One of the most exhilarating times of my life was the 18 months I spent writing We Wait You. I had the confdence of doing what I knew God wanted me to do – stretching my long-ignored gift and waking up my dormant dream – all with the hopes of having an end result which would bring glory to His name. The book was never far from my mind during that time. I’d wake up in the middle of the night and scribble notes about a paragraph to delete, a section to move, a word which worked better.  As I walked two miles each way to work, up and down hills with a stunning view of San Francisco and the Bay, I stopped frequently to jot down thoughts in my notepad which was always never apart from me. It was a time when I felt truly alive.

Marketing a book, however, is not for the faint of heart. It is a steep, arduous climb, with fleeting glimpses of beauty and short-lived plateaus, always plodding on uphill, usually through barren terrain. I feel like I’m selling myself and that’s not a comfortable place to be. Any book is an artist’s creation but my book is more. It is my life stripped bare. Having no budget makes the task even more challenging. And so I take pleasure in the small things: speaking to a library group or women’s club and selling seven copies; responding to messages via my blog or website from people whose lives were touched; writing new material for the local paper or my blog. I keep reminding God that I’ve given this book to Him and I’ve done all I know to do, and so the results are in His hands.

I’d like to report a few of those more recent results.

• The national average of a book sold in America is 500 copies and my book has now tripled that. The other day, I was preparing to report to you that I’d finally reached my first 1,000 mark when I heard that, in one sale, I’d catapulted beyond that to the next 500 book milestone. I’m thrilled that a ministry organization made that large purchase, and praying that God would encourage and challenge each person who reads my book.
• The translation and re-publication into Romanian is in the final stage now. The new book, Te Asteptam, should be on the shelves in a matter of weeks. This last step involves changing the cover art with a building which will be recognizable as Romanian and not simply Eastern European. Once that decision is made, it is good to print.
• Even though I am no longer on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ, my book was included on a list of books staff women have written, in a blog going out to thousands of staff women globally. In my heart, I never left Campus Crusade, and so this validation was much-appreciated.
• A major denomination selected We Wait You for their 2012 Reading List, with a readership of 40,000 women.

This is more than enough to motivate me to keep climbing.