It has been a busy week.  Unexpected activities have taken up my time.  I find myself asking, at the end of the day, what I have accomplished.  Sometimes I can list a few things that I have been able to tick off my ‘to do’ list.  Other times, it is difficult to remember and name what I have actually done.

Is this wasted time, then?  Ecclesiastes tells us ‘there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven’ (Ecc 3:1).

It’s been busy because I have been reading a book backwards!  That’s strange you may think, but, you see, I am an author and I need to make sure I am accurate in the story line.  So it helps to read my new book, Believers, backwards.

I am fast approaching the deadline (self-imposed) that has been set for the completion of this third novel in the series God’s People.

Believers looks at the issues the early church had to deal with and links each story with similar issues in our own lives today.  How can we learn from these stories of people, many of whom are not mentioned by name, but who were members of congregations in the decades after Christ’s death and resurrection?   Who were the people who adopted The Way of Jesus Christ?

The church grew at a rapid rate.  What makes these early congregations different to the church today?  Using an immense amount of inspiration and a small percentage of imagination, Believers has taken shape and will be available on line in the next six weeks or so. I am excited about this new addition to God’s People as it joins Witnesses and Disciples in encountering New Testament life in fresh ways.

The editing process is eating a great deal of my time.  But I am loving doing it and I believe God wants this book ‘out there’ as much as He has wanted the previous books available to people.

Reading a book backwards is an interesting process but very time-consuming.  For an author, it is a great way to discover inconsistencies and even typos as the mind is absorbed by each word and thought, rather than distracted by the story. (However, I don’t recommend it for the reader – it can be very difficult to understand what is going on!).  But when you live and breathe a book for a year, in the writing and editing process, it is a useful exercise to iron out small problems that can irritate a reader if they become aware of them.

So, am I wasting my time?  As I write this post I realise that I am not.  What I am doing at the moment is essential to the sharpness of my book.  After all, if my heroine can hear the hall town clock chime in the first chapter from a certain place, then she needs to hear that same clock in chapter three when she is standing in the same place, and not the church clock.  (Oops!)

Hey ho!  The trials of an author are … excruciating, exacting, and … exciting!

I’ll let you know when the book is launched on-line.  Watch this space.

God bless you