One More Dose of Humility. . . Oh! Please Pick Me!

What is the best way to make sure a first-time author does NOT have a run-in with pride after completing their book?

Answer:  Print the first edition with a misspelled word on the cover! 

NO! I am not kidding!

The day of my birthday and first book-signing, I had 100 books 2-day air shipped to my house for the evening's events.  Although nervous about the book finally being "out there" for all to read, I was also excited about having friends over for the celebration of its release.  (Really, just a great excuse to throw a birthday party for myself-have I mentioned I LOVE birthdays?)

Okay, so rewind to about 10:30 that morning...on my way to Home Depot, I get a call from my dear friend Twilla, who has not slept all night because her Eagle-Eye husband, Joe, found the error the night before and Twilla was just sick about it, but knew she had to tell me.  It's never a good thing to be the bearer of bad news, but somebody had to do it and I'm glad she did.

Here's how it all went down:

Twilla:  Dawn, I hate to tell you this, but there's a misspelled word on your cover.
Dawn:  What!? You have got to be kidding me?  What word?  (Immediate nausea bubbles up in my stomach to the point I think I might be sick.)
Twilla:  Are you ready for this?  Humility
Dawn:  Oh my gosh, this is horrible!  I need to call Dee, my publisher and see what I need to do.
Twilla:  I am so sorry to be the one to tell you this.
Dawn:  It's okay, I need to know.  (Total despair sinking in right about now.)  We hung up.

Talking out loud to God, I began asking Him what on Earth am I supposed to do, all the while, feeling embarrassed, stupid (I'd only looked at that manuscript 1000 times!), and wanting to burn the whole 100 books that would be coming later.  I was a mixture of mad, disappointed, and ashamed of such a mistake....I was being awfully hard on myself, but ultimately, it was my responsibility to catch that error.

I called Dee, my publisher, and she was shocked initially as I was.  She was sorry that she hadn't caught the word misspelling either, but noted that these things do sometimes happen.  She offered a couple of suggestions and options for the night's Book release.

With my stomach in a huge knot the size of Dallas, I seriously thought I was going to get sick in the Home Depot parking lot.  "Lord, what on Earth do I do with this?  How do I handle this?"  Deep within the recesses of my heart, I knew there was something more to just a misspelled word on the cover of this book.  I knew it, but I was somewhat afraid to say it.

My next phone call was to Paula, my spiritual mentor.  I explain the situation to her and she was shocked as well because she's already received her book from Amazon and didn't notice any misspelled word on the cover. (Neither did anyone else, except for Eagle-Eye Joe.)  Paula told me she immediately heard 'laughter.'....Not at me, but with me...that God was going to use this for His glory. She could see God's sense of humor in all this and what better way or word to be spelled wrong than humility, since that is the message.

God was in control and is in control of the book and how He wants to use it.  It is such a perfect message about what the book is about.  He doesn't make mistakes.  I think it has a purpose.  You should definitely use it in your speaking engagements!  People use words in strange spellings to make a point...point made!  You know it's not your book or your message, but His.

After talking and praying with Paula, I felt much better. The truth was, a small amount of pride had crept into my spirit about completing the book.  I mean, I was not only thankful it was completed because it had taken so long and so much emotional work.  But pride started to creep in and I believe this was one way to make sure I NEVER felt any pride about this book-EVER!  This IS God's book.  There is no way I could have ever finished it without His guidance, and Gary's love.  The book is about humility and I want to stay humble, even if I have to be completely embarrassed to accomplish that feat.

God also whispered this in my heart:  "Dawn, you're not perfect and I can use you to glorify My Name.  This book isn't perfect either, but I can use it just as well."

My hope has always been that someone would read the book and from it feel hope where there had been none before; or someone would understand that God loves them right where they are, just how they are.  I'm banking on that being God's hope for the book as well.

Karen and Me

That evening, I told my friends the story about the day, and the imperfect version of the book that was there for them to buy, OR they could wait for the corrected version and I would completely understand if they wanted to wait.  No one wanted to wait.  They ALL wanted the "imperfect" version.  Not sure it was even possible, but I was humbled even more.

For all of you who ordered your copy from Amazon, you too, have the "Limited Edition" version.  I would be more than happy to trade your copy out for the 2nd Edition with the corrected cover, please contact me at: dawntwells@yahoo.com if you want to trade out.

I thank God for His sense of humor and funny ways of reminding me Who He is, and who I am.  I truly am laughing out loud at the whole ordeal now, which is a long way from how I felt at about 10:35 last Thursday morning.  In the whole scheme of life, one letter, missing from the word "humility" is not that big of a deal....but isn't it interesting that the one letter missing was the letter 'I'?