ROOM OF MIRACLES
Copyright © 2012 J R Lankford
All rights reserved
Life has a way of arranging things when we're not expecting it. It's as if the universe is watching over us, whispering; not today, tomorrow ... go left at this corner, not the next ... step on the gas, the light is green … stop, wait, believe.
This is where I write my novels. The bookshelves, the foot stool, the paper tray and the photo were made by hubby, Frank. His belief in me and my love of words created a kind of alchemy in those days and nights I sat here, writing THE JESUS THIEF. Often the story came to me in images, as if a movie was playing in my mind. So I cast the parts. Alfre Woodard was my Maggie, Russell Crowe was Sam, Felix was a young Jeremy Irons. I tell you, the acting was terrific! It was just imagination, though. I knew no one in Hollywood.
Three years later after The Jesus Thief was published, a brother of mine (I call him Bops, but he's really Jesse Rhines, PhD) was at a function in New York. He looked across the room and there was the actress Alfre Woodard. My brother walked up to her and told her about my imagination. She said I should send her the book. Eight days later she was on my cell phone, wanting to option the film rights. Trust me, I almost passed out!
If I told you the other miracles that happened for The Jesus Thief back in 2003-2004, I'd be writing all day, so I'll just share two. Nine amazing men I call my Band of Angels, had put up money to publish it. With a potential film and unexpected foreign interest, it began to look like they'd get their money back. Then, suddenly, the miracles stopped. No movie, no more book sales or translations.
I don't know if you believe in psychics, but I went to one for fun when hubby and I were in Sedona, AZ. She told me, "It's not yet time for your books." Apparently not. In despair, I stayed away from my room of miracles.
My agent told me to write about something else, anything that didn't involve cloning Jesus. However, my characters ignored my agent. They wouldn't let me sleep. They'd wake me in the night, wanting me to get up and tell their stories until dawn. The room wouldn't stop calling me. The footstool claimed to miss my feet, so I returned and wrote a sequel, THE SECRET MADONNA. As soon as it was published, I fell ill. No ads in the NYT, no book signings, etc. I remembered the psychic. "It's not yet time for your books."
Again I stayed away from my writing room. Again it called me. After a while I returned and wrote THE SACRED IMPOSTOR, sequel #2, but kept it completely to myself.
In July of 2010, my grandson had just dropped me at the airport after a visit. Thinking of him, I waited for my flight. I checked my email and found a message: "We are interested in the film rights for J R Lankford's The Jesus Thief." It wasn't from Alfre Woodard. It was someone else, a producer. Last year he optioned the film rights for a while. Will a film be made this time? I don't know. At our last meeting, he suggested I write the novel I'd been avoiding -- the Jesus clone as an adult, interacting with the world.
How in the world could I write Jesus? I started meditating every day in my room of miracles, praying for guidance (and peace on earth). Peace is taking it's time, but guidance came. I am halfway through THE COVERT MESSIAH.
Meanwhile the miracles have resumed. Out of nowhere, I learned a publisher wanted to translate The Jesus Thief into Turkish. I told them about the sequels. They wanted them, too. I contacted the publisher who translated The Jesus Thief into Russian back in 2004. They also wanted the sequels and to reprint The Jesus Thief. I tried to reach my Spanish publisher and learned they'd folded. I thought my Portuguese publisher had, too. Last month, out of the clear blue sky, a Portuguese author named Joao Cerqueira (http://www.joaocerqueira.com/) found my Facebook page, my website, and emailed me. Since we had the same publisher, would I give him advice about promoting his new book in the USA?
We had the same publisher?
Turns out the fledgling company that signed me hadn't folded. They'd changed their name and become the highly respected Saida de Emergencia. The Jesus Thief was still on sale in Portugal as Cristo Clonado. (http://www.saidadeemergencia.com/produto/-o-202337/cristo-clonado/). They'd been trying to find me for years. (I'd changed emails, changed agents. It wasn't yet time.) They want to sell Cristo Clonado in Brazil. They want to discuss publishing the sequels.
What will happen next, I have no idea. I can only tell you life has a way of arranging things. Meanwhile, my feet are on the footstool my husband carved, believing in me. I sit in front of the bookshelves he made. I write words that have waited all my life for me. Here, in my room of miracles.
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