In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.
— Ecclesiastes 11:6 KJV
Last Monday's photograph showed me sitting at my computer, staring at an inbox and waiting for someone to write back.
It was a good photograph.
It just wasn't entirely accurate.
Because while one version of me might be waiting to hear what someone thinks about a book I've already written, another version is busy writing the next one.
The story doesn't wait.
Mateo and the Secrets of the Eternal Word — Book One is finished.
I can't change another sentence.
I can't decide who will discover it tomorrow.
I can't make someone read it.
And I certainly can't make someone write back.
But I can open another document.
And when I do, Mateo is waiting.
Actually, that isn't quite right.
Mateo isn't waiting at all.
He's already gone somewhere.
Verbum Aeternum has carried him back into Bible history, and I have to catch up.
This time the journey is taking him into the world of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And something interesting has happened while I've been writing Book Two.
The world has become bigger.
There are new people for Mateo to meet. New places to explore. New questions for him to ask.
And Verbum itself seems to have a little more to say.
That's one of the things I've discovered about writing a series.
You may think you know where the story is going.
Then you begin writing.
A character says something you hadn't planned.
A small idea becomes important.
Someone you expected to appear briefly refuses to leave.
A chapter takes a turn you hadn't anticipated.
And suddenly you're following the story almost as much as you're writing it.
That has happened more than once with Mateo.
I know the biblical events he will encounter. Those don't change.
But Mateo's journey through them can still surprise me.
Perhaps that's why I enjoy returning to the manuscript.
The published book belongs partly to the reader now.
The unfinished book is still a conversation between the story and me.
There is something else I like about that.
Writing Book Two keeps me from spending too much time worrying about what Book One is doing.
Is somebody reading it?
Will another review appear?
Will someone discover Mateo tomorrow who had never heard of him today?
I don't know.
Ecclesiastes reminds us to keep sowing because we don't know which seed will prosper.
I rather like that picture.
One book has already been planted.
So I keep working on the next one.
And while I'm waiting to discover where Book One may travel, Mateo and I are traveling again.
There are ancient roads ahead.
There are people waiting for us whom we've known by name for thousands of years.
And somewhere inside my computer is a story that doesn't completely exist yet.
So what does an author do while waiting for someone to write back?
Apparently, he opens the manuscript.
He finds Mateo.
And he sees where they’re going today.
