A Very Exciting Announcement: I’m Writing a Book!

Last updated on: April 28, 2018 at 3:03 pm by JoAnna Wahlund

A Very Exciting Announcement: I’m Writing a Book! 2018-04-28T15:03:16-08:00 JoAnna Wahlund

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I made a very exciting announcement in the Catholic Working Mothers Facebook group today. Check it out!

Text version for those who don’t like video:

First off, I want to thank all of you for joining me today on the Feast of St. Gianna Beretta Molla, who is the patroness of our group as well as my personal patron saint. St. Gianna, pray for us!

I have a very exciting announcement to make, one that you’ll probably be able to guess in pretty short order, but first I’d like to tell you a little bit about the history of events that have led to this point — mainly because I think it’s a pretty amazing example of how God can work in your life even when you have no idea what direction He’s taking you in.

Ever since I started the Catholic Working Mothers Facebook group in August 2014, it’s been on my heart to write a book for Catholic working mothers. There are a lot of books out there by and for Catholic mothers, some of which have a few pages or a chapter for working moms, but there isn’t a book specifically for Catholic working mothers.

So, in early 2015 I wrote an outline for what I thought a book for Catholic working mothers should be. I even discussed it with an acquaintance who worked for a Catholic publisher. This meeting led to my decision to launch my Catholic Working Mother blog in April 2015, as part of building a potential customer base for the potential book.

Then, however, I had two back-to-back miscarriages, and I had to put the book plans on the back burner for the sake of my own mental health.

In May 2016 I became pregnant with my youngest child, and again the book plans needed to be shelved for a while (haha), as the toll of pregnancy + working + life with five other kids didn’t leave much room for anything else.

Then there was life with a newborn, and then an unexpected layoff from my job of eight years, and a search for a new job that consumed pretty much all of my free time.

At one point, shortly after I started my new full-time job in the summer of 2017, I began talking with a fellow Catholic working mother about possibly co-writing a book together, or even asking other writers to go in on it with us.

Our logic was that one working mom might not have enough time to write a book, but maybe we could find ten working mothers who could each write a chapter. I sent her the outline I had written back in 2015, and she really liked it.

We decided to pray about it, so we did a novena to St. Gianna together to discern our next steps. And then… Hurricane Harvey hit. And my potential co-writer was in Texas, and had to evacuate her home. So the book idea was once again delayed.

We resumed discussions in January 2018, when my potential co-writer contacted me to let me know that she’d been approached by a Catholic publisher about writing a book for Catholic working mothers.

Ultimately, she decided that the book I’d outlined wasn’t the type of book she was interested in writing, as she had a different vision in mind, but she sent my outline to the acquisitions editor and suggested they contact me — which they did. They liked the outline and wanted me to write and submit a formal proposal for the editorial board.

My sudden layoff in February 2018 ended up being a blessing in disguise, because it gave me some extra time to polish up the outline, write a sample chapter, and fill out an extensive book proposal questionnaire. I sent it all off to the acquisitions editor at the end of February, and on the Thursday of Holy Week I received word that they wanted to publish it.

So, I am excited, and delighted, and humbled, and a little terrified to announce that I’ve signed a contract with Our Sunday Visitor Press to write a book that is tentatively titled “The Catholic Working Mother: Balancing Faith, Work, and Family,” which, God willing, will be released in Spring 2019.

“Write and publish a book” has been at the top of my “Life Goals” list since I’ve been in kindergarten, so I can’t even describe how beyond thrilled I am to have this opportunity. Please pray for me — that I can finish the manuscript by my deadline of October 1, that the Holy Spirit will use me as a conduit for God’s wisdom and mercy, and that I can succeed in writing a book that will serve as a source of support and encouragement for Catholic Working Mothers for years to come.

I want to thank anyone who has hung on this long, and I also want to thank all of you for being a part of this group. I couldn’t write this book without the privilege of observing and reading all of your collective wisdom and experiences, and I’m grateful to know all of you and so thankful to be a part of such an amazing community of Catholic women.

If you liked the mug that I showed in the video, you can get your own here!

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