The Writing Sign

I didn't sleep well. I tossed and turned most of the night. I had fitful dreams. In one dream frame I was holding a broken laptop.  At times I prayed, Can  I make this deadline?

I am a writer. I am writing my first book. I have a contract with a small independent publisher out of California called Civitas Press.  We had an agreement that I would deliver a publishable manuscript by October 11th. That was six months ago.

All summer I have holed up to write Unladylike : Resisting the Injustice of Inequality in the Church.  I knew I could write pages at a time, but 150-200 pages, could I do that?

The answer is yes, I can. I have a wonderful but shitty first draft (as writer Anne Lamott refers to it). It's got some strengths, but a whole lot of revising and organizing that needs to make it publishable. There is just no way I can make this deadline. There is an extension clause in my contract with Civitas. It's not the end of the world to bump up this book's publication release.  But it has been a matter of ego and cool numbers. 11/11/11 is the original publication date. How rad is that??! I LOVE eleven. I have an eleven tattoo. Elevens saturate my life, and so it seemed fitting, even prophetic that my first book would come out on November 11, 2011.

So,  I did not sleep well as the realization that I was not going to make it sunk in. I prayed for a sign. Maybe God would endow me with supernatural writerly powers so I could do the impossible. Jesus walked on water; maybe I could walk on words.

All day at work after that fitful night I prowled around for a sign. I listened to what people said, to songs on the radio, to newspaper headlines. God speaks in  all kinds of  ways and signs from heaven  usually show up in the rhythm of everyday life. All day I prayed and hoped for a sign while I worked my shift at the hospital.

I came home from work and found my sign. Taped to the door of my writing cave. My daughter Rose, 17 years old and mindful of the low tide my writing state was in, had thoughtfully posted a sign of encouragement on my door :

 

I stood there. Dumbfounded.  This was the sign I needed, that I'd been looking for and praying for. Here it was taped on the door of my writing cave. A list of writing rules she had learned at school. How much clearer could a sign be?!

Within a few hours I was on the phone with my publisher who graciously agreed, Let's extend. 

I slept really good last night.  And today I wrote even better as I resumed work on Unladylike. 

Gotta love how God moves in Her mysterious ways!