At the couple of writer’s conferences I attended, Les Stobbe was considered the wise elder statesman of the faculty. I only met him briefly, with a group, and I didn’t have any workshops with him. So when I saw he had written a book titled God Moments in My Publishing Life: The Making of a Writer and Publisher, I decided to check it out.

Mr. Stobbe was born in the Depression era and helped work on his family’s farm from the age of three. He developed a love for reading at an early age. Then he came upon a course for writers while recovering from an accident. He’s spent 65 years in the publishing industry in a wide variety of places and capacities: selling books, writing articles, curriculum, and books, ghost writing, book acquisition, publishing, mentoring, coaching, and being a literary agent. He’s seen trends come and go and watched as technology changed the industry.

One of the aspects I enjoyed in this part of the book was learning how some of my favorite books came to be. For instance, years ago I enjoyed reading First We Have Coffee by Margaret Jensen, about her experiences growing up as the daughter of a Scandinavian pastor in Canada. Unfortunately, I read it before having a blog, so I don’t have any notes or reviews from my reading. Mr. Stobbe heard her speak at a conference, recognized her as a born storyteller, and asked her afterward if she had any more stories. She said she had a manuscript full of them, and he helped her get them published.

He also shares a few instances of the Christian publishers who “blew it.” One example: Moody Press was encouraged by Warren Wiersbe to pursue a preacher named Chuck Swindoll. Mr. Stobbe got permission to approach Swindoll, who agreed to writing a book for Moody to publish if Moody Radio Network would agree to air his radio program. Moody turned down the offer. Swindoll published his first books with Multnomah Press. He became a prolific writer with many bestsellers.

Some of the middle chapters seem to have been formed by separate essays which were put together here. But they repeat information among themselves and from other parts of the book. He tells how he met his wife and how he began with a writing course after an accident several times. I would have liked to see a developmental editor help shape these into a more coherent whole, or else have these essays clearly labeled as such and perhaps set apart from the other content.

The last several chapters of the book contain advice to writers, and these chapters are gold. I especially appreciated “Communicating Heavenly Ideas in Earthly Terms,” “Integrating Scripture and Life Experience in Writing,” and “Organizing Your Book for Life-Changing Impact.” The last chapter was particularly helpful to me, as I am reading another book on writing specifically for help in that area, and not finding much there. So to stumble across just what I needed in this book was another “God moment” in Stobbe’s work.

I may not agree with every little point of theology in this book, but I was blessed by a long lifetime of evidence of God’s leading. The specifics of each person’s path may differ, but we can trust God will lead us all in the way He would have us go as we trust and follow Him.