For the last three nights, the first copies of Hot Apple Cider, edited by myself and Wendy Elaine Nelles and written by 30 authors who are members of The Word Guild, were given out in the gift bags at three Girls Night Out events in the province of Quebec. Thus ends Part 1 of the saga of the little book that could.

The journey began in March, 2007, when I was talking to someone from World Vision Canada about their Girls Night Out events and their need for a book for the gift bag each woman receives. “We’re always looking for ways to let people know that there are some wonderful Canadian author who are Christian,” I said. “What about a compilation book?”

He thought it was a terrific concept, but since neither of us had any idea where we would find the money to produce such a book, the idea went on the backburner along with a number of other, “Wouldn’t it be great?” ideas I’ve had over the last few years. Then, at a meeting in mid-September, he asked me if there was any way we could do the book. And for some reason, I knew beyond any doubt that we had to do it – had to take this opportunity. “We can only do it,” I said, “if the authors will donate the money to pay for publishing the books for World Vision.” My calculations led me to think we needed 20 people to make it work.

On September 19, 2007, the first call went out to authors to find out if any of them were interested in participating in a project that would result in 30,000 books going out to women across Canada, beginning in April of 2008. (April 7^th as it turned out.) The catch was that the authors would not only have to send a story, article or poem within a very short period, but would also have to commit to sending a donation to help pay for printing the 30,000 books World Vision needed.

By September 25^th, 18 authors had shown interest. On September 29^th, with another 3 authors showing interest, we made the call to go ahead.

Our first priority was the title; the second was the cover design. Both came together quite readily and we sent the catalogue copy to our distributor by October s4th, the same day we'd given the authors to get their submissions in.

Then began the process of reading and editing the submissions, a process which in some cases was quite minor and in others more intense. Both Wendy and I read and discussed each item, and then whichever of us felt more passionate about the contents did the first edit, using track changes.

We then rotated items, and after the second edit, emailed the work back to each author, beginning the editing process which in some cases took only a few back and forth emails, and in others more.

In the end, 30 authors committed to the project, and bestselling Canadian author Janette Oke agreed to write the foreword for us. We had hoped for a 200-page book; we ended up with 296 pages.

Back in September, I had jotted down tentative dates by which we needed to complete each step of the process. As the weeks went by, I checked off the box beside each date. Cover ready. Check. ISBN. Check. Entries in. Check. Submissions edited by Wendy.  Check. Submissions edited by N. J.  Check. Discussed. Check. Edited submissions sent to authors. Check. Authors input discussed. Check. Follow-up as needed. Check. Authors sent pdfs of their work to approve. Check. Initital layout of stories in order. Discussion of story order. Check. Story order edited. Check. Initial layout done. Check. Potential endorsers contacted. Check. Advance Reading Copies out to endorsers. Check. Advance Reading Copy out to proofreader. Check. Proofreaders edits gone over by N. J. and Wendy. Check. Advance Reading Copy to second proofreader. Check. Layout design ready. Check. Book laid out. Check. Final edit of all aspects. Check. Book to printer. Check. Collapse of N. J. and Wendy. Check.

Unbelievably, on March 17^th, the books were ready for shipping. Thirty thousand of the books, donated by the authors, all of whom were members of The Word Guild, went to the Girls Night Out warehouse. The rest of the books, paid for by That’s Life! Communications, the publisher, went to various distributors’ warehouse in Canada and the USA. Six short months from the day we first asked if there was any interest, we had the books in our hands. And this week, Part 2 of the story began as the first books were given out. For more information about our book, Hot Apple Cider: Words to Stir the Heart and Warm the Soul, and to get to know the authors involved, go to www.hotapplecider.ca To get to know more Canadian authors who are Christian, check out the TWGauthors blog.