All I Want for Christmas is a Book Contract

by Cindy K. Sproles @CindyDevoted

As a child of five, I remember wishing all year long for Santa to bring me a Chatty Cathy doll. We’d had a television for a few years (yes, I’m that old—let’s say I know who Clarabell and Howdy Doody are), so even at that early stage of television, advertising had infiltrated my childhood mind.

Chatty Cathy was beautiful. She stood about 12 inches tall, and her red dress was adorned with a cute white apron. Her blonde hair curled perfectly on the ends like any 1950s mother’s hair would curl. But what made Chatty Cathy so special was the fact she could talk. Pull the string on the back of her neck, and she’d spew sentences like, “You’re my best friend” or “I do love you.” I remember there were six sentences she could repeat, and every time the commercial came on television, I would slide to a halt right against the screen, touch it, and wish. “Is it too early, Santa? I want a Chatty Cathy doll.”

Christmas rolled around, and since we were not a wealthy family, I opened boxes of homemade shirts and dresses from the gifted hands of mom. There was one package under the tree that didn’t measure up. It was flat and square, too thin and wide for a Chatty Cathy doll, but, nonetheless, it bore my name. I tore it open to find a pink plastic tea set with a teapot, four cups and saucers, and a sugar bowl. It was wonderful, but I can’t lie. I was disappointed. Santa had failed me. No Chatty Cathy. 

Then my mom pulled one more box from behind the couch. It was the right size and shape and had my name on it. When I ripped it open, there she was—Chatty Cathy. I remember touching her hair, hugging her, and straightening the wrinkles from her apron. And then came the moment I’d waited for—pulling the string that made her talk. I slipped my finger through the white plastic ring and gently pulled. You could hear the whirl of the voice box wind, and then…the string came untied, flying relentlessly across Chatty Cathy’s back and down into the hole in her neck. All Cathy said was a sped-up version of a mouse-like voice—her words muffled together as the string disappeared. She never spoke again.

Now you ask, what has all this to do with a book contract? Well, a lot. As writers, we sit throughout the year, longing for that book contract—waiting, hoping that a publisher will bring us what we’ve desired for so long. Sometimes it comes, and more times than not, it doesn’t. We fall to disappointment and frustration because all we see is a complete manuscript, and there is nothing we can do with it.

I take you back to Chatty Cathy. I was disappointed that Cathy’s string broke the first time I pulled it, but that didn’t stop me from playing with her. In fact, Chatty Cathy enjoyed many tea parties with me at the wooden table and chairs my papaw handmade for me. We spent hours in one-sided conversations, but every question I asked her, she answered in my mind. Cathy and I played for years after she lost her voice. Just because her string broke didn’t mean I gave up on the beautiful doll I’d longed to have.

You may not get that book contract at Christmas. In fact, don’t look for it at Christmas because many publishers take the holiday off. Issuing contracts is the last thing on their mind. Still, the point is simple. Just because you don’t get the contract of your dreams doesn’t mean you throw the manuscript on the shelf and walk away with your lip pooched out.

You play with it. Tweak it. Write a new manuscript. You appreciate that God has graced you with this gift of writing, and finally, you realize that the manuscript you have doated over was perhaps not meant to be a book on a store shelf but was meant for a magazine or a newspaper, or a script. Oh my! At the possibilities.

As writers, we focus on the trophy rather than the work. We don’t feel successful unless we land a book contract, which makes us so unfair to ourselves and to the Father who gifted us. I learned this the hard way.

Years ago, I sat in a class with the amazing Alton Gansky. Al said something I wrote down and have kept by my computer for the better part of twenty years. It was wisdom that put my writing in perspective. He said, “If you want to write for God, then you need to understand that your words may not be meant to be squeezed between covers and sitting on the shelves of a Lifeway Bookstore, but that they may only be meant for the guy sitting next to you. When you realize that, God can and will work through you and your writing.”

Wow. I still feel the gut punch when I re-read that because it’s so true. Sometimes God gifts us to be used in simpler ways, but we get so hung up on the trophy that we fail to see the possibilities of how our work can be used and how it will affect others when we let it go.

I want a book contract for Christmas too, but if I unwrap a tea set, I might just invite a few friends over and share some of the things I’ve written. Instead of wishing for that book contract, change your thought process and ask God to send your work to places you could have never imagined. I bet you’ll be surprised. I can guarantee you’ll find it rewarding.

Chatty Cathy stayed with me for years. Best I recall, her peachy plastic skin took on a tan, and her dress grew tattered. Then one day, she was gone. When I asked where she was Mom said, “She was worn out. Her leg fell off, and Dad couldn’t fix her. So, I got you this instead.” And she handed me a box of pencils and a pretty book with a latch—I think they called it a diary. Huh. I suppose that was the beginning of my writing career.

This year all I want for Christmas is to write. What about you?

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All I Want for Christmas is a Book Contract, insight from @CindyDevoted on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Cindy K. Sproles is an author, speaker, and conference teacher. Having served for a number of years as a managing editor for Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas and Ironstream Media, Cindy now works as a mentor, coach, and freelance editor. She is the co-founder of Writing Right Author Mentoring Services with Lori Marett and she is the director of the Asheville Christian Writers Conference. Cindy is also the co-founder of Christian Devotions Ministries and www.christiandevotions.us, as well as www.inspireafire.com. Her devotions are in newspapers and magazines nationwide, and her novels have become award-winning best-selling works. She is a popular speaker at conferences and a natural encourager. Cindy is a mountain girl, born and raised in the Appalachian mountains, where she and her husband still reside. She has raised four sons and now resorts to raising chickens where the pecking order is easier to manage. You can visit Cindy at www.cindysproles.com or www.wramsforwriters.com.