Contempt. The third definition in my dictionary reads: Open disrespect or willful disobedience of the authority of the court of law or a legislative body.
Okay. Contemptible is a strong word and not a valid application to my conduct, but I thought it worked well as a title.
I think it’s important to stipulate I don’t “disrespect” the “court” of Christian publishing, but I guess you could rightly conclude I’m willfully disobedient to its authority. But, hey, if general market publishers blew their own horns about only selecting “the best” to publish, I’d be willfully disobedient to their authority as well.
So much goes into the selection of what to publish—how many of which genres, when to release those books, how to market and sell them, and so on. Complex business. From all indications from professionals in the biz, it’s a high-stress process at every level of production from query to novel-in-hand. Not to mention the stress levels of the authors who must find their audience(s) and convince them to buy their books.
If a person refuses to answer a question in a court of law, that person can be “held in contempt” and jailed until they agree to answer the question. In an older episode of the series “Bones”, Angela Montenegro refused to testify against Dr. Brennan’s father in a murder case because she believed so strongly in her friendship with Dr. Brennan. Angela was not going to volunteer any convicting information against the father of her best friend. She went to a holding cell as a result.
To a lesser degree by far I’m not going to go along with those stated necessities in Christian publishing. The different topics discussed here make no sense to me, and I can’t compromise my sensibilities to accommodate the so-called rules. And, yeah, if it means I go to jail by being locked out of royalty publishing for failing to abide by their requirements, so be it. I know. I know. Many of you assume I’m probably not a good enough writer, and that’s the real reason I won’t attract a publisher—or even an agent! Maybe so. It’s possible. But I do defy their assumptions about readers in my genre and will not bend to their limited philosophy. Maybe you might call it stupidity, but for me it’s honestly a matter of principle.
Find me in contempt and not unaware of the “shooting yourself in the foot” adage.
God, your will is what counts. Not mine. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Into the Fire 
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