Broader audience

People often say kind things about my writing and my teaching. I’m sure that this is due, at least in part, to the fact that I am surrounded by kind people. I do not doubt that it is honest feedback, but sometimes I question its bias; especially given my “unique” health predicament. I mean, really, no one is going to say, “Dave, your writing is self-aggrandizing and linguistically sloppy” or “Dave, appreciate the teaching effort but we can’t really hear you.”

Last summer I posted a story on this blog that had nothing to do with my health condition except that it was a delayed response to a question from my sister. (I was with her at the time but I knew I could not answer orally.) It wasn’t my voice so much as I realized then that I would emotionally “capsize” on many levels. It was a memory of a confrontation I had as a teen with my father and I called it 1,000 Sermons.

The written story came out well, accurately capturing a moment of pure parental humility. My brother Dan commented, “Ensign article” which was high praise indeed. The Ensign is HUGE and Dan doesn’t say a lot, but he is rarely wrong. I can’t think of a single instance In the 29+ years that I have known him. So I figured, “Why not?” I cleaned it up a bit and submitted it via E-mail last December.

Today I got the rejection E-mail. Sadly, I am quite familiar with them. I will say that it was the nicest one I’ve received. But wait? Dan said “Ensign article” and he is always right. Are you sure? Then a few minutes later I got another E-mail, this time from a secretary at the publication. In it she apologized for sending me the wrong E-mail; they DID want to publish 1,000 Sermons.

Utter shock. I mean, I should have known that he’d be right again but still. Really? I’m still kind of in disbelief. At this time I don’t know much more than that: they want to publish it and I will be hearing from them. Will it really happen? Will it be in The Ensign or another publication? When? Will it be heavily edited? I don't know but I do know that I am extraordinarily humbled at the prospect of playing a part in sharing a morsel of my father’s wisdom with a broader audience.

At the risk of sounding like I won an award or something, I want to thank Sara for the invitation to share, Rachel for the blog creation idea, Dan, for the prediction, and everyone for your constant encouragement. Mostly thanks to Dad without whose example, there would be no story.

p.s. When I told Kara she was congratulatory but underscoring my sometimes capricious self-confidence she said, “You knew you could do it, well, kind of.”