Watching the Horizon

It's always a new thing to have an editor seek out my writing instead of beating the bushes, and that's what happened--at least in theory--yesterday. The acquisitions editor at the German publisher VDM Verlag contacted me about possibly publishing my master's thesis from 2003, Depending on the Light: Writing My Change in Sexual Orientation. I am still not sure how he/she found the work, except as a reference somewhere on the Web; I tried to search and found nothing. Anyway, VDM Verlag publishes about 4,000 titles a year (yes, you read right--4,000), mostly academic monographs. I am currently making revision to the thesis courtesy of writer Laurie Wagner Buyer's editing suggestions, which are slow going. My hope is to send the project off to VDM by the end of the week. We'll see how far I get.

What will it bring me? If they take it, mostly a larger audience for Depending on the Light, which focuses on my drift into and out of lesbianism set against my Christianity. I believe there are many women who have been through or are going through these same struggles, and that audience, wherever it is, does exist.

It's never easy to document an inner healing--especially one that seems to be ongoing--but I can honestly say it's the real deal. It should be--Jesus Christ has been central to the work. I know it's not popular or believeable by most of the public. But that's beside the point.

So, God willing, VDM Verlag will pick up the project. I'll keep you posted.

Finally!

Well, after more than two years of work, Building the Successful Online Course is out. We're excited about the book because we worked hard to make it truly practical for those either seasoned in distance ed or those new to the field. We also wanted to make the principles somewhat "timeless"; for instance, there's no substituting good and frequent communication with distance ed students, and there's nothing better than keeping things simple and streamlined, too. We hope this book will be used as a development text for any institution desiring to branch into distance education. The need for distance education courses--in all their many forms--will continue to grow. It just makes sense, we believe, to share some basic yet effective "how-to" techniques to help get these institutions, their instructors--and most importantly, their students--on board.