Revising a Book and Journaling the Word

Revising my Latest Book

My editorial letter for my next book arrived on March 12, and so I have been hard at work over the last two weeks, brainstorming, adding, changing.

I know a few writers who absolutely love the revision process. I wouldn’t go that far. Sometimes revisions make my head want to blow up as I try to remember what I have added and what I have removed and what I have changed in some way. Sometimes I feel totally not up to the task. Sometimes they make me wonder why I ever wanted to be a writer.

All that said, what I do love is making a book better through the revisions than it was before, which is what every great editor will help an author do. And I definitely am working with great editors.

Happily for me, these revisions have been fairly easy. In the past, I’ve had to rip a few books apart and piece them back together. This time, I am just adding a bit more meat to the bones. That makes the process more linear and easier to track, day by day. Of course, I will still be anxious to hear from my editor, after she reads the revised version of the manuscript, about whether or not I achieved the results we wanted.

I’ll be revealing the title and cover of this book on the blog and my website next month (subscribers to my newsletter got an early peek at the cover and story inspiration last week; if you subscribe, you’ll get a link to that newsletter to read online in the welcome email, as well as a link to a free short story).

100 Days of Bible Promises

In early April, I began working my way through the devotional journal 100 Days of Bible Promises. There are hundreds (perhaps thousands) of other Bible art journalers doing it at the same time which makes it even more fun when I check my Facebook and Instagram accounts.

This has been such a rich time for me, and it’s been perfect to do during the aforementioned revision process. I get up in the morning, get myself a mug of coffee, and sit down to think upon God’s promises and to art journal about a verse. It sets the tone for the entire day, and more than once, God has given me an answer for my book as I’ve worked on an entry in the journal.

This journal is set up so that the left hand page has a brief devotional along with three Bible verses. The right hand page has the key verse at the top and a prayer at the bottom with room for journaling or art journaling in the middle.

Here are a few of my entries thus far. Click the photo to see a larger version.

Since this is a 100 day project, and I won’t be finished with it until early in July, I may be sharing more entries with you in the future. Hope you enjoy them.

See you in May!

~robin