Nervous

I’m feeling slightly nervous this morning.  Can you tell?  Are my palms all sweaty?

I’m excited too, but the excitement is laced with fears of failure that I just keep kicking to the curb with prayer.

You see, my book officially releases tomorrow. My first, solo book.  I wrote all 50,000 words of it.  By myself.  So you understand why I’m a little anxious.  But laying all my will-they-buy-it-and-like-it worries aside, I’m thrilled.  Thrilled because I like the book  and it’s no small feat to feel satisfied with the work of your hands. And more importantly, thrilled to finally start discovering how God will use these words in women’s lives.  And I know that He will.

Because I didn’t really write all those words by myself.

Want a sneak peak at the table of contents, opening, introduction and first chapter with Bible study section? I was hoping you might, and I prepared to grant you that wish!

It's No Secret, By Rachel Olsen (Chapter One)

(Click Fullscreen to read it larger)

If you’re at all intrigued, I hope that you will get the book. And read it. Read it with your girlfriend, book group, small group, mother-in-law … OK, so maybe you don’t want to read it with your mother-in-law.  Just give her a copy for Christmas this year.  (And maybe book mark it at chapter 7, or chapter 3)

Read it and tell others about it too.  Maybe read it and then pass your copy to a friend. Or leave it at the gym or waiting room for others to pick up.  Or donate it to the library.

Of course as much as I want you to read it and then pass it on to bless someone else, I’m secretly hoping you won’t want to pass it on. You’ll want to keep it because you enjoyed it and plan to reread it.  Besides, you’ll have underlined, written in and marked it all up. Even if you aren’t normally a write-in-my-books-kind-of-gal. That’s my hope, but there’s always the chance that you won’t … and that’s what’s got me a little nervous this morning.

Meanwhile, I’m off to teach a group of college students today and grade their first speeches to our class. They have to tell a story from their lives in this speech.  So they have to share something personal with strangers, just as I’ve done in the book. I bet they’re feeling slightly nervous too. We’ll all be anxious and jittery together.

To win a copy of the book, leave a comment by Thursday telling me if you are a write-in-the-book person, or a keep-the-pages-clean person. Or, just tell me how you typically approach Bible study – is it challenging for you or are you comfortable with it? And to help me spread the word about this new release, you’ll get an extra entry if you Tweet, Face Book or blog about this giveaway today and point people here to read the sneak peek.

Thankful for your willingness to read and tell others about it!