I have been writing since I learned how to hold a pencil. My parents gave me a journal when I was seven years old, and I’ve never abandoned the habit. I majored in English in college with an emphasis in creative writing, but I wrote privately (think old school blogging like Xanga and Blogger) for years. After an intense decade of suffering came to a startling close, I began to blog publicly under my own name as a way to process the trauma I had endured. As it turns out, that was when the shift moved from writing for myself to writing for others. That was in the spring of 2016. I followed the path that many writers take who want to go beyond hobby-writing: I joined an online writers group and learned the ins and outs of blogging, publishing, and networking, I attended a couple of writers conferences, and I began putting together a book proposal.
I pitched my first book proposal in the summer of 2017, signed a contract in September 2017 with my first publisher for my first book, The Promise is His Presence, and the book was published August 1, 2019. You can read all about my book here.
Who is this book for?
The Promise is His Presence is for those walking through trials or compounded suffering who wonder where God is in their pain. Deferred hopes, unfulfilled longings, open-ended suffering—these are dark nights of the soul that can send us on the run from the God we thought loved us. Or, they can send us right into His loving arms. This book explores themes of infertility, chronic pain disease, adoption trauma, church hurt, loneliness, and more as it traces the promise of God’s sustaining presence throughout all of Scripture. Are you or someone you know hurting and questioning God’s love? This book is for you.
While chipping away at revisions and edits on my first book, I pitched another book idea to an editor with a different publisher in the fall of 2018, and walked away at the end of the year with another contract. My second book, Everyday Faithfulness, was published with Crossway on June 2, 2020. You can read more about it here.
Who is this book for?
I wanted to know how regular, ordinary Christians maintain lifelong faithfulness to Jesus when life seems to always get in the way. I looked around at the saints I’ve known who have finished their race well, and I examined what kept them on the path of faithfulness. Everyday Faithfulness explores what it looks like to walk with Christ through every season of life with confidence that His faithfulness will sustain you. I think every Christian wants to know how to remain steadfast. If that’s you, then this book is for you.
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I love both of my books for very different reasons. They are quite different in style and format, but both of them are aimed at turning your face to Jesus in Scripture. I will never, never stop doing that in my writing. And if I ever do, somebody please confront me. I don’t have anything good to say apart from words about Him.
My third book, Memorizing Scripture: The Basics, Blessings, & Benefits of Meditating on God’s Word comes out with Moody Publishing in August 1, 2023. I loved writing this book because I got to live it first, which was life-changing. You can pre-order it now!
I get a lot of questions about book-writing and publishing, and though I can’t answer every email or inquiry, I try to when I can. I’d love for you to check out two podcasts on writing that I love and had the wonderful opportunity to be on.
Pastor Writer Podcast with Chase Replogle
In both of these shows, I share what my path to publishing has been like and what my day-to-day writing process is like. Can you believe I wrote an entire book during my son’s nap time? I did! Be sure to subscribe to both podcasts as they are full of wisdom and helpful tips for writers.
Additionally, here’s a post I wrote about writing as ministry.