How to Not Write a Book About Mary and End Up With a Great Book About Mary

What I mean by "not writing" the book is this:

Although I wrote a brief reflection or prayer for each day, the real pearls are the quotations, the words of those much wiser than I.  An example:

"Were each woman an image of the Mother of God, a Spouse of Christ, an apostle of the Divine Heart, then would each fulfill her feminine vocation no matter what conditions she lived in and what worldly activity absorbed her life."  

~~ St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

One hardly needs to add anything to such beautiful and challenging words (though I added thoughts anyway.) The quotations are really the heart of the book. They're the great part.

But finding 365 quotes that have not been heard countless times already was no easy task. It sounded easy when I signed the contract: "Quotes! I adore quotes! This will be rapture! A breeze! Fun that is work, work that is fun!"

Ahem. Nothing is ever as easy as it sounds.

Tomorrow, I'll share with you a story about crawling through the last stages of the compilation, and the way in which a friend came through with a tiny miracle for me on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.