Like most people, I entered the new year with high hopes and great expectations. Last year was a mixed bag of highs and lows. However, I ended 2023 feeling low and discouraged about my writing career.
Even after winning a writing award, I failed to secure a literary agent and questioned continuing my writing journey. I had high hopes for this year, a writing breakthrough or possibly an opportunity to relocate from the southeast. A new year is full of possibilities.
Better health
New opportunities
Achieving writing goals
However, the new year hasn’t been easy for me. I have struggled to get motivated to do daily routines, much less keep in the discipline of writing. My creative juices aren’t flowing and I am struggling to be inspired to use my skills and be productive. So much for my great expectations for the new year.
Expectations
An expectation is a strong belief that something will happen in the future or a belief that someone should achieve something. After my accident, I had high expectations about how my recovery would go.
To be honest, I was ignorant of how serious brain injuries are and how hard the recovery process would be. My expectations weren’t realistic. I learned that the hard way the night I fell off the commode in my hospital room before I ever made it to a rehabilitation hospital.
I didn’t get the recovery I expected and I never returned to college as I planned. I had to learn to lower my expectations and develop new realistic goals. I had to learn to make do with the skills and abilities I had, instead of hoping for more.
Brain injury survivors struggle with unrealistic expectations, just like many writers have about their writing careers
“You don’t begin your writing career by writing a book. Start with shorter stuff. Blogs, articles, e-zine pieces. Learn the trade, the business, how to be edited, and work with editors.”
Jerry B Jenkins
Like brain injury survivors, writers need to build their writing muscles before they can take on big projects. Just because you know the basics of writing, doesn’t mean you’re ready for the big leagues of professional publication.
Unfortunately, many writers begin their writing careers with great expectations because they believe the myths about a writing career.
Overnight success is easy.
Virality.
It doesn’t take much time.
I can strike it rich
Writing is easy
Anyone who thinks writing is easy has never tried to write professionally. Writers wear many hats and often spend more time doing other things than writing. Very few writers make a good living off of just writing.
Most writers have side hustels or other sources of income. The reality is the writing life is not always glamorous or rewarding.
Reality
Reality often hits us hard and we have too high expectations. Reality hit me hard after my accident when I wasn’t able to feed myself. It took me time to realize that my limitations were.
After being depressed for a few weeks, I decided to set new goals that were doable with the realities of living with a disability. I had to learn the beauty of letting go and that made my reality a little easier.
I am disabled, but I am not dead. I am legally blind, not physically blind. I am still alive, just living with a different reality. In the brain injury community, the understanding is, “No two brain injuries are alike, each one is different and comes with its own reality.“
As writers, we need to understand success looks different for each of us also and we will find it in different ways.
Pleasure of the craft
Fame
Meeting the needs of others
Financial freedom
Publication is constantly changing. Regardless, there may come a time when we each need to lower our expectations!
Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Traumatic brain injury which left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in a Georgia and connects with readers at MartinThomasJohnson.com and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.
My thoughts are still marinating on the past year. I’m ticking off half-done accomplishments and not-so-successful projects. This type of evaluation can be disheartening, and seems all too common among my writing friends.
One such friend said recently, “Tell me again why we do this.”
I immediately replied, “We do it for love.”
Then I stole some song lyrics from “The Glory of Love.” (I may have sung them.)
The advice in the song isn’t half bad. At the risk of sounding corny in this post, I’m going with the idea of taking, giving, and of course, the inevitable heartbreaking writers encounter, and plan to apply it to the coming year.
Take a Little Instruction
Trying to learn a skill without listening to instruction is a natural recipe for disaster, yet it’s oh-so-tempting to forgo the process of continuing education to become a writer. After all, people start talking and figuring out language before they can brush their teeth, and storytelling isn’t far behind. However, for most of us, producing a great work requires a bit of skill sharpening. There are exceptions, but in my experience, to create words that connect with readers in a deep way takes a huge effort.
I suspect this is why my piano teacher used to say, “Practice makes perfect.” As far as I can tell, practice doesn’t always lead to perfection, but generally produces improvement in whatever I’m tackling.
Take a Little (or Big) Chance
From the moment pen is put to paper or fingers to keyboard, this writing gig is about taking chances. Even in the musings I share with no one but myself, the act of writing challenges me to think, examine my beliefs, and clarify those thoughts on paper. Sometimes this process shakes my world. That’s taking a chance.
If I want to learn and grow, develop the ability to create a marketable product for wider consumption, sharing the work for critique is necessary. This sharing business sounds fine and dandy until a mentor, critique partner, or random beta readers I connected with on the internet cut too close to the bone.
I’m suspicious of anyone who says harsh dissection of their work doesn’t bother them. The truth is, criticism stings, and harsh criticism can wound. Oftentimes, it hurts because there is a nugget—or shovelful—of truth in the feedback. Facing possible negative reaction to our work is part of the creative life. Without taking that chance and asking for feedback and opinions, I won’t know if my prose conveys what I meant it to. (Not that an author should take every criticism to heart.)
If an author is brave enough to share a finished book, poem, song, or article with the world, they risk rejection and ridicule in the form of bad reviews and negative comments. But there’s no other way to be heard, except to take the chance.
Give a Little to the Writing Community
To be successful, not only does a writer need to take advice, I feel they should give back to the community. This helps others and it helps the author. Giving back can grow a support network, and working with the right group is a valuable experience, propelling an author’s writing to the next level.
Give a Little and Adjust Your Expectations
I’ve had to give a little on my plans. My journey simply refuses to stick to the carefully plotted road plan. There have been detours, bumps, unexpected tragedies—and treasures—scattered along the way. As long as I do my best and keep moving forward, I can be please with my progress, even if it doesn’t follow the prescribed path.
I heard someone once say, “To get to where you are going, you have to go through whatever it takes to get to the destination.”
Let Your Heart Break a Little
Rejections, bad reviews, poor sales. Authors face all of these, along with long work hours and criticism of all sorts. If that weren’t enough heartbreak, in order to produce a moving story, writers must invest enough in the characters to make the reader care. Authors pour real emotions on the page, impart real messages that we may well end up crying over. Our hearts break over a topic or issue and that’s what we write about, because without passion a story is just a story. So why do we do it?
For many of us, it’s because we have a message, we care, we need to be seen and heard, to deliver a truth to the reader who needs our words.
And that’s the story of … why we write. (At least part of why I write.)
Why do you write? Leave a comment and let me know.
Donna Jo Stone is an award-winning author of young adult contemporary and adult historical fiction. She writes about tough issues but always ends her stories on a note of hope. Her novels are about common struggles and finding the faith to carry on through those battles.
The first book in Donna Jo’s young adult series is scheduled for publication in 2025.
Her short romance, A Wedding to Remember, releases Feb1st, and her adult 1960s inspy romance, JOANN: Apron Strings Books 5, releases May 15th. Both are available for pre-order on Amazon.
Find out more about upcoming releases and events by signing up for her newsletter at donnajostone.com.
As a writer, you know that writing is both an art and a discipline. The best writers simply write every day, based on their own daily routines.
However, there’s nothing wrong with adding inspiration to your work by creating an inspiring space for writing. The good news is that you can turn a wide variety of spaces into a cozy place to work.
What does it take to turn a spare room, garage, or nook into an inspiring writing location? It doesn’t take a lot of money, just some time and creativity. Then, you’ll have a place you can’t wait to enter to do your daily work.
How to Choose a Space in Your Home
If you’re like many people, it may feel like every area of your home is already filled with belongings and activities. Although it may be challenging to find the right space, it’s essential. As a writer, you need a spot to write.
Remember that every writer is different, so think about what the best writing spot is for your needs. Some authors need quiet, uninterrupted time to be creative, while others need background noise, or they won’t be able to pen a single word.
Make sure you’re comfortable, both in terms of the chair and desk and the temperature of the space. Changes in weather can affect your health, from seasonal allergies to issues with dry hair and skin. As a result, you want to choose a writing space that’s weatherproof rather than one that’s drafty or damp.
You’ll need a space with good lighting, privacy, and places to store your writing materials. However, none of this means you need a large or expensive writing spot. Instead, you can adapt a spare room, garage, shed, or nook with a few simple tips.
Making Your Writing Space Inspiring
Once you find the right location, it’s time to make it fun so it fits your personality. You want diving into your writing to be something you look forward to so you don’t procrastinate.
Explore Simple Structural Updates
You might need to make some structural changes to your writing space before you can start personalizing it. For example, if you’re converting a garage, you’ll likely want to soundproof the garage so it’s quiet and you can focus.
The soundproofing process will depend on what your garage walls are made of, but generally, you’ll start with the garage door, where most of the noise comes in. From there, you can also soundproof the windows, walls, and ceiling if needed.
You may also want to weatherproof an attic or shed if you plan to use those as your writing space. Also, ensure your new writing space isn’t open to pests or vulnerable to water leaks.
Use Decor That Inspires You
When you’re ready to make it your own, consider what inexpensive touches can add a lot of flair to the space. Depending on the space you have on the walls, you can hang pictures that inspire you or put up your favorite quotes. One of the great things about computers is that it’s easy to resize almost anything, so you can put up inspiring images even in a small space.
Color is another impactful part of your writing space. Think about the colors that make you feel calm, creative, and motivated. Paint is inexpensive, but you can also buy fabric and hang it on the wall. Either way, it should be fun and beautiful for you.
Make Sure the Writing Space is Functional
The most beautiful writing nook won’t help you create if it’s not functional. You’ll need a desk and a comfortable chair, along with the right lighting.
Fortunately, you can find inexpensive desks at used furniture stores or online. It’s likely worthwhile to spend the money on a new ergonomic chair, especially if you plan to write a full book or multiple short stories.
Remember, you’ll be in your writing space almost every day, so make sure it works for you!
Don’t Be Afraid to Branch Out
While your writing nook may be your primary place to compose your stories, don’t feel like you have to be there 100% of the time. Sometimes the thing you need to boost your creativity is a change of scenery.
Don’t be afraid to spend a few hours at a coffee shop, park, library, or other space that fuels your writing. When you come back to your at-home writing nook, you’ll be refreshed — and grateful to have unlimited access to your own coffee and snacks!
Create an Inspiring Author’s Nook
Creating a writing sanctuary doesn’t have to cost a fortune, and you likely have several spaces in your home right now that could be great options.
Make sure it’s safe, comfortable, and inspiring. That can mean weatherproofing, soundproofing, or simply decorating with pictures, quotes, and colors that spark your creativity. Once you have your writing space, it’ll be much easier to write every day — and you’ll be well on your way to completing your masterpiece!
Amanda Winstead is a writer from the Portland area with a background in communications and a passion for telling stories. Along with writing she enjoys traveling, reading, working out, and going to concerts. If you want to follow her writing journey, or even just say hi you can find her on Twitter.
Many would-be authors are surprised to see this element in the component of an excellent book proposal. They think to themselves (and some of them verbalize), “I’m not self-publishing my book. Isn’t the publisher supposed to be putting together a market plan with a specific commitment of dollars?”
Here’s the problem
Every publisher has limited marketing and publicity dollars to promote their list of books. The bulk of the money will go to the top authors, and if you are a new author, you can expect that your book will receive minimal treatment—unless you show the publisher that you deserve something different.
I met Jacqueline Deval, publisher at Hearst Books, who has also been a director of publicity at several publishing houses. One of the best resources for authors is Deval’s book called Publicize Your Book!, An Insider’s Guide to Getting Your Book the Attention It Deserves (Perigee Books). From the opening paragraph in the introduction, Deval provides authors with the following realistic expectation:
The reality of book publishing is that there are too few resources to support every book.
This means that some books will get publicity campaigns and budgets while others will go without. Additionally, most publishing houses are not staffed with enough publicists to mount a full-fledged campaign for every book. Because of this, editors must compete with one another to lobby the publisher, and the marketing and publicity departments, for the funds and staff attention to promote their books.
What type of marketing ammunition can you include in your book proposal so your editor can champion your cause? Because of the expense of publishing a book, a publisher will expect you to actively work at marketing your book to your connections. Many writers are stumped about what to include in this section of their proposals, so they write, “I’m willing to do radio, television and print interviews to promote my book.” Of course, you will be willing to do these interviews. If not, you have no business even taking the steps of creating a book proposal and writing a book. Publicizing your book comes with the territory after the book is published.
Other authors will write, “My book should be featured on The Today Show.” Every publisher long for their books to be featured on The Today Show because these appearances help drive books to the bestseller list. The reality is few authors get this opportunity—even though their publisher may try. The producers at The Today Show (or Good Morning America or any other talk show) are bombarded with literally thousands of new books. It’s not realistic to include such plans in your proposal.
To achieve success in your marketing plan, you need to get into a different mind-set.
As Deval says in the first chapter, “An author who thinks like a marketer, and who starts thinking about marketing before the book is even completed, will help the book toward a successful publication. The author is in the best position to offer suggestions for marketing that the house might have overlooked and sometimes to help bridge any difficult internal relationships among the publishing team that might impede the book’s success. (In-house squabbles do happen in business, and while in a just world they shouldn’t interfere with a book’s progress, sometimes they do.) Most important, the author can be the catalyst to motivate a house’s enthusiasm about a book (page 4).”
Deval’s perspective in her book is valuable to anyone writing a book proposal or with a book to be published. As an insider, she understands the stresses and limitations within a publisher. She helps the author come alongside the publisher with creative and cost-effective ideas without being a pushy, high maintenance author (yes, they exist).
Take some time to creatively think about the topic and the book that you propose.
Which specialty groups are potential targets for this book? Do you have a connection to these markets through an organization or network to reach them with your book? If you don’t presently have a connection with the target group, how can you acquire one? You have the passion and drive for your particular topic, and you need to pass this passion on to the publisher. Through the marketing section of your proposal, show the publisher that you understand the marketing for your book and your willingness to be involved.
Lead Magnets, those 3-10-page PDF files offering readers a simple yet profound change for free, are perhaps my favorite marketing tool.
They’re short. Nimble. Easy to create. And audiences LOVE them…once they’ve experienced a great one from us.
Here’s what we often miss: our Lead Magnet’s title is more important than our content because readers decide to sign up for it–or not–based on the title. They’ll never see your life-changing content if your Lead Magnet’s title doesn’t attract them in the first place.
Information alone doesn’t cut it. Insightful information is what our audiences want. Help to move beyond where they are now to (at least) the next step. With a title that is obviously applicable to them and (bonus points!) promises a specific result.
First, you must know your audience and their needs. Generalizations aren’t good enough. Lead Magnets, like any type of content, should address your unique audience, not “everyone.”
So…which questions is your audience asking? Choose one of their most pressing questions and answer it in a Lead Magnet.
Or what problems are they experiencing? Choose one of their most painful problems and offer a solution in a Lead Magnet.
Share wisdom from your God-given message that helps your audience get “unstuck.”
Let your title drive your content, not the other way round.
To create your Lead Magnet’s title, choose ONE topic within your overall message. Then choose a single question or problem within that topic that often surfaces when chatting with your audience.
Next, put on your thinking cap and choose a specific question or problem they’re grappling with, and you’ve got a great start on a Lead Magnet that will attract your audience’s attention and inspire them to sign up for it, thus helping them move one step closer to their goal while growing your email list. See how it works?
Enjoy the 3 fictitious examples below.
Example #1
Writer or Speaker: MaryAnn, whose audience is Christian women over 40 and pregnant with their first child, but not in perfect health.
Audience’s Problem or Question: With my health problems, will I be able to carry my baby full term?
Weak Lead Magnet Title:Take Care of Your Health During Pregnancy
Strong Lead Magnet Title: Pregnant and Over 40: 3 Warning Signs You Should Go to the Hospital NOW!
See why it’s imperative to know your audience and their needs? Imagine if MaryAnn served teens pregnant out of wedlock. That single difference would completely change her content. The title, Take Care of Your Health During Pregnancy fits any pregnant woman. While Pregnant and Over 40: 3 Warning Signs You Should Go to the Hospital NOW! is perfect for her specific audience, because this issue is top of mind for them.
This Lead Magnet title may attract other pregnant women outside of MaryAnn’s core audience. What to do? Focus on the audience Christ has already identified and serve them with excellence while inviting other pregnant women to become readers, too.
Leave it to Him to inspire others to sign up or not. But MaryAnn shouldn’t veer from her core audience to accommodate other pregnant women unless the Holy Spirit leads her to do so.
Example #2
Writer or Speaker: John, whose audience is Christian men ready to give up on their marriage.
Audience’s Problem or Question: How much longer does God want me to keep trying?
Weak Lead Magnet Title:Don’t Give Up on Your Marriage Yet!
Strong Lead Magnet Title:5 Questions to Ask God Before Calling a Divorce Lawyer
Each of John’s audience members is married, so he serves two people per couple: one directly and one indirectly. Both need his message but only one may be open to it. He can’t change that but he’s wise to be aware of it.
Don’t Give Up on Your Marriage Yet! is more specific than generic, but is it specific enough to get his audience’s attention as they scroll through social media or visit his website?
The title sits on the page like a dead fish, doesn’t it? It’s not particularly engaging or intriguing. Worse, readers may interpret it a thin chastisement just when they’re seeking encouragement to stay the course.
The title, 5 Questions to Ask God Before Calling a Divorce Lawyer subtly invites John’s reader to push the pause button before contacting an attorney. It’s not judgmental in any way. It reveals John will share Christian content. And he won’t preach at them. Whew! His readers need all that information to feel safe enough to sign up for his Lead Magnet.
But shouldn’t the title be vague so if the reader’s spouse sees it, it won’t create strife? Perhaps. Then again, if the title doesn’t clearly identify the Lead Magnet’s content, it won’t get his ideal reader’s attention, so his content–fantastic as it may be–won’t help anyone.
Example #3
Writer or Speaker: Frances, whose audience is recently widowed Christian women of any age.
Audience’s Problem or Question: Will I ever be happy again?
Weak Lead Magnet Title:Be Happy in Jesus Today!
Strong Lead Magnet Title:3 Surprising Ways God Will Fulfill the Role of Your Husband
The Lead Magnet title, Be Happy in Jesus Today! is so vague it’s useless as it could apply to any human being. Even though Frances’ audience members span age groups, they still want specificity to know her message is uniquely designed for them.
The title, 3 Surprising Ways God Will Fulfill the Role of Your Husband is specific (3 ways) and includes a promise (God will fulfill the role of your husband). It’s important to note that Frances is not making that promise. God makes it, in His Word. Frances knows her audience longs for this reassurance, making this a strong Lead Magnet title. It will surely attract new subscribers.
It’s worth the effort to develop a title that identifies or implies your audience AND promises a result. Your audience will thank you and your email list will grow. 🙂
Patricia Durgin is an Online Marketing Coach and Facebook Live Expert. She trains Christian writers and speakers exclusively, helping them develop their messaging, marketing funnels, conversational emails, and Facebook Live programs. Patricia hosted 505 (60-minute) Facebook Live programs from 2018-2020. That program is on indefinite hiatus. She’s also a regular faculty member at Christian writers and speakers conferences around the country.
One a scale of 1-10, parts of the year 2023 were a minus 6.
We saw family, we traveled, the kids grew older, the grandkids grew more wonderful, and the truck did not break down..
I was also diagnosed with breast cancer.
Which was distracting! Waiting, tests, results, waiting, surgery, waiting, more tests, radiation. Finally, I am on a treatment break – once they stopped fixing me it feels great!
But somewhere in that emotional chaos, I completely lost any interest or ability to write. I have been writing since I was in my 30’s, but in the last 6 months…nothing. No ideas sounded any good. No clever turns of phrase of even bad puns seems worth committing to paper.
So, as we wrap up 2023 (yippee!), I offer some thoughts on what to do when there is too much life to be creative.
1 Continue Learning
I could not travel but I signed up for every single online class – mostly free, but even paid for few – watch and rewatched the videos, getting every bit of learning I could. I went to marketing classes, classes for teachers, how to work with social media, latest trends in publishing, changes in the industry.
2 Keep Engaging
I followed new bloggers on FB and IG. I committed to comment on at least 4 posts each week. I bought a subscription to PW and watched for award winning books from friends. I stayed active in my critique and author support groups and joined a new one.
3 Edit Old Stuff
Time to drag out the “well there are too many dog books on the market right now” stories and see if one could get a new life. I looked over old lists of ideas. I tweaked a board book rhyme from years ago and submitted it to a contest where it placed in the top 10!
4 Support Others
I spent the month of December promoting all the books from my support and critique group members on FB, IG and X. To do it I researched any commemorative dates from one of the lists of something for every day and an amazing number of celebrations matched what my friends had written! Then I made a template on Canva and posted daily.
5 Build for the future
In the hope that some writing ability/interest will come back, I updated all my proposal outlines with new comp titles and connections, continued posting on FB and IG, chose new groups to join in 2024.
We go through slumps and dry spells – hoping you keep writing and 2024 will be your best year yet!
Multi award winning author Robin Currie learned story sharing by sitting on the floor, in library story times. She has sold 1.7 M copies of her 40 storybooks and (hopes eventually to) write stories to read and read again!
It’s the dawn of a new year, so it’s time to reevaluate our lives and make resolutions we are sure to keep.
Oh . . . . . . who are we kidding? Resolutions are made to be broken. I don’t know about you, but I make resolutions on January 1 and then break them by about January 15.
I resolve to lose weight, but, you know, the chocolate calls my name whenever I visit the grocery store, not to mention the chips. I resolve to exercise, and walking outside is my favorite type of activity. It tends to get colder and colder outside in January where I live, so it’s easier to stay inside and watch game shows and old sitcoms. I have even resolved to spend more time writing, but these games of Spider Solitaire aren’t going to play themselves.
I have been thinking about making different types of goals, involving deeper stuff. It’s a stretch for me, as I am not the deepest person in the world (I know you are completely shocked, so snap yourself out of it and read on).
Here goes, some deeper goals:
Take more steps: most people want to get more physical steps each day to record on a fitness tracker. That’s a worthwhile goal, one I certainly need to do, but I want to take more steps in the direction God points, to reach for the prize He has for me.
Drink more Water: I’m sure we could all hydrate more, but I need to drink more Living Water by spending more time with Jesus—in prayer, in the Word, in listening to Him. Maybe some of the aforementioned resolutions will fall into place if I reach more for this goal.
Be more active (in my faith) overall: a sedentary lifestyle is bad for your physical body, but being sedentary in your faith is even worse. God tells us faith without works is dead, so I need to be more active in spreading the Good News and taking more leaps of faith.
Create a training journal: keeping track of advances in fitness can be helpful, but recording prayers and God’s answers (and His faithfulness) is important. This type of journaling will also help my writing life, sharpening the “instrument” and preparing for service in this area.
Achieve balance in activity: doing the same thing over and over makes exercise a struggle, and I don’t want other areas of my life to get stagnant either. A few years ago, on a whim, I took a painting class. I got hooked and have taken numerous classes since. Painting has become another creative outlet, and calligraphy has been a fun exercise as well. I have also experimented with different types of writing. Since I serve a creative God, I’ll hopefully continue to explore new avenues of expression.
There you go—some newfangled goals (let’s not call them resolutions). Why don’t you join me in reaching for the prize? We can grab some doughnuts along the way!
Carlton Hughes, represented by Cyle Young of Hartline Literary, wears many hats. By day, he is a professor of communication. On Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings, he serves as a children’s pastor. In his “spare time,” he is a freelance writer. Carlton is an empty-nesting dad and devoted husband who likes long walks on the beach, old sitcoms, and chocolate—all the chocolate. His work has been featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Dating Game, The Wonders of Nature, Let the Earth Rejoice, Just Breathe, So God Made a Dog, and Everyday Grace for Men. His latest book is Adventures in Fatherhood, co-authored with Holland Webb.
Zachariah said to the angel, “Do you expect me to believe this?”
Luke 1:18 MSG
Do you have a hard time believing what God’s Word says to you?
Imagine seeing an angel and still being incredulous. That’s what happened to a priest in the Temple. His once-in-a-lifetime turn sent him into the altar room to offer incense. An angel appeared and talked to Zachariah. The Message says, “Zachariah was paralyzed in fear.”
He caved to unbelief.
This was a guy who spent his whole life preparing to serve. Verse 6 says Zach was blameless and upright, so what soured his attitude? He wasn’t new to the faith or unschooled about God’s power. He sat under the greats learning about the wonders God performed to free their people in Egypt and how Elijah was transported to heaven. He knew about the powerful flood and the six days of creation. What was the sticking point? “I’m an old man and my wife is an old woman.” Luke 1:18 MSG
What does age have to do with God’s ability to bring a baby into the world? That baby, John the Baptist, was sent to prepare hearts for the Savior to come. Zach’s disbelief came at a huge cost. He had laryngitis for nine months.
Exercise:
1. Read the full story of Zachariah and Elizabeth in Luke 1:5-25. What observations do you make about his response to Gabriel. Look up different versions to find other clues.
What is the difference between disbelief, like Zach, and questioning, like Mary (Luke 1:34)?
2. Come with expectation. In Luke 1:8-12, Zach was startled. He wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen. When you sit down to write, do you expect God to show up and enlighten your thought process?
How can you approach your writing time as an act of worship to the Author of words?
3. Know you have been heard. Luke 1:13 gives a sigh of relief to years of praying for a baby. How often did Zach and Liz think God had forgotten them? How do you pray for your WIP? How will you respond when God answers?
4. Take joy and delight in the message. In Luke 1:14, Gabriel says there will be much celebrating. How will you start a party over your book baby? How will your words point to the Messiah and prepare hearts for His second coming?
At what cost do you hold onto unbelief?
Has your pen stilled? Break the silence to proclaim the Good News!
Over 140 of Sally Ferguson’s devotionals have been published in Pathways to God (Warner Press). She’s also written for Light From The Word, Chautauqua Mirror, Just Between Us, Adult Span Curriculum,Thriving Family, Upgrade with Dawn and ezinearticles.com. Prose Contest Winner at 2017 Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference.
Sally loves organizing retreats and seeing relationships blossom in time away from the daily routine. Her ebook, How to Plan a Women’s Retreat is available on Amazon.
Sally Ferguson lives in the beautiful countryside of Jamestown, NY with her husband and her dad.
The Journey, book five of The Underground Book Readers, was released in December. This is a Christian futuristic action-adventure book with a dystopian feel. My hope is this series reaches readers who like a bit of (clean) science fiction but who might not choose Christian books. Through the books in the series readers will learn wholesome family values, the importance of friendship, Old and New Testament Scripture, and United States and World History. In this series a group of preteen and teen characters live in a world where books are banned, schools destroyed, and churches burned. Most adults have been taken to work camps or to serve in the military. The teens find each other, survive by helping each other, and hide forbidden books and Bibles deep in a cavern of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Throughout the series, the group decides to make the world a better place by escaping the rule of the World Force and establishing their own new settlement.
Why do you write? Do you have a theme, message, or goal for your books?
As a retired educator, I write from a Christian worldview to provide children, teens, and adults, with new information and to especially draw each reader closer to Christ.
How long have you been writing?
My first short story for a competition in elementary won a blue ribbon. I have been writing all my life. Before I retired from teaching graduate students at the university level, I wrote nonfiction researched based books and articles. After retirement, I began writing Christian fiction.
And how long did it take you to get your first major book contract? Or are you published non-traditionally? How did that come about?
I am both traditionally published and have self-published. My first traditional publisher contract was over forty years ago in the field of education. In the past six years I have been traditionally published and self-published.
Which of your books is your favorite?
The book that is the most special to me is Legends of the Donut Shop. It was written and dedicated to my parents. This book was at the editor when they both passed away from Covid. They had seen the book cover but did not get to see the finished book.
Do you have a favorite character or scene in one of your books?
My favorite character is the grandfather in Legends of the Donut Shop. The grandfather was based on my father.
Tell us about an award you won that was particularly meaningful.
Legends of the Donut Shop has won the most awards of all my books. It won the Christian Indie Award, the Mom’s Choice Award, the American Writing Award, and several other awards. These awards are special for different reasons. The Christian Indie Award is special because it is given to Christian authors who are self-published. The American Writing Award is judged only by fellow authors. And the Mom’s Choice Award is unique because a book must meet certain “mom” and family friendly criteria.
How long does it take you to write a book?
Lately, working on the teen series, The Underground Book Readers, it has taken about four months to complete each first draft. Rewriting and going through several rounds of edits takes another two months or more.
What’s your writing work schedule like?
Unlike many writers, I write in long spurts and several days of time off in between. My writing days consist of long days. I write for several consecutive days and consecutive weeks until it is finished.
Do you have an interesting writing quirk? If so, what is it?
I am not sure if it is a quirk, but some of my ideas seem to begin out of the blue. I might be awakened at 3:00 AM and will get up and begin writing. I believe this is a gift provided to me.
What has been your greatest joy(s) in your writing career?
Hands down hearing from readers! Love to chat on Facebook, get Christmas cards, and meet them at book signings. I try to stay in touch with as many readers as possible.
Could you tell us about a dark moment in your writing career?
Maybe not a dark moment but frustrating moments happen during self-publishing. I first had to learn various platforms and how to work within parameters.
How many times in your career have you experienced rejection? How did they shape you?
I have not counted rejections but have had many. Rejections are often form letters or emails. After a rejection, I submit again elsewhere.
Where do you get your ideas?
Some creative ideas begin, as stated earlier, in the middle of the night. Other ideas for characters or plot twists, might come from observations or be based in part on people I know. Some ideas are based on my own life experiences. A story of a near-death experience was based upon my own near-death experience after complications during surgery.
Who is your favorite author to read?
I have many authors whose work I enjoy. I read books written by my Christian author friends as well as authors like John Grisham, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.
What advice can you give aspiring writers that you wished you had gotten, or that you wished you would have heeded?
Don’t wait until you retire to start writing! If you are a writer, write every chance you can.
What are common mistakes you see aspiring writers make?
In reviewing books by new authors, I have seen some amazing books. I have also read many books with editing mistakes and others with character or plot inconsistencies. Be careful and let others read your work before you submit or self-publish. Always use a professional editor before you submit.
Where/How do you recommend writers try to break into the market?
If you cannot find an agent or publisher, hire experts (editors, cover designers, etc.) and publish it on your own. Over thirty percent of all ebooks sold are self-published and the numbers continue to increase.
Also, feel free to include: book cover image(s), where book(s) can be purchased, and social media and website links.
Terry Overton is a retired university professor of educational and school psychology. She has an Ed.D. in Special Education and a Ph.D. in Psychology. Her professional experience includes teaching public school, teaching at the university level, and being a college dean. She has two children, seven grandchildren, one great granddaughter. Her writing and publication experiences include textbook and journal articles in the fields of special education and school psychology. She seeks to answer God’s call to share the good news and grow the church by writing Christian books and devotionals. Her books have won the Mom’s Choice Award, Christian Indie Award, Firebird Book Awards, American Writing Winner Awards, Bookfest Winner Awards, Pencraft Award, Reader Views Silver Reviewers Award, and International Book Award Finalist. Her books examine real world events with a Christian worldview. She enjoys writing for young children, middle grade readers, YA fiction, and adult level novels.
Writers Chat, hosted by Johnnie Alexander, Brandy Brow, and Melissa Stroh, is the show where we talk about all things writing, by writers and for writers!
“Because talking about writing is more fun than actually doing it.”
Learning With Mentor Texts
Co-hosts Melissa Stroh, Brandy Brow, and Johnnie Alexander present examples of fictional works that can be used as “mentor texts,” published fiction that demonstrates specific techniques and skill. Melissa read the opening paragraphs from Hood by Stephen R. Lawhead, to show how to establish sense of place, introduce the protagonist, and set a tone for the story. Brandy read excerpts from Lowcountry Bribe by C. Hope Clark, which effectively uses description to establish characters and the setting. Johnnie read the prologue to All Things Matter by Susie Finkbeiner, and the opening paragraphs from her own short story, A Souvenir In My Pocket, to show the difference in tone of two works written in the first person. As writers, we know how important it is to read in our genres. By purposefully studying the stories our readers love, we can improve our own skills.
Watch the December 5th Replay
Writers Chat is hosted live each Tuesday for an hour starting at 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET on Zoom. The permanent Zoom room link is: http://zoom.us/j/4074198133
Best wishes for 2024 from Writers Chat.
Regularly scheduled episodes return on January 9th.
As I write this post, soldiers from a local Army base are departing for a time of R&R and to spend time with their friends and family over the Christmas holiday. If you are active duty or a veteran of our military, thank you for your service. There is a special joy we experience during Christmas, despite the chaos going on in the world around us.
We understand that at Christmas we need to slow down and enjoy the little things in life like conversations with friends. Or simply being still and doing nothing other than enjoying being in the company of our loved ones.
However, there is also irony to the Christmas holidays, the holiday rush is also one of the most stressful times of year for many; we just fill our slower schedules with different tasks.
Shopping
Shipping
Cooking
Traveling
A recent study used shows how people’s stress levels increase during the holidays. I learned after my accident just how important rest is to the ebb and flow of life.
I learned in rehabilitation after my accident that stress and not getting enough rest can damage our brains. That is why I protect my downtime and sleep time.
Rest isn’t limited to sleep. It’s a change of pace and change of our routines or habits. Rest helps us keep our lives from becoming stagnant or overbearing. We all need to learn to practice the art of resting and relaxation.
R&R
The slang term, “R&R” has been used in the armed forces for decades and is short for, “rest and recuperation, rest and relaxation, or rest and rehabilitation.” The term applies to a type of leave granted to personnel which allows them to return home to visit their family.
The military understands the importance and need of soldiers having free time to rest and recharge from their service to the country. The stress of serving our country and being away from loved ones can be depressing, stressful, and lonely for our servicemen and women.
I can attest to the stress, growing up as an Army brat while my father served in the Army for over 21 years. While I was young my father spent most of his time in mess halls around the world training soldiers how to cook and preparing meals for our troops.
Now my younger brother is preparing to retire from the Army after 20 years, next month he will have a total shoulder replacement before his wife gives birth to their first child next year. He also suffers from PTSD after serving three tours overseas.
His go-to stress release is long-distance running as an ultra-marathoner. Again, rest doesn’t necessarily mean sleeping; R&R focuses on a change of pace and doing what we enjoy the most. Regardless of our vocation in life, life can become overbearing or monotonous, especially for us writers.
Writer’s Life
The writer’s life can be just as hectic and restless as a soldier’s life. Writers are always writing, even when not at a desk or computer. Our minds are constantly thinking of new ideas or ways to improve and edit what we have already written.
Burnout usually develops when we fail to take breaks or get enough rest. Writer’s block occurs when we overthink. Psychologically, our minds lock down when we push them too hard .
We resist slowing down and resting for many reasons: fear, perfectionism, self-criticism, and external pressure. Overworked minds perform less efficiently, just like an exhausted body does. Below are four reasons writers need to get more rest from derbyshirewritingschool.com.
Become better writers
Develop more ideas
Understand who we are
Curate and create material to write about.
Let me clarify, resting doesn’t mean being lazy or unproductive. Rest is simply a change of pace to help refuel our creative juices and give our minds and break. It helps our bodies relax and recover from the stress of the writer’s life. It gives our brains time to slow down and refocus.
Focus
I have already explained how hard it can be for someone with a brain injury to stay focused, even perfectly healthy people can have difficulty focusing if they fail to get enough rest.
Distractions are anything that inhibits our ability to focus, if we fail to get enough rest, our attention spans are inhibited and we are more easily distracted.
And we all know how easily people are distracted today thanks to technology. The human brain can only process so much information at any time. If our minds are not working at 100%, our processing abilities will not be 100%. The military understands that a rested soldier is a more capable soldier.
A rested writer is a more productive writer in the long run. Our brains are the CPU for our nervous systems. The better we take care of our brains, the better our performance will be, will be able to focus better. Below are some tips on how to improve our focus.
Minimize distractions
Get enough sleep
Eat better
Meditation
Take regular breaks
As writers, we understand the importance of staying focused in our writing. Writers need to stay on point in their prose. The best writers understand how to say more by writing less. Healthy and productive writers understand the need to get enough rest. Just because the holidays are ending, doesn’t mean we don’t need R&R!
Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Traumatic brain injury which left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in a Georgia and connects with readers at MartinThomasJohnson.com and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.
It’s the end of December, and for me, that means it’s time to pull out a fresh, ginormous, old-fashioned office calendar for the new year and start planning. I have gleefully begun to fill in the calendar’s little boxes.
I love to dream up a plan.
I love shiny new calendars with pristine white blocks waiting for to-do lists. I love highlighters and color-coding. In other words, I am a true believer in organization. The funny thing about plans is, a lot of times it doesn’t matter how carefully I lay out goals, something always happens to delay progress or completely derail me. Or send me off in a new direction.
That’s what happened this past year. I’d been praying for direction for some time. The time-consuming process of querying, getting requests for fulls, then getting the eventual rejections, had left me discouraged. This, combined with the state of the publishing industry, had me seriously considering self-publishing. I asked my writer friends to pray with me about what direction I should take.
After much prayer and research, I stopped querying and got busy amassing all the information I could about self-publishing, started formulating a plan, and even took a few baby steps, such as lining up an editor for the first book in my YA Contemporary series, but none of my methods were really helping me move forward in a substantial way.
Then an interruption came, or was it an opportunity?
I got a message from Jenny Knipfer, an author I’d met through reading her book and posting a review, (which I think is a pretty neat way to meet someone.) She wanted to know if I was interested in a multi-author collaboration. My immediate response was “Yes!” even though it wasn’t a YA project. I felt confident in accepting because the timing was perfect. It was an answer to prayers. A divine assignment. I’m still writing my young adult fiction and will publish at least one young adult novel in 2024, but I’d also been thinking of writing more in the time period of the book she requested. (1960s)
I can get so focused on my self-designated goals that I have trouble discerning the difference between an interruption and an opportunity, but this was a flashing neon sign.
Taking advantage of this offer was the push I needed to learn the things I needed to learn to independently publish. Signing on to the Apron Strings project forced me to prioritize what must be done and let go of what wasn’t absolutely necessary. Left to my own devices, I likely would have continued to research and weigh options. At the time Jenny contacted me, I had over-organized my plans to the point that I had a huge file on all things self-publishing, but had become overwhelmed and had stagnated. Perhaps the Apron Strings project was a heavenly kick in the pants, a get a move on, already.
It seemed like a situation tailored just for me, with a built-in support group, a few directions, and a shorter to-do list than my massive file.
I desperately needed that shove.
I’m not saying I’ll ever throw all planning out the door and just wait for favorable circumstances to appear. If I had done such a thing, I wouldn’t have been able to jump in when the opportunity presented itself. All of my previous research and attempts at organizing a publishing and marketing plan served me well.
I knew in my gut this was a gift, and God meant for me to step out. It still took faith. I didn’t feel ready. And I don’t feel ready now, but I finished writing book five for the Apron Strings series in plenty of time, and have hit all the required deadlines so far. Even so, it’s a daily faith walk, because there is so much I don’t know, and there is always more to learn. I suspect it will always be this way. I’ll never have a plan solid enough to account for all contingencies or keep me in my comfort zone, but that’s okay.
One of my new writing goals for 2024 is to be ready to hear, recognize, and respond. The next time a side project comes up, I hope I’ll remember to stay open and pray about it, not immediately discount an opportunity as an interruption.
What about you? How do you discern the difference between interruptions and opportunities?
The Apron Strings Book Series is a collection of heartfelt inspirational stories connected by one cookbook, featuring different women throughout the decades from 1920 to 2020. A new book will be released every month in 2024. Donna Jo’s book, Joann, is book five in the series and releases May 15th, 2024.
Donna Jo Stone is an award-winning author of young adult contemporary and adult historical fiction. She writes about tough issues but always ends her stories on a note of hope. Her novels are about common struggles and finding the faith to carry on through those battles. The first book in Donna Jo’s young adult series is scheduled for publication in 2024.
“Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:31-32 NKJV)
Sometimes I catch myself praying for God to change circumstances and behavior when what’s needed is for Him to change hearts—often my own. Negative actions and reactions, like symptoms, stem from, but may not identify the underlying problem. We need to treat the root, not the fruit, if we want true and lasting change. When God transforms hearts, the change spills out to influence circumstances and relationships.
Relationship problems arise from sin. Sin is the culprit—our own brokenness, the gap in our relationship with Christ—where we are, as opposed to where He would have us to be.
When I focus on my unmet needs to the detriment of others, I indulge in a self-serving pity party. If I want to see change, I must give Jesus the reins of my heart.
But to forgive the incessant provocations of life—to keep on forgiving the bossy mother-in-law, the bullying husband, the nagging wife, the selfish daughter, the deceitful son—how can we do it? Only, I think, by remembering where we stand, by meaning what we say in our prayers each night, ‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us.’
Forgiving means wiping the slate clean, canceling the debt, and not retaliating.
I ponder. Will the tears ever stop? What if I dared to speak the words I’ve feared to utter—set them free from the captivity of silence? Would the chains of pain be broken, or would the weight of regret be too great to bear? Once let loose, I cannot call them back. “Lord…?”
God’s word reins me in.
“He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7)
“Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.” (Psalm 141:3)
Oh, the power of our words, whether spoken or written, to bring harm or healing. Help me, Lord, to handle them wisely, to use them to serve even those who hurt me.
Extending forgiveness requires humility, putting aside my pride and errant emotions. It means valuing relationships and being right with God over enforcing my rights.
Life is too short, and eternity is too near to be easily offended by those I’m called to love. Keeping a record of wrongs embitters and enslaves us. The stony walls of offense I build to protect my hurting heart imprison me and keep Christ and His healing out. The sweet waters of forgiveness break through the barrier of bitterness and open the road to resolution.
As the lyrics to the spiritual goes, “It’s not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.” Rather than try to fix others (which I can’t do) I need to fix my relationship with Christ.
Other’s wrong actions toward me do not excuse my sinful reactions. While we shouldn’t enable abuse or needlessly place ourselves in toxic situations, we must extend forgiveness, even if the other person is wrong and unrepentant.
To be Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because Christ forgave the inexcusable in you.
C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15)
Jesus didn’t die only for those who would accept Him. He paid the penalty for the sins of all those He knew would reject Him, too. The great I Am bore the sins of all humanity to provide forgiveness we do not deserve.
We must let go of unforgiveness if we want to receive the forgiveness Jesus offers.—We cannot hold on to both.
But forgiving is often beyond my natural ability.
To err is human, to forgive divine.
Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism
It helps me when I remember people mistreat others because of what’s broken in them. When I focus on their need for healing, the injustices I receive become much easier to handle. When I pray for someone, not just for my vindication or relief, I find God gives me the heart, the grace, to forgive them. And besides, I need forgiveness too.
Jesus wants us to bring our brokenness, shortfalls, and failures to Him so He can change and imbue us with His supernatural empowerment.
Regardless of the behavior of others, if I forgive and yield to Jesus’ refining of my heart and character through the circumstances in my life, He rewards. A right heart yields a closer relationship with Jesus and His unsurpassed peace.
I’m guilty, Lord. I fail, I fall. Remember I am dust. Help me.
God’s love for humanity drove Jesus to the cross to purchase our pardon. God commands us to love and to extend grace and forgiveness to others as He does to us. When I set my heart and mind to love and serve others as Jesus calls me to, even if it is unrequited, He fulfills me.
When we let Jesus overhaul our inward man, the core of who we are, many of our relationship problems resolve themselves. He is defender and restorer. We encounter struggles, pitfalls, and pain in life’s journey, but Scripture promises that God works all things for the good of those who love Him. (Romans 8:28) And the most important good is Christ formed in us. He is the Master Builder. There is joy and contentment when I focus on Jesus, rest my heart in His hands, and walk in His ways.
—————
The above is in response to requests to share the devotion mentioned in my article, The Absent Author.
Rachel M. Colby has a heart for reconciliation and a passion to uplift those who serve in tough places. She writes to connect cultures’ questions with Christianity’s answers, inspire faith, and motivate.
Rachael’s work has appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul, the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference Blog, online publications,compilation books, and the Oak Ridger newspaper.
This Jamaican-born multi-genre award-winning writer, wife, and mom resides in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. She runs on chocolate and a lotta “Help me, Jesus.”
As the writer of the proposal (and eventually the book), it is your responsibility—not the editor’s or publisher’s—to create the basic vision for the book. It’s much easier to change a suggested format or length than to create it in the first place.
Many people fail to include this specific information in their book proposals.
What does your book look like? Is it 40,000 words or 140,000 words? When I’ve called authors and asked for this information, they often reply, “Well, what size of book do you need?” As an editor, I hesitate to give this size or cast this vision. I’ve been a writer for too many years and know that whatever vision I would cast, the author would tell me, “That’s exactly what I was thinking,” whether they were thinking such a thing or not, because of their eagerness to sell the manuscript.
It is the responsibility of the author to cast the vision for the book and project a word count and finished length. To help you cast this vision, let me tell you that most standard 200-page paperback books are about 50,000 to 60,000 words. Many beginning writers are hesitant to give such a number because they’ve never written a long book. Others include a smaller number like 25,000 or 30,000 words. This size is not attractive to many publishers as it produces a small, thin book.
Why is thickness a factor? Walk into any bookstore and look specifically at the number of books displayed with the cover face out on the bookshelf. You’ll find only a few. It’s mostly a space issue with the bookstore owner. More books can be stocked if they are spine out from the bookshelf. A 25,000-word nonfiction book will not have much of a presence in the store with the spine out and it will easily be lost on the shelf.
Your proposed vision for the book should be something a large number of publishers could produce.
Many writers tell me, “I want the publisher to decide how big the book will be.” Then they say with pride, “I’m flexible.” To be “flexible” will not cut it with the editor. You are the expert on this particular topic and subject matter; it’s why the publisher is paying you an advance and investing a great deal of money to produce your book. You have a responsibility to envision the length of your book. How many words will you need to completely cover your selected topic?
This number is critical to a successful book proposal as the editor uses this proposed word count to project the number of pages in the published book. Then he works with the production personnel to run the production numbers. These numbers are put into the Performa or spreadsheet document that gives the complete financials on the book. The author never sees these numbers, but based on these figures, the editor has parameters for offering an advance on the royalties of the book and the percentage for royalties.
Without the author’s word count, the editor can’t accomplish this important function—or he takes a wild guess at the number which could be substantially wrong. These financial figures are used for much more than simply your project inside the publishing house. They are used for annual budget projections for the editorial area and other places. While seemingly a small issue, these financials figure into other areas inside the publishing house.
Beyond the word count or length of the manuscript, you also need to provide a delivery date.
It is important to remember the word count with nonfiction because the entire manuscript is not complete. You have written only the proposal and a chapter or two of the project. How long will it take you to write the remainder of the book?
When I have approached authors about this question, they ask me, “When do you need my manuscript?” It’s a trick question that your editor cannot answer for you. You are the only person who knows the demands on your time and energy during the coming months and how quickly you can write the book. This timeframe is different for every person because one person writes several thousand words in a day while others may only be able to write several hundred words a day.
Why is the completion date important?
Because whatever date you tell the editor for completion, will go into your book contract. This date sets off a chain of events throughout the publishing house (production, marketing, sales and editorial). A detailed schedule of events and benchmarks to produce the book is created and various people are held accountable for the scheduled events—events that are unknown to the authors. Authors are notoriously late; however, a late manuscript can cause delays that could hinder the success of your book.
If during the contract process, you agree to submit your manuscript in six months or eight months or twelve months, then your editor will be expecting your manuscript on time. If you deliver your manuscript a month late or two months late (it happens more often than you would know), you will throw off all the internal plans the publishing house is making for your book, plus the assigned freelance editor will have their schedule thrown off. You will set off a chain reaction that can and will influence the effectiveness of your book sales.
Also, the marketing will be affected regarding your manuscript delivery date. The publishing world has several trade magazines such as Publisher’s Weekly, Library Journal and Christian Retailing. Each of these publications has a slightly different audience, but they all select books to be reviewed and highlighted to booksellers (always an important market for authors). The submission deadlines are months in advance of the release date for a review of your book to appear in these key trade magazines. If your publisher doesn’t have your manuscript, then your book will not be one of those submitted to the trade magazines for review and you will miss a key marketing opportunity. Almost every magazine works four to six months in advance of the cover date printed on the magazine. The marketing department of your publisher is aware of these due dates and needs to have your book manuscript in order to make the greatest possible impact.
You don’t want to bear the responsibility of your book not being properly marketed or sold into the stores because you missed your book deadline by one or two or even three months. Be thoughtful about it and don’t give yourself a deadline for delivery that will be impossible to achieve. Set a reasonable due date which will work for you. It’s a key part of your responsibility with the vision casting for your book.
Did you know you had a personal brand? It’s not just for writers or entertainers or politicians. Every person has a personal brand.
Whether they are aware of it or not.
Whether they manage it or not.
The book You Are a Brand! by Catherine Kaputa tells us how to develop and manage our brands with intention, confidence, and flair. No mater where you are in your personal brand journey, this book has tips that will help you take your next step.
Why your personal brand matters
I’ll let these three quotes from the book answer this question.
“To be successful you need to create positive attitudes in the minds of other people. You can’t make yourself successful. Oly other people can make you successful.
In the same way, you can’t make a sale. Only other people can decide whether to buy from you, whether you are an induvial or a company.
In other words, you need to build a “self-brand,” a reason for people to buy from you, whether you are selling yourself for a job or selling products and services to others.” Catharine Kaputa
“A talented, hard-working person won’t do as well as a well-branded, talented hard-working person. Effective branding will tip perception in your favor and bring greater success.”
“The truth is, if you don’t brand yourself, someone else will, and it probably won’t be the brand you had in mind.”
Five helpful self-branding concepts from You Are A Brand!
You can re-brand yourself
Branding is based on perception. This may seem unfair, but in reality it’s good news, because perception can be changed. That’s really what branding is all about—managing other people’s perception. So, if you want to update or polish your brand, you can. If you want to refocus your brand in a new direction, you can. If you want others to notice all your hard work, you can work to rebrand yourself in a way that enables your skills to shine.
You have assets. Use them to be unique and authentic
“Make use of everything. You have experiences; these are brand assets. You have a point of view; that too is an asset. Make the best use of the assets and resources you have, and realize we all have hidden assets that we need to uncover.” Christine Kaputa
Know your competition and then find ways to differentiate.
Study your close competition to see how they market to your customers. But don’t simply copy what everyone else is doing. Instead, learn from them and let them help you position yourself to be similar but special in some way.
Answer this question to help you differentiate your unique brand: My brand is the only ___ that ___ .
Find your sweet spot.
The sweet spot is where your passion, skills, experience, connect with a market of audience need in a niche where the competition isn’t overwhelming. One way to identify a sweet spot is to consider this question: What is missing in my market area (genre/ministry arena/expertise) that I can provide?
Develop a memorable elevator pitch. And use it.
No matter the career or ministry niche, those who can succinctly and clearly communicate what they do and how it benefits others have an edge over the competition. An elevator pitch is a short, concise, statement that communicates what you do, for whom, and why it matters.
Craft one and practice it until you know it by heart. (Yes, really.) Then you can easily answer the question “What do you do?” at the drop of a hat. Even on an elevator.
Don’t be intimidated by this book
This book is jam-packed with branding information. And it’s written for a broad audience. Some of the material won’t apply to your situation or branding needs.
Don’t beat yourself up for not accomplishing executive-level branding when you’re a beginning writer, blogger, or podcaster. Don’t try to read if from cover to cover, digest everything the author is teaching, or try to apply it all at once. Instead, think of the book as a resource to help you to the next level—whatever that is. Choose a section that applies to your current situation and find a few practical actions you can accomplish right now.
Then, return to the book in six months and find something else to apply. Each time you open the book, you can take one more small but intentional step towards developing and maintaining an awesome, unique, memorable brand.
Lisa E. Betz is an engineer-turned-mystery-writer, entertaining speaker, and speechwriting coach. She inspires others to become their best selves, living with authenticity, and purpose, and she infuses her novels with unconventional characters who thrive on solving tricky problems. Her Livia Aemilia Mysteries, set in first-century Rome, have won several awards, including the Golden Scroll Novel of the Year (2021).
She and her husband reside outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with Scallywag, their rambunctious cat—the inspiration for Nemesis, resident mischief maker in her novels. Lisa directs church dramas, hikes the beautiful Pennsylvania woods, eats too much chocolate, and experiments with ancient Roman recipes. Visit lisaebetz.com.
As a writer, you probably didn’t give much thought to branding and marketing when you wrote your first book – you just wanted to write a great story. But, if you want to be successful and get your words into the hands of many, you have to start thinking of yourself as a business and a brand.
Branding your name and your work has many different factors, but it starts with your image. How will others see you? How do you want them to see you? What kind of message is your brand providing to let potential readers know who you are and what your writing is about?
Think of branding and your image as a way to make a first impression on people. Enhancing your personal image and packaging can amplify your professional opportunities and help you foster a unique authorial identity in today’s competitive literary landscape.
Align Your Brand With Your Writing Style
If you’re stuck on what your brand should be or look like, consider the type of writing you do and think about some other famous authors who seem to “fit” their style really well. Stephen King, for example, will always be known as one of the greatest horror writers of all time. That doesn’t mean he’s a scary person, but he’s created a specific brand of horror writing that is unique to him. His books have been adapted for TV and movies alike. Whenever anyone sees his name attached to a project, they have an idea of what to expect because he’s stayed true to his voice for so many years.
King, like many other famous authors, seems confident in his self-image. Popular writers know who they are and it undoubtedly influences success. Improving your self-image can help to enhance your writing career in a variety of ways, so do what you can to boost your confidence, including:
Dressing for success;
Setting goals;
Celebrating your achievements;
Seeking feedback;
Always looking to improve;
Prioritizing self-care.
When you are confident in who you are and your image, your writing is more likely to stay stable as you focus on one particular style. Eventually, you’ll become known for that style, and it will be much easier to brand yourself and your books because people will know what to look for.
Branding Consistency
One of the easiest ways to build your brand and become recognized quickly is to maintain consistency in everything you do with your marketing. That includes social media, websites, posters, mailers, and even book covers. Nowadays, it’s just as important to build your brand online as it is in bookstores and at signings. If you’re not consistent with your web presence, people are going to get confused.
Reinforcing your brand identity will differentiate you from other authors, build awareness, and foster brand loyalty.
If you’re not sure where to start when it comes to building a brand, listen to your readers and consider how your own interests can be reflected in your marketing materials. If you aren’t all in with your packaging and branding image, it’s going to be harder to stick with it.
Creating Perfect Packaging
Packaging isn’t the only part of branding, but it’s an important one. As an author, you’re selling something tangible, and you want it to stand out. Think about all of the options readers are given on a regular basis. What are you going to do to make a solid first impression with your book, especially to a potential reader who has never heard of you before?
Use sustainable packaging materials to showcase your values;
Share your brand story in your marketing materials;
Get creative with book covers;
Use interactive packaging like QR codes or augmented reality;
Personalize your packaging.
If you’re a freelance writer or you’re just starting out after publishing your first book, branding is more important than ever. Now is the time to build consistency and create an image for yourself. Everything from color and font choices to characteristics that make you unique will stand out to potential readers.
You don’t have to be a marketing guru to understand the importance of image as an author. Consider who you want to be in the world of competitive writing, and you’ll have a strong brand foundation to start from.
Amanda Winstead is a writer from the Portland area with a background in communications and a passion for telling stories. Along with writing she enjoys traveling, reading, working out, and going to concerts. If you want to follow her writing journey, or even just say hi you can find her on Twitter.
Nothing beats the thrill of writing the opening paragraph of your next novel or the first stanza of a new poem. The words come easily at first and ideas seem bountiful in the early days of a writing project.
However, as you get stuck into your piece, you may find that you lose track of your plot and forget the plans you’d laid out for your characters. This can be frustrating if you only have a short time to write after work. It can even lead to writer’s fatigue.
Rather than lament the loss of your creative energy, use the time to mind map your project. Mind mapping lets you zoom out from the paragraph or chapter you’re currently working on so you can see the bigger picture again. Mind mapping can help you figure out why your story is falling flat and generate a more compelling narrative arc for your reader too.
Structure
Unless you want to write a rambling postmodern masterpiece, you’ll need a clear idea of structure to guide your narrative and give you a sense of purpose. This holds true for even the most experimental of novels, like Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, which eschews a linear plot yet still follows a clear structure to guide readers through the novel.
If you’re some way into your project, consider bullet-pointing all of the major plot points you’ve written so far. This can help you discover a chain of cause and effect and may nudge your creative faculties in a more compelling direction.
You may find that mind-mapping your own creation still leaves you feeling a little lost. This is entirely normal, as few writers know how their story will start, progress, and end before they put pen to paper.
Rather than getting frustrated, pull your favorite book off the shelf and start to mind-map its structure. Note down the major plot points and keep a record of all that has happened to the main characters. You can even jot down the page numbers next to major events, as this will give you an idea of how you might space out your own narrative events.
This approach to mind mapping will give you a deeper understanding of the genre you’re working within and may help you figure out if you need more (or less!) major events to shake up the plot and recapture the reader’s focus.
Ideas
Understanding the structure of a story is key if you’re working on a longer project like a novel. However, if you want to write a series of short stories or poems, you may be better served by focusing your attention on the major ideas that you wish to present.
This sentiment is echoed by Edgar Allan Poe who, when reviewing a collection of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories,
“A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build.”
This approach to writing can be mentally taxing as every sentence works to build the “mood” of the story and help convey your overarching idea. A mental map can help you pick up the thread of your big idea by helping you assess whether or not a sentence or stanza works.
Avoid the temptation to mind map while you’re writing. Instead, take out a large sheet of paper when editing and jot down the big idea in the center of the page. Then start copying down sentences from your draft; connecting similar-sounding sentences and branching out as the idea grows. This will help you hone the craft of the sentence and make the kind of micro edits that are essential for all good short stories.
If you struggle to edit your own work, it may be a sign that you need more sleep. Sleep is critical for creativity, as difficulty concentrating is a tell-tale sign of physical fatigue. If this is the case, you may be better served putting the pen down and getting a few “Z’s” instead.
Finding the Flow
Once you’ve completed your mind map, you need to get back in the flow of things ASAP. Getting back in the flow is key, as you may find that mind mapping makes you overcautious when writing more content or editing your existing work.
You can find your writer flow by sitting down to work in a quiet, calming place. You may even want to pour yourself a glass of wine, as wine can loosen you up and get your creative juices flowing. As an added bonus, red wines contain antioxidants that reduce inflammation and may give your body the boost it needs as you focus on your writing.
Keep your mind map at close hand but keep your attention on the screen. If you run into writer’s block, simply start writing sentences that sound right even if they can’t be used in your project. This is like firing up the engine of a car after it’s been in the garage for some time and will get you back to your best in no time.
Conclusion
Mind mapping can help you find structural flaws and superfluous sentences in your work. It can also generate new ideas and help you find the flow after some time away. Consider copying down the structure of your favorite author if you’re struggling for inspiration and play some calming music to get your creative flowing again.
Katie Brenneman is a passionate writer specializing in the art of writing, mental health, and education. When she isn’t writing, you can find her with her nose buried in a book or hiking with her dog, Charlie. To connect with Katie, you can follow her on Twitter.
Last month I shared Email #1 of my 4-part Welcome email series example. Here are the remaining 3 emails and the strategies associated with each. Create your own Welcome email series and include whatever you’d like. Be sure they’re short, clear, and welcoming to your new subscriber.
Why bother? It sets the stage for your email relationships. Be helpful. Be yourself. And connect serve your new subscriber.
In each of the three successive emails below, you’ll first see the content of my fictional email series plus red asterisks to identify which words / phrases / paragraphs have a specific strategy. Then in a separate section directly below each email, one-by-one, the strategy itself.
Here we go!
Strategies for Email #2
In the Strategy List below, you’ll find a duplicate of every sentence above shown with a red asterisk, then my strategy, so you don’t have to scroll up and down the page constantly. You’re welcome. 🙂
#1: [*Info you requested]
When sending information your new subscriber requested, it’s very important to include this phrase, or one like it, as part of your title.
Why? They may have forgotten their request. Can that really happen…after all, it was only 24 hours ago! Yep. It happens. Not because they’re stupid…they’re B-U-S-Y. We need to cut through the never-ending noise in their mind to get their attention.)
#2: **Slide Deck
This tells the subscriber what to expect when they open this email. Scammers have taught us not to open emails that don’t explain what’s in them first.
The phrase “slide deck” does that. It’s not cute. It’s clear.
#3: Publish (send): One day after Email #1 (***unless it’s Sunday, then send on Monday)
(Shown to the reader in the Welcome Email #1, this need not be shown to them again. It does show you–as MY reader–when to send your second Welcome email to YOUR reader. 🙂
#4: ****As promised, here’s the download link to the Slide Deck.
Clear as a bell so the reader cannot miss it but some will. See #XXX below.
#5: *****What’s your biggest frustration when creating a title?
My goal here is to start a dialogue. I don’t want to be the only in this two-way conversation. We can’t make our readers respond, but we want them to know we welcome it.
#6: ******Tell me what’s challenging you in this area and I’ll respond in a future email that will help everyone.
This sentence explains what will happen if they do respond. They’ll help other readers by asking me a question others might be timid to ask.
#7:Enjoy the slide deck, and *******I’ll talk to you in a few days!
A duplicate link to the slide deck so my reader doesn’t have to hunt for it.
After they’ve received the promised / delivered Slide Deck, what can they expect going forward? They can expect me to continue staying in touch with them!
Some send the promised resource then never send another email. Bad! B-A-D choice!
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Strategies for Email #3
#1: *When We Do Our Part We Set the Stage for God to Do His Part (See Strategy #3 below.)
#2: Publish: **3 Days after Email #2 (unless it’s Sunday, then send on Monday)
This point has been mentioned already. Repeated here for clarity. Yes, you’ll see it again in Email #4. 🙂 (Shown to the reader in the Welcome Emails #1, this need not be shown to them again. It does show you–as MY reader–when to send your third Welcome email to YOUR reader. 🙂
#3:***It’s another beautiful day to serve Jesus!
New subscribers see immediately that I write for Christians. They can guess I’m a Christian. This is core to my message, so I reference God three times before the content even begins. That doesn’t have to be your strategy. Follow His leading. What or who is most important to you related to your audience? Identify that person or concept early on in your email relationship.
#4: ****Questions? Comments? Hit reply and I’ll answer.
Another invitation to new subscribers, letting them know I’m open to a two-way relationship.
#5: *****In case you haven’t had time to download my FREE RESOURCE TITLE GOES HERE yet, here’s that LINK GOES HERE again.
Many of us intend to download that great “thing” we requested, but we get distracted and forget. So I’m gently mentioning it again to help my reader remember…without badgering or chastising them.
Strategies for Email #4
#1 (Last time to see this… *3 days after Email #3 (unless it’s Sunday, then send on Monday)
This point has been mentioned already. Repeated here for clarity. 🙂 (Shown to the reader in the Welcome Emails #1, this need not be shown to them again. It does show you–as MY reader–when to send your third Welcome email to YOUR reader. 🙂
#2: **Grab a pen and paper so we can make two short lists.
In this fourth Welcome email, my reader sees that I don’t offer fluff. We’re here to work while having a good time. I’ll walk them through the task step-by-step so they can 1) see the value of it and 2) know how to do it themselves next time.
#3: *** Write down 3 (three) strengths your audience has on the first list and 3 (three) weaknesses they have on the second list. (See #2 above.)
#4: **** Now, create one piece of content (blog post, social media post, email, Reels, whatever) for each strength and each weakness. (See #2 above.)
#5: ***** Do you have another free or a paid resource that could help further? Mention it and share the link to it.
Many people have content already created in a blog post, an interview, a free resource called a Lead Magnet, but they don’t think to offer access to it in another medium. Do it! 🙂
#6: ****** No resource that fits? That’s okay. Find someone else’s applicable content on this topic and share the direct link on their website.
My reader may be brand new to writing / speaking, or highly accomplished. Sharing someone else’s content–if applicable and spot on–tells their subscriber they’re primary goal is to serve them, not impress them.
#7: *******P.S. Last invitation to download my FREE RESOURCE LINK GOES HERE Enjoy!
The goal is to give readers every chance to download the free resource. Added this last time separately, away from other content so it’s not lost to the reader.
If you haven’t used a Welcome email series before, give it a try!
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Welcome Email Series Ends
Regular Email Content Begins Next Email
Patricia Durgin is an Online Marketing Coach and Facebook Live Expert. She trains Christian writers and speakers exclusively, helping them develop their messaging, marketing funnels, conversational emails, and Facebook Live programs. Patricia hosted 505 (60-minute) Facebook Live programs from 2018-2020. That program is on indefinite hiatus. She’s also a regular faculty member at Christian writers and speakers conferences around the country.
The press, the marketers, and the bookstores all clamoring for autographs and first-day Amazon rankings! Then “NEW” is over. The next week, the focus is on another NEWER book. The sparkling Amazon ratings drop to double and then triple digits. A month later social media has moved on.
Next year: backlist!
Of course, by then, we as writers are on to the next big project, but there is a twinge for more love for the backlist. How to put backlist titles back in the spotlight?
Awards
Many awards are only for books published in the last year, but post Covid, award givers are extending the eligible publications dates or offering the “tried and true” category. An award keeps the book active in the publisher’s catalog. I was able to win several awards in the last year for Tuktuk: Tundra Tale, published in 2016. Publishers looking over new proposals may appreciate the continued energy given a back list title.
Holidays
I have not yet written a Christmas book or one for Groundhog Day! But the smart people who have holiday books can ramp up mentions of the title starting about a month ahead (book sales for Christmas begin Nov 1!). Books on holidays celebrated by a smaller group (Passover, Diwali, Chinese New Year) use that time on the calendar for promotion and information. These events happen every year and the information on them does not change.
Commemorations
My book How to Dress a Dinosaur gets hauled out on June 1, National Dinosaur Day, but 43 states have official State Fossils. Every one of them has a Statehood Day which is a great time to celebrate it with a list of books about that state’s fruit, tree, insect, snack food, and fossil.
Themed lists
Library Storytime leaders start every session with a theme of interest to the potential listeners. Teachers look for lists of books to support teaching units. Suggest picture book support titles including back list.
Social media
Was the primary media for the book earlier platforms? Explore new online spaces and groups for new eyes for an older book. My back-listed The Very Best Story Ever Told from 2018 was a little pre-media exposure except for a couple of mentions on FB. Instagram and lots of blogs are still possible.
The rest of the story
New life comes to backlist titles when there is more to the story of how the book was written or used. A child, parent, or teacher may have a unique experience with the book. The author can offer more on the book’s subject or its writing. As the polar caps continue to melt, Tuktuk: Tundra Tale has been added to several lists.
Use this time…
Sales and deals seem to shut off at Thanksgiving. Use these months to find opportunities for the backlist titles to get up front in 2024.
And Holiday Blessings to you all!
Multi award-winning author Robin Currie learned story sharing by sitting on the floor, in library story times. She has sold 1.7 M copies of her 40 storybooks and writes stories to read and read again! Robin is committing 2024 to back-list promo. (Since there MIGHT be Big News in 2025!)
Storytelling has the power to touch people deep in their souls. I should know, as I have experienced the benefits of storytelling throughout my life.
When I was a little boy, I loved Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. I hung on Fred Rogers’ every word like he was talking directly to me. When the Trolley made its way to the Land of Make Believe, I was transported to uncharted areas of my imagination. I can still hear King Friday trying to rule in his pomposity, Henrietta Cat meowing her sweet messages, and Lady Elaine wreaking havoc.
As I got older, reading became my escape, and my favorite series was the Bobbsey Twins. As an only child, I reveled in the lives of the two sets of twins and their adventures as they solved mystery after mystery.
Throughout my life, storytelling in movies and music has blessed me immeasurably. I think of my favorite movie Up, which blesses me with its humorous yet touching story every time (I don’t watch it often, because it makes my eyes water, wink wink). Matthew West is my favorite singer/songwriter, and, as I listen to his stories put to music, I get the feeling he has been following me around and peeking in my windows. Good storytelling is relatable, and West is a master at that.
Every year, I have two annual events I love to attend: a storytelling festival in my old college town, and my own college’s fall arts/crafts festival, in which I coordinate . . . wait for it . . . the storytelling program! This year I helped write a grant to bring in two professional storytellers to our event, and I was blown away by their talent and their use of story to touch people.
Josh Goforth, one of our guest storytellers, tells stories of growing up in rural North Carolina, accentuating them with music. The guy can sing and play too many instruments to count, and he merges music and story effortlessly to make his audiences laugh and cry.
Tim Lowry, our other guest, is a native of my area and “returned home” to wow us with a variety of forms of storytelling, from personal narratives to renditions of classic stories. He, too, took us on an emotional ride, entertaining and educating us along the way.
Of course, Jesus Himself used earthly stories called parables to illustrate Heavenly ideas. The Prodigal Son, the Lost Sheep, the Good Samaritan—I believe Jesus knew we needed these illustrations to help us wrap our minds around His truths.
Storytelling takes many forms, and we can utilize the form (or forms) we specialize in to pass along powerful truths. What’s your story? And how are you going to tell it? Think about it, and then go tell it.
Carlton Hughes, represented by Cyle Young of Hartline Literary, wears many hats. By day, he is a professor of communication. On Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings, he serves as a children’s pastor. In his “spare time,” he is a freelance writer. Carlton is an empty-nesting dad and devoted husband who likes long walks on the beach, old sitcoms, and chocolate—all the chocolate. His work has been featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Dating Game, The Wonders of Nature, Let the Earth Rejoice, Just Breathe, So God Made a Dog, and Everyday Grace for Men. His latest book is Adventures in Fatherhood, co-authored with Holland Webb.
He who knows the way that I take; when he has tested me I shall come forth as gold.
Job 23:10 NIV
Job fell in a heap. Did he wish the ground would swallow him up before he received any more bad news?
Ten children. Dead.
500 teams of oxen. Stolen.
7,000 sheep caught in a wildfire. Dead.
3,000 camels. Stolen.
“A large number” of servants. Dead.
In the book about his life, Job 1:20-22 says he worshipped God.
I don’t know about you, but my first inclination in difficulty isn’t worship.
A submission for a book callout. Silence.
A children’s book trilogy. Rejected.
A book idea. Stalled.
Computer crash. Files lost.
How could Job worship the Lord when things looked so bleak? His secret was in refusing entitlement. Job 1:22 says, “I didn’t bring anything into the world when I was born, and I won’t take anything with me when I die.” (My paraphrase.)
When boils covered his body, Job said he found consolation in knowing he had not strayed from God’s Word. (Job 6:10)
Job clung to his integrity when questioned by his friends (Job 6:29) and humbled himself before God for mercy from judgment (Job 9:15). Job acknowledged his Creator and appealed to His kindness (Job 10:8-12). Job had hope for an advocate (Job 16:19-21) and a redeemer who would be victorious over suffering (Job 19:25).
In the end, God blessed Job (Job 42:11-16).
Exercise:
What can we learn from Job?Let’s take a look at what Peter had to say about endurance.
How much does God give us for life and godliness? 2 Peter 1:3
What knowledge aids us? 2 Peter 1:3
What two things do God’s great and precious promises equip us to do? 2 Peter 1:4
What seven things are we to put effort into adding to our faith arsenal? 2 Peter 1:5-7
What will those seven qualities equip you to do? 2 Peter 1:8
I gave you a list of some of my disappointments. Now, here’s a list of blessings.
Published in eight anthologies.
A children’s coloring book published.
Two retreat ebooks published.
Over 290 devotions and articles published.
My writing is stronger than ever!
Can we worship God when we get bad news? Absolutely. Peter reminds us we will see the victory when we persevere. (2 Peter 1:10-11)
What’s on your blessingslist? Count them and praise God!
His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness.
2 Peter 1:3 NASB
Count your blessings!
Over 140 of Sally Ferguson’s devotionals have been published in Pathways to God (Warner Press). She’s also written for Light From The Word, Chautauqua Mirror, Just Between Us, Adult Span Curriculum,Thriving Family, Upgrade with Dawn and ezinearticles.com. Prose Contest Winner at 2017 Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference.
Sally loves organizing retreats and seeing relationships blossom in time away from the daily routine. Her ebook, How to Plan a Women’s Retreat is available on Amazon.
Sally Ferguson lives in the beautiful countryside of Jamestown, NY with her husband and her dad.
I wrote a 15,000-word story before attending my first small writing conference in Iowa. Once I made the decision to make writing a career in my fifties, I designed a website, opened a dedicated FB profile with my pseudonym.
I attended my first two writer’s conferences in 2019: ACWC, (Asheville Christian Writers Conference,) and BRMCWC, (Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference.) I’ve been exploring various genres ever since.
Which of your WIP (Work in Progress) is your favorite?
Currently, my favorite work is my children’s gift picture book called Grief Like Rain. This piece won 1st at WCCW conference and also Best in Conference. The Golden Goldie Award and 3 other awards for this piece in 2023 have encouraged me to illustrate the work, also. I formatted the book as lyrical poetry and it speaks to childhood loss of a parent. It is by far one of my most personal pieces.
Why do you write? Do you have a theme, message, or goal for your books?
In addition to writing to heal, I write about hope and redemption. There is something cathartic about developing characters and situations to ultimately bring readers closer to the God who created each one of us. Without hope, I flounder in my selfishness and discouragement. Without identity in Christ—in something bigger than my finite life on earth—I tend to wander along a timeline of meaningless pursuits. I want to bring the God of the Bible into our everyday moments as well as our most desperate and difficult circumstances and show that there is always hope. Always.
What does your writing work schedule like?
When I create a schedule, I create “blobs of time” to bring a loose structure for the week. I focus on the specific demands intrinsic to a particular project and create an atmosphere conducive to the type of story or poetry I am working on.
Utilizing a hand drawn bullet journal, I create headings of ideas, collections of smaller tasks, or anything that comes to mind while reviewing the next week. When I have schedule events with specific dates and times, I fill those in first. Then I define larger blocks of time. I like variety so I sprinkle time for illustration, client work, specific projects, social media, and my shops.
Do you have any favorite tools to help you organize your schedule?
Two of my favorite time tracking and management tools:
1. An old-fashioned, hand lettered bullet journal, black markers, and Prismacolor branded colored pencils. I create monthly and sometimes weekly pages to transfer my brainstorming ideas into organized thematic or topical sections and assign them to a general week or date.
2. An app called Structured, by Leo Mehlig, syncs with my google and apple calendar events and then allows me to further subdivide and schedule smaller blocks of time. Visually, color drips into the event shapes in real time like sand in an old fashioned hour glass. The colors import from my main calendar and I find that one of the keys to getting a lot done each day.
Do you have an interesting writing quirk? If so, what is it?
I can’t write with music or sound. I suppose I design with the musicality of the words, and other external sounds tend to drown out my inner composer.
I’m inspired by my rhyming, pun-ny husband, who reads in delightful character voices. He also brainstorms tech-laced plot threads with the realism from his 42 years experience as a civilian government employee
What has been your greatest joy(s) in your writing career?
Nothing beats the thrill of brainstorming sessions with other artists and writers. Recently recognized for my love of helping others in the writing community, I received “Member of the Year” award by Word Weavers International in 2023.
On the humorous side, mastering the one space between sentences, after decades of the two-space rule, was a huge milestone sometime during the pandemic. I have perfectionist tendencies so it was purely pragmatic to form a new habit.
I also learned to use my left hand to run the mouse, and my right hand to delete. From my mechanical typewriter days of holding the backspace key, I knew I didn’t want to waste time backspacing to delete.
Do you have a favorite character or scene in one of your works?
In my literary fiction WIP, I adore writing about Sophia and her mom. Taking the best and the worst of my experiences from childhood and motherhood, I find myself writing to heal and to grieve through a combination of lyrical and suspense-filled language and situations. My poetry affinity and my traumatic background make interesting emotional connections.
Some of my favorite scenes are written from the point of view of seven-year-old Sophia as she experiences her past. I also enjoy writing from the mother’s perspective at that same timeline and bringing vignettes of redemption and forgiveness into the current day timeline as the two characters work through their misunderstandings and loss. Weaving issues of adoption and identity prove extremely cathartic.
Tell us about an award you won that was particularly meaningful.
In addition to the WW Member of the Year, I placed as an honorable mention in Serious Writer’s Writer of the Year. That meant the world to me. That same week while watching live streaming ceremony of West Coast Christian Writers Conference, I heard my name mentioned for 1st place in children’s and YA literature for my children’s gift book called Grief Like Rain. While I sat teary-eyed watching the ceremony online, wishing I was there in person, I called for my husband to celebrate with me, and my name was called again for “Best in Conference” and awarded the Golden Goldie Award for the same piece.
This specific story, Grief Like Rain, is particularly close to me as I am illustrating a lyrical walk through the rain as an analogy to walking through periods of grief, and I am literally illustrating the pages with my art background from college. Most profoundly meaningful were the words of the judge who offered her heartfelt comments through the MC of the event. I felt strengthened and empowered to keep writing. And found courage to show this project at a future agent appointment.
Could you tell us about a dark moment in your writing career?
Indeed, dark moments affect all aspects of our lives, our jobs, and our relationships. I began writing because of broken relationships. So, in a sense, I felt as low as I have ever remembered before beginning to write and claiming this as my career. Since writing, healing has blossomed from that dark place and is reaching valiantly for the light with God’s help.
How many times in your career have you experienced rejection? How did they shape you?
I record every rejection next to my list of submissions. Yellow for submissions. I wait for the answer or results. Green for submissions that are accepted with an award or a publication. Red for rejections. I love red. I embrace the red. Rejection? Yes. But because the blood of Christ compels us to press forward in whatever we do as we honor the Lord; the color red might just be turned around into another redemption storyline.
God doesn’t promise success. But he shapes me as I write. He promises to walk with us through our journeys as we acknowledge Him.
And every bit of “rejection” holds wisdom, refinement, and growth if I learn from the experience. But I confess, once I color a submission check box red, I need a white paint marker in my bullet journal to cover the rejection, but it turns pink. It reminds me that in my strength, I can’t be perfect. But I resubmit a new version of a once rejected story, and have a new opportunity to see the check box turn to green.
Where do you get your ideas?
That is a powerful and mysterious question. I have many thoughts. Ideas rarely stop.
I find inspiration in the details of current events. Not necessarily the historical nature of the event, but a turning of the premise. For example, I enjoy technology advances and challenges, and in one of my books, I found a historic storm that should have been 60 inches of snow, but fizzled out. I wrote the fictitious storm as if it were reversed: a non-eventful spitting of snow that morphed into a crippling storm, camouflaging clues and character escapes, and formed the antagonist for the first act.
Who is your favorite author to read?
This question is never easy to answer. I’ll go with my first three names.
1. Amanda Cox. She writes with a freshness and with insight into lost identities and sorrow in split timelines.
2. Amanda Dykes. Similarly dual times with rich history and poetic language.
3. Jane Kirkpatrick. Historical fiction grounded in American history, using real people like Pocahontas and Lewis and Clark, with stories steeped in emotional themes tugging at our sense of identity and feelings of being “enough.”
What advice can you give aspiring authors that you wished you had gotten, or that you wished you would have heeded?
Don’t wish for a different life. I had discovered this path before my late 50’s. I have so much yet to say and experience, and so very much to heal.
We can’t go back in time. Embrace the path you are on until God directs you differently, but don’t regret your path at all. Our journey refines and molds us. Allow the Lord to wash and heal and free your heart to love and learn all you can in the writing path you have chosen.
What are common mistakes you see aspiring writers make?
Calling themselves “aspiring” writers. If you write, you are a writer. Embrace your calling.
Not considering writing a professional business.
Feeling a change of direction is a big loss, instead of a course correction.
Where are you published and where can people find you?
People can find me on You Tube, Amazon, under Patricia Tiffany Morris and Tiffany Inks Studio LLC.
I hold publishing credits with Guideposts (essay and devotional books), Lyrical Iowa and National Federation of State Poetry Societies, EnLiven Devotionals (poetry, essay, book cover and font design), The Ekphrastic Review (short story and poetry), Word Weavers International blog (poetry, essay, and articles), and others.
I also published an artistic collection of journals and planners on KDP called Journaling Scribbles Collection.
An eclectic creative with a geeky-tech affinity and a poet with three names, Patricia Tiffany Morris has earned several awards since 2019.
In 2023, she placed 1st in children’s and won “Best in Conference” at the West Coast Christian Writers Conference. She earned honorable mentions for Serious Writer’s “Writer of the Year” award for a YA novel and for the Cascade Writers Contest for poetry.
But nothing beats the thrill of brainstorming sessions with other artists and writers. Recognized for her love of helping others, Patricia received “Member of the Year” award with Word Weavers International in 2023.
In addition to writing, Patricia’s business, Tiffany Inks Studio LLC, creates branding, resources, and illustrations for writers. She adores designing fonts, scrolling Pinterest, and finds social media intriguing in her search for community.
Writers Chat, hosted by Johnnie Alexander, Brandy Brow, and Melissa Stroh, is the show where we talk about all things writing, by writers and for writers!
“Because talking about writing is more fun than actually doing it.”
The Publisher’s Journey
Victoria Duerstock, founder of End Game Press, joins us to talk about her journey from a writer of devotionals centered around home and heart, to her current role as owner of a publishing company, with multiple imprints. We talk about the value of networking, the importance of knowing our uniqueness, and the value of saying “yes” plus much more!
Watch the November 14th
Victoria Duerstock, an award-winning author and multi-passionate creator, is the founder of End Game Press, launched in 2021. She has actively engaged in writing and publishing books, developing online courses and coaching programs, and speaking at various events and conferences. Unafraid of embracing new challenges, Victoria enjoys expanding her publishing knowledge while also pursuing her personal mission to create beauty, cultivate community, and live a life of impact.
Favorite Christmas Reads
In this open mic episode, the Writers Chat community gathers to share their favorite Christmas books, movies, and more. We all added to our TBR (to be read) and GW (gotta watch) lists! Enjoy the camaraderie and sharing. There was some A Christmas Carol trivia as well as practical suggestions for a memorable holiday season!!
Watch the November 28th replay
Writers Chat is hosted live each Tuesday for an hour starting at 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET on Zoom. The permanent Zoom room link is: http://zoom.us/j/4074198133
As I write, the holiday season has begun and most people are spending time with friends and family. The holidays are about a lot more than just having fun together. There are reasons we like getting together with other people.
Encouragement
Resting
Helping others
Sharing
However, the holidays aren’t pleasant for everyone. Recently the mother of my best friend from college passed away unexpectedly. I decided to reach out and encourage him.
I can still remember her coming to see me in the hospital after my accident. She assured me there was a reason I didn’t die and she would pray for me to get better.
Over two decades later, I can still remember how much better I felt after her brief visit with me in the hospital. I can still remember her smile the first time I entered her home after I finished my rehabilitation.
It was extremely important for me to get all of the support and encouragement I could in those early days after my accident, especially once I finally was able to think clearly. It was their support that helped me to get stronger.
Stronger
I cannot express enough how important it is for us to grow in life and for healthy brains to grow neurologically. That is why I continue to work out and focus on my health.
There are numerous benefits of staying physically active for our brains. I benefit by lowering my stroke threshold. Recent studies have shown that physical activity helps reduce the risk of dementia.
The older I get the more thankful I am for my health, especially considering my brain injury. But, I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for getting help and advice from other health-conscious people.
The gym is more than just a place to exercise, it is a place to build relationships and community. Often, it is in the gym where I learn about other things going on in the community I live in.
Recently I shared with a brother from church a new back exercise I learned and he told me today that he, too, really likes the exercise. It’s not always about showing off or who looks the best in the fitness community, in the gym I have accountability and encouragement; gym rats know we are stronger together.
Together
Being together doesn’t always mean being in the same place. My best friend from college lives in Texas now and we still support each other from afar. I have learned new exercises from friends across the country and on YouTube.
There is a psychological bond that connects us with other people with similar interests and goals. We’ve experienced what others have experienced and we strive for similar goals.
Recently, I received another rejection email from a literary agent and of course, I was pretty depressed. However, thanks to my writing friends across the country whom I keep in touch with, I received the encouragement and advice I needed to continue in my writing journey.
Most of us have experienced how lonely and disappointing the writing life can be at times, we’ve all faced rejection at some point; even best-selling authors have experienced rejection and discouragement in their writing journeys.
We are a weird sort of community because we know we’ll face painful moments. Just like with the fitness community, we need the support and guidance of others to help us get stronger and to motivate us not to give up.
Friendships and community are important, regardless of their nature. Below are some benefits of building stronger friendships from betterhealth.com.
Lower rates of anxiety
Lower rates of depression
Higher self-esteem
Greater empathy
Stronger immune system
As writers, we understand the demands and the pitfalls of the writing life. We can help encourage other writers who are struggling. We can also receive encouragement from others within the community.
Encouragement
Recently, I reconnected with another disabled person in my community. I had actually met him at the local gym about a decade ago. He is a brain cancer survivor who is wheelchair-bound.
I had the chance to share with him about my experiences after my accident. All of these years later we’re both feeling depressed and forgotten.
I offered to help him with his problem, just knowing I could help someone else made me feel better. Community has its advantages.
Encouragement
Opportunity
Sense of belonging
Having a place to fit in is rewarding in itself. It isn’t about getting paid. A stronger community benefits us all. Ask Matthew Whitaker, a blind musician who returned to the school that taught him music to give back. That is how we become stronger together!
Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Traumatic brain injury which left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in a Georgia and connects with readers at MartinThomasJohnson.com and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.
I’ve been working on a story, and was a bit concerned my ending felt contrived. In my critique group, we discussed it a little, but I couldn’t come to a clear conclusion. I decided to study the topic and attempt to untangle this particular knot. I thought I’d share the list I came up with on how to identify a contrived plot or scene.
Out of the Blue Behavior
The protagonist (or antagonist) suddenly does something out of character with no explanation. He or she acts in a way that doesn’t line up with what readers know about the character, or they change core beliefs for no discernible reason, or do other odd things for no other reason than to provide a solution to a story problem.
Who’s Driving This Thing?
The story is propelled by circumstantial events happening to the protagonist rather than the protagonist being the catalyst. When I first started writing, I tended to throw obstacles into my story from outside the character, visiting terrible tragedy on them. I was blessed to have a mentor who helped me understand that the protagonist didn’t just need troubles, they must have a goal.
Check to make sure the main character is the captain of his or her own ship. They should try to procure what they want or need to solve their problem. As the story progresses, the protagonist faces obstacles, some of which are overcome, some of which are not.
I Need a Hero
At the eleventh hour, an unlikely hero comes galloping up on a white horse. He wasn’t in the story before, or perhaps only showed up in chapter three for two minutes. If he takes on such a vital role at the conclusion, it might be a good idea to dig into the manuscript in order to develop that character and his storyline. Then, hopefully, the resolution will unfold naturally in a realistic or logical way. This was the fix my current story required. I added interactions with the character, enhanced the setup, and viola!
Too Many Hidden Details
Sometimes it may feel like the plot is contrived because there’s not enough information given up front. If a character appears to make choices simply to get the author out of a plot pickle, a bit of backstory could shed light on the character’s behavior.
Here’s an example. Mrs. Susie Sunshine is the kindest soul you’ll ever meet, but treats her elderly mother with a lack of respect bordering on contempt. The reader is going to want to know why.
If Susie has a deep dark secret in her past that explains her actions, suddenly the story makes sense, and becomes more interesting to boot. Dropping hints about the main character’s backstory at key moments and providing an eventual airing of the issue will make for a satisfying resolution.
Sometimes an undeveloped character leads to a contrived plot. Developing a character may happen before a writer drafts, along the way, in the editing stage, or a combination of all three. It all depends on the author’s process.
The Charmed Life
A character has a charmed life, strolls through the story, never having to work for success. Solutions fall into his lap. He meanders along his way, riding the wave of good luck all the way to his happy ending. The problem here is no conflict, and possibly no goal or stakes.
Convenient Coincidences
There are too many coincidences, where the character gets necessary information by “just happening” to overhear conversations, randomly bumps into the person with the perfect solution or advice, becomes lost only to miraculously end up exactly where they need to be, and so on.
To check for these, I ask myself what would happen in the narrative if there were no coincidences? Is there a way to move the story forward without using the coincidences? Can the characters be given histories to explain these things?
In Defense of Side Trips
Suppose you’re writing a discovery type draft and toss in a random coincidence to bring the story back into line for your vision. Is that a bad thing? Not always. It could be an opportunity to add layers or interest, or to explore an entirely new direction. As long as there’s enough set up and the unfolding events conclude with logic, it might shake out. In this type of writing situation, I might consider dropping in backstory and see how the story develops, then decide if it works.
The Coincidental Ending
Some genres lend themselves to coincidental endings, and some don’t. Check your genre. Even in inspirational fiction, leaning too heavily on divine intervention may fall flat. Readers want a character they can root for, characters who make choices, and then eventually find their way to a solution.
Years ago, I read a novel by a popular author and the concluding chapters suddenly took a weird sci-fi detour to explain the story. The event tying all the threads together felt out of the blue and of another genre. These contortions were necessary for the story to make any kind of sense. But I didn’t buy it. I was not happy, to say the least. I never read another book by this author.
That’s not the reaction I want from my readers. Do you have anything to add to this list about uncovering a contrived plot?
Leave a comment!
Donna Jo Stone is an award-winning author of young adult contemporary and adult historical fiction. She writes about tough issues but always ends her stories on a note of hope. Her novels are about common struggles and finding the faith to carry on through those battles.
