Behind the Book: From Dreamer to Author (Pt. 2)

The Last Year: From Start to Finish

Photo by Daria Kraplak on Unsplash

Last week, I left you hanging with a finished rough draft that was, as we all know, an unfinished book. It seemed that this draft was going to take its place amongst the ranks of the many incomplete works of my life.

But, praise God, it didn’t.

So, what did this process look like behind the scenes?

A Slow Start

As I already mentioned, I finished my rough draft in July and let it sit for a little while. In the fall, I sought out some test readers, but that process didn’t go quite as planned. Once again, it sat—untouched.

Even more, my family was abundantly busy throughout the latter part of the summer and fall seasons. We love to go camping, and I was also coaching my daughter’s soccer team. These things, plus life, ministry in general, and my devotional writing, kept me from even touching my book.

However, a fire was lit under me to get it finished back in November of 2025. I set a new goal to get my initial round of edits done before my birthday, since I nailed my original goal of having the book written by then.

The Editing Process

I have heard of many people who invest tons and tons of money into projects and never have them turn out. For me, I don’t expect to become the next Max Lucado. In fact, I don’t expect I’ll make a ton of money from my writings at all. My only real hope is that authorship just doesn’t become an expensive hobby.

I recently heard of someone who spent over $50,000 on their self-published book! (I’m not sure how that is even possible; maybe the number was a rough guess, but you get the point). My budget was much, much lower. In fact, I didn’t really have a budget at this point. My focus was cheap, while remaining excellent. I would do everything I could to save money while still aiming to put out a product that didn’t feel homemade.

So I embarked on my editing journey, beginning with my own initial overview of the content, followed by using AI engines and Grammarly for the bulk of my fine-tuning.

I ended up concocting a handful of AI prompts and chats to help with the editing process. I do not use any AI in the composition of my work. That is a hard and fast rule. However, it is very, very helpful for analyzing data.

I used Chat GPT to address my content as a whole, specifically where things might drag. (Chat is VERY hard to please when you do this).

I used Gemini to give me a helpful overview of my material and to see how everything flowed. Did my chapters line up together? Did my transitions function? Did the whole arc of my book make sense? Were my subheadings sufficient?

Lastly, I used Grok to analyze my tense consistency throughout the book. I found that I have an incredibly unhealthy habit of retelling biblical narratives in the historic present tense. Almost all of those portions needed to be fixed!

By the grace of God, I finished my editing journey on New Year’s Day of 2026. Well, at least that round of it.

Meeting Atticus—Formatting & Final Edits

Around that time, I purchased a formatting program called Atticus thanks to some support on Buy Me a Coffee and a generous friend of mine. This was a game-changer as formatting an entire work consistently in Microsoft Word would have been a nightmare.

Atticus, the writer’s best friend

Following this, I listened to my book on two separate occasions in the ElevenLabs app and made necessary changes in between. During that time, I also had the opportunity to read through the whole thing on my Kindle Paperwhite. This was the first time that it really started to feel real.

Cover Art

I had one thing lacking, though. I had my material mostly ready. I had my edits in process. But what would I do for a cover? I’m not a graphic designer. I know a few people who could have probably thrown something together, but who knows? Book covers are a different ballgame because they have to be precise and custom for the length of your book—consider that the number of pages you have corresponds to the thickness of your spine.

With this in mind, I really didn’t want to do it myself. I was turning over ideas, but I had basically said that if I could get someone to do it for around $100, I’d have it delegated in a heartbeat.

I had a rough mockup from Gemini to work with. I wanted a box or some lines involved in my title, and a view looking out from a cave. Funny enough, AI engines can make beautiful pictures, but they really struggle with text. Gemini couldn’t spell my name correctly—no matter how many times we tried. It couldn’t spell Ecclesiastes right either. However, it did give me a rough idea of what my idea would actually look like.

It was around this time that I got a promo email from the CEO of Atticus, advertising their friends at 100covers.com. I had never heard of the site, but they were doing a short promo where all of their packages were fifty percent off for the new year.

In the providence of God, their print package suddenly went from $200 to $100. (I don’t believe in coincidence).

They asked for the details of the book, a few ideas, and told you to go to the site where they source their pictures and pick out some that you like. I gathered up a bunch of forest pictures with fog, and I found one or two with the cave idea I liked. I just wasn’t sure if they could make text work on the cave one.

Then they came up with this:

Out of the two samples they gave me, this was unanimously voted to be the favorite by friends and family. One week later, I had my back cover, and everything was in place.

A New Goal

Now, I just had to wait on Amazon. Remember, my goal was to have my draft done by my birthday. Then it was the edits. At this point, it seemed that it would be absolutely amazing to have the proof copies in hand by that time.

When I tried to place my first order, Amazon was having some “global technical issues” that delayed the order process 48 hours.

Then, a total of three days were added beyond that original date because of the crazy snowstorm that hit the northeast.

After what felt like an eternity, they came! Unfortunately, though, they needed fixed:

Thanks be to God, 100covers was very good to me. I sent the major problem that needed to be fixed and a few other requests around 6:00 on a Wednesday night. I woke up the next morning to a fixed cover! Praise God.

Even more, the turnaround on the second proof copies was much better than the first, and they were good to go! No major Amazon issues this time. No snowstorm. No barcode errors. Ready.

Becoming an Author?

I don’t know exactly when I became an author, but somewhere along the way, the dream came true. I jokingly put out on Substack that maybe it was when I made my author page on Amazon. Who knows.

However, I can say it definitely felt real when I first held my book in my hands. Even if the proof copies have an ugly strip across the middle:

Final-Final Edits

While I had my proof copies, I had the opportunity to do a red-pen read-through of my entire book, while reading the entire thing out loud, which was nice. That was my final round of editing.

Or…so I thought.

Until I found out that I wasn’t consistent with my Bible book abbreviations. You can’t use “John” on one page and “Jn.” on another. I also found out that quotation marks are sometimes copied incorrectly. Depending on your program, they can be copied straight and not curly (This really is a thing, I promise). I also found out when I was finished that every time I referenced “the Teacher,” his name should have been capitalized.

One more edit was made, fixing well over 50 uses of this name throughout the work.

All in all, I had over 15 different PDF exports before I got it right. Near the end, I had a “penultimate final” file. Then I had a “final” file. Then I had a “final final” file. With that, I finally called it quits. In faith, it was submitted.

I’m sure my book is imperfect. In fact, I ended up finding out that I already know it is (I won’t tell you how). However, with many hours of diligence in editing, I pray that it would bring glory to God as I sought to do it with my might (Ecc. 9:10). It might not be perfect, but I do hope it reads like it was done with excellence.

Now, we’re just in the waiting game for the launch date, which is officially next Tuesday, February 10th.

Conclusion

I am honestly humbled by this entire thing. It’s still crazy to me that I actually managed to finish it. All glory to God for giving me the ideas and the wherewithal to put them down and organize them.

It is by His grace that I am who I am.

I am even more humbled that not only did I finish the rough draft, and then the editing, and then got my proof copies—but my book will actually be released for purchase the day before my birthday.

Full circle.

364 days.

It’s been a really fun journey, and I am incredibly proud of the work I have finished. It’s a dream that I never really knew if I would actually fulfill. Even if it doesn’t help anyone else, I can say for certain it has helped me. Reading back through it and especially listening to it read to me was edifying to my spirit.

I don’t make the claim lightly that Ecclesiastes changed my life.

I likewise don’t assert lightly that I think it could change yours, too.

If you’ve followed along this whole time, I’d love it if you would:

• Pick up a copy on release day. (If you don’t have the money for a book but really think it would be of benefit to you, get in touch with me and I’ll mail you a copy, free of charge. My goal is to help people before it is to make money).

• Share my launch day post (you can still do this if you buy the book!)

• Tell me if my work helps you. Even more, it would be awesome if you’d write an Amazon review. They say that really helps your book get noticed.

And now, for another excerpt:

From “Extraordinary in the Ordinary” (Excerpt p. 91)

Food? It’s a gift from God to be enjoyed in moderation. Consider what a blessing it is that God has graced us with taste buds that work. He could have made food taste like cardboard. (Maybe it does at your house, but that’s a topic for another day!) I remember at one point in my life, I was having some stomach troubles as part of the various health issues that I’ve had to deal with. This resulted in me having to cut back on how much I was eating. That’s a hard ask! How do you do something so difficult?! My doctor suggested, “Don’t make food that tastes so good.” A funny, unwanted, but actually very helpful resolution. I tend to eat less when a meal is bland.

What a gift it is that God has given us food to enjoy. He’s even given us various drinks we can enjoy—thank God for coffee! As if this isn’t good enough, as new covenant believers, we’re allowed to eat bacon! How much better can it get?

Paul says that the food created by God is good and it is to be received with thanksgiving. It’s a gift from God to us. He not only provides us the fuel we need to stay alive and functioning, but He also provides us the ability to enjoy it along the way! The Teacher showcases that these are natural, God-given things to enjoy in the midst of a life that can seem vain.