Welcoming A Certain Mercy

When A Certain Man released, I compared its debut to birthing a child.

Now, as A Certain Mercy joins the family, I can say it plainly: writing a second book feels a lot like welcoming a second baby.

I used to wonder how my heart could stretch enough to love another child. But when my second and third arrived, God expanded that heart with ease. Each child nestled into a corner meant for them alone.

Books grow on you in much the same way. “Second-book jitters” are real.

While caring for the first book—launching, marketing, meeting readers—you’re also nurturing the second. Deadlines tighten. Writing becomes cleaner. And the what-ifs begin their chorus:

Will readers love this one, too?

Will it measure up?

But just as children need different parenting, each manuscript demands its own kind of guidance. Techniques that worked before don’t always work again. New characters arrive with their own voices, moods, and needs. And a second book must bridge worlds: closing threads from Book

One, planting seeds for what comes next, and still standing confidently on its own two feet.

Prayer steadies me.

As Christian writers, we trust God to place each story into the hands He chooses. If even one reader finds a seed of truth, every deleted darling and late-night writing sprint is worth the cost.

While drafting this reflection, I realized something tender: I am always the first reader of my work. If God has called me to birth these stories, then He surely tucks lessons inside them for me as well.

May A Certain Mercy find its readers in His perfect time—like a second baby who arrives with familiar joy and fresh wonder.

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