Yale Publishing Course

It is 11:32 PM EST, and I am sitting in the baggage claim area of the Hartford Bradley Airport in Connecticut. Due to a series of problems with small airports, mechanical issues, cancelled flights, rerouting to another airport, bad weather, and more cancelled flights, I find myself sitting up for the night and counting down the hours until my 6:20 AM flight to DC and then finally on to Nashville. With a cup of coffee and a spare laptop provided by my fellow traveler in the same situation as me, I have four and a half hours left to wait and reflect on this past week that I spent in New Haven, Connecticut, attending the 2012 Yale Publishing Course.

The entire experience has been amazing, to say the least. Earlier this year, I found myself yearning for a chance to learn again, seriously considering grad school to do so. But despite being accepted to various schools and even visiting the campus of a top university, I was unsure about what direction was really right for me, and after much prayer, I felt I needed to turn these opportunities down, that my real love was still in books and editing and I couldn't leave that behind just for a chance to learn again. So what was next? I still didn't know, but, as seems to be true of my life story, I was learning to trust God more deeply with his plans rather than taking it all into my own hands.

In early May, I ran across the Yale Publishing Course while reading about what was going on in the industry. It seemed like the perfect fit: a short-term intensive program for mid- to senior-level book publishing professionals to discuss today's issues and how to take the industry into the future. However, I wasn't sure I could make it work financially. I completed the application, with the encouragement of my boss, and was accepted. Over the next few months, I went back and forth, thinking it was going to happen and then having to find peace with it not happening, as the funding issue kept fluctuating. Finally, it came to a point where I really believed it was over, and as I prayed about it and asked God for perspective, I heard his reminder that I needed to trust in the provision he had for me and not so much in my company being the one to come through. I had to repent and find a place of surrender. Then things began to happen. My boss wrote me a hugely affirming letter of recommendation, along with a great quote from my author, which in itself was a beautiful thing. And eventually, Yale offered me a scholarship.

And so, this time last week, I traveled to Connecticut for the first time. I had no idea what to expect, and I certainly didn't know what an amazing group of international people I would be meeting. I will admit, being the terribly-deficient-in-world-geography American, I had no idea where Qatar was when I met Hanouf, but we definitely found a lot in common as the week progressed. I was also happily surprised to discover my British classmate who works at a publisher in Beijing, and we had fun chatting in Mandarin with our Singaporean classmate. I was also glad to learn some good company info and make a connection with my fellow S&S associate editor. I think my favorite part, though, was having the opportunity to sit down with some legendary men in the business who were more than happy to share their experiences and thoughts and were so sweet in their encouragement and enthusiasm. Every day was stuffed full with challenges to think differently and tons of information to process, and we all commented constantly at how our brains were going to explode but how we were excited to bring it all back and find ways to implement our discoveries. What a refreshing way to step back from the everyday and see that, despite how much is changing so rapidly in book publishing, there really is an exciting future ahead...and, as one of the faculty reminded us, Litera Scripta Manet—"The written word endures."

So, even as I sit here facing another few hours in the airport, I am thankful. God was in control the whole way through, even when I despaired of the seemingly insurmountable. And in the end, I've been blessed with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, a chance to learn again and see things through different eyes, a brush with the international passion for the written word. Now, I just seek to be a good steward of it all, this great gift.