More on Ordinary Time

As I note below, the Ordinary Time book is completed. This is the second book compiled by the RevGalBlogPal web-ring. The first, A Light Blazes in the Darkness , was a set of daily devotionals for Advent. This book covers "Ordinary Time", that long green season between Pentecost and Advent.

I was more involved in the creation of this book than I had planned or expected. I initially volunteered to write two meditations. Wrote those, and thought I was done.

Then, I was in RLP chat, and one of the other writers mentioned he needed someone to pick up at least two of the dates he had volunteered for. The scripture assigned for one pair of dates was the Summary of the Law (Mk 12:28-34); I thought I could write something on that pretty easily, and volunteered to fill in for those dates. Wrote a two-part mediation, and thought I was done.

A few weeks later, I was in RLP chat again. Reverend Mommy, the general editor of the book, asked if I could take on several more dates. Like, maybe, as many as five or six. And, since the deadline had passed two weeks previous, could I write something by that Friday?

Up to this point, the goal was to write meditations on Sunday's Eucharistic Lectionary (most Protestant denominations share a common set of readings for each Sunday). I obtained a dispensation to write on any Bible verse I wanted to.

Thus, I was able to recycle blog entries on the Prodigal Son and Psalm 22. Including the process of polishing those entries for paper publication, I wrote an essay a day that week. I have not written so intensively since finals week in college.

Once again, I thought I was done. Ironically, the first two essays I wrote – the ones I had initially signed on for – were about a page long, and relatively orthodox. The fill-in essays I subsequently wrote were a little over a page long, and some were less orthodox than those first two.

Go figure.

About a week later, Reverend Mommy e-mailed a month's worth of essays, and asked me to share copyediting duties for this section with another member of the web-ring. As it turned out, Lorna and I co-copyedited two months' worth of essays.

Then, then, I was done.

My day job doesn't know it, but they donated my time for this project. The past month has been slow. Naturally, any work-related projects took precedence, but I still had time left to help with this project. My day job involves some proof-reading and copyediting, so I have the experience – plus I would look appropriately busy whenever a supervisor would happen by.

This has been a rewarding project. I was very honored that Reverend Mommy respected my writing skills so much that she asked me to fill in some gaps. I assume the same respect moved her to ask for my help as a copyeditor. So, it's been an ego-validation.

I also put a lot of myself into this project. I lost all track of time, both when I was writing and when I was copyediting. I believe I'm good writer, and a fair copyeditor. As I say, it was nice to have this validated; it was even nicer to put my talents to use.