Saturday, July 2, 2011

Big, Life-charged, News!!!


The front and back cover for my new book! Already available for pre-order at Amazon.com
Well, this is exciting! The design folk at Upper Room Books have unveiled my latest book cover! Yes, I am very pleased. I had been wondering as to when it would be appropriate to share this with my friends. But then – this morning – I took a look in the Amazon bookstore and, evidently, I’ve already been scooped!
The new book, “Reaching Toward Easter“, is designed to help readers engage a more meaningful Easter journey. Often we’re so distracted by life-as-it-happens that Holy Week takes us by surprise. We never quite find our “Sacred Rhythm”, the measured spiritual cadence that the observance of Lent helps calibrate in our experience of faith.
Reaching Toward Easter is intended for either personal devotions or a group or Sunday-school study, and would work well at any time of the year. But the book is also specifically designed as a day-by-day devotional companion to Lent.
The target audience:
  • Committed believers
  • People of faith who are looking for a deeper, more thoughtful journey
  • Those who see themselves as “spiritual”, but who don’t necessarily attend church
  • Interested seekers with open hearts and minds
  • Anyone who enjoys some great stories
Content: In the Christian calendar, the Season of Lent comprises the 46 days prior to Easter (that would be 40 days plus 6 Sundays).
  • Chapter One is titled “Sacred Rhythm.”
  • The second chapter is Ash Wednesday, the first official day of Lent.
  • At the end of the book there’s an extra entry for the day after Easter. “Eighth Day Believers” is an epilogue-ish kind of “so what” discussion that looks at  where our lives might possibly go in response to the Easter experience.
  • All told, Reaching Toward Easter adds up to 49 sequential devotional readings.
Keeping the ball rolling: A couple of weeks ago I completed the final significant edit (there may be one more fine-detail look before they hit the “start” button at the printing press). I hadn’t seen the manuscript in several months and I enjoyed the read. More than that, reading the final chapter made me realize that there will be an almost seamless transition into the next book, the one I’m writing this summer. The “Eighth Day Believers” chapter exactly sets up where I’m going with “Ten Life-Charged Words!”
Feeling Good...
Writing is all about momentum. All in all it seems I have a good roll going right now!
- DEREK

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