Intersecting Eternity and Why My Job Is Sometimes Just Plain Fun

I’ve avidly read science fiction and fantasy novels for decades. It was therefore a delightful gift to edit Intersecting Eternity, an engrossing, riveting, and frequently surprising science fiction book written by a retired Episcopal priest. The book is officially being released tomorrow, so in this week’s post, I’m celebrating another client’s success.

Margaret Babcock first reached out to me in 2022, seeking a writer coach. She’d written lots of sermons over the course of her professional life, as well as a couple of nonfiction books that “address the challenges of congregations living out inclusive faith with integrity in the present world.”

Then, in her retirement, she had turned her attention to science fiction, successfully writing and publishing Eden.2. But life changes and family challenges were cutting into both the time and energy she had available for writing the next book, Intersecting Eternity, and she was struggling. I gladly met with her to talk about her hopes and limitations, and thus began a mutually beneficial working relationship.

Margaret loves to write. Inventive and impactful stories flow from her heart with what seems—to me!—to be very little effort. I give her feedback that fine-tunes and strengthens her stories, and that’s part of what makes such days in my job so much fun.

However, as is the case for many authors, much of our writer coaching time is spent wrestling with marketing and publicity. Even for writers who find publishers (which she has), much of the marketing falls on authors’ shoulders. There’s a lot to learn, much to decide, and the necessity to speak to groups and be active on social media (or at least to blog regularly). For people who love to write, this focus on intrusive but necessary tasks that are not writing can be frustrating.

That’s part of the reason that when one of my clients publishes a book, I’m happy to post about it here. It’s a joy to accompany authors on their writing journey and support them in navigating the many aspects involved in the publishing process today.

So, if you’re at all interested in science fiction that intersects with both mysticism and creation care, I encourage you to read Intersecting Eternity. As I wrote in my endorsement for the book, the differences between Goldilocks and Earth are wonderfully subtle, while the character-driven plot kept me wondering how Alice would navigate her expanding and challenging world. I highly recommend immersing yourself in this engaging story!

And if you want to learn more about Margaret and read one of her short stories for free, you can sign up for her newsletter here.