Walking by day, I have found, is a lot easier than walking in the dark. Both are definitely possible; however, I prefer to walk in the light and see where I am going!

Yes, there is an alternate meaning here. When we walk in the light, or revelation of God, life tends to be easier to handle. The circumstances don’t always magically become better, but our ability to walk-on in those times becomes better.

The Journey

To be a published author has been a dream of mine since 6th grade. In childhood, I loved to make up stories and was great at it! I could keep people’s attention. My creative play was an amazing time with friends.

Somewhere around 6th grade, I realized those fun imaginative stories could be translated onto paper and become some amazing books.

From then on I did a lot of writing.

As can be expected, most of my writing sounded a lot like other tales I had been reading at the time. Yet, by my high school years, I was writing a story that kept the attention of my classmates…a tale all my own.

That tale lasted from my freshman year through to my senior year! 200+ pages (without an end). It was more like a soap opera, and it is super fun (maybe a bit embarrassing) to read now.

Definitely a younger me writing!

The Process

The process of taking the idea for Walking by Day and bringing it down to a physical product was a learning curve. This is my second book to publish; my first to self-publish. My first book, Patch (a post to come), was traditionally published; therefore, I didn’t have my hand in the behind-the-scenes aspects.

On this one, I definitely did.

I used Lulu.com to produce Walking by Day and it was a very enjoyable process. The website was user friendly and when I could not figure something out, their chat help service was excellent every time.

The formatting came together once I decided that I wanted an entry for each day of the month. I picked out 31 verses (with help from my facebook community). I then wrote a prayer that tied into each daily passage.

From there it was a matter of logistics in how I wanted each page to look. After that, I found examples of the front matter such as copyright page, title page, and decided to include a ‘Note from Author’ page as well.

The cover was never a doubt in my mind. When I pictured the book as an end product, all I could ever see was a photograph my husband took while we were visiting my home town in Worthing, England. The spray of the water and the idea of time on the beach felt like a refreshing wave washing over me…a true picture of my desire for the readers of Walking by Day.

The Result

The result, was a beautiful 4″ x 6″ book. A perfect size to fit in a purse, briefcase, glove box, or for sitting on a bedside table.

The cover was a beautiful glossy representation of the content inside. It also reminds me of my life journey, and the continued fulfillment of a life dream.

Inside, words of scripture mingle with a heart of prayer, providing a beautiful starting place for the day in relationship with God. And at the end, after all 31 passages have been read, (or you can start with it, if you are one of those jump to the back kinda’ peeps!) there is a Blessing that can be read over yourself and others.

Overall, this is a book of my heart. An expression of my heart for my Father; a desire to help others enter into relationship with Jesus daily. It is an offering of love to my King of Kings.

It is an offering of love to my King of Kings.