A LITTLE LIGHT ON THE WAY

It’s weird. I feel weird! On April 1^st (it’s a good thing I’m not superstitious) my book will be on the shelves, actually in print and available for purchase. It’s been two years of my life given to researching, interviewing and writing, a year looking for the best publishing option, and almost another year waiting for its release.  And now the hard work begins, they tell me. Marketing.

            I think I will enjoy this part when I’m actually doing it. I like people. I like listening to their stories, I like telling my own.  But merely thinking about the cold calling to make the opportunities to do that is daunting.  It reminds me of those last few minutes when you’re standing in the wings about to make your stage entrance. Sweat-making terrifying. But it’s all onward and forward and lead on, McDuff, because you can’t stand still. The show has to go on. So I need to give myself a daily pep talk, keep my eye on the prize, and engage in the journey one step at a time.

            I’m reminded that prizes and treasures are very often at the end of dark tunnels and hidden in dark caves, so I’ll be looking for light, and some light bulb moments, to lead the way. And that brings to mind a really old hymn:

                                    Lead, kindly Light…Lead thou me on

                                    Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see

                                    The distant scene; one step enough for me.*

* Cardinal John Henry Newman