Celebration is such an important spiritual discipline, but we often overlook it. Perhaps we feel indulgent if we are celebrating an accomplishment – such as the publication of my book. But I’m all for celebration, and I know that Finding Myself in Britain was written only with the help of so many people – those at the publisher (MD, editors, typesetters, proofreaders, designers, marketers and sales people) as well as friends and family (reviewers, readers, encouragers, putter-up-ers-when-she’s-cranky!). So it was right and good and wonderful to launch my book-baby into the world on Sunday at our church.
Our church – the setting for the book launch.
Later I may post the link to my sermon – or maybe not if I feel shy! (I don’t have the copy yet.) It was a privilege to preach on Matthew 10, the calling of the apostles to share the good news of Jesus. He outlines to them some of the challenges they will face, and he calls for their complete devotion. One of the key verses I was speaking on was Matthew 10:39: “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” For as I’ve “lost” my life by moving to Britain, I’ve actually found it.
The all-important set-up. Showing off the Stars and Stripes to my friend Esther Clift, with a flourish.Me with Marketing Queen, Kate Beaton. I think she was instructing me on the best way to read a book.It’s not all drudgery! With Becky Fawcett, who managed the editorial process and among other things kept my i’s dotted and t’s crossed. She was a huge help with the recipes, helping me translate them into British measurements and even testing many of them out.The sermon. My text wasn’t Jonah, but he got a mention, as I never wanted to live outside of the States. Ha!Nicholas interviewing me after the sermon. He normally only wears “proper” shoes, but was wearing tennis shoes (UK: trainers) only because his ankle is still healing up after the summer’s fracture.It was a lovely full house! (The couches are the creche area to make families with small children welcome.)
After the service I got to sign books – what a joy and a privilege that was! Seeing my book-baby going into the hands of so many whom I love was a humbling honor and delight. We were especially delighted to welcome our closest friends in the UK – from Staffordshire and Gloucestshire and Southampton and outside London.
Signing books, which was such fun. PyelotBoy and CutiePyeGirl were my helpers.
We had a fantastic buffet lunch with lots of lovely chicken (made by the wonderful Alie Teale), salads (my friends indulged me and made some of the recipes from the book) and desserts – also with an American theme (and thus they were not that day called “puddings”). Oreo cheesecake and Oreo truffles and brownies and blonde brownies and red velvet cake and rice krispy treats and even (one of my favorites) a Costco cake.
What a fantastic spread.Desserts! I don’t think anyone left hungry.A particularly tasty salad, in my book.
The flowers representing my fantabulous friends forever (sent to me by my dear high-school friends)With my editor Jennie Pollock, who pushed me after I’d already rewritten the thing 3 times. I’m so glad she did!I have to include this photo from the Christian Resources Together retreat, in which I made Authentic Meda’s MD, Steve Mitchell, pose with me (for he wasn’t able to be at the launch). Finding Myself in Britain never would have been born without his vision, commitment, and encouragement. I’m so grateful.
Book-baby, go well. I give thanks you’re out there in the world.
The day I came home from the school run to find my book had been delivered was a sunny, joyful day. All that hard work of writing and rewriting, and here it was in its beautiful matte finish and gorgeous heavy paper stock. Wow and wow!
Nerves on high alert, stomach tight, trying to breathe deeply, I hear the words from the presenter, “We’re live.”
I love doing live radio – I feel the rush of adrenaline and the wonder of being able to speak to people dotted around in their homes up and down the country. But there’s definitely the rush of emotions and the reaction of the body with an increased pulse and the feeling of expectancy as we go on air.
I feel like that now as my book-baby lands into the world this weekend. On Sunday at our church we’re having a book launch for friends and the church family, and I’m overwhelmed by the number of people who are coming – those lifelong friends who have walked with us for decades, some lovely social-media friends I’ve not yet met in person, and people representing my amazing publisher, Authentic Media. I’m humbled and grateful and just might burst either into tears or song, or both!
The book has now also landed into (many of – post times vary) the hands of those who endorsed it and gave editorial feedback. And I’ve seen this morning that the copies to bloggers and media are shooting into offices and letter boxes around the country and soon across the Pond as well.
With my sense of expectancy and joy lies the undercurrent of fear. Will people like the writing? What if they disagree? What if I’ve got it all wrong? And yet, as a book editor and reviewer, I’ve dished out plenty of feedback and critiques over the years, and I know that not everyone will like Finding Myself in Britain. For instance, I try and try but I still can’t read works of fantasy – yep, I’ve still not read the Lord of the Rings. So I push down the fear and know that whatever the likes or dislikes, now is the time to give thanks and enjoy the moment.
Thank you family. Thank you friends. Thank you wonderful publisher. To God be the Glory!
And Houston, we have lift off.
PS – have now figured out Paypal so am happy to sell you a copy. Message me if you’re interested: amy@amyboucherpye.com. I discount but postage is crazy outside of the UK.
GCSEs? A Levels? Ofsted? Kids in uniform and starting at the age of four? These were some of the foreign-sounding words and concepts to me as an American with kids in British schools. In fact, there were enough differences that I’ve included a chapter in Finding Myself in Britain (coming soon!) on the topic. But I didn’t include anything about secondary school, because when I was writing I had scant experience with it. Now that PyelotBoy has launched from primary to secondary, however, I am forming a few impressions.
The main one has to do with his growing independence. Whereas I can clearly picture the setting of the kids’ primary school, with its familiar and friendly teachers and staff, PyelotBoy’s secondary school is much more hazy. I haven’t yet met any of his tutors; nor can I picture him very well in the dining hall or in one of his classes. Besides the first day of school when I dropped him off – with him eager and antsy to get out of the car – he’s made his way to and from school on his own. He’s making new friends and becoming more responsible.
This independence is right and what I desire, and yet so very poignant. As pictures of him as a toddler and young boy flash across my screen saver, I sigh and smile. We parents have such a short time with our kids – I know the days (and nights) can feel long but the years go by quickly, in that well-known saying.
And so as PyelotBoy launches into year 7 and secondary school, I breathe a prayer and give thanks for the young man he is becoming.
If you’re a parent or aunt/uncle or caregiver with a child who has made it through secondary school, what advice would you give?
A surreal feeling washed over me when I glimpsed the cover of the October Woman Alive – there under the new logo was me in my living room, pouring a cup of tea out of a Yankee Doodle teapot, sporting a big smile. I knew the cover was happening, but the shock of actually seeing my photo there felt like a jolt. For I’m not your usual “cover girl” material – no size zero here. And yet it’s wonderful to have real people smiling out from the front of a glossy magazine.
I was so moved that people posted their photos of Woman Alive on social media! Such fun!
We know our worth is not in our looks, and that God loves us no matter if we’re gussied up in evening wear or clad in our gym clothes after a workout. But do we believe that we’re worth the cover of a magazine? Even writing this post feels indulgent, like I should be apologizing. Instead, I’m going to give thanks that indeed, I’m a woman who is alive, who is made in God’s image, and who wants to love as she’s loved. To extend grace and peace and hope. And to be forgiven for when I fail.
I never guessed before I moved to the UK those many years ago that I’d ever be pictured on a magazine pouring a cup of tea. Tea was something that I bought on my trip to London when I was 21, which I kept in a decorative Jackson’s of Piccadilly canister but never drank. Nor that I’d write a whole chapter about tea in my soon-to-be published book, Finding Myself in Britain. How fun to live our adventures with God.
Over to you – if you were to be pictured on the cover of a magazine, what would you fancy you’d be doing in the photo? And why? How does God surprise you?
I’ve been waiting for this moment for years. This week, my first book – Finding Myself in Britain, my wee baby – will start its launch into the world. It will first appear at the Christian Resources Together retreat (a gathering for publishers, authors, retailers and distributors), when all of the participants will receive a copy. Then 27 September I’ll be preaching at our church and we’ll share lunch together afterwards, celebrating and giving thanks. Then 1 October is the official launch date, when bookshops and online retailers should have their stock – woo hoo! – and hopefully my social-media and blogging campaign hits its full gear. The following week I get to speak at the Grange Coffee House in Wokingham (5 October) and at St James’ Church in Shirley, Southampton, on 9 October. I’m so grateful.
[Read the rest at my monthly slot at the Association of Christian Writers, on how much interaction should writers have on their books/articles before they annoy their friends completely…]
The only constant is change, and nowhere is that more true than in Christian publishing. My newsflash: In a couple of weeks, my freelance contract with Authentic Media for commissioning/acquiring great Christian titles is coming to an end as they narrow their focus primarily to children’s books, Bibles, and DVDs.
When Rob Bootes from Koorong, Authentic’s Australian parent company, came to me four years ago asking if I wanted to join the team, I said no – being an editor was in the past, I thought, for I wanted to be a writer. A few months later he got in touch with a different proposal, and on a whim I said yes to one day a week consulting as a commissioning editor/publisher – for three months! Crazy me; I so got the timing wrong. It’s been a fab four years as I’ve worked on such amazing books as, in the early days, How to Like Paul Again by Conrad Gempf and Am I Beautiful?by Chine Mbubaegbu, and more recentlyDigging for Diamonds by Cathy Madavan and the forthcoming The Only Way is Ethics series by Sean Doherty.
I’ve seen in these four years that I don’t have to approach my life-with-words in a black-and-while either/or way; it can be a both/and prospect of being a writer and an editor – the two roles feed each other creatively. Although I’m sad to say goodbye from an editorial point of view, I’m thrilled that my association with Authentic will continue with me as an author.
For as many of you know, Authentic are publishing my first book this autumn – woo hoo! Here with my Big Reveal (well, some of you have seen this already), is my fabulous wonderful cover. I hope you love it as much as I do. Writing for Authentic has been a dream process, as it’s been a team effort with Steve Mitchell, Kate Beaton, Lawrie Stenhouse, Liz Williams, and Becky Fawcett on the Authentic side, and Jennie Pollock as my freelance editor. (Liz and Malcolm Down are no longer with Authentic either, as the narrowing of the focus included the elimination of their jobs too.)
Steve Mitchell, managing director, believed in me as an author, and last autumn took a punt in signing me up for my first book. (I recount my Tangled Writing Journey [yes, it deserves capital letters] here if you’d like to read the background.) With his over twenty years in Christian retail, and with my over two decades’ experience as an editor, we worked together to come up with what we hope will be a cracking good read. I wanted to write a devotional or a memoir; he suggested instead that I focus on my unique angle. Write, he said, about being an American in the UK, and while doing so I should incorporate my story and the spiritual insights I’ve gleaned with my cultural observations about this small island. There’s even a chapter about plumbing.
My publisher likes to say that Finding Myself in Britain: Our Search for Faith, Home & True Identity is a bit like Michele Guinness meets Bill Bryson. I love that characterization, not least because Michele is one of my heroes, a magnificent writer and speaker who humbled me with her foreword. Here’s a bit of what she says:
There were moments when Amy’s honesty and pain choked me, others when she made me laugh out loud. From toilets to tea and tennis, drizzle to driving, reserve to religious observance, sarcasm to self-deprecation, queuing to cricket, not to mention language, class, and vicarage oddities, it’s all there – the British foibles that make other nations think us bizarre… Yet in Amy’s gentle hands it’s a revelation – funny, challenging, surprising, chastening, and cheering.
Yes, I’m excited about finally being a Proper Author who has written a book. Look for the finished product in October, from bookshops or from here at my website (or at the big online retailer for pre-pub orders). I owe so much not only to the Authentic team but to my editorial friends and encouragers.
So although I’ll no longer be commissioning for Authentic, I’ll work with them on the launch and marketing of Finding Myself in Britain. I think back to a decade ago, when I went through what felt like a massive redundancy when Zondervan eliminated my editorial job. At the time my world was rocked, for so much of my identity was intertwined with my role. I’ve now seen how the Lord has worked through the years, honing me as he’s helped me pursue my deep desires such as writing. And how he’s even “enlarged my territories” (if I can use the Jabez language without anyone cringing too much). I trust that he’ll use this present change for my growth and flourishing – but I am making sure I take the time to grieve the passing of the season, as is right and proper to do.
Yet I also know that losing my contractual freelance work might just be the boot-to-bum that I need to pursue some other dreams – such as a master’s in Christian spirituality. Watch this space!
So said the wise man in Ecclesiastes. And never has that been more true with the explosion of self-publishing, when people can crank out a book in an afternoon, converting to a digital format their academic thesis or that novel buried in a drawer. But who will read all this stuff?
I’ve been asking myself that very question as I bury myself in words as I write my first book. Will anyone care? Do I have anything to say? I’m trying desperately to reserve judgment, or I’ll remain paralyzed.
My journey to book publication has been long and arduous. Sure, I compiled a couple of gift books for Lion Hudson a few years ago, but somehow those don’t seem to count like the First Real Book. You know, the one that deserves capital letters.
About four years ago (or was it even longer?) I set about writing my first book. I wanted to write about learning to see ourselves as God’s beloved, and how that understanding changes everything. I read and researched, went away for some power writing trips to a friend’s house in Eastbourne (thanks Kev), and had no clue how the book would come together. I had a chapter on self-hatred and a chapter on self-acceptance, and bits and pieces of my story. It was a mess.
I was meeting up with the amazing Michele Guinness, she a writing and speaking queen, and I ventured to send her two contrasting chapters to read before our breakfast together. (She in turn sent me early chapters of her marvelous novel Archbishop, which I loved.) As we enjoyed our granola and yogurt, she said, “Amy, why don’t you just tell your story.”
I felt like a light had been switched on. “Wow – just telling my story. Here I am writing about accepting who we are in Christ – who he has made us to be – and I don’t even feel I have the permission to be a writer! To tell my own story!”
I ditched the more prosaic of the chapters and set about ordering my narrative. Wrote and wrote and wrote some more, poring over my journals and reliving some ghastly and funny experiences from my twenties. I dreamed of writing for not only a British audience, but an American one too.
Months later, I knew I was stuck. I enlisted (yes, hired!) the expertise of an editor friend, who helped me to shape and form and put together a proposal. She could see how to phrase things, what the marketing hooks might be, and helped me with a title: Beloved of God.
Research books for Beloved of God.
Finally I was ready to send off my proposal and sample chapters to the literary agent of my choice. Because I’ve worked in Christian publishing for a couple of decades, I’ve had the opportunity to meet more than one of these sometimes hunted-down gatekeepers. I approached the amazing Steve Laube, whom I had connected with some years previously when he was the nonfiction editor at Bethany House and I was an editor at HarperCollins UK. I sent off my stuff to him and was blown away when later he actually said yes, he would represent me.
After a few months of revision and shaping, we sent off my proposal to sixteen publishers, both US and UK. Some of the “no’s” came thick and fast. Others took months to arrive, and some publishers didn’t respond either way (I’m told that’s common these days, but find that hard to stomach). One of the rejections was particularly painful, and I don’t think the writer of the review ever intended for me to see it. Others, however, were constructive. Still hard, of course.
One publisher believed in me, and said yes. When I sat down with their MD (yes, for whom I do freelance publishing work), Steve Mitchell, I said, “Well, I was so aiming for the US market with this book. I don’t have to write it if you want me to write something else.”
I don’t think he’d be a brilliant poker player, for his face revealed all as his eyes shone relief.
Having agreed to ditch my years of efforts, we then had the hard task of finding what book I should write. I wasn’t short of ideas – I’d love to write a book on prayer and a devotional, for instance – but I kept being stymied. I sought the help of an amazing editor friend in the States for direction. She had some wonderful insights, but cultural differences reared their ugly head: What she thought was snarky writing, my British publishing friends thought wasn’t snarky enough. (Snarky? Me, snarky?)
Finally I told my MD that he’d have to be my commissioning editor. I knew I needed the objective outside view of someone like him, who had years of retail experience and now was immersed in the UK publishing scene. We crossed the country to meet in Birmingham, him traveling south and me north, and he set forth the idea that I should pursue: the observations of an American transplanted into the UK.
Research books for View from the Vicarage (much more fun).
As I accepted the writing commission, I realized that I was relinquishing the American market. Okay, we may sell a few copies between those huge shores, but my voice is here in the UK, not there. So I approached my US-dwelling agent, and he graciously agreed to release me. Maybe some years hence we can partner together; who knows?
But for now, I’m relieved not to be reading those angst-ridden journals from my twenties. Instead I’m thinking with love and affection of my adopted people, trying to put into words their quirks and treasures. Why will a cup of tea solve all our problems? Which goes first on a scone, cream or jam? What is the art of queuing? And how can one’s family be kept from gaseous explosions over the Christmas period from all the Christmas cake and pudding?
Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, View from the Vicarage will release October 2015. An unexpected first book. But that reflects our unexpected God. After all, who’d-a-thunk I’d still be living on this small island nearly 17 years after leaving the States?
Celebration is such an important spiritual discipline, but we often overlook it. Perhaps we feel indulgent if we are celebrating an accomplishment – such as the publication of my book. But I’m all for celebration, and I know that Finding Myself in Britain was written only with the help of so many people – those at the publisher (MD, editors, typesetters, proofreaders, designers, marketers and sales people) as well as friends and family (reviewers, readers, encouragers, putter-up-ers-when-she’s-cranky!). So it was right and good and wonderful to launch my book-baby into the world on Sunday at our church.
