Hawkins handshake” — the one I’d practiced as a girl when they greeted us at the church doors. “Good to meet you, Dr. Lowry.”


“You can call me Sam,” he said in his brilliant Irish accent, as we sat.


I asked him why he first became so interested in books, figuring that’s the only reason anyone becomes a publisher. And he recounted how his father had built him a wooden shelf by hand. After that, he felt a sense of responsibility to fill it up with books. He couldn’t stop reading.


Te conversation turned to me. I told him about my background as a writer, gave him the elevator pitch for my book, and slid over the three-ring binder containing my manuscript. My heart quickened as I felt powerless to keep it safe and un-rejected any longer.


“It’s short,” he said about the wordcount, listed on the cover page.


“Yeah,” I said, then gulped.


I studied his every reaction, as he began to thumb through the pages, flipping forward then backward.


“Oh, I’m glad you have questions. You need that,” he added, pointing to the end of a chapter.


I nodded. “Hmm,” he continued.


Was that the good kind of “hmm” or the bad kind of “hmm”? I wondered, stretching my shoulders back and willing every muscle to stay calm.


We sat in a silence that felt like eternity. Finally, he spoke.


“Well, it’s definitely a good book,” he pro- claimed, looking up with a smile.


My heart exploded like fireworks and surprise birthday parties. It was one of the best strings


NGU.EDU | 13


of words I’ve ever heard, lined up together like that.


“Send me the manuscript,” he continued.


Did he really just say that? What is happening? my mind raced. I think you have to say some- thing now!


“Okay. Of course,” I managed to answer, gath- ering my things and probably saying “thank you” a dozen times as his next appointment walked in and I left, bounding up the stairs to find someone to tell.


Even now, I hardly believe it all. Tat I shared my book with a publisher. Tat he actually read it. Tat he wrote back they’d be pleased to pub- lish it. Tat I’ve signed a book contract with Ambassador International. And that maybe, just maybe, one day I’ll be on the other side of the Write2Ignite Conference at North Green- ville University.


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