It's Not About Me

inkygirl.com

Recently I read a novel (written by an Indiana author) because I was curious. It was historical and set in Indiana. I fancy myself an amateur historian, and thought it would be an interesting read. Since I'm also a novelist-in-training, I wanted to learn what good writing looks like. I didn't expect to learn much more than writing style, POV (point of view) techniques, conflict, scene - you know, all that novel-ly stuff we're supposed to learn on our dream road to publication. If I enjoyed the story, it would be a bonus.  I expected little else.

BAM!

I don't think God necessarily cooks like Emeril Lagasse.  But once in awhile he gets my attention in a similar way. Silly me, to think reading a novel was all about the story (and other novel-ly things).

For days after I read this book, there were certain words I found myself pondering. I found myself whispering prayers to God in regard to some of the spiritual principles entwined in the fabric of the story.

I realized that pondering on these truths was exactly the type of spiritual experience I want my readers to have when reading what I write. Stories come and go. God's Word remains (1 Peter 1:25).

Even more than asking for God's inspiration when creating twists and turns in a story, I need His Holy Spirit guidance and anointing to convey His Word. It's my passion to change lives with the writing He inspires. But for some reason it surprised me to be influenced this deeply by a "mere" novel.

Writing isn't about me. It's not about me getting my name out there, or being someone well-known. It's not about awards and money. Those things are nice by-products to be sure. But as a Christian writer, my writing is a tool God can use to reach people and help them overcome their struggles with the enemy.  While typing out each phrase, I  pray that God will continue to anoint my "hands to make war and my fingers to fight" (Psalm 144:1). This will only happen if I'm in tune with His Word, listening for His voice, and spending time with Him.

People need to hear what God is saying. He employs writers to convey His message.  If Christian writers don't convey God's Word in their writing - who will? (Romans 10:14.) What a privilege to think that the author of all things could possibly use my feeble efforts for His purpose. (Lest I get proud of being used by God, I remember that God can use a donkey to speak through if He has to. Remember Balaam?)

This is why we must persevere in our writing efforts. Whether writing a letter, article, or blogging, we have opportunities to share Truth with our readers. God has placed a dream of writing in us for His purposes. He knows what He's doing. We just have to trust Him.

For those of us just beginning our writing journey, if we're never paid or recognized for words we write, we can be sure of even greater rewards in heaven. Meeting people whose lives were changed for eternity by our words will be reward enough.

What novels have you read lately that impressed on your heart some spiritual truths? Let me know, so I can read them, too!

The Invisible Steamroller

I took my first steps into writing on a whim: I entered an essay in a writing contest held by a Christian magazine in 1979. To my delight, although I didn't win, the magazine created an Honorable Mention prize, mailed me a check, and printed my piece.

"Wow," I thought, "I can make up stuff, and people will pay me for it?" So, as more hobby than anything else, two or three times a year I would craft a devotional, an article, or a short story and send it to a publisher. Some got rejected. Others yielded checks, spurring me to write more often and to study the craft seriously.

When I discovered writers' market guides, the boundaries of my publishing universe expanded. I pored over them seeking markets that might fit my style and skill. I highlighted travel magazines ("I love to travel. I could write travel pieces.") In the same sitting I’d also highlight children's magazines ("I used to be a kid; surely I can create stories for children."), sci-fi journals ("Hey, I grew up watching the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. I'll boldly write where I've never written before!"), and a host of diverse markets. I found such a vast array of markets that I felt I was wasting time. I needed to get busier submitting to more and more of them.

Later, when I began attending writers conferences, I rubbed shoulders with fellow authors of all stripes. Some had published daily devotionals. Others received contracts for novels, or non-fiction books, or were syndicating columns...

Somewhere along the journey, what began as a hobby, then developed into a Christian ministry, took the shape of an enormous, invisible steamroller bearing down behind me if I didn't maintain a hectic pace of researching, writing, and submitting. This impression wasn't logical (my days of watching Mr. Spock should have taught as much), but the more I learned about other authors' successes, the more pushed I felt to get out there and compete, to be a one-size-fits-all writer. The role was exhausting.

Beware that invisible steamroller. Nobody can write for all markets. And the fact that the writer beside you at a conference just signed a 50-book contract and optioned all movie rights shouldn't flatten you. In the military there are roles for all ranks, from privates up to generals. Likewise, in the ranks of writers for the Lord, there is room for a wide range of writing skills. Every level of skill has its niche.

Now, I’m wondering: am I alone, or have others experienced that invisible steamroller? Ever felt that you had to catch up to colleagues, or else get squished?

Rick Barry

Adventures in Left Brain - Right Brain Thinking

What’s right about my left brain?

I came from a home with a genius in residence. As Beethoven played, it was admirable to discuss and THINK about others’ creativity, but spontaneity was thwarted. Stargazing, gardening, and reading, reading, reading, especially (shudder) scary sci-fi stories were the closest we were allowed to the edge of the corpus callosum bridging our strict left brain lives to that strange world of originality on the right.

While I was by night in my secret dreams, a rebel, fighting against the encroaching unjust empire, in real life I was a “good girl” who lived up to every left-brain expectation made of me. I was a terrific speller, understood the finer points of grammar and sentence structure or science and as time went by chose trigonometry over choir. (Yuk!) My first job after graduation was as a competent and well-paid assistant bookkeeper in the main office of a large credit agency.

It all sounds good, except I would periodically need sick days to prevent permanent melt-down. This did nothing to allay my preconceived notion that genius was to be feared as a door to insanity. Every day for forty-two years, I was an exhausted butterfly with wet wings straining to break free of my cocoon. I couldn’t even put this in words. I only knew something wasn’t right. It turns out the something was my brain, and left-brain living was not right for me.

What’s left of my right brain?

Once I identified the problem, I tried to use both sides equally. My husband and daughter do this without effort. For me, not so much. If I rose to giddy creative heights, I'd strain to function in foreign left brain territory until one day I accepted who God made me to be.

Now, at fifty-five, I flutter about my colorful day singing, serving up new and delectable dishes for my husband, dabbling at homemaking, and creating people, places, and crises on paper or computer, which I then solve.

I’m having a blast and I haven’t needed a mental health day in years. I am learning to live out-of-the box. Plus, I have a plethora of survival stories from which to draw. This leaves me in the position to write, write, write. Ahhhh! Home, Sweet Right-brained Home. The only thing finer would be a book contract.

The caveat to this new brain-style is I can no longer spell correctly, my grammar is atrocious, and as Rachael Phillips can testify, I can’t add or subtract anything over $5.00. I can live with that.

Are you right- or left-brained? One isn't superior, but how do you reconcile differences between the two? Do you have special exercises to move from one to the other? Does the time of day make a difference? Inquiring minds want to know

ACFW Genesis Contest

The Genesis Contest is the ACFW contest for unpublished Christian writers. The contest has a multitude of categories/genres to enter, the opportunity for unbiased feedback on writers' work by published authors and experienced judges, and the chance for the Category Finalists to have their work read by Christian publishing house editors and literary agents. ACFW has been pleased to see previous Category Winners and Finalists move further on in their writing careers to become published authors.


Prizes – Each category will have a first place Category Winner and a runner up. The first place entry in each category--the Category Winner--will receive a winner's plaque and first choice for editor/agent appointments at the 2011 ACFW National Conference. The runner up in each category will receive a certificate. The Category Winners and runner ups will be announced at the 2010 ACFW Conference.

ACFW and the Genesis Contest do NOT guarantee that a winning or runner-up entry will receive a publishing contract.


Fees – $35 per entry for current ACFW members. Multiple entries will require multiple entry fees. If an entry has co-authors, both must be current ACFW members. Writers who want to join ACFW and enter the Genesis may do both online at the ACFW website. Make checks or money orders payable to American Christian Fiction Writers. Do not use pseudonyms on the entry form.


The entrant must submit the first 15 pages of their manuscript, double-spaced, and may include an optional one-page single-spaced synopsis. The manuscript and the synopsis must be in the same file, not in two different files.

The Genesis coordinators highly recommend that entrants submit their entries by MARCH 15TH, 2010, so that if the entry is lost in cyberspace or if any aspect of the entry is unacceptable, the entrant can mail a replacement entry before the deadline.

Categories –
• Contemporary Fiction
• Contemporary Romance (includes romantic comedy)
• Historical Fiction (not romance)
• Historical Romance
• Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
• Romantic Suspense
• Speculative Fiction
• Women’s Fiction
• Young Adult

Judging – During the First Round, three judges (published authors or experienced writers trained in judging the Genesis) will score each entry, up to a maximum of 100 points per entry. All three scores will be averaged. Discrepancy judges will NOT be used due to the logistics of the contest. See the GUIDELINES AND FAQ page for a more information.

The top five entries in each category--Category Finalists--will continue to the Final Round. In the event of a tie for fifth place, all tied fifth place entries will advance to the Final Round. Barring unforeseen circumstances, Finalists will be notified between May 1st and May 15th, 2010. Finalists will be allowed TWO DAYS ONLY to polish and resubmit their entries before the entries are sent to the Final Round judges.

Final Round judges:
• Contemporary Fiction: Beth Adams (editor, Guideposts), Stephanie Broene (editor, Tyndale), Barbara Scott (editor, Abingdon Press)
• Contemporary Romance: Melissa Endlich (editor, Steeple Hill), Ami McConnell (editor, Thomas Nelson), JoAnne Simmons (editor, Barbour)
• Historical Fiction: Janet Grant (agent, Books and Such Literary), Sarah Long (editor, Bethany House), Tamela Hancock Murray (agent, Hartline Literary)
• Historical Romance: Natalie Hanemann (editor, Thomas Nelson), Charlene Patterson (editor, Bethany House), Emily Rodmell (editor, Steeple Hill)
• Mystery/Suspense/Thriller: Sandra Bishop (agent, MacGregor Literary), Susan Brower (editor, Zondervan), Jan Stob (editor, Tyndale)
• Romantic Suspense: Susan Downs (editor, Summerside Press), Tina James (editor, Steeple Hill), David Long (editor, Bethany House)
• Speculative Fiction: Jeff Gerke (publisher, Marcher Lord Press), Julie Gwinn (Fiction Marketing Manager, B&H), Annie Tipton (editor, Barbour)
• Women's Fiction: Rachelle Gardner (agent, Wordserve Literary), Natasha Kern (agent, Natasha Kern Literary), Raela Schoenherr (editor, Bethany House)
• Young Adult: Jacque Alberta (editor, Zonderkidz), Terry Burns (agent, Hartline Literary), Rachel Zurakowski (agent, Books and Such Literary)

The Category Winners will be announced at the 2010 ACFW National Conference. See "Prizes" for the awards designated.

For more information, see the GUIDELINES AND FAQ page on the ACFW website.

Literary Devices

Where does the color, the vibrancy in your writing come from? How do you visualize that setting, that perfect place for your story to take on life and travel to the end of the last page? Do you use simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia?

Is there a book somewhere that tells the writer what to say and how to say it? Are there examples I can follow and make my writing come alive? Out of the mountain of books on my shelves to tell me how to write and how to build my characters, one stands out above the rest. The Bible.

Look at the Psalms for vivid dynamic writing. I wish I would have said, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.” Having tons of hunters in my family, that one sentence from Psalm 42 stirs a dramatic vision for me of a frantic animal, being shot at, running hard, finally finding a creek where it can get a swallow of water before it continues running again. (Bambi embodies all deer for me. You shoot a deer and you’ve shot Bambi.)

He goes on to say, “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” What a striking way to describe the need of the human soul for God.

Verse 3 says, “My tears have been my food day and night while men say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’”

Read down further into verse 7. “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.”

Don’t stop at the Psalms. Look at Proverbs 1:20 where the abstract concept of wisdom is described. “Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares.” Proverbs 10:11, “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life.”

Isaiah is one of the most colorful prophets to me. See how he describes God’s love for Israel and the promises in that love? Isaiah 43:2 reads, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” Did Isaiah mean that literally, or was he using a literary tool to imprint that thought in our minds?

What literary devices do you see mentioned in the above words? Better yet, what devices can you find in the scriptures today?

Donna L. Rich