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Painting/photo of Jerusalem Temple-Casual English Bible

Me: One writer’s to-do list

Stephen M. Miller
man looking out upstairs window
WRITER AT WORK. A former writer colleague of mine once told our boss that if the boss ever caught him staring out the window to leave him alone because he’s getting a lot of work done. Writers get that. I’m not sure our boss did. Photo by Bob Dass.

IN CASE YOU THINK writers stand around all day looking out the window and feeling grateful they’re not working for the man, I’d like to clarify something for you.

That’s only partly right.

I, for one, do that only from time to time – especially when:

  • birds are singing in the redbud tree outside my home office window, six feet away from my face.
  • heavy rain or foot-high snow makes godly souls swear during a highway commute.
  • friends who have worked for the man for two or more decades lose their job for no good reason but someone else’s bottom line – so the employer can hire two or three lower-paid newbies for the price of one seasoned expert.

That much granted, here’s what’s going on at the moment.

Turning down book ideas. An editor, in cooperation with my agent, gave me a couple of ideas for books that the publishing company would like to see from me. I couldn’t warm up to the ideas. So I gave my agent permission to pass the ideas along to another writer. At this stage in my career, I don’t want to write what I have to write. I have to write what I want to write. After all, who put the want-to in me? Besides, I’m burning daylight on this life.

Pitching another book idea. I suggested an alternate idea to the editor. He gave me the green light to put together a proposal he could take to the publishing committee. That will take me a few weeks, I suspect. That’s partly because I have to write sample entries for the book. And it’s partly because of other stuff I have on my desk.

Book in the works. I have another illustrated book running the gauntlet through the editing and design process right now. It’s a good bet I’ll get called on by the editor and the designer to make some changes along the way. And I still have to create a detailed index for the book.

Long shot book idea. I just sent an editor some samples of a project I’ve been working on during my free time over the past year. The editor offered to let me create a proposal for that project so he could take it to the publishing committee to see if they wanted to publish the book. But I think this particular project is a long shot for traditional publishing, at least in the Christian publishing market. It has too many words and too many four-color images. I don’t think there is a Christian publisher out there who would be willing to tackle this book. I think it needs to go straight to digital, as an ebook or an app. So rather than go to the trouble of creating a lengthy book proposal personalized for one particular publisher, I thought I would save my time and the editor’s time by simply letting him see a sampling of what I have been doing.

New website coming. I’m in the final stages of editing content for a new version of my website. It should launch in early August.

Videos ahead. I’ve got video on my radar, too. It’s a doggone good and effective tool for getting information into the heads and hearts of people. I’ve been taking a few stabs at that, not only to teach folks a little about the Bible, but to point them in the general direction of the books I write. I’m posting my most recent video below.

Today’s blog. At this moment, I am writing my Friday blog post – which you are now reading. I write these features three times a week. Lucky for me I enjoy writing. But even for a soul like me, these blog posts can sometimes feel like an intrusion into my book writing. As I write today’s blog post – actually, I’m dictating it because I can talk faster than I can type – it is approaching 6 o’clock in the evening. I’ve been at the desk working since 8 AM, except for that lunch break with my son.

This evening, I need to put some finishing touches on the Sunday school lesson I’ll be leading on Sunday. And I have to create our group’s weekly newsletter.

But first, a songbird in the redbud tree. Then supper.

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About Stephen M. Miller

STEPHEN M. MILLER is an award winning bestselling Christian author of easy-reading books about the Bible and Christianity and author of the Casual English Bible® paraphrase. His books have sold over two million copies and include The Complete Guide to the Bible and Who’s and Where’s Where in the Bible.

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