing down what you need to communicate about it. And then you emerge into the sun again, asking people to read it over and critique it. You’ll do this time and again as you move through the book. Because I’ve only written one book I haven’t really established a system, but I did find it best to try to set aside at least one or two days for writing. I got more accomplished this way than if I only worked for an hour or two at a time. As the book grew in length, it took longer and longer to find my context. I would often have to read the entire book before I could continue from where I left off writing. And as the book grew, this would take several hours out of my first day of writing.

I had intended to write the book in order from chapter 1 to chapter 10, but soon found this wasn’t as easy or as logical as it at first seemed. Instead I wrote the book thematically. As I searched the Bible and other resources I would find topics that seemed to fit well under a particular category. I would then try to write about those topics, regardless of the chapter they fit into. This system (or lack thereof) may not work for everyone, but it worked well for me. It also made things less rigid, I think, as it meant I could hold off writing about subjects that I had not adequately researched. It meant that I did not have to write chapter six if there was still research to do on that chapter.

Prayer support was indispensable at this time. I had asked many friends to pray for me as I wrote the book, and particularly on Fridays which I tried to set aside for research and writing. This prayers, I am convinced, made all the difference.

Your contract will specify how long you will have to write the book. In all likelihood you’ll require six months or a year to complete it. From the time you submit a proposal to the time the book actually hits store shelves can easily be two years. Patience will prove a virtue.

A Published Author

Seeing the book in print was not nearly the experience I had thought it might be. No angels sang and no trumpets blew. It was, of course, good to see the book in print, but I don’t think it registers up there with marriage and the birth of my children. Nor should it, I guess. Since the book’s release I’ve done all kinds of interviews (both radio and print) with many more to come. If you write a book you’ll want to prepare yourself to talk about it. This can be a little more difficult than it sounds since it will probably be at least six months between the time you complete the book and the time everyone wants to talk about it. So you’ll want to spend some time re-reading the book to make sure that all of its content is fresh in your mind. Make sure you write out a good list of “Questions about the Book” and be prepared with good answers to them. Your publisher will probably help you with this.

And then prepare for the unexpected. Lots of strange and interesting and uncomfortable opportunities are likely to arise as the book begins to make its way into the world. Pray a lot and ask others to pray for you during this time. You’ll need it.

Top 40

I thought you might get a laugh out of this and figured I’d just add it in here. In the most recent issue of Christian Retailing magazine is the first half of an article called “40 Under 40” (the second half will be published in the next issue). It is a listing of people they consider influential future leaders in the publishing industry. “The future direction and health of the Christian retail channel depends much on the next generation of leaders emerging to shape the publishing and selling of Christian resources in a world very different from its formative years. Christian Retailing identified 40 individuals under the age of 40 who are widely considered to be influential figures for the days ahead. Young leaders in eight categories are profiled, beginning in this issue, by Natalie Nichols Gillespie.” The list includes lots of people I haven’t heard of (primarily industry insiders) and a few I have (e.g. Rob Bell, Matt Bronleewe, David Crowder, Kirk Franklin, etc). Somehow they saw fit to include me in this list. It’s an honor of course. But just in case it was going to give me a big head, they declared me the least recognizable on the list. Those who know me will know that I’m just fine with that status. Click on the picture to see an excerpt from the article.

This morning we continue with our reading of John Owen's classic Overcoming Sin and Temptation. If you'd like to know more about this reading project, you can read about it right here: Reading Classics Together. We're into the real heart of the book now and are looking at specific instructions on how to put sin to death.

In the past few chapters we have been in the book's second section--a section that focuses on "the nature of mortification." In the past chapters and those to come Owen approaches the subject this way:

1. Show what it is to mortify any sin, and that both negatively and positively, that we be not mistaken in the foundation.
2. Give general directions for such things as without which it will be utterly impossible for anyone to get any sin truly and spiritually mortified.
3. Draw out the particulars whereby this is to be done.

He has already shown both negatively and positively what it is to mortify a sin and has given the general directions. Last week he offered the first of his particular instructions on how to go about the business of mortifying sin. He told us to consider whether our lust has certain dangerous symptoms accompanying it and went on to describe certain conditions: Inveterateness (a state of being deep-rooted or habitual); secret pleas of the heart to countenance sin without a gospel attempt to mortify sin; applying grace and mercy to an unmortified sin; frequency of success in sin's seduction; arguing against sin only because of impending punishment; probable judiciary hardness; when your lust has already withstood particular dealings from God against it. This week he turns to a second instruction.

Summary

This chapter’s theme is this: Get a clear and abiding sense upon your mind and conscience of the guilt, danger, and evil of your sin. Owen follows this outline:

1. Consider the guilt of it
   • Though the power of sin be weakened by inherent grace, yet the guilt of remaining sin is aggravated and heightened by it
   • God sees a great deal of evil in the working of lust in the hearts of his servants
2. Consider the danger of it
   • Of being hardened by deceitfulness
   • Of some great temporal correction
   • Of loss of peace and strength
   • Of eternal destruction
3. Consider its present evils
   • It grieves the holy and blessed Spirit
   • The Lord Jesus Christ is wounded afresh by it
   • It will take away a man's usefulness in his generation

Discussion

I don’t know that any other chapter has given me more to think about than this one. It’s not just that it was tough going (and certain sections really were tough to read and absorb) but that Owen covered some aspects of thinking about sin that really were new to me. I’ll give a brief thought about each of the three headings he used: the guilt of sin, the danger of sin, and the evil of sin.

I doubt too many Christians can read Owen’s thoughts on considering the guilt of our sin and remain unaffected. Of course I wasn’t entirely sure that I read it correctly but after three or four go-rounds I am fairly confident. Owen says, “Though the power of sin be weakened by inherent grace, yet the guilt of remaining sin is aggravated and heightened by it.” He says also that “God sees a great deal of evil in the working of lust in the hearts of his servants.” I take this to mean that sin committed by a Christian is in a sense far more serious than sin committed by an unbeliever. Once God has given us light and life, we sin in a way that is different from how we sinned before. When we sin as Christians we sin in direct contradiction to the work of the Spirit in our lives. “We, doubtless, are more evil than any, if we do [sin]. I shall not insist on the special aggravations of the sins of such persons--how they sin against more love, mercy, grace, assistance, relief, means, and deliverances than others. But let this consideration abide in your mind--there is inconceivably more evil and guilt in the evil of your heart that does remain, than there would be in so much sin if you had no grace at all.” With the great blessing of new life comes the great responsibility to be free from sin. When we do sin, we blatantly disregard the Spirit’s work and leading in our life. Hence there is a whole new dimension to our sin and a whole new level of seriousness.

In his section on the dangers of sin, Owen warned of being hardened by sin’s deceitfulness, of the danger of temporal punishment, of the loss of peace and strength in relationship with God and of eternal destruction. The one that stood out to me was the danger of being hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. I believe it is for good reason that he listed this one first. No person can find himself on the road to destruction or even being punished by God in this life if he has not first been hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. “There is a treachery, a deceit in sin, that tends to the hardening of your hearts from the fear of God.” At the close of this section comes a dire warning and challenge: “Is it not enough to make any heart to tremble, to think of being brought into that estate wherein he should have slight thoughts of sin? Slight thoughts of grace, of mercy, of the blood of Christ, of the law, heaven, and hell, come all in at the same season. Take heed, this is that [which] your lust is working toward--the hardening of the heart, searing of the conscience, blinding of the mind, stupifying of the affections, and deceiving of the whole soul.” When we have low thoughts of our sin it means we must also have low thoughts of the work and person of Christ and low thoughts of eternal reward and punishment. If we get sin wrong, we get everything else wrong. Sin is deceitful and we must have a biblical understanding of it if we are to honor God with our lives. We must mortify sin lest we allow it to blind us to its realities.

Where the dangers of sin point to future realities, the evils of sin point to the present. Here Owen offers three warnings. Sin grieves the holy and blessed Spirit; the Lord Jesus Christ is wounded afresh by it; and sin will take away a man's [or woman’s] usefulness in his [or her] generation. I think it speaks volumes about a person’s heart whether or not these realities really concern him. Only one who has truly been born again will be concerned with grieving the Holy Spirit or wounding Jesus Christ afresh. Only a Christian will have a heart that is grieved by grieving God. Any man may fear and abhor the consequences of sin in his own life, but only a true believer will concern himself with how his sins affect God. “Among those who walk with God, there is no greater motive and incentive unto universal holiness, and the preserving of their hearts and spirits in all purity and cleanness, than this, that the blessed Spirit, who has undertaken to dwell in them, is continually considering what they give entertainment in their hearts unto, and rejoices when his temple is kept undefiled.” Does this thought motivate me to mortify the sin in my life? Does this thought motivate you to destroy the sin in yours? Or are we so self-centered that our first consideration is how our sin impacts our own lives and our own hearts? Those who truly love the Lord will prove this love by turning from sin.

Next Week

Next Thursday we will continue by reading chapter eleven.

Your Turn

As always, I would like to know what you gained from this chapter. Please post your comments below or to write about this on your own blog (and then post a comment linking us to your thoughts). Do not feel that you need to say something exceedingly clever or profound. Simply share what stirred your heart or what gave you pause. You can also post any questions that came up. Let's be certain that we are reading this book together. The comments on previous chapters have been very helpful and have aided my enjoyment of the book. I have every reason to believe that this week will prove the same.

It is easy to grow discouraged at the state of the church. As a person who invests quite a lot of time and attention to studying the church, her health and what Jesus requires of her, I often find myself lamenting her state. Writers from all backgrounds and denominations have written about the church, and I have read many of these books and publications. The standard book begins with a few chapters outlining all the ways the church has failed with the rest of the book providing the solution. If only we did this or that or the other thing, we would make the church what she was intended to be. I haven’t read too many books that give the church a pat on the back and said "good job!" Maybe for good reason. Maybe not. When I wrote The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment I was deliberate in not doing that, in not giving a long list of all the ways the church has failed. In a sense I don’t need to as her failing are evident to anyone who seeks to look for them; but I also did not wish to spread a spirit of discouragement.

Here are just a couple of examples of people who have taken on the church in recent years. Rick Warren wrote the mega-seller The Purpose Driven Church wherein he proclaimed that the church had lost sight of her purpose and had to rediscover it. Millions of pastors bought and read this book and began what Warren refers to as the Second Reformation - a Reformation of purpose. A couple of years ago I counted six or seven books in the Christian bookstore heralding "the next Reformation," yet all of them pointed towards a different basis for this Reformation. The men and women of the Emergent community continually write indictments of the church, showing how, in their view, she has failed in the modern world and is primed to be an even greater failure in the postmodern world. A person who is fully immersed in the Emergent church sent me an email once and wrote about "denominational distinctives that strive to keep us divided" as if churches are purposely focusing on the distinctives in order to drive wedges between them and other believers. There are any number of other authors that identify problems and tell us how to fix them. Many people are proud to be believers, yet are ashamed to be part of the church - the visible body of Christ. They portray the church as being purposeless, intellectual and ancient, knowingly and joyfully trapped in the past, snickering as we watch our neighbors fall into the abyss.

Yet the church is not a failure; the church—the remnant of those who are faithful, who compose only a fraction of the wider, visible church, remain true to Christ and continue to do God's work in the world. Jesus Himself told us that the road to salvation is narrow and only a few enter, so we should not be surprised when there are far more who turn their backs than respond with joy. We mourn their loss but trust in God’s sovereignty in saving His people. This I can guarantee: 100% of God's elect have been (or will be!) ministered to and changed by the Word of God. Every one of them has heard the preaching of a minister of the Word or has read a Bible lovingly and obediently translated which was delivered to someone who needed it most. Why do we dwell so often and sometimes exclusively on our failures and shortcomings? Does this honor God and glorify Him for the battles that have been won and the lives He has changed through us?

Despite these victories we too often see the church as a failure. I used to get a lot of emails from a friend who has a high view of his own sin. He tends to sign his emails as "your sinful, spiteful, hell-deserving sinner of a friend" or something like that. He never hides from his own sin, and I admire that. And while it is fully true that he is a sinner and no doubt feels spite and malice and does deserve hell, this is only half the story. In his view of his sin I think he often loses sight of the fact that in God's eyes he is now a beautiful new creation, restored to the image of God. He has been bought with precious blood and adopted into the family of the king! I continually have to remind him that he is focusing on only half of the battle. His emphasis on his sin does not allow him to see the beauty of what he has become. And I think this is how the church often sees itself - it sees the bad and loses track of all the good things that the church has done through Christ.

The church, despite sin and failings and shortcomings and imperfections of all sorts is a glorious body and one that I know Christ is proud of. He has promised that the church will prevail and we can take refuge in that promise. If we were not such a sinful mess we would not need him at all! But because we are sinful and constantly go astray, we need Him to lead and guide us as we act as His representatives on earth. I know that there is so much more we could do, and must do. I know the church is not all that God wants it to be. Yet I am confident that it brings Him glory and makes Him proud. So if you are part of this body, allow yourself a moment of gratitude and awe for what God has done in and through His body; thank God that you can be part of something so awesome, so glorious, so godly. And then put your hand to the plow and continue the work He has entrusted to us.

Inside Narnia was one of the many books published in advance of the most recent movie adaptation of C.S. Lewis's The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. The book has proved a success, going through six printings since its release in 2005. In the book Devin Brown, a Lewis scholar and aficionado, offered a detailed look into the world of Narnia, digging far beyond the surface, and exploring this magical world. As I had just read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe with my children, I decided to read this as a commentary of sorts, to see what I had missed and what I would want to look for the next time I read the book. I learned more than I would have thought possible. Reading Inside Narnia greatly enhanced my understanding of C.S. Lewis, of the stories he wrote, and of the worlds he created.