Evotional.com - Mark Batterson

I think it was about a year ago that I wrote an article for Ministry Today magazine. I really resonate with their editor, Matt Green. And that article turned into a regular feature. Matt asked me to write about my writing journey for the next issue that comes out this fall.

I thought I'd blog a few excerpts from the article. It was probably one of the most enjoyable articles I've written because I still marvel at the supernatural synchronicities that have happened over the last twelve months.

Getting a book published has felt like a steep climb at times. But as the release date (10.02.06) for In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day approaches I sort of feel the way you feel when the summit is in sight. You're exhausted from the climb. But what a view. It's pretty cool to look back at how far you've come and see the hand of God.

My Writing Journey

When I was in seminary I had two dreams. One dream was planting a church and seeing it grow from the ground up. I've been living that dream for the past ten years serving as lead pastor of National Community Church (www.theaterchurch.com) in Washington, DC. But the other dream gathered dust for more than a decade. I feel as called to write as I do to pastor, but my writing dream took a lot longer to fulfill. In fact, there were moments when I wished God hadn't even given me the passion to write because the dream was like a pebble in my shoe, a constant source of irritation and frustration. The longer I went without turning that dream into reality, the longer the shadow it cast on the rest of my life.

Then in 2002 I took one small step in the write direction. I started turning my weekend messages into an Evotional that I sent out via email to subscribers. That weekly exercise forced the writing habit. And it proved to be an important part of my digital ministry. Exponentially more people read my evotionals than listen to my messages. (For a free subscription, visit http://www.theaterchurch.com/).

The next step in my writing journey was self-publishing my first book, ID: The True You, with Xulon Press (www.xulonpress.com). The driving motivation was proving to myself that I could actually write a book. I self-imposed a deadline; invested fifteen hundred dollars into the project; and the book was released in November of 2004.

I wish I could tell you that ID: The True You was a New York Times Bestseller. It wasn't. In fact, it sold fifty-seven copies its first month in print. My first royalty check was a whopping $110.43. Let's just say that I didn't start making early retirement plans!

Shortly after ID: The True You was listed on Amazon.com, I decided to get a little more proactive in pursuing my writing dream. I started working on another manuscript that I titled In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. I started praying for favor with publishers. And I emailed my friend, Brian McLaren, and asked if we could grab lunch. Brian is the author of several paradigm-shifting books including A New Kind of Christian. I asked him a thousand questions about publishing and he was patient enough to answer all of them. Then he went the extra mile and introduced me to an author agent. My agent and I had several conversations. He liked my writing style. I liked his experience and expertise within the publishing industry. And I signed him as my agent.

After helping me craft a book proposal, my agent began shopping it to seven publishers that he thought would be a good fit. Several publishers expressed interest, but a five-hour meeting with Kevin Marks and David Koop from Multnomah sealed the deal. One thing they said impressed me. They said they weren't looking for an author. They were looking for a relationship. I felt like they "got me" and I "got them." And I respected their team of authors that included the likes of Andy Stanley, Louie Giglio, and Bruce Wilkinson. After three months of conversational negotiating, I signed a deal to write four books over a two-year span.

To be continued...