Avoiding Agendas!
by Christine Blake
(Evergreen, Colorado)
Woman Redeemed
I wrote Woman Redeemed wanting to capture real women of the 1st century and to portray Mary Magdalene in a realistic way that every woman could connect with.
I believe I accomplished this. And have been told so by many readers, reviewers, etc...
And so, I went looking for publishers. I recieved many positive comments about my writing, but rejection because either they "don't do" religious writing, or, from many Christian Publishers - it didn't fit their personal agenda...What agenda? you ask...
Well, depending on what denomination of Christianity they were promoting, they wanted me to write in a way that was skewed in their direction...odd I thought, what does Christ think about all this word-smithing and re-interpretation of His Word... My book, by the way, uses texts from all of the traditions and therefore is not out to prove who Mary Magdalene is, but rather to celebrate her womanhood and her place as a follower of Christ... So, because I didn't outwardly reject some of the historical evidence in order to show that one theory about her is the only one, I did not fit any one else's agenda...So, after being frustrated with that, I went to look for an agent.
Well, same story...They love the writing, the historical research, etc., but are afraid to market it...After I recieved three rejection letters where the agent wrote in pen at the end that it is a book they would enjoy reading, but did not know where they would go with it, I decided to go to a self-publisher.
And here we are...every one who reads it, loves it, but because it is self-published, I struggle to get it into anyone's hands...And now that I've spoken at various churchs, several denominations are accepting it - too bad they don't know how subjectively their publishers are feeding them "Christian Literature"...
It is an uphill struggle, but one I take step by step...
Visit Christine's site.
