There is an e-mail I have saved in my inbox from January. It is an e-mail I sent myself and I titled the e-mail “stop being a chicken.” That was completely on purpose, and that e-mail has stared at me every time I log in to check my e-mail (which is a lot). It sits there, unassumingly, but stares at me because I know what that e-mail contains, and I know exactly why I made that the subject line. I knew I would want to chicken out, sit on my hands, and let my perfectionist ways get the better of me. So that e-mail sat and stared at me…until yesterday.
Does this blog feel at all familiar? Like I’m talking about something but I’m teasing you because I’m not actually telling you what I’m talking about? Good. That’s how I roll.
If you hacked into my e-mail account and opened the e-mail that said “stop being a chicken.” you would find a simple link to a website with directions on how to submit a book proposal to a certain publisher (who will, for now, remain nameless). There was nothing else in that e-mail, just a link that I knew had the potential to change me. I’ve said before that the idea of sending off a proposal was nothing short of completely unnerving because it is leaving the thing that I’ve come to call “my baby” in the hands of someone else, who may, in fact, reject it. That e-mail is called “stop being a chicken.” for that very reason. I knew that in time I would want to chicken out and come up with a million reasons not to submit the book proposal. I’m glad that e-mail has been staring at me because finally, at long last, I can log in and tell that e-mail that I’m no longer a chicken.
Yesterday I submitted my first book proposal to the first publisher.
That could have been in all caps and it wouldn’t contain the sheer excitment of it! I, crazy and weird, blessed daughter of the Lord, submitted my very first book proposal to an actual book publisher. Holy. Smokes.
So, it really is out of my hands now. Completely and utterly. It is in a publishers hands (or rather, e-mail inbox – what a wonder technology is!). But ultimately it is in God’s hands, and I’d far rather it be there than in my hands. Now I wait. If all goes according to what their website says, I should have an initial response within 60 days. If I haven’t said it before (I have): PRAY. Your prayers are making a difference, they are what has kept me going and sent the Holy Spirit to light a fire under me so that I wouldn’t actually be a chicken. Pray, pray, pray. And then pray some more.
St. Rose of Lima, pray for us.
St. Thérèse of Lisieux, pray for us.
St. Padre Pio, pray for us.
St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.
St. Augustine, pray for us.
St. Rita, pray for us.
St. Jude, pray for us.
Blessed Pope John Paul, pray for us.
Blessed Mother Teresa, pray for us.
Sts. Peter and Paul, pray for us.
All Holy Men and Women, pray for us.
