Ruminations on Falling Sinks

Had a very nice surprise last week. This letter came from Carol Stacy, publisher of Romantic Times Book Club magazine:

We have selected the winners for our 2005 Career Achievement Awards and you have won for your body of work creating outstanding Inspirational Romance. A heartfelt congratulations from Romantic Times BOOKclub and all of our reviewers. All the winners will be announced in our July issue of Romantic Times BOOKclub magazine #269.

Wow. I'm reminded of the feeling I had when I turned forty-five--suddenly I realized I was halfway to ninety, and I not only had a finite numnber of years left to me, but also a finite number of books left IN me.

My body of work. Hmmm.

A few years ago I was standing in our local Home Depot, then I knelt to study some water filters on the bottom shelf. Suddenly a huge box fell from the overhead shelf--if memory serves, it was a big sink--or maybe a toilet. In any case, it was a heavy water-bearing plumbing fixture, and if it'd fallen a couple of inches to the left, I'd have been fractured or dead. Or both.

And as I stood up and turned to find a half dozen gawking shoppers staring at me ("You must be livin' right," one woman murmured), I couldn't help thinking that it would have been a convenient time for God to take me home because I'd just finished a book. But I desperately didn't want that last book to be my last book, if you know what I mean.

So I'm grateful for the body of work God has allowed me to complete and hope that he will allow me to create yet another body of work before he takes me to heaven. (You know I'm going to be talking about this a lot, right? My WIP is about a funeral home.) And for the encouragement from the wonderful folks at RT, I am very grateful.

~~Angie