Publishing Agreements are coming in!

Last week I managed to send out ALL the Publishing Agreements and Permissions Forms for every story in the Deliver Me book!

And I've heard back from many contributing writers. What fun! I've heard from so many, in fact, that I haven't been able to keep up with the e-mails. They're stacking up waiting for me to answer the many questions and make many changes to the stories. I'll get to them. I promise!

Meanwhile, five of my e-mailed Publishing Agreements bounced. So I'll have to try the phone numbers I have for those writers, and I'll hope they're still good. I hope to get that done this weekend.

There are still two other writers that I know their e-mail addresses, the phone numbers I have for them, and the addresses I have for them are not good. I'm trying everything I know to track down these two writers because I love their stories. I had one glimpse this week that I might be able to find one of them, but I haven't heard from her yet. So...I'd appreciate any prayers that I'll be able to find both of these writers.

I know there are other writers I haven't heard back from yet. But with sending out forty e-mailed Publishing Agreements pretty much at once and then having many coming back, I've kind of lost track of how many I've heard from and who I haven't heard from yet. As I'm able to go through the e-mails and Publishing Agreements that have come in by mail, I'll be able to figure that out.

So much to do. It's a lot of work. And it's not like this is the only project I'm working on. But I'm so extremely pleased I'm working on it!

Thanks for your patience and support!

Milestone! - Contacting Writers Who Contributed to Book

It's another milestone to celebrate with this book! Now that I have the manuscript in place, it's time to start contacting the writers who contributed stories that are in the book. (The book that was formerly titled "Where Grace Abounds" and is now titled Deliver Me: Hope, Help, and Options When You're Facing an Unplanned Pregnancy.)

I started contacting my writers this afternoon!

I tried a few by phone and didn't get anyone, but then it is Friday afternoon...

As you might imagine, because this book has been in the works for so long some of the e-mail addresses and phone numbers I have for the contributing writers are no longer good. It may prove to be a challenge to contact some of my writers.

(Note to writers: Let this be a lesson to you. If/when you move, send a change of address card or e-mail to the editors/publications you've submitted to!)

But then I got one voice mail...and not a generic message but one with the name of the writer I was trying to reach! I left a message and followed with an e-mail.

Then on my next try I actually got one of my writers! Whoo-hoo! She sounds (almost) as excited as I am about this book finally coming to fruition. I met this author, Ann, at a writers conference in 2004 and she sent me her story after that. That's (at least) how long I've been working toward this point with this book.

Do I hear Patience and Perseverance, anyone?

I have 60 stories in the book written by 41 different authors. So I have a lot more writers to contact.

But today I got a hold of one. I'm thrilled! Hey, it's a start.