On the idea of writing a book . . .

I have wanted to write a book since probably the third grade. Actually, I wrote a book then. Maybe it was second grade. You know, the "young authors" thing. I did that. So I have always liked writing.

Writing on paper (even virtual paper) is different than writing songs. (at least that is what I think tonight) When I write songs, I want to play them and have people hear them. When I write on paper, there is more value to thoughts communicated, even if they are not read. I'm sure others would disagree, and maybe I would disagree on a different day.

So writing a book in this day and age, the Age of the Kindle, Nook, and iPad, is relatively cheap and easy. You don't have to prove your value or concept. You pay a relatively small amount, format the thing and voila! You have authored an ebook that your 10 closest friends, your mom, and your Auntie Evelyn can all buy for a buck ninety nine, of which you get 40 percent or something. Or for a little more, I think you can do a print-as-you-go deal, where the company only prints a book if someone buys one. I think those books are more expensive than they would otherwise be, but it is an option if your Auntie Evelyn doesn't own an above mentioned electronic book-replacement device. (I do have an Auntie Evelyn, by the way, and I don't think she does.)

So, taking the difficulty and expense and possibility of rejection out of the picture, I am then faced with other questions: Why would I write a book? What do I have to say that hasn't been said already? What would I call it? And the most important question is, what would the cover look like?

For years, since I started calling myself the amazing supermom, I thought I'd write a book and call it, "The Adventures of the Amazing Supermom, and other, humbler tales". Turns out there are several Supermom books out there, and most seem to be about women who have jobs and kids. Not me.

(To clarify: I am the Amazing Supermom because I can find something in a drawer even if it under something else, because I know how to change the toilet paper roll after it runs out, because I can flip pancakes while nursing (left side only), and because I can nurse two babies and give a bottle to a third while helping with a Geometry proof.)(And because I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me, even when I'm tired, even when I've got pukers, or mess-makers, or whiners, even when I'm hormonal {when am I not hormonal, is there another way to be?}, even when I don't feel loved or listened to, even in the van when everyone's fighting and I have to mute the radio every one and a half minutes to try to solve a problem 3 rows away that I can barely hear well enough to understand, even then, I can do all things - and the hard times just make me dig deeper to find His strength.)

So I think I would write about that. About leaning, and about stuff I've learned, and about the craziness, and about the glory of it all.

But I don't know what to call it. I said, what about 12 kids in 14 years, and Eldest thought that was the most boring title ever. And the cover has to communicate what the book is, as a thumbnail. Really. How much can you actually communicate in a thumbnail?

Anyway it is a lurking idea.