“Art conveys to others feelings the artist has experienced, and others are affected by those feelings and live them in themselves.”
–Leo Tolstoy

Today, I’m violating a basic blog tenet: “never make it about you, the blogger.” Indulge me, please. This day marks the culmination of a project that started five years ago.

In October 2017, I began writing a novel manuscript, hoping someday it might become a book. Chances of success were slim, as they always are for wannabe authors. I was lucky and blessed, and today my novel, To Live in the Light, has its public launch. It’s available for online purchase at the usual sites, as well as in brick and mortar bookstores.

Bookstores and libraries, by the way, are still the cornerstone of the publishing industry. Just as people skip the streaming or DVD and go to a movie theatre, people still primarily read books they hold in their hands–still turning pages, not swiping them!

Novels are, by definition, fiction. After all, the word “novel” means “new.” Something not previously reported, detected or, in the case of a novel, written. But writers are taught to write what they know. In so doing, one’s writing is informed by the author’s experiences on life’s journey. And so it is with me.

My friends who have already read the book tell me they think they see me in its pages; however, the book is in no way an autobiography. Rather, it is an attempt to tell the protagonist’s story of swinging and missing at life’s curveballs until his own life spirals down to rock bottom.

The real message, however, is what happens at the “bottom,” and how that experience gives him a mulligan–a do-over, if you will–and an opportunity to renew broken relationships and restore a shattered faith.

The book is classified as contemporary Christian fiction, but I tried my best not to make it “preachy.” Readers don’t need to be lectured or preached to by me, as there are far better people who can provide that instruction and enlightenment.

Furthermore, one doesn’t have to be a believer to read and, hopefully, enjoy the book. After all, you don’t need to be Jewish to read an historical fiction about the Holocaust and admire the Jews for their courage and faith. Right?

I did not write the book for me. Had I done that, I’d have self-published, printed fifty copies, and given them to family members and close friends for Christmas. Writers write for their readers.

To borrow from and tweak Tolstoy just a bit, “Words can convey to others feelings the writer has experienced, and readers can live those feelings in themselves.” With a strong measure of humility, it is my fervent hope someone will read this book and realize the struggles they’re going through are not insurmountable. Perhaps that will be you.

As we’re assured in the Book of Psalms, “Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5 NIV). That’s a far more eloquent way of stating my tagline, “…setbacks are part of your journey, not your destination.”

For those who’ve read the book, I extend a huge “Thank You!” As I tell people at book events, if you don’t like the book, tell me, so I’ll become a better writer. But if you do like it, tell your family members and friends. Please!

May God richly bless you on your journey.