THE OPENING SCENE

That new computer file. It’s clean. It’s fresh. It’s scary.

As a writer, starting a new project is exciting. It’s filled with possibilities. Where will the story take me? What will my characters discover? What lessons will be learned by my character, by me, by my readers along the way?

It’s also scary. I have the story in my mind. It’s brilliant. The writing is clear and lyrical. The theme will inspire millions.

But am I the person to write it? Can I do the brilliance justice? Or will my attempt turn to dust, withering on the screen and falling into scraps at the bottom of my cyber trash can?

I have not encountered a single writer who does not go through this stage of self-doubt. Our first drafts are horrible. Our second drafts often little improved. But still we endeavor to persevere.

Because God gave us the desire and the ability to create stories; to inspire readers; to glorify Him through words.

This month I will be finishing up the last bits of a book I began several years ago. As that computer screen is closed, as cover letters and manuscript pages head out the door to agents and publishing houses, it's time to open one more new screen. This new story has been in my head for several months. There will be several more months of filling a computer screen with plot twists, world building, character development, theme, tone, voice notes. Then a new screen will be opened and the story will begin to be told. 

It all begins with clicking on that little white paper icon at the top of the screen. It all begins with the opening of the file. And the opening of a mind to fill it with words.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we are so grateful for the gifts you have blessed us with. For us writers, we love words and the talent you have given us to use them. All of us—writers or not—are often faced first with the thrill and later with the doubt—of not doing justice to the task you have led us to. Please remind us that the process for whatever task you call us to may be arduous but that it is the process you look to and our obedience to the call that causes you to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?  In what task or vocation do you see God leading you that you may need to open a file or a mind to begin the project?  

This post is part of the Christian Writers Blog Chain. Our theme for March is “open”—either an open topic or the meaning of “open” itself. Please click on the links to the right and see what my friends have to say this month. 

OZ AND I: MUST-DO MOANING VS JUMPING WITH JOY

OZ AND I is a series related to the classic daily devotional My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers. Today’s post is based on his devotional for February 5.

This morning Oswald Chambers took out his mahogany ruler and whacked me over the knuckles. He wrote about sacrificing myself—without personal glory—so that God’s will might be done and He glorified through others.

Often a sacrificial need will fly up into my face swept along on a God-breathed wind. My first reaction is: Okay, I’ll help. But how will my helping affect ME?

In other words, how little can I put myself out in order to be helpful?

Fortunately, once I get over myself, then I help with a cheerful heart. But how I wish the cheerful heart showed up first, instead of last.

How I wish I didn't always first moan and complain before jumping into God’s plan with joy.

Today Oz took me a step further, asking: am I willing to sacrifice myself (my time, my efforts) for someone else even if it’s that other person who gets the glory?

Wait. Me help someone else get the kudos?

As a writer, I want to encourage other writers and help them make their projects the best they can be.

But helping people with their projects is a major time sink. An article may only take an hour or two, but helping develop a book or copy editing one can take 30 hours or more.

What about MY writing?

Sigh.

Several years ago, God whispered to my heart: You are in the writing business, Carol, not for your personal glory, but for mine.

What does it matter in the eternal scheme of things, whether God is glorified by my books or whether He is glorified by the books of people I have helped or encouraged in their projects?

It doesn’t. 

Today Oswald posed the question. Do I say:

“I am not willing to be poured out right now, and I don’t want God to tell me how to serve Him. I want to choose the place of my own sacrifice. And I want to have certain people watching me and saying, ‘Well done.’”

It’s tough, this humble servant stuff, isn’t it?

Then again, maybe “certain people” won’t be watching; but God will be. And if He’s the one saying, “Well done,” then who cares about the rest? Really.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please help me get over myself. Please remind me that your plan and your glory are more important than mine. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? In what area of your life might you need to get over yourself and work for God’s glory instead of your own?

MUCH STUDY WEARIES THE BODY

Earlier this month I mentioned that Ecclesiastes 12:12 spoke to my heart as a writer.

Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.

I related that there is an unending stream of books I have written, am writing, plan to write, may one day write. Because there will always be books to be written.

Today I express my agreement with the second half of this scripture as it relates to writing books and the business of book publishing.

Because no matter how much of a craftsman or artisan a writer considers herself, if she writes books, they need to be published. And if they are published, most likely they are sold. Publishing is a business, whether you seek to become wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice, hope to make a tidy profit, or just want to get your ideas into the hands and minds of others.

I have been writing for publication for 12 years. I’ve had my share of publishing success, with four books published traditionally by educational publishers. I haven’t made big bucks. I’m not enormously famous. But I’ve achieved a measure of success because a publishing company has thought enough of my ideas to pay to have them turned into paper and ink products—to print them, bind them and make them available to those lucky purchasers.

But the publishing business continues to change. And it has dragged many of us writers along with it, amid much moaning and gnashing of teeth. Even my traditional publisher has turned some of my books into ebooks.

I recently purchased a kindle. I regularly purchase ebooks for it. And I have gotten past the I-miss-turning-the-page and the new book smell and the silky feel of the cover in my hands. Now, I look forward to the convenience of finding a book, purchasing it and reading it 2 minutes later; of locating an author I enjoy and purchasing several of her books for less than the cost of one print book.

That’s from the point of view of a reader.

From the point of view of a book creator, I’m still gnashing my teeth. If I consider self publishing ebooks or self-funding publication print books, then I must become familiar with:

• Kindle, nook, pdf, ebook, print on demand, apps
• Adobe InDesign
• Smashwords, KDP Select Pro, CreateSpace
• .mobi formatting
• pixel sizes and thumbnails
• verso, retro, folio, outer margin, inner margin, gutter
• trim size, font size, font type/size/words/page; lines/page
• typography; oblique spacing, open, expanded, touching, italic, sans serif
• old style, transitional, modern, square serif, sans serif, cursive and scrips, text letters, and decorative type faces
• half title page; frontispiece, bleeds
• widows and rivers
• calculating spine width and content
• Gimp; aliased; antialiased art; bitmap vs jpeg, vector based images, rasterize
• unembeddable faux fonts
• Lorem ipsum

That’s just some of the technical stuff. Then there’s the marketing, platform building, pricing, and on and on. All of it has to be learned.

…much study wearies the body.

I’m a writer. Of making books there is no end. So I write and I study and I endeavor to persevere.

Because God made me this way.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us minds. Please help us use them and our talents in the best way we can. Please help us create things that will glorify you and lead others to you. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? What study wearies your mind?

BOOKS UNENDING

As I was writing last Monday’s post, I spent some time in Ecclesiastes. As a writer, my eyeballs often skim the words and get stuck on thoughts related to writing. So it was last week when I read Ecclesiastes 12:12:

Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.

I’m the first to admit that I’m freely taking this one line of scripture out of the heavy duty Book of Ecclesiastes. But it speaks deeply to my heart as a writer.

Of making many books there is no end.

No sooner do I begin writing one book than my brain creates ideas for three more. No sooner do I get the first draft of one book completed than the outline for a seventh book is begun. No sooner do I complete a book of fiction than the characters jump up and demand that it become a series.

Of making many books there is no end.

Which is why I write. Because there are books to be created, stories to be told, words to be shared. King Solomon’s reputation for the wisest man who ever lived, is still secure.

PRAYER: Thank you Jesus for words and ideas. Thank you for being the master communicator. Thank you for giving us the ability to use words to share your love with others. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Do you have a book in you waiting to be written? Why haven’t you started writing it?

NOTE: Stay tuned for part 2 of Ecclesiastes 12:12 later this month.

CELEBRATE YOUR WEIRDNESS

The theme for the ChristianWriters.com blog chain this month is “celebrate.” Please click on the links in the right hand column to see what my friends have to say about our theme.

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Lin Oliver’s keynote speech at the Spring SCBWI conference was filled with gems. Many were things we’ve heard before. But some took me from “duh” to “aha!”

Her writing tip from Bruce Coville was one of those: Follow your weirdness.

For me, weirdness speaks to the use of humor. I never advanced past 4^th grade humor. Weird. I love most to write for middle grade readers and throw as much weird humor their way as I can.  

But weirdness is not limited to humor. An unknown world filled with dragons, house elves and pus-filled tubor plants? Weird.  

Vampires that drink animal blood instead of human blood? Weird. 

A talking donkey who can’t keep his tail pinned to his bum? Weird. 

But wonderful. And delightful to children. 

Lin’s point spoke to me about fear. We are creative. We do come up with unconventional ideas. But some of us corral our muse and tie her to the railroad tracks. As a result, instead of peanut-popping puffer fish, our stories end up with pink-eyed bunnies who only get mad enough to occasionally raise the dust when they stamp their dainty foot.  

Now if those bunnies’ eyes turned green and the dust was actually smoke because of the flames shooting out of their fluffy white tails, and spoke only in haiku, we’d have a weird, but creative and unconventional character. 

What’s the worst that could happen if you embraced your weirdness and wrote a story that was weirder than weird? You’d have a whole bunch of words you might not use.  

Or you might have a story that would delight children.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for making us just the way we are. Thank you for the creativity you have gifted us with. Please show us ways today to celebrate and use our creativity to glorify you. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? How do you celebrate your weirdness?

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This article recently ran in the Northern California regional newsletter for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

BUILDING BOOKSHELVES

I recently joined Goodreads. Creating my cyber “book shelf” on Goodreads made me think about building real bookshelves.

The first bookshelf my husband ever built was three pieces of shelving and nine cinder blocks. It was functional and portable and held our books just fine. But beautiful? Not so much. It also required no tools to build.

The second bookshelf he built from a kit. Nicer, sturdier and even looked like furniture. It required one screwdriver. Philips. And several of his manly muscles.

The third bookshelf he designed himself. He used fine wood, routed the edges, joined sections with jigs and dowels, stained and finished it all to a fine sheen. It required an electric skill saw, jig, router, dowels, wood biscuits, wood glue, orbital sander, fine sandpaper, stain, paintbrush, muslin cloth, zero aught stainless steel, and varnish. 

By then he had studied furniture building and had filled his bulging toolbox with tools he knew how to use well.

That last bookshelf stands in my office, overflowing with books. A few of those books I have written. A few are well-worn books about writing. The rest were written by authors I love. All of them have been part of my process of learning to use tools for my craft. 

At a recent children’s writing conference Lin Oliver (founder and director of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) gave us the advice that for every book we write, we should read 500 in that genre.

Her advice reminded me of the many wise proverbs and sage pieces of advice we’ve all heard: practice makes perfect; study hard; keep trying; mastery requires 10,000 hours. The advice can be applied to everything you do. In essence: if you’re going to do something, you might as well do it well. 

Even better, do everything as for the Lord. (Colossians 3:23)

My bookshelf doesn’t contain 500 books yet. But after Lin’s advice, it wouldn’t hurt to get hubby started on another bookshelf. I know it will be gorgeous!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please help us do everything we do as  if we are doing it for you. Show us ways to glorify you in our obedience, our attitude, our work ethic, the process and the outcome. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Is there one thing that stands out above everything else you do, that you seek to do for the Lord?

THE EYES OF A CHILD

My bible reading today ended with Genesis 29:29.

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever; that we may follow all the words of this law.

Saturday I attended a wonderful conference of our local chapter of the Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators. In attendance were many wonderful authors and illustrators; agents and editors. And many writers, struggling to become published.

All of us there were passionate about creating books that will speak to the hearts of children.

That is an awesome responsibility—to create something to help children see the world in a new light; that will open their eyes to new possibilities; that will help shape their hearts and minds.

God has given us an awesome responsibility to train our children in the way they should go so that when they are grown they will not turn from it.

The challenge for Christian writers is to teach children through our words in a way that will not sound stern or preachy.

The challenge is also to create books that editors will be able to sell to a public that resists Christianity.

The challenge is to speak the truth in love.

The conference was filled with jewels of encouragement and gems of knowledge intended to spur us toward assembling sparkling words to create brilliant books. I returned home, inspired to persevere in using God’s gift to help children see Him in the world around us…

…even children who long ago stopped counting the candles on the cake.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we are your children and we want to see the beauty and majesty of your world through open eyes of wonder. Help us see and share your world with our children and each other. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? What special responsibility do you have to share with the children in your life?

PREPARING TO BE INSPIRED

Tomorrow I’ll be hanging out with other children’s writers and illustrators at a full day SCBWI conference (Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators). There will be editors, agents, writers, illustrators and a whole lot of talented wanna-be’s.

We’re all wanna-be’s—whether we’re published or not.

We wanna be more published.

Wanna have a larger body of work.

Wanna have more inspiration for more forward progress in our craft.

So today I’m preparing to be inspired. Researching the background of the speakers. Setting out my most comfortable slacks and slip on shoes; locating my therapeutic seat cushion; checking that my ink pens are filled to the brim and adding a second pad of paper for the reams of notes I’ll be taking.

Because you can never know it all; can never know enough; can never have too much inspiration.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us gifts and a desire to use them for your purpose. Thank you for placing people and occasions in our path to inspire us to use those gifts for your glory. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? What inspires you in your craft?

SMARTER WRITING GOALS

As promised, here are my writing goals for 2012. I have turned each one into a SMARTER GOAL, but to make things simple, here they are in list form.

Book Writing: Finish first revision of I Am Esther by June; query print magazines to build genre platform 

Online Platform: Add website content, blog 3 times a week; write for online magazines; actively look for other platform ideas

 
Speaking: Pursue SpeakingOfKidsBooks.com forum

Other: Help edit Pastor’s book, attend Spring SCBWI conference

 

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we want to be used by you. Help us be your hands and feet this year by using the gifts you’ve given to us. Let it be for your glory. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Are you a writer? What do you want to accomplish in 2012?

A WRITER’S JOURNEY: FREELANCE FRIDAY

Today’s post is part of the monthly blog chain with ChristianWriters.com. Our theme is “journey,” commemorating the journey begun by Lewis and Clark to explore and map the Louisiana Territory. Each of us has taken the word “journey” in whatever direction we feel inspired. Click on the links to the right and read what my friends have to say.

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I’m a lover of books. As a child, I’d head to the library on Saturday and drag home as many books as my library card allowed. I’d devour them during the week and be back the next Saturday gathering a new pile. Over the years, I harbored a secret desire to write some of those books myself.

One day, when our kids were at an age when they needed fewer hours being hovered over, after hubby and I had wound up a business that no longer needed my attention, and after I reached the age when I was searching for that next big challenge to tackle, hubby suggested I write.

“Write? Like a book?” I stared at him open mouthed.

“Sure, why not?” He asked.

To which I responded…well, actually I had no response at all. Rather, it got me thinking.

And then it got me sitting. In the office chair. In front of the computer. With my hands on the keyboard.
My fingers began to move. Every day for 3 months. And then I had it. A book I had written all by myself. And it was good. And it was funny. And it was mine.

Okay, it was a 400-page middle grade novel from which you can deduce it wasn’t that good. But it was funny and it was mine and it was the beginning of my love of writing and creating books.

This month as I’ve been thinking about my writing journey, I forced myself back into that place where I started 11 years ago. As I was reminiscing, I found something which made me smile.

Tucked away in a corner of my word document files, was a folder neatly titled “words for said.” My very newbie writer self had created a list of words I could use instead of saying “said.” You know, those dialogue tags where one character says:

“Hey, Joe,” Bob said. “How are you?”

In my eagerness to write fabulous dialogue, I figured I needed amazing words to describe how my characters spoke. So I created “the list.” Here it is:

Answered, announced, asserted, affirmed, argued, alleged, appealed, articulated, acknowledged, blurted,  blasted, bellowed, brought up, chirped, clucked, claimed, cited, confessed, cried, cried out, cheered, contended, clarified, declared, disclosed, described, divulged, disputed, expressed, echoed, howled, hooted, inquired, insisted, imparted, mentioned, murmured, muttered, notified, pronounced, pointed out, pled, piped, proclaimed, professed, quipped, quoted, retorted, replied, revealed, remarked, recited, recounted, rumored, returned, responded, said, stated, spoke, swore, specified, stressed, shrieked, shouted, screeched, told, uttered, voiced, whispered, whooped, yammered, yelped

Did you notice they are in alphabetical order? In my actual list, they are also set out in tidy columns and separated by letter of the alphabet—i.e., all words beginning with “a” are grouped together. I’m so utterly left-brained. I’m surprised they weren’t color coded.

I mean, really—how many times will one of my characters “hoot” something to another character who will then “whoop” his response?

It didn't take me long to realize my list was silly. By that time, I had revised my book to delete all the clucks, hoots, chirps and yammers. My characters were people, after all, not animals.

I finally understood that “said” is an invisible word to readers. It’s not boring if the characters do all their talking using “said.” It’s comforting. Other words are simply distracting.

Before long however, a writing group discussion developed over whether a writer should say, “he said” or “said he.” What? Oh, dear, now the order is important? 

Not really. Consistency is more important, I decided. Use “he said” or “said he” but try not to use both. Keep it invisible by keeping it consistent. Now we were getting somewhere.

Ultimately, my writing journey has taken me to a place where I prefer not using “said” at all. Rather, I prefer action tags to clue the reader into who is speaking. For example:

Bob extended his hand. “Hey, Joe, how are you?”

When I opened that “words for said” file today I cringed and then smiled at the realization of how far I’ve come as a writer; how much I’ve grown; how much I’ve learned. And that’s just looking at one single word and understanding how to use it. The dictionary is filled with words. And the writing life is waiting to be filled with lessons learned.

Nonetheless, in writing, as in life, you never know how far you’ve come until you look behind you and see the distance you’ve covered.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for the journey you take us on in life. Thank you for lessons learned and lessons yet to be learned. Thank you for making us teachable. Amen.


WHAT ABOUT YOU? Do you have a lesson to share that you learned about writing?

WRITING WEDNESDAY: POKING AND PRODDING

We’re so clever. Ancient man wrote on unusual things—cave walls, dead animal skins, strips of dried papyrus. Finally we came up with the idea of smashing trees into pulp and spreading it into thin sheets we call paper.

We’ve also been clever with writing implements. We scraped coal-coated sticks on cave walls. We crushed rubies and emeralds to adorn insides of tombs. We crafted styli to gouge divots in wet clay. Animal quills were dipped in ink. Fountain pens leaked in jacket pockets. Ball point pens blobbed ink across paper. Felt pens created permanent artwork on clothing, living room walls and children’s faces. Typewriters clickety-clacked. Computers crashed. Cell phones texted.

Hold on. Back up past the computers and fancy gadgets. Back to the quills.

A quill represents a return to basics. Not as basic as coal on a cave wall. But more basic than a laptop in a coffee shop. It represents timeless writing.

A quill also comes nicely equipped with subtle implications. The feather of a quill can be teasing, ticklish, or soothing. The writing tip of a quill can be blunt, razor-sharp or gouging.

So can our words.

Words are also magical. I don’t mean hocus-pocus. I mean that our words have the power to change people. To inspire, educate and entertain. That’s why my sister website to this blog is named carolsmagicquill.com. It incorporates the aspects of returning to the basic craft of writing with the magic that words contain.

Our God is the God of miracles. The closest we can get to performing miracles is to try to create something magical. By our words, our actions and our work in this world for Him. As He works through us.

As a Christian, I realize that any talent I have for writing was a gift from God. But He didn’t give it to me for me. He didn’t even give it to me just for the benefit of other people. He gave it to me for His glory. For His purpose. For His agenda.

That’s a weighty responsibility. But with it comes the realization that I am a conduit of His glory. My writing is not about me or any publishing success I have. It’s about how He created me to shine so that others can see Him through me and so they are encouraged to shine for Him, too.

If I shine for God through my writing, He is glorified. As you shine for God through what you do, He is glorified. Turn on your heart light, friend, and let it shine.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for the talents you have blessed us with. Please show us how you want to use those gifts for your glory. Attune our hearts and minds to your plan. Help us shine for you. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Even if you’re not a “writer,” you probably write every day—emails, notes of encouragement to others. Do you ever intend to use a dove’s quill and discover later it came from a porcupine? How can you shine for God through your words today?