Break out the champagne (or sparkling cider!)

We are officially in production!! "For You, My Child, I Prayed" is expected to be "in hand" the week of April 11th. This is so exciting. We will keep you posted of book signings once we are confirmed that the proof book lays out correctly and all is a go!

Thank you for your support and interest!

Waiting...

Well, the book is written. 
The illustrations are drawn. 
They have been professionally scanned, uploaded and tweaked in Photoshop.
The fonts have been chosen.
The cover has been designed and laid out.
The content of the book has been uploaded to the correct program and laid out accordingly.
The ISBN numbers have been applied for and assigned.
The Library of Congress number has arrived.
The barcode has been created and is ready for the back of the cover.
The FB page is set and the blog is up and running.
Everything has been proofed, re-proofed and triple proofed!!


The only thing left is for the printer to get the test page done so we can make sure everything is done correctly.
And that simple thing is taking FOREVER. We are going on day 6 now waiting on that to be done (six days on my deadline is an eternity!) This waiting is killing me...


I am just hoping that this book will be at the printer and starting the actual print process by the end of this week.
Please pray for that too!

Finally, the book goes to print this week!

I am working on the final details to get "For You, My Child, I Prayed" out the door and officially into print. The scans of the illustrations were not high enough quality for the printer so I found a film house to scan them for me. A lot more costly than Kinko's, I must say, but worth it in the end. I expect to have the scans in hand tomorrow or Tuesday latest and be loading them into the software that evening. Then the printer will have the files they need, in the correct format, and the process can begin! So exciting!! Please pray for me over the next few days!

Thanks.
Lisa

Sneak Preview of the inside of the book

My dream come true!

I have long dreamed of writing a book. Really, I always thought I would write a novel. However, novels take a great deal of time and that was something that I found to be quite rare (even before I had kids).

A few years ago, on the recommendation of my mother, I began reading a wonderful novel called "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. I was pregnant with my 3rd child and I couldn't put this book down. I read it in two days - it was that good! Well, anyone who has young kids under five knows that reading is a rarity. The fact that I was even reading at all was exciting... much less that I was able to read this book in two days. This re-energized my desire to write a book (something I had prayed about off and on for many, many years) and I began to put some ideas to paper. However, I soon realized there was no way I could write a novel with two small children and a third on the way. I began to change my thinking and focus on a children's book - now that I thought I could do at this stage of my life. I mean, I read children's books every day - how hard could it be, right? Ha! I spent weeks, even months trying to formulate characters, plot, etc. and it all felt really forced and really fake. 

This is when my little voice inside (my God whisper, as I call it) spoke up and told me to "Give it to God. Give your dream to God and He will deliver if and when the time is right." So, I listened and I began to pray daily for God to inspire me with a book topic and the words that would be true and right - not forced and fake. I prayed for nearly two years. I felt peace about it knowing that God would grant me my dream 1) if it was part of His plan for my life and 2) when it was the right time.

So, believe me when I tell you that I woke up one Saturday morning and I could see the words swirling around in my head. I could almost taste the plot because it was right there in my brain - so close to my mouth. My husband had taken the kids to breakfast so I immediately jumped on the computer and within 48 hours had written my entire book. It felt so good because I knew that it was a gift from God.

The last six months have been a whirlwind of researching publishing options, searching for an illustrator and finally illustrating it myself (another learning curve that God guided me through every step of the way), and finally sending it off to print.

I hope that this book blesses you in some way, as it already has blessed me and my family.

The book is due to be in hand in early April 2011.

The cost will be $12.95 and it is a hardback book.

I will post more book signing dates (we already have 4 in the works) as we know from the printer about when we can be sure to have the books in hand.

Thank you for your support!

Sincerely, 

Lisa Shoch