Wow ~ NLQ Readers ROCK ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪

Tooting our own horn here ~ which is something NLQers give ourselves permission to do.

by Vyckie

A couple of days ago, I sent out an email message to NLQ forum members and Facebook followers giving an update on the No Longer Quivering book project.  In my letter, I listed several reasons for the decision I’ve made to hire a collabrative writer in order to get the book written in a timely fashion:

1)  With five children at home, it is extremely challenging to get any writing done ~ who knows how long it would take me to produce the book on my own? 

2)  Timing ~ QF is a hot topic right now.  True, it’s likely to continue to be a hot topic in the foreseeable future given the popularity of the Duggars and the exponential growth of the Quiverfull movement ~ so we don’t have to worry that interest will wane any time soon.  However, it would be best to take advantage of the momentum of public awareness of QF while it is on the upswing ~ having the book already in print now is a good way to establish NLQ as the “authoritative resource” to counter the movement’s growing popularity.  IOW, having the book written sooner, rather than later, will mean that whenever Quiverfull makes the news, reporters/journalists will have access to the memoir of a high-profile QF walkaway to “balance” their news stories.

3)  The No Longer Quivering blog is already such an authoritative resource ~ but it must be maintained and promoted so that the popular media is aware of its presence ~ and also so that the general public has access to our stories to counter-balance all the glowing QF testimonials which are proliferating on the Internet. 

When I am writing the book, I cannot keep up with the blog.  Several guest writers have been tremendously supportive in supplying new material for the blog, but I am receiving quite a lot of feedback to the effect that it is my story and commentaries on QF which generate the most interest and when I’m not able to post, traffic slows down considerably.

This is kind of a catch-22 situation as having an active, popular website is going to make the NLQ book more attractive to prospective publishers.  So ~ if I’m busy writing the book to the neglect of the blog ~ it is less likely that I will be able to get a mainstream publisher for the book.

So ~ for all these reasons, I will be working with a professional writer/editor to get the book finished.  I received a tremendous response to that email.  The replies were very supportive ~ many of you sent words of encouragement and inspiring suggestions for ways to make this all work.  I’ve also received enough to pay the up front cost for the writer.

Wow, huh?!

I am deeply moved ~ touched, and kind of speechless ~ to realize that NLQ readers feel so strongly that my No Longer Quivering story needs to be told ~ you all are so eager for the book to be published! 

I already said, Wow, right? LOL

In appreciation for this outpouring of support ~ and because all this reader enthusiasm has me inspired to get back to writing my story for the blog ~ I’ve come up with “a plan.”  I had suggested in my letter that I might do “something like a blog-a-thon in which I do a marathon writing session on my NLQ story ~ and every time a donation comes in, I would post another installment of my story.”  Everyone liked that idea ~ and I like it too.  But ~ since I don’t need to “blog for cash” now ~ (THANK YOU!!!) ~ I’m planning to blog for fun. 

So ~ here’s whatz up:  Sometime in the next week or so, I’m planning to do an NLQ Blogathon.  Unlike the NLQ Carnival in which the majority of the articles were submitted by guest writers, I will be doing all of the writing myself.  I’m going to see how much of “Vyckie’s Story” I can get written before the NLQ book proposal is ready ~ which will hopefully be sometime in February.  I’ll be posting shorter installments frequently throughout the blogathon ~ if I type my fingers off, it’s possible that I might get somewhere close to the end of the story before it’s all over.

And here’s the interesting twist:  Once the book proposal is ready and it’s time for my agent to pitch my story to the publishers ~ I’ll be taking “Vyckie’s Story” down from the blog and replacing it with a 1-2 page summary.  I truthfully do not believe that having my story posted here at No Longer Quivering might give readers the idea that they don’t need to actually buy the book when it’s published ~ NLQ readers ROCK ~ and they’re constantly saying that when the book comes out, they’re definitely buying it and getting a copy for their friend/relative/acquaintance whom they suspect might be in a destructive QF/P relationship.  But ~ prospective publishers might not agree, so just in case ~ we’re going to play it safe and just have a brief summary of my story posted.

Which means ~ for dedicated NLQ readers, this’ll be a chance to catch the full story (much of which will not be included in the book) before it disappears for a while.  I might re-post the installments once the book is published.

I’m planning to have a fun time with the upcoming NLQ Blogathon ~ but it’s going to be fun-with-a-purpose.

1)  To increase awareness of the No Longer Quivering website by utilizing the major social networking tools ~ Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Reddit, etc. and also encouraging readers to participate by introducing others to NLQ.  The goal will be to generate enough traffic to put NLQ’s Alexa ranking in the Top 100,000 sites worldwide.  This is a very doable goal considering that No Longer Quivering has gone from a rank of 11,000,000+ to a little over half a million in only a few months’ time.

If we are able to reach our Alexa ranking goal, I will post Angel’s much-anticipated story of her time at the “Campbell Compound” ~ when she lived with and worked for Nancy Campbell and her daughter, Pearl, in Tennessee.

2) To promote the Take Heart Project which is the non-profit organization which NLQers hope to establish in order to provide information, education, and practical support for women seeking to leave the Quiverfull philosophy and lifestyle.  We hope to have a very basic, bare-bones website for the Take Heart Project up and running before the blogathon begins.  (See us scrambling? LOL)

3) Since NLQ actually is a means of support for my family, I am going to solicit donations during the blogathon.  It’s nice that I don’t have to do it for the money ~ since through the generosity of NLQers, the collabrative writer fund is already taken care of (THANK YOU, AGAIN!!!!) ~ but, hey ~ I’m still a single mom with 5 kids at home, so any contributions will be a big help. 

I’m thinking of setting a modest goal for the blogathon ~ say, $1,000 ~ and if the money comes in ~ I’ll show my appreciation by posting a link to our old family blog.  This is the personal family journal which I kept from August 2006 – January 2008 until I moved the journal to a new site.  This time period includes the family vacation to Branson in which we stopped in Arkansas and I met my uncle, Ron ~ pics of Warren, me, the kids, etc., some philosophical ramblings of mine during that time in which I was rethinking everything … basically a chronical of our family through that year or so in which everything unravelled for our family ~ and not surprisingly, very little of the upheaval is revealed on the blog because it would have been a poor witness if I’d written; Angel’s in the psych ward and I’m having nervous breakdown! LOL

How’s that for incentive?

I want to be clear ~ the reason for all of this: the book, the Take Heart Project, the blogathon, even asking for donations, is because the overwhelming response to my story has convinced me that No Longer Quivering is becoming a valuable resource and a refuge for women (and a few men) whose lives and loved ones have been negatively affected by the patriarchal teachings of QF.

Behind the scenes, I’m receiving private emails from women in desperate situations ~ QF moms with husbands whom they really do love ~ but who have become unbearable as they try to fulfill their role as “head” of the home, older QF daughters are writing too ~ they are overwhelmed and discouraged, feeling, like Angel did, that they can never live up to the standards of perfection which are expected of them within their families and the Quiverfull community.  Even though I’ve stated up front that I have “thrown out the baby with the bathwater,” these women are showing their desperation and their courage in asking for help ~ they don’t want to give up on God, but they cannot continue in this path which is wearing them out and destroying their families.

The NLQ community ~ both on the forum and in the chat room ~ has developed into a supportive group of (mostly) women where we can feel safe to share our stories and to process what has happened to us ~ and, in many cases, which we have inflicted on ourselves and our families as a result of coming under the influence of the Quiverfull movement.  As one NLQ reader recently put it:

… Your story isn’t just the story of a person escaping fundamentalism.  It  is the story of a lot of lost and scared young women.  Women who weren’t given a sense of self worth when they are young, so they choose men who are not worthy or equal to us when we are grown.  It’s the story of the incredible defense mechanism that women have that will get us through the most horrible abuses imaginable and allow us to be able to heal the mental and emotional scars when it’s over.

… Women judge each other and criticize and can be so mean.  We lead each other in the the same traps we are in like a drowning person who hold their rescuer underwater in an attempt to get a respite from the water. 

In my life there have been a few times when I have felt my whole world change, true paradigm shifts.  In those moments, I think to myself “This is a moment I will remember”, and though I may not know what it means at the time, they have always been turning points for me.  Reading your story has been one of those moments.

I feel like saying, Wow! again. 

So ~ we have a blogathon to look forward to ~ coolness.  When I know the start date, I’ll be sure to let you know.  In the meantime, we’ll be planning and scheming over on the forum how to make the NLQ Blogathon a smashing success.  Your input and participation is greatly appreciated.