One thing I’m asked often is: How long did it take you to write the rough draft of Conversations with Colton? Would you believe it only took me a month to write the rough draft of my book? It’s true… But there’s a bit more to it!
Technically yes it took me one month from the time I was contacted by the literary agent until the time I submitted my rough draft to the publisher for review and the rough draft was accepted! But I have been writing “Conversations with Colton” for seven years, I just didn’t know it at the time.
I didn’t write it in a conventional way, like you may be thinking.
Instead, I started posting on Facebook about my interactions with my son using the hashtag Conversations with Colton. Get it? Conversations with Colton! It was crazy. I went back and looked at my very first conversation with Colton, and it occurred when he was just two months old. It was basically a video of him babbling into the camera, using his hands while he talked. I made a joke and through up the caption: “Conversations with Colton, look at my Italian Boy already talking with his hands.” I’m 100 percent Italian, and it’s true, we do talk with our hands. Colton is only 50 percent Italian, but it still counts.
I had no recollection of that post until researching for this book. Somehow, my conversations with Colton became regular Facebook posts. The older he got, the more in depth our conversations grew. The older he grew, the more interesting our conversations got! The more interesting our conversations got, the more I started to pray for patience, and the more
I started to hear: You should write a book!
Interested in writing a book? Here is a book that helped me!
Now at first, I didn’t take those comments seriously, but I felt a stirring in my spirit when we celebrated my son’s 7th birthday, and I told the story of his miracle birth. It was impeccable timing as someone submitted several of my posts to a literary agent and she suggested I write the book. So, in a month I compiled all of my conversations with Colton into a manuscript. Where I struggled was getting the chapters to flow, but the words came to me. I 100% believe divine intervention took place, and the words were given to me.
You see, I was thinking I was writing a coffee table book. A compilation of funny stories about conversations with a miracle baby who doctors said wouldn’t be born alive; instead,
I wrote a faith-based book.
A book about having faith when everything says you will not get the outcome your heart desires.
That’s the thing about life. You never know what you’re gunna to get-that’s a total Forrest Gump throwback, but it’s so true and the chocolate analogy makes it so much better.
I may be the only person in the world who finds it funny that it only took me one month to write the rough draft of my book because it’s taken nine months and counting to work through the publishing details. Good things come to those who wait-am I right? I can’t wait for you to read Conversations with Colton-it’s truly my legacy in the most unexpected way.
Read more on my book writing experience here!