Encouragement for the Writing Road:

" 'Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.' Then why ask? The idea of prayer is not in order to get answers from God; prayer is perfect and complete oneness with God." --Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, August 6

O soul, He only who created thee can satisfy thee. If thou ask for anything else, it is thy misfortune, for He alone who made thee in His image can satisfy thee. -- Augustine

THOUGHT FOR TODAY: (Written by Tricia Goyer in August 1997...I found this while researching MYSELF for the new book I'm writing)

"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15: 4&5

As writers we work with something called motivation. As Christian writers we all hope that our motivation is God-inspired. Too thin is the line between self-motivation and Godly motivation. How do we know if we are on the right track? We may write, we may write well, but only with God will produce fruit--fruit that will nourish the body of believers. "If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit." Fellow writers I pray that you may seek God's face and be fruitful today!


Stop Lurking! Every week I will draw names for a free Tricia Goyer book from those who comment on my blogs. Winner's choice! Tell your friends

Don't dress up...

One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you're maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones.

~~Stephen King

Map of me...

This is pretty much what journals are all about, at least to me. I knew as I wrote them that even though they provided an excellent place for brain (and heart, and psyche) dump, they were mainly a map of me.

~~Colleen Wainwright, communicatrix, 03-23-2006

Self-doubt...

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.

~~Sylvia Plath

Thursday Tip...Put yourself in someone else's shoes

The following is an excerpt from a resource called “Writing to Serve Others”, which I found at this blog, the Blog Poet's Society. Elizabeth Krohn put this together based off of some ideas from the book Writing with Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing by John R. Trimble. You can see the first excerpt here.

I thought this applied to everything we write, from novels, to essays, to simple blog posts!

Put Yourself in Your Reader’s Shoes

Ask yourself the kind of questions that will help you extend your awareness to your reader.

1. What wins you over?
2. How and why do you respond?
3. What makes you feel well served?

Be an attentive reader, asking yourself questions such as

1. Is this style too complex to be readable? Too plain? Just right—and why?
2. What is the writer’s tone and how does he achieve it? Do I like it or don’t I?
3. Do I like this two-sentence paragraph? Why does he use a semicolon here instead of a period?

Reading attentively will not only improve your effectiveness, but your attitude toward your writing as well. You will see the challenge in serving your reader before yourself. Your reader’s needs, not your own, will dominate your thinking.

You will start asking yourself questions such as

1. How can I identify with my readers?
2. How can I empathize with them?
3. What are their needs?
4. What is convenient for them?
5. How can my writing help them know and love God more?

As you become more effective in your writing, you will develop a sense of joy, as you give God glory by serving and loving other people.

“To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” (Mk 12:33)

Show Me

Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.

~~Anton Chekhov

2 by Lewis

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.

Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say 'infinitely' when you mean 'very'; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.

C. S. Lewis
English essayist & juvenile novelist (1898 - 1963)

Deliver Me...

Deliver me from writers who say the way they live doesn't matter. I'm not sure a bad person can write a good book. If art doesn't make us better, then what on earth is it for.

~~Alice Walker

Thursday Tip...Are your kids having a fun or a boring summer?

I have friends who DREAD summer. Personally, I think it’s because they feel they have to entertain their kids all day. (Often because the kids insist!) The kids are so used to being shuttled and scheduled they don't know how to entertain themselves.

That's another way I think my writing as REALLY benefited my family. Every afternoon, mommy would have "writing time." And the kids played. They colored, drew, played with Legos, dressed Barbies (or at least my daughter did), read books, etc. They were NEVER bored during their summers, they knew how to have fun. Of course, since they were homeschooled, for us this wasn’t just a summer thing.

Today my kids have GREAT imaginations. My oldest son is writing a novel. My youngest son gets about two requests a day for playdates. His friends' parents love having him over because he "entertains" their kids with his great imagination.

This week, my daughter is volunteering at VBS. Her job was to come up with snacks for the 6th grade. Do you think she went to the store and bought chips and cookies? No? She had these wonderful, creative snacks ... ideas that she found on-line.

In fact yesterday she made cupcakes, frosted them, and covered them with mini-marshmallows to look like popcorn. Then she wrapped them with red and white striped paper to look like popcorn bags. Man ... I should have taken a photo!

Anyway ... just a note to say don’t feel bad if you need time to follow your dreams. That solo play time WILL benefit your kids in the long wrong!

Ha, ha, ha...

Substitute damn every time you're inclined to write very; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.

~~Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)

To Answer Your Question...

Some people ask when I know my novel is done. The answer is . . . I don't
think I ever would ever be finished if it wasn't for a deadline. How could
one ever look at a whole body of work and say, "It is perfect."

There are always descriptions to deepen and dialogue to make more
believable. The ending . . . well, is never quite right, and there are
always those few places that bug me. The words I can never get quite right.

Working with critique partners helps. Working with editors does too. But
still I can see so many weak spots.

Even now I'm reading the galley for my upcoming novel. I'm suppose to be
just checking for errors, but I can STILL see things I'd like to change.

Since I am human, I'll never write a perfect novel. But still, as I send the
comments back with the galley, knowing that whatever is there will be in
print ... I have to say "It is finished."

Just like a day is finished, without everything getting done, the
realization comes that a novel will never be perfect. And it never can be.

Still, I can rest easy at night knowing God strengthened me and guided me
and knowing that I gave it my best . . . and knowing that even without
perfection God can use my story to touch hearts. And with that I can say,
"It is good."

Thursday Tip...Common Fiction Mistake

Today's tip comes from Barbara Warren's writing newsletter Blue Mountain Backroads (to subscribe, email Barbara at barbarawarrennewsletter@yahoogroups.com)

TELLING INSTEAD OF SHOWING:

I first heard of this when I was at a writer's conference in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Fred Bean was the speaker. I thought he was crazy. I'm a writer, right? A storyteller? I tell a story? What did he think he was talking about? Well, now I know.

I can't tell you how many manuscripts I get to edit where the writer is telling what happened. No action, no dialogue, no internal monologue. No nothing. It usually takes several tries before the writer understands the difference, but this is one bad habit, that once understood is never made again. The following examples are not very good, but see if you can tell the difference.

Example #1: John loved the old house. It had been in his family for a hundred years. It had a wide front porch with broad steps leading down to the overgrown lawn, which needed mowing. He had moved in yesterday and claimed the master bedroom as his own. Tomorrow he would go to town to buy groceries. He wanted to get a dog too, so he wold be lonesome out here all by himself.

Example #2: John looked up at the sweeping lines of the old farmhouse. Why had he stayed away so long? This house had belonged to Whitakers for over a hundred years. He waded ankle deep wet grass, thinking that tomorrow he would buy a lawnmower. The broad steps leading to the wide front porch were just as he remembered. He turned the old brass doorknob and stepped inside, smelling the familiar fragrance of rose potpourri and beeswax polish. The silence was almost overwhelming. He'd forgotten how isolated it was. He'd get a dog.

Thursday Tip...Spiritual Success

Today, let’s look at the spiritual side of the writing issue.

When God wanted to free the Israelites, he sought out Moses. We can say the same about Gideon, Esther, and David.

I'd like to think the same about my (our) writing. God has a message that He wants to get out, and so He speaks to our hearts. Or causes us to come across a bit of something we know will make a great novel/article/book.

It's been helping me to remember this—God has a message, and He's chosen ME to share it. Not only that. He doesn't leave it up to ME to do it, but He will see it through to completion.

For YEARS I imagined this as my writing, my calling—as a gift God gave me for me to unwrap and use. He was beside me, of course, helping me when I needed in.

Now I see it as something God put IN me. Jesus, too, is in me, unwrapping the gift layer by layer, empowering me to complete the tasks He’s given me.

God has messages He desires to speak to His world, and I’m honored that God has chosen me to share them. How can I claim any pride in that? Or, on the flip side how can I (like Moses) argue with God and look at my sales/success and say it’s not “good enough” and give up?

Yes, the world will go on without my writing, but what about God’s message … and my calling? More than that, what about my experience with Jesus I’ll miss out on if I’m only focused on success according to the world?

Tricia Goyer
http://www.triciagoyer.com/

Well and easy...

There is no way of writing well and also of writing easily.

~~Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers

Drenched...

James Coggins sent this quote to me!

"One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them, to have the right ones form themselves into the proper patterns at the right moment."

~~Hart Crane, poet (1899-1932)

Astonishment...

"The important thing in writing is the capacity to astonish. Not shock—shock is a worn-out word—but astonish."

~~Terry Southern, novelist and screenwriter

Thursday Tip -- Attitude is Everything

I don't know about you, but I almost NEVER finish everything on my daily t0-do list. There is almost "one more thing" that I hoped to squeeze in. If you're like me, here are some things to help you set yourself up for success.

1. Make a list. What are 5 things you'd like to accomplish today? (They don't have to be only writing related.)

2. Prioritize them, then write them down. Work on #1 before moving to #2.

3. Check them off as you complete them.

4. Celebrate! Instead of focusing on what you didn't finish, get excited over what you did.

Try this: YEAH, HURRAY I finished one of my goals!

Yes, there are a few more that didn't get done ... but remember God gave you today for a reason and you accomplished what He designed. You didn't surprise Him by what you did or didn't do. Either way you're right on track!

3 Qualities...

You will be published if you possess three qualities - talent, passion, and discipline. You will probably be published if you possess two of the three qualities in either combination - either talent and discipline, or passion and discipline. You will likely be published if you possess neither talent nor passion but still have discipline. Just go to the bookstore and pick up a few 'notable' titles and you'll see what I mean. But if all you possess is talent or passion, if all you possess is talent and passion, you will not be published. The likelihood is you will never be published. And if by some miracle you are published, it will probably never happen again."

~~Elizabeth George, Write Away, p.253

The Miracle Unfolds

“ . . . For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid pieces of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet you or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die. They are full of the things that you don't get in real life—wonderful, lyrical language, for instance. And quality of attention: we may notice amazing details during the course of a day but we rarely let ourselves stop and really pay attention. An author makes you notice, makes you pay attention, and this is a great gift. My gratitude for good writing is unbounded; I'm grateful for it the way I'm grateful for the ocean.”

–Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

Tricia’s Thoughts:

I’ve always considered writing to be real life put in slow motion. We see clearer and understand deeper. We expect meaning and purpose. We anticipate resolution and hope. We pay attention, and for this our souls are satisfied.

I write toward...

"When I write, I aim in my mind not toward New York but toward a vague spot a little east of Kansas. I think of the books on library shelves, without their jackets, years old, and a countryish teen-aged boy finding them, and having them speak to him."

~~John Updike