Robin Jones Gunn - How My Book Became a Movie: A True Story

Copyright 2016 Robins Nest Productions, Inc.

First Printing August, 2016

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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EBook Version ISBN-13: 978-1-942704-10-2

Paper Print Version ISBN-13: 978-1-942704-06-5

Scripture quotations are taken from the following versions:

ESV: Scripture taken from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2011. The ESV text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.

The Message. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

The Living Bible. Copyright 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

NIV: Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The New King James Version. 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Holy Bible, New Living Translation. 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Holy Bible, New International Readers Version , NIrV . Copyright 1995, 1996, 1998, 2014 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIrV and New International Readers Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Published by Robins Nest Productions, Inc.

P.O. Box 2092, Kahului, HI 96733

Cover images by Shutterstock

Cover and interior design by Rachel Schwartz and Ken Raney

Edited by Julee Schwarzburg

Print Copies are Printed in the United States of America by Bethany Press

Bloomington, Minnesota 55438

Pay Attention

Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door.

Emily Dickinson

I would like to tell you a story.

It is the true story of how my books became a Hallmark Christmas movie.

If you are a dreamer, you will recognize the unspoken wishes and the parched silences that accompany a fledgling dream. A dream that takes a long time to come true. Youll feel the familiar sense of hope that rises when promising news comes at just the right time.

If youre a serious novelist on the hunt for insider tips on how to break into the biz, Ill be sprinkling throughout the story lessons I learned along the way. But mostly youll find on these pages something none of us gets enough ofencouragement and inspiration.

This little book might even dare you to dream again.

The first little seed of my adventure blew my way on a hot July afternoon. I was at a bookseller trade show and had just finished a book signing. I was schlepping a tote bag full of books when the toe of my shoe caught on the collapsing step of the escalator.

I managed to catch myself from falling, but on my awkward dismount, the bag over my shoulder was flung forward. Books, wallet, phone, pens, and business cards all sprawled across the floor at the hub of the convention center.

I gathered up the pieces quickly because important people were scurrying by on their way to their next appointments. One person stopped long enough to help scoop up the remaining two books and hand them to me.

He was an editor Id met several years earlier at a writers retreat on the Oregon coast. He remembered my name and I remembered his. We greeted each other and I laughed with the sort of half-snorting chuckle that comes out when youre so embarrassed the only thing you can do is be the first one to make fun of yourself.

He asked what I was writing these days. I handed back to him one of the crumpled teen novels hed just rescued.

He studied the cover and seemed to be trying to think of who he might pass the book on to and said, Have you ever thought about writing a Christmas novella?

I said yes because I truthfully had thought about such a project several times. More than that, I knew its always good to open every door, as Emily Dickinson said. Especially when talking to a book editor at a trade show.

Whos your agent?

I told him and he nodded. Ill give her a call. Off he went to his next appointment.

There it was. The first seed of a small dream planted in a ninety-second divine encounter.

Over the decades that Ive been writing, Ive attended dozens of trade shows, conferences, and writers retreats. My favorites have always been the International Christian Retail Show and library conventions. At the Frankfurt Book Fair one year, I connected with an influential international writer. She had a profound influence on what I wrote and the way I wrote for the decade following our simple meeting at an afternoon tea. When I attended the Las Vegas Licensing Expo at the invitation of friend in marketing, I gained an eye-opening understanding of how ancillary products connect with books and movies.

The greatest takeaway from these various trade shows has always been from the conversations. Writers, publishers, editors, and agents need times and places where we can interact with others in the industry. You never know who youll bump into or what ideas might come to you as a result of a simple conversation.

My agent and I met for dinner the night of my escalator encounter. She grinned as she said, So, I heard you want to write a Christmas novella.

Word travels fast.

It does when an editor is on the lookout for something particular. He seemed pretty interested.

What did you tell him?

I told him I think you could write a delightful Christmas story.

My agent is always the epitome of grace and affirmation. She is also very practical, which is a good thing when youre an artistic, intuitive, squishy-hearted-feely type.

The challenge, she said. Is going to be in fitting a project like this into your current schedule. You wouldnt be able to start writing it until a year from now, and it wouldnt be released until two years from now.

Thats okay. Id like to do this.

I was beginning to have a feeling about this project. I didnt know if the editor would still remember the conversation a week from now. I didnt know what the book would be about. I didnt know how it would fit into my current writing schedule.

What I did know was that there are no coincidences in Gods schedule.

All I could do was wait and see if my agent was able to secure a contract with the publisher. That would be the first step.

Nothing is trivial; since the human soul, with its awful shadow, makes all things sacred.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Ask for the Moon

Twenty years from now you will be

more disappointed by the things you didnt do than by the ones you did.

So throw off the bowlines.