Launching in 5-4-3-2-1

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
– Harriet Tubman

Launch day is a huge event for those who are part of the NASA team or SpaceX.

Countless hours and a hefty price tag of up to $450 million dollars are required for Nasa to launch a Space Shuttle mission, according to the Nasa.gov site.

It is a BIG deal and there is a lot of pressure building up to the countdown.

I know getting ready for a book launch isn’t nearly as monumental as being in mission control at Cape Canaveral, but for an author, it can feel like it.

Thankfully, just like there are several team members on a space shuttle launch, there are a lot of important people on a book launch. The one in the cockpit isn’t the one who has to do all of the work.

So what is involved?

Hard work.

For me, from the time I signed the contract to write “Lakeside Retreat” until the moment I actually held the hard copy in my hands was about three years. That seems like a long time, and yet, it felt like the ink on the paper was barely dry before we found ourselves on the launch pad with someone counting down for lift-off.

As much as I wished I had just a few more months to prepare..small give-aways, cute Canva graphics, more cast iron skillet recipes, it was finally time to GO – which basically means to be transported from one place to another.

For an astronaut, that means leaving the Earth to GO into space, where you can physically look back and see where you left.

For an author, especially the Christain author,  it means letting GO of the work you have poured yourself into and being willing for it to make the journey from your pen to another person’s heart.

It is on us as writers to GO with our words where we cannot always go with our feet. Sometimes it is the light-hearted story that provides much-needed respite, sometimes it is the balm that offers healing to a brokenness that seems beyond repair. We wait and pray for a successful journey and, knowing we have done all we could, we trust God with the results.

And the work is not easy.

It is an effort.

It takes a team.

But, oh the joy, when the book is launched and we can look back to where we started.

Hearing back from those who have found rest within the pages and the photos, let me know we had calibrated our coordinates correctly.

Sure, it isn’t rocket science, but for me, the launch was just as spectacular and was worth every effort.

Thank you so much for those who volunteered to be part of my mission control.

Do you have a big dream? Something that seems so crazy that it would never work?

Don’t give up. Dream big. The sky is NOT the limit.

A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading into the expanding universe.”   Madeleine L’Engle – author of A Wrinkle in Time