Update on Book Project(s)

First, let me apologize for going lazy on you faithful subscribers over the past several months. I know I haven't written many posts lately, but it's not for lack of ideas bouncing around in this overfilled head of mine. I've just been distracted (did I read my last post?) with the many tasks of running Be Broken and all the exciting happenings there. But I will commit to posting more thoughts and ideas, even if they are random and disconnected (just like our lives, right?).

Well, speaking of writing, things are coming along on a few book projects I have in the works. Yes, I said few, and this confirms that I am out of my mind! There are three book manuscripts in the works right now and until recently I didn't understand that they would all actually fit together (God really does know what He is doing...). I just thought I was being lazy and unproductive, but it sounds better to say that it was God's sovereignty that kept the brakes on these projects.

The main manuscript that I am working on wrapping up is Secrets (working title). It is somewhat of an autobiography, but not simply a chronological telling of my life. It is the story of my secret(s) and how such hiddenness shaped the way I thought, related, lived, and what happened to change all that. I just have 2 chapters left to complete the first draft of the manuscript. After that, we begin the arduous editing process (I will shed many tears, I'm sure). Then, it's off to the publisher (which one, I don't yet know). Tentative timeline might put it being published sometime this summer.

I have another manuscript that has been completed, edited, and waiting for "tweaking" for the past year. It has sat quietly and patiently in the corner of my office collecting dust while I raced off and got all excited about the Secrets book. But I have since come back to this work, tentatively entitled Untangled: Devotions for Every Man Who Struggles with Lust. This 52-chapter devotional will probably be published prior to Secrets simply because there is less work to do on it. I hope to have it polished and published by late March (fingers crossed).

Finally, there is an even older manuscript-in-progress that dates back to our second year in ministry, all the way back to the formation of the 4 Pillars of Purity. That is actually the title of the book, The 4 Pillars of Purity. The manuscript is only about half done and wouldn't be considered for publication until Secrets is finished. It will actually provide a great follow-up to Secrets, because Secrets is such a personal look at my being entangled in the web of secrecy and lies, while the 4 Pillars outlines the practical, tangible principles for living a life of purity - every day.

So, there you have it, a little update on the book projects. Please pray for me. The Secrets book especially has been tough because it revisits much of my past that was covered in darkness and deceit. It has been very emotional for me writing it, but also cleansing at times. Pray that I would be able to complete the projects, do my absolute best, and that maybe, just maybe, someone who reads any of these works would be challenged to take one step closer to their Maker.

Happily embracing Carpel Tunnel,

jonathan