I Instagrammed this last Thursday.
That is my signature.
On a final contract with Broadman & Holman Publishers.
On its way to Lifeway Christian Resources.
And just like that, it's official. I am writing a book.
Actually, I lied. I'm not writing a book; I'm writing THREE books.
I've alluded to these books for a while now, as this process has already been a long one, but now that the blood ink is on the page, I'm coming out of the closet. A lot of you suspected I was in there, and you were right. I am coming out of the first-time-author closet.
The books are based on last year's "Ten Things I Want To Tell Teenage Girls," and they are fun.
That's the thing about stepping into the publishing world upside down and backwards (I'll share this story with you eventually): I get to write my fun book first.
If I had started with a manuscript, you can bet your ever-lovin' mind that it would not have been about teenage girls. But since I didn't start with a manuscript (I started with a blog post that mounted into a tidal wave which I am gratefully choosing to ride), I get to do my cheeky, sassy, hyperbolic, "lets have a conversation about vapor-thin American Eagle tanks and Facebook statuses more dramatic and narcissistic than Lady Macbeth and the implications both of those things have on womanhood - real, strong, noble womanhood" book first.
It is so. much. fun.
Here's what you need to know:
- The first book is written to you, my peers: teachers, youth leaders, moms & dads, aunts & uncles - people who happen to be influencers of teenage girls. People who have had it "up to here." People who read the post and immediately sent it to the teenager in their life. People who said,
"I wish someone had told me this 20 years ago!"
"This is what I've been trying to tell my teenager for YEARS."
"This isn't just for teenage girls; this is the best advice I've read for women anywhere!"
"This should be mandatory reading for all high school students."
You loved it, you shared it, you get a book.
- The second book is written TO teenage girls. For the girls who read the post and said,
"I am a teenage girl and this is SO TRUE."
"I am a teenage girl and I cried when I read this; it is exactly what I needed to hear."
"I am a teenage girl and I hate your guts, shut up, you don't know me!"
It touched a nerve. You loved it, you hated it, you hated me. You get a book.
- The third book is for everyone who said, "What about the boys?"
They get a book, too. Dan is writing that one with me/for me. So maybe I should say, "If we don't kill each other in the process of attempting to complete a project together as a married couple, then you get a book."
- There are stories. Stories about my impulse purchase of neon purple leggings, my first trip to the tanning bed, and a subsequent trip to a tanning bed in which my friend, Nicole, and I almost attacked an elderly man with a hot curling iron.
Stories about the time I gave flirting lessons to girls on my dorm, about a completely mortifying rebound relationship of mine, and about the time I got a phone call from my child's teacher to tell me that my firstborn had run from the school bathroom, naked, in front of 17 of her peers.
There are lots of fun stories.
- The tentative release date for all three books is summer 2014.
So GET EXCITED. There are big things ahead, and big things here in the process.
So much love, Kate