Last week, I announced that my next new chapbook, Looking Outside the Window would be available on May 5, 2020… I am still awaiting Amazon to confirm that I did indeed write all of the poetry within that chapbook.
So while I wait for that confirmation, I went ahead and put together another chapbook on Amazon titled, “Faith & Doubt: Finding God Amidst the Brokenness of Life.” and it is now live on Amazon, available for purchase!
As some (maybe most) of you know, I am strong Christian and my faith is a very important part of my life, who I am, and how I raise my children. Over the past three years, I have been writing poetry, and going through some significant challenges in my personal life. I dug through the past few years worth of poetry and came up with over twenty poems I wrote during some of hardest times of my life. These poems are sometimes prayers, other times thoughts about my circumstances, and even psalms crying out to God for help, comfort, or wisdom.
I have formatted my chapbook, a collection of 36 poems in all, 12 of which are completely brand-new and never published anywhere else before, into 3 sections: Faith, Doubt, and a closing section I entitled, Immanuel.
Immanuel is a Hebrew word meaning, “God with us.” First referenced in the book of Isaiah, chapter 7 as a prophecy of a coming savior for the people of Israel. When the savior, Jesus arrives, the prophecy is fulfilled in Matthew 1:23. This section of poetry refers to how Jesus has shown that side of his character to me continually over the past several years. He is not a far away God. He has always been right there with me through ever trial.
Why publish these poems on Amazon as a chapbook? I feel like I can reach a greater audience by publishing these chapbook collections for those who might not have ever heard of me before and reach different audiences through the various “topics” each collection covers.
My first chapbook, “Poems for Warriors,” which is also the name of this blog, was kind of a test of what does it take to self-publish poetry. It kind of demystified the whole process. Self-publishing a book was a scary prospect at first, and the fear of it, of putting something out there anybody and everybody could read, criticize, see was a bit daunting. But thankfully, the people who bought it, read it, shared their thoughts on the collection, were all very positive, encouraging, and the self-publishing process was easy.
The second project I published, a full-version book of poetry, “Seasons of Nature” contained over 100 poems, and topped out way over 100 pages in length, was kind of like my first chapbook. I wanted to prove that I could write something that long, with that kind of width and breadth in it. It revolves around the seasons and various outdoor activities and observations about how that pertains to my own life.
The third project I am in the process of publishing, “Looking Outside the Window,” is a chapbook, focused on my experiences during the current COVID-19 pandemic. It is a “time capsule” of sorts, capturing my thoughts and feelings as we all work through this outbreak. I was hoping it would be published around May 5, 2020 but as the days pass and the copyrights to my poetry go unconfirmed that date might get pushed out some. Standby for more information.
Writing poetry has rarely been a career that someone can get “rich” at, let alone make a living doing. Thankfully, it isn’t my day job, just something I love to do, something that excites me, and fills me up. Ultimately, it is something I want to share with the world here on my blog, and through these chapbooks.
The next phase in my journey will likely involve some digital marketing experience to help me get the word out about my books and maybe sell a few. If you want to help out with that, all of my poetry books are available on Amazon. Use the links below:
Faith & Doubt (eBook for Kindle)
Seasons of Nature (eBook for Kindle)
Poems for Warriors 
Congratulations!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! 😁
LikeLike