Tag: advice for Christian writers

Categories
Bestsellers

Interview with Bestselling Author Janet McHenry

Can you share a little about your recent book?

My book 50 Life Lessons for Grads: Surprising Advice for Recent Graduates (Worthy/Hachette) was a Christian bookstore bestseller. It shares what recent college graduates learned through real struggles, opportunities, and the fears they faced.

50 life lessons for grads

Why do you write? Do you have a theme, message, or goal for your books?

I write to teach others how to have a rich, purposeful life through the study of God’s Word and prayer.

How long have you been writing?

God called me to write for him in 1986. I began writing articles for Christian magazines, then started writing books a few years later. I wrote while also working full-time as a high school English teacher and raising four kids.

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 wrote 13 children’s books for David C. Cook, then got my first major book contract in 2000 for PrayerWalk, which became a bestseller. My agent challenged me to “write about that prayerwalking thing you’re doing.” My first response was, “I don’t think that’s a book. It’s five words: ‘You walk and you pray.’” Clearly, since it’s been in print for 20 years (WaterBrook/RandomHouse), it was indeed a good book idea.

Prayer walk

Which of your books is your favorite?

My favorite is The Complete Guide to the Prayers of Jesus: What Jesus Prayed and How It Will Change Your Life Today (Bethany House). When I started prayerwalking in 1998, I went on a journey to read everything I could about prayer, including reading the Bible all the way through each year to note textual references to prayer—centering on what Jesus taught about prayer, his prayer practices, and his actual prayers. I wanted people to have a resource that had everything in one volume about his prayer life.

The complete guide to the prayers of Jesus

How long does it take you to write a book?

I’ve written a complete book in as short as three weeks.

What’s your writing work schedule like?

I work on marketing and social media tasks in the morning (including my daily blog), then shift to writing.

Do you have an interesting writing quirk? If so, what is it?

I’ve learned that when I’m a bit blocked, that mowing the lawn or doing the laundry or going for a prayerwalk will help my left and right brains make friends again, so the words can find themselves dropping onto the page. Also, popcorn and Coke Zero can help.

What has been your greatest joy(s) in your writing career?

(1) Meeting a reader I had not known who tells me my book changed her life (typically the book PrayerWalk).

(2) A few awards: Mt. Hermon Christian Writers Conference Writer of the Year (1993), 2020 Jennifer Kennedy Dean Award (AWSA), and AWSA Member of the Year (2004)

What has been your darkest moment(s)?

My darkest moment was the day my husband Craig was falsely convicted of six felony animal abuse charges related to the deaths of six young calves in a two-day snowstorm; we took on the appeal ourselves, and the case was overturned in the California Court of Appeals two years later in 2007. We had 5-1/2 years of struggle related to that criminal case that should never have gone to trial. I am planning on writing a memoir related to that unjust experience. I didn’t have a published book from the 2006 to 2015; the experience really was tough, and it still hurts.

How many times in your career have you experienced rejection? How did they shape you?

Good grief, I have no idea. Hundreds, probably—compared to the 24 books I wrote under contract with traditional publishers.

Where do you get your ideas?

Titles just come to me. I wrote headlines for a daily newspaper for years. A whole book concept will come to me as a title first.

Who is your favorite author to read?

Fiction: Cynthia Ruchti and Jan Karon Nonfiction: the late Jennifer Kennedy Dean, who wrote books on prayer that will become classics some day

What advice can you give aspiring writers that you wished you had gotten, or that you wished you would have heeded?

Learn how to study the form of the genre you wish to write. While I heard that expression many times when I was beginning, I really didn’t know how to do that. I taught myself, and I now teach that analysis skill for writers conferences and my own Sierra Valley Writers Retreat.

What are common mistakes you see aspiring writers make?

I often see aspiring writers just sit down and start writing. They really need to create a proposal first, even if they’re going to self-publish the book. My agent, Janet Grant, says a proposal is basically a business plan, but it also is a vehicle for creating a much better book. It will focus the content, better meet the needs of the potential audience, and create a product that is unique.

Where/How do you recommend writers try to break into the market?

Beginning writers should find their tribe so as to have a ready-made audience for their book. They should also attend as many different writers conferences as they can—so as to make connections in the industry and to learn the craft. I attended THREE major Christian writers conferences within that first year after God called me to write for him, and I kept going to one (Mt. Hermon) nearly every year thereafter.

A national speaker, Janet McHenry is the author of 24 books–six on prayer, including the bestselling PrayerWalk and her newest, The Complete Guide to the Prayers of Jesus. She is also the creator of the masterclass Prayer School, a certified writing and life coach, and the host of the Sierra Valley Writers Retreat. Janet and her husband Craig raised four children in the Sierra Valley in northern California, where he is a rancher and where she taught high school English and served as an academic advisor. She loves connecting with readers and writers: janetmchenry.com. 

Where to buy books:Amazon.com, Christianbook.com, Barnesandnoble.com, janetmchenry.com

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Categories
History in the Making

Hospitality in Writing

History in the making

Have you ever read any books by Shel Silverstein? Since 1963, his poems and drawings have delighted countless children and adults. Even though we lost “Uncle Shelby” in 1999, new generations are still discovering and enjoying his work today.

I appreciate his wit and wisdom and simple illustrations in The Giving Tree, A Light in the Attic, and Falling Up to name a few. He is silly and sad, yet profound in his work. Few have ever done it better.

But in Where The Sidewalk Ends, Shel does something really special. He graciously invites us into his world with this poem titled, Invitation:

If you are a dreamer, come in,

If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,

A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer …

If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire

For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.

Come in!

Come in!

I love that. The idea of showing the reader they are welcome, to invite them to come in and ‘sit a spell’ is an idea as old as Genesis, the first book to display hospitality.

The Bible teaches that acts of hospitality or inhospitality reveal the good or evil of a person or a community.

Christianity Today.

Our Christianity is on full display in our work. We willingly allow others in to observe us in our most vulnerable state, where our beliefs are vividly displayed in our prose. In the Bible, hospitality was shown in the host’s home. In the craft of writing, our readers take us into their homes when they buy our work. It would appear that we become the guest, but actually, we want them to enter the world we built and enjoy themselves. Therefore, we remain the hosts.

So how do we nurture a spirit of biblical hospitality in our work so a reader knows we love Jesus?

I believe we must come to the end of ourselves. We cannot trust or boast in our achievements, we cannot wallow in our rejections. We must find ourselves at the altar laying it all down at the feet of our Lord and Savior. We must allow the Holy Spirit to open us to the mystery of inviting others in, not just to our work, but our lives.

Come in! Come in! Sit with me in my world for a while. Let me offer you a little bit of me, let me warm your soul and make you feel welcome. And while you’re here, I pray you see Christ in me.

Grace to you and peace be multiplied,

KD Holmberg

K. D. Holmberg is an author, blogger, and freelance writer. She is a member of ACFW, Word Weavers International, and a founding member of the Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild. She is represented by Hartline Literary Agency. A retired flight attendant, she has traveled and lived all over the globe. She and her husband, Keith, love to golf and live in South Carolina. You can find more about her: Facebook @authorkdholmberg, twitter @kdeniseholmberg, and website kdholmberg.com

Categories
Devotional/Christian Living

What’s the Difference between Devotional and Christian Living Book Genres?

In the quiet of the morning, I open up my Bible. I clip my booklight onto the front cover so I can see the pages in the darkness. After a short prayer, my mind is ready to read God’s Word. Some days I simply read, preparing my heart for the day ahead. But other days I read something I never noticed before. My eyes wide open, I grab my notebook, jot down my observation, and jump up from my bed with the burning desire to write about what I’ve discovered. What is the best way to share my new-found treasure?

I could blog about my observations or create an article or a standalone devotional to submit, but sometimes my ideas and observations snowball into a book idea.

I have several big ideas from Scripture that I want to write in book form. For each of these ideas, I need to decide what genre the book will be: devotional or Christian living.

What are the major differences between the devotional and Christian Living book genre?

Length.

Chapters in a devotional book are much shorter than the chapters of a Christian Living book. In fact, in a devotional book, each section or entry is not often called a chapter. Each portion of the book usually corresponds to the day, so the devotional is divided up into days rather than chapters. Victoria Duerstock, author of the devotional Heart & Home: Design Basics for Your Soul and Living Space, says the word count in her devotional book is no more than 300 words per day. That word count includes the Bible verse, the story/application, the prayer, and the design tip. Since this is a 90 day devotional, Victoria’s total word count for her devotional book was about 27,000.

In comparison, the word count of Christian Living books is similar to other Christian non-fiction trade books with a total word count of 45,000-55,000 or more. Michelle Lazurek, author of An Invitation to the Table: Embracing the Gift of Hospitality and Righteous and Lost: Finding Hope for the Pharisee Within shoots for 3,500-4,000 words per chapter in her Christian Living books.

For all of you who are now saying, it’s easier to write a devotional because it is shorter, not so fast! Shorter is not always easier. Devotional writing is tight. It takes a long time to choose the perfect words since there isn’t wiggle room for further explanation.

But the longer word count doesn’t make Christian Living easy either. Readers expect an in-depth exploration of the topic you cover in your book meaning you will be spending time researching and studying. You will use quotes from experts on your topic in order to connect your book with the existing conversation. It takes time and thought to select the quotes and use them naturally in your writing.

Depth of focus.

Even if the devotional book as a whole is focused on a particular topic, each devotional entry in the book centers on a Bible passage, usually just one or two Bible verses. Each devotional is narrowly focused on the Bible truth of that particular verse. In contrast, the chapters of a Christian Living book may start with a verse or Bible passage, or more often, a Bible topic, but the Bible portion is a springboard for exploration.

It’s like going off the diving board into the deep end. One person dives in with a small splash and beelines for the stairs to exit the pool and go on to next thing, refreshed from the dip in the water. Another person cannonballs in, treads around, and floats from one side of the pool to the next before slowly returning to the ladder.

A devotional zeros in. Christian Living broadens and explores.

Do you have experience writing either devotionals or Christian Living books? What else have you noticed as the difference between the two genres? Comment below!

Rachel Schmoyer is a pastor’s wife who is loving her church life. She writes about the hard parts of Scripture at readthehardparts.com. She has had devotionals published in the past, but now she is looking forward to getting her first Christian Living book published. You can connect with Rachel on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Categories
The Ministry of Writing

When It’s Not Working Out

If you’ve been writing and working towards getting published, even more so, if you are writing because you know without a shadow of doubt God has called you to do so, then I imagine (actually I’m certain) you’ve hit a dead end or will hit one soon. You’ve come to a roadblock or are headed for one. You’ve ended up at an impassable wall or at least see one in the distance.

So…what do you do?

If God has lead you to write or to share a particular message and He’s continually telling you that the mission is still a go, but it’s evident the endeavor is crashing and burning, what do you do?

Well, that’s where I am.

Actually, it’s where I’ve been the past month…err…three months…err…year. Stuck. Blocked. Crashing and burning. The odds of survival in the writing world and the mission in which I have been sent are looking bleak. So, I broke down and sought counseling.

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Gathered around the table for supper, I asked my seven-year-old daughter the question I had been asking myself. I asked, “If God has told you to do something, but its hard, should you quit?” She looked at me like I was absolutely stupid and said, “You have to do what God tells you to do. If He told you to do something you have to obey, no matter how hard it is. Even if you have to die doing it.” My four-year-old added, “Daddy, you have to do what God says.”

That’s the truth I knew somewhere in my heart. Actually, I had recently written a book about that. But on my little water-walking endeavor I had let my judgment become clouded by the waves and the wind.

Although, my daughter was convincing and again I had written on the subject, I was still uncertain. So, I posed another question to my budding theologian. I asked, “What if God told you to go cross a river, but when you get there the bridge was broken and had fallen down? What should you do? Are you off the hook? Can you say, well, the bridge is gone so God must not really want me to cross the river.”

“You can’t turn around and go home if God told you to do something. You have to find a way to cross the river. Daddy, you would be like Jonah if you didn’t try to cross the river.”

Yikes. My little girl is hardcore.

My four-year-old said, “You could just swim across!” Therefore, we then changed the scenario to a river of lava.” But regardless of what substance is in the river, if God said cross the river—you cross the river or die trying.

Then a lightbulb dinged in my head—how many different ways has God got His people across water? I posed the question to my Suppertime Ecumenical Council and we went to town listing different ways.

  • He got Noah and his family across with the ark.
  • He got Moses and the Israelites across by parting the Red Sea, after Moses lifted his staff.
  • He got Joshua and the Israelites across the Jordan by stopping its flow, after the priests with the Ark of the Covenant stepped in the water.
  • He got Elijah and Elisha across the Jordan by parting it, after Elijah rolled up his cloak and stuck it in the water.
  • He got Elisha across the Jordan by parting it, after Elisha touched it with Elijah’s cloak.
  • He got the ax head out of the Jordan by making it float.
  • He got Jonah across the water by spitting him out of a big fish.
  • Jesus got the disciples and himself across the Sea of Galilee by commanding the winds and waves to stop.
  • Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee by walking on water.
  • Jesus took the disciples across the Sea of Galilee by instantly making the boat appear on the other side.

Impressive list. Also, my daughter may have had a little help compiling it.

And I don’t know about you, but looks like God can handle getting across the river if the bridge is gone. He probably could if it is lava, too.

After that counseling session I returned to my desk, and kept plugging away. God has called me to do this, therefore I got to do it or die trying.

So, what do you when its not working out?

You keep on writing.

 

[bctt tweet=”God has called me to do this, therefore I got to do it or die trying.” username=”@soldoutjake”]

[bctt tweet=”So, what do you when its not working out? You keep on writing.” username=”@soldoutjake”]

Jake McCandless is an award-winning author, winner of the 2018 Selah Award for his non-fiction book Spiritual Prepepr. He is the Executive director for Stand Firm Ministries and Prophecy Simplified.. A long-time pastor who is now co-pastor of the innovative “above-ground underground,” online church, Endtime.Church., Jake has a B.A. in Bible and Pastoral Studies from Central Baptist College, and an Advanced Masters of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.  He also is a regular contributor to WND News with voices such as Joseph Farrah, Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Ben Carson, Chuck Norris, Joel Richardson, Carl Gallups. He also writes for the The Baptist Press along with other publications. He is also a regular guest on national radio and streaming web shows, along with hosting his daily radio program Prophecy Simplified Radio and weekly podcast Hold On.   You can follow all Jake’s work at www.jakemccandless.com or subscribe to his newsletter here.