I’ve been absent from this medium for a couple of weeks, primarily because it has been time for one of the most non-glamorous parts of the writing a book. It’s what I call …
… the Long Hard Edit.
This edit happens after you’ve sent the first draft to editor, then the editor and any external readers send you back their edits.
The book is one that I’ve cowritten with Jamaal Williams, and it’s entitled In Church as It Is in Heaven: Cultivating a Multiethnic Kingdom Culture Wherever You Are. InterVarsity Academic will release this book sometime next year.
For this book, the requested edits were mercifully minimal. But, by the time these edits come back, I’ve had time to think through the thesis of the book and sharpen a lot of my own thinking about it. The rest is a careful work-through of the entire manuscript, to make sure that it’s well-supported with footnotes and that everything in the book serves the central thesis.
This edit is long, taxing, tedious, with lots of detailed work.
It’s nothing glamorous—but, then again, nothing about writing is actually glamorous.
At the same time, I actually enjoy this edit immensely—but it has forced me to step away from Substack for a bit. I will be back, however, and fairly soon.
Over the next few days, I’ll be posting some excerpts from the book for your enjoyment. In the meantime, here are some podcast episodes with Jamaal Williams and me for your listening enjoyment: