TITLE REVEAL!

The official title of book two, and why I love it so much

Hey friends! It has been a minute. I don’t know if other authors experience this, but writing a second book is WAY HARDER than writing a first book. I literally thought it might kill me. My eyesight was getting weird from staring at screens so much. Strange muscles were aching from sitting in the same positions for so long. Sleep was off, and my teeth were grinding. And still, I put everything I had into it.

Now, a select group of people get to look at it. People and organizations that I write about get to fact check their stories. My developmental editor will do what she does best and strengthen it. I’ll continue to work with my friend Chase Weaver, who is an incredible editor and has already helped it to this point—we’ll refine some more.

One more thing I’m doing this time around that I’m super excited about: two people with lived experience of homelessness (one of whom is currently unhoused) are reading the book to give their own feedback. (I’m paying them for this skilled work.)

When I wrote my first book, I had the title from the jump. Long before I ever queried an agent or a publisher, I knew it was called “Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness.” I wrote it with that title in mind—it was a book about grace from the moment I started typing. Thankfully, the publisher agreed.

For this book… not so much. I’ve had a couple working titles, and I didn’t love either of them. And writing the book was a discovery. Most of the manuscript was going to be what it was no matter what, but there were aspects that I knew I was figuring out as I went. In terms of the overall tone and theme, I had to make it as I went. I saved the beginning of the book to write last because I knew I needed to find it rather than force it. (Book 1 was written essentially in order.)

So when Herald Press reached out with their title ideas, I was eager and also pensive. I couldn’t come up with one, but I knew I would know it when I saw it (and when I didn’t!) After a little back and forth, we landed it. And it’s perfect.

Without further ado, I’m excited to announce to you the title of my forthcoming book:

Hope for the Mission: Getting it Right in the Call to End Homelessness

Available everywhere February 4

Let me talk about what I love about this title, breaking it down by word/phrase:

“Call to End Homelessness”—this is a nice callback to my first book, marking that this is a continuation of that work. With that…

“Getting it right”—I adore this phrasing, because this is a book ultimately about the right and wrong ways we answer the call. If my first book was about receiving and accepting the call, this one is about caring enough to honor it with how you do it.

“The Mission”—“Getting it right” implies that there are ways to get it wrong, and an important part of this book is understanding the history and practices of gospel rescue missions. However, this isn’t a book about rescue missions, but about the true “mission”—ending homelessness as an act of faith..

“Hope”—this is the word that brought me to tears. From the beginning of my first book, it was about grace, and I knew it. It wasn’t until I saw this title that it finally clicked that this book is about hope. And when I reread what I had written through that lens, it was all there. It leapt off the page. It’s about the hope that ending homelessness is possible, that we all have something to do about it, and that broken models are worth fixing.

It was an act of hope to write it, and I hope it will fill you with hope as you read it.

I can’t wait.

Still to come!

In the next month or so, we’ll do this same process with the cover. I am anxious!! Covers are a big deal. But I’ll know it when I see it. And once it’s finalized, I’ll share it here too :)

In August(ish), the book will come available for pre-order. If this book sounds like something you want to read, pre-orders are sooooooo important.

Late Fall we’ll be doing a Launch Team. This will be a group of about 100 people who are interested in reading the book early and becoming ambassadors for it—writing reviews, sharing links to pre-order/buy. This group will get special access to virtual time with me, swag, and some giveaways. It’s going to be a great time. If that sounds like you, keep an eye out here for the announcement.

February will be here before we know it! As always, thank you all so much for your support and excitement.

Let me know what you think about the title in the comments!!!!!!!

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