After four and a half decades of ministry with thousands of bulletin articles, published articles, musical plays, blogs, posts, workbooks, curriculum, study guides, and eleven published books – just to name a few – I can’t help but think how shocked and surprised my favorite old High School English teacher would be to know that I am a writer! Sometimes I’m a little shocked and surprised myself! I enjoyed writing – occasionally – in High School, but most of the time it was too much of a chore. In college, when I had to do research papers, the absolute fear of typing mistakes on those old manual typewriters was paralyzing! White Out didn’t cover a multitude of sins! The IBM Selectric, with it’s built in correcting, certainly helped, but it wasn’t until we got our Apple 2E in the mid ’80s for twenty-five hundred dollars that I finally was able to relax and enjoy writing. It had Spell Check! Praise the Lord! Mistakes and typos didn’t matter any more! Hallelujah! Of course, punctuation, grammar, and wrong words weren’t auto corrected, but once I was able to humbly ask for help with editing, even that wasn’t an obstacle. I soooo remember the freedom I felt when I could just type away telling my stories or sharing insights and not worry about mistakes. Since that freedom hit my life, almost 35 years ago, I’ve spent a lot of time, effort, and money, writing, sharing, and publishing. In many ways, it has been one of the most satisfying things I have done in my life time. It can be fun and rewarding, but it can also be discouraging and painful. Especially when people you deeply care about don’t share your enthusiasm for your work or do anything to affirm it. I have been blessed to have lots of folks from all across the country encourage me and praise many of my books. and that truly makes me want to continue using my God-given talents to write.
Having said all of that, the one element that enters the equation that’s causing me to question what to write and how much to write is cost. I self publish and self publishing requires self marketing and I have no desire to do that. My only marketing tool has been word-of-mouth, and there hasn’t been enough words or mouths to make a significant dent in my balance sheet. That is not a complaint but a point of reality. I truly write for fun and for the friends who appreciate it. It does, however, make me question the time and effort that I need to put into continuing with a book four in my Matt Zampolos series. I’m about a forth of the way through the next book, but I’m struggling with finding time and, truthfully, the motivation to schedule the daily time it takes to crank it out. So, to those of you who are Matt Zampolos fans, I ask for patience and understanding as I evaluate what I need to be doing. Telling people about my books would help, or if you know someone who needs a great movie idea, share! I just wanted you to know where I am and there may not be another book. To all you Zampolos lovers – thank you for your support. I am so thrilled you enjoy it!
