Big News: I just signed a book contract!

I just signed a contract with Russell Media to publish my book! Long story short: I've been working on a book for the last year and a half. It sprang from an inspired idea at a stop-light, turned into a small-group Bible Study at my church, and will now be released in book form in early 2013.

The working title is Women in the World and the book is for professional Christian women - it's to help us realize the value of the work we do. It's to help us learn how to live out our faith in our entire lives, not just in church or small group.

It's an honor to have this opportunity. I'm also thrilled that the book is being published while printed books still exist! I'll get to see my name on a jacket! :)

I'd love your help! Here are some things you could do:

• Tell other people! Forward this blog to women you think would be interested in it and benefit from it!
• Pray for the women who will read this book. The Barna group says that 27% of professional women leave the church. I'm writing this book for women to feel encouraged in their faith and their work and to know that their work matters to God.
• Send me any articles, thoughts or contacts you think would pertain to this issue. I'm still researching, interviewing and completing my thoughts. elizabeth [at] elizabethknoxonline [dot] com
• Pray for me. This is a big challenge, and I want to make sure I do it well!

Thank you’s The list of people I need to thank is loooong. So many of you have encouraged me, prayed for me, been excited for me, given me needed advice and insight.

Some specific people I need to thank over-and-over include: Rebecca Gilmore, Gayle Jacobs, Angelyn Shapiro for each sharing your unique gifts with me through this process. Thank you to my morning (and one evening) Bible Study groups who’ve provided encouragement and stories for this writing. Thank you to all the women (and a couple of men!) who have shared your experiences with me through interviews. Thank you to my husband, Andy, who has been continual support and encouragement and has helped me make writing a priority. Thank you to Russell Media for taking this chance on me!

About Russell Media Russell Media Services provide all of the necessary tools for a successful communications and transmedia publishing strategy for a cause organization. Many of their books such as Our Souls at Work, Left Right & Christ, and Wisdom and Wonder are right in the Faith/Life niche. Definitely check them out!

Soli deo gloria, Elizabeth

It is not right for the Church to acquiesce in the notion that a man's life is divided into the time he spends on his work and the time he spends in serving God. He must be able to serve God in his work, and the work itself must be accepted and respected as the medium of divine creation."

Dorothy Sayers from "Why Work?"

What I learned from Kathie Lee Gifford today

 I don't know a lot about Kathie Lee Gifford. If I had any assumption about her, it would be that she could "write her own ticket." She's accomplished, wealthy, a generous philanthropist, she’s overcome personal and professional scandals. I would have assumed she could do whatever she wanted at the click of her ridiculously high heels. If I had a second assumption, it would be that she's basically chilling until retirement. After a lot of hard work she has a nice job and can generally relax and enjoy.

But then I saw an article about how Kathie Lee wrote and composed the lyrics for a play called "Saving Aimee." Aimee Semple McPherson was a Christian woman who led massive revivals in the 1920s. The play follows her life as a "superstar evangelist" through her tragic "fall from grace." It opened last Thursday in Seattle.

Kathie Lee is interesting. Aimee Semple McPherson sounds fascinating. But as I read the article, what stood out to me was not the women and not the production, but the fact that Kathie Lee has been working on this for ten years. 10 years.

This woman – who I think of as having all the money and media connections you would need to put together a major musical – has been working on this for 10 YEARS.  She has written and re-written. Explored ways to bring the story to the stage. She’s had setbacks. She’s lost opportunities. And yet she persevered to see it open last week.

If I didn't read the back-story, I would have assumed she was the patron of the play, and that she pulled a bunch of strings and got it on stage. Easy for her, right?

My dreams As I think about the dreams I have for my life, I never envision working ten years (or more) to get from idea to reality. The dream itself may be 10 years away, but I think it will magically appear when I get there.

It's not a new lesson, but it is worthwhile to repeat it: most dreams aren’t easy and they don’t come quickly. They are made up of lots of little steps that don’t always make sense and make you want to quit. While they can be richly rewarding, at the very same time they can be painful and exhausting.

What we can learn from Kathie Lee Gifford:

• Dreams are hard work – for everyone. Your dreams may take a lot longer than you think they should. Whether it’s looking for a new job or writing a play, you have to be committed because it may not be easy.
• Never stop dreaming. While I thought she was resting on her laurels until retirement, here she was pouring blood, sweat and tears into this production, to make her dream come true. I can only hope I have that much determination when I’m her age.
• People are usually working really hard to make things look easy.

What are you willing to work on for 10 years?

Cue Jon Fogerty

Have you ever played a sport? Did you like your coach?

Since most of us (as adults) no longer play organized sports, the word “coach” takes on a different meaning. Do you have a goal you want to reach? Do you have someone who is helping you figure out how to get there?

I’m not currently playing on any sports teams, but I am writing a book and last night I met with my “writing coach” - Maegan Stout.

I like Maegan, and I hope we become friends. But a coach is different than a friend or a mentor or a counselor. A coach is best utilized when you have a specific goal you want to attain such as starting a new career, running a marathon, or starting a non-profit (or writing a book!). It helps if your coach knows something about the subject area (which Maegan does, in this example), but they don’t have to be an expert in the subject you are tackling, they just have to be good at getting you to identify the steps you need to take, and helping you figure out what motivation you need to take those steps.

A coach serves as a sounding board, and facilitates a “discovery experience.” Maegan doesn’t give me all the answers (in fact, she rarely gives me any answers!). But she asks me really thought-provoking questions. She has a way of making me find the answers to my own questions. It’s actually way-better than her giving me the answers, she makes me feel smart and capable!

Another important point about coaching is that the coachee sets the agenda. I don’t get together with Maegan to just chat about life, and I don’t expect her to come prepared to impart wisdom into my life. She’s not my “accountability partner,” and she’s not my “project manager” (I have friends in each of those roles, who I am incredibly grateful to!). But she’s there to help me navigate the more strategic issues I’m trying to figure out about writing. It’s a quick hour, but we usually get right to the point, and I always walk away with new goals and specific steps to take before our next meeting.

Do you need someone like this in your life? Do you need someone to help you reach a new goal or figure out a new skill?

Thank you Maegan!

5 reasons why no one should ever start a blog

I have this feeling when I get something new: a new car, or a new outfit, or a new journal.... I'm excited because it’s so cool and I have great plans for it, but I'm unsure when to actually start using it (driving it, writing in it, wearing it). I want it to be “just right” and I’m afraid if I screw it up in the beginning (wreck the car, write something awkward on the first page, etc), it’ll be screwed up forever.  This – my first blog post – is even more intimidating.

As I thought about starting a blog, several reasons to abandon the idea came to mind:

1)    What if I write about something here and later change my mind?

Remember all the flack John Kerry got for voting one way, then another? What if 10 minutes from now, 10 months from now, or 10 years from now I come to the realization that what I wrote on here was uninformed/immature/unnecessary? Then my foolishness is forever enshrined on the internet.

2)    What if I get the facts wrong?

I’m not just talking about changing my mind about something, but what if I'm wrong about something that's written in stone? It’s one thing to find out you’re wrong during a dinner debate with friends it’s another to put your thoughts out there - permanently - for anyone to read and critique.

3)    There’s no filter.

I'm writing a book for professional Christian women.  I have a number of reviewers (read: fabulous friends) who read everything I write before it "goes anywhere." These friends have improved my content and stopped me from saying something foolish. But there's no filter on a blog!

Or, blogs are often the perfect platform for over-sharing - like when authors drone on-and-on about something from their life that only they care about. Sometimes blogs are riddled with horrible misspellings which cause me to cringe.

4)    Can I keep up with it?

Am I going to be like one of those people who joins the gym in January but only ever shows up about four times? It’s not uncommon to find someone who started blogging seven times per week, and stopped after three months - their latest post is from 2008....

5)    Do I have anything to say worth sharing? What if other people don’t think I have anything worth saying?

The fear of rejection is enough to keep me away.

But obviously, you are reading my blog and here are the reasons that won out. If you’re thinking of putting yourself out there in blog form, or undertaking some other risky business, give these responses some consideration:

1)    "I reserve the right to change my mind as more information becomes available to me."

I’m not sure who officially coined that term (Google isn’t sure either) but we all change our minds. To expect myself to have it all figured out before I ever put pen-to-paper is absurd. Writing on here will be part of me figuring it out. I don’t have all the answers, that’s for sure. Hopefully, I’ll be humble enough to remember that!

2)    Will I be flat out wrong? Well, I don’t think most of what I’ll write about will be black-or-white subjects. But I’ll also remember that even facts change (The earth used to be flat. Bloodletting used to be the cure for almost any medical ailment. And what’s the story with Pluto? Is it a planet or isn’t it?)

3)    Will I ramble? I'm going to blog primarily about the intersection of work and faith and the writing process. Hopefully this will keep me on track and keep the blog from being too autobiographical (who wants to read what I had for breakfast anyway?). As for typos - I’ll be enlisting the help of spell-check and occasional pre-readers.

4)    Can I keep up with it? When I’m half-way through training for a race, I usually give myself encouragement in the form of a new article of athletic attire - a cute shirt or new running tights. It perks me up. For some reason I seem to like running more when I think I look cuter. My goal is to blog 4-to-6 times per month for six months. I think that’s a goal I can reach, and maybe even beat!  I don’t know what the blogging version of a new shirt is, but maybe I’ll try something like that at month three!

Fear of quitting is a silly reason to never try something. That wise old man Mark Twain said: the secret to getting ahead is getting started. If you’re holding back on something you’ve always wanted to do because you’re afraid you won’t finish it – you’re right. You won’t finish it because you’ll never start it.

And If my blog becomes one of the thousands out there with 4-year-old “most recent post” - life will go on.

5) Do I have anything to say? These topics are things my friends and I talk about all the time - and I keep running into more people who want to talk about them too. I’m just going to continue the conversation online.

As for you – if you’re afraid to put yourself out there, consider Seth Godin’s thoughts from his book “Linchpin: Are you Indispensible?”

     What we want, what we need, what we must have are indispensable human beings. We need original thinkers, provocateurs and people who care. We need marketers who can lead, salespeople able to risk making a human connection, passionate change makers willing to be shunned if it is necessary for them to make a point. Every organization needs a linchpin –– the one person who can bring it together and make a difference. We need artists.

Let me know what you're doing - I'll cheer for you!