Tag: encouragement for writers

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Guest Posts

The Biggest Writer’s Block?

I was recently asked in an author interview what was the one bit of advice I think is most important that I would give other potential authors? I said without hesitating, “keep believing in yourself.”

I know from teaching college students how to write their first book that the number one roadblock that stands in their way is the doubt that they can actually write a book that’s worthy of people reading it. They start and don’t finish. Or they finish and never publish it. Or worse yet, they never get started at all, even though they have lots of great stories to tell.

I am editing two books now as part of my book coaching business. For both writers, it is their very first manuscript. The first (let’s call him Joe) is writing a book about his wife who has Alzheimer’s and his journey as her caregiver. It started out more as a non-fiction “how to” book giving advice to people suffering the early stages of the disease and to their family members who care for them, interspersed with anecdotes and stories about his and his wife’s experiences. I read a first draft and told Joe he really should re-write it as a memoir…he had so many moving experiences to share to which I am sure many people can relate—and it is a moving story that even those with no experience with Alzheimer’s would love to read for its messages of hope, faith and love.

Hesitantly he is heeding my advice but feels unsure whether he is a “good enough writer” to actually pull it off. “I know I’m not a good writer for this sort of material,” he said. “Writing it like a memoir or a novel puts me at a great disadvantage with good writers, and also with readers who are used to reading what good writers write.” But the thing is (and I told him this), he IS a good writer, he just needs guidance. He needs to quit comparing himself to others (a lesson I’ve had to learn over and over.) He just needs to cast doubt aside and believe.

The second writer (let’s call him Dave) has had doubts about whether his book is “worthy” of getting published from the start. I have tried to assure him along the way that it definitely is. I read an initial draft, gave him an editor’s report to guide him to re-write it (like I did with Joe) and now he has sent a finished manuscript for editing and proofing. It is a book about how to practice biblical principles in business matters… a very practical guide from which everyone can benefit in my opinion. And yet, Dave is still unsure whether he really should be publishing it, even while it’s in the editing stages.

In one of my college courses a writer (ironically name Faith) broke down crying at one point. I had been encouraging the class to come up with a writing “plan” (ie., a place and time or schedule to write) but told them it was completely up to them, there were no rules. Faith said she was crying with relief…that she always thought she wasn’t a “real” writer if she didn’t write every day but couldn’t because (like many) she has a day job. She was literally crying with relief!

I have known, and you probably have too, how these writers feel when facing the blank page (or computer screen). But if your dream, desire and motivation are all in line with God’s, I believe you can’t fail. Sure, you will probably need help and you will face obstacles along the way…but half the battle is believing in yourself, and the other half is relying on God, knowing since He put the dream on your heart in the first place, He will help you fulfill it, putting the right people and opportunities in your path.

Yes, only you can do the work…but only you can be the one to give up! So, don’t give into fear (False Evidence Appearing Real). Just do it…or in this case, write it!

Michele Chynoweth is the award-winning author of The Faithful One, The Peace Maker and The Runaway Prophet, contemporary suspense/romance novels based on Old Testament stories in the Bible that get across God’s messages to today’s readers through edgy, fast-paced fiction. Michele is also an inspirational speaker, college instructor on book writing, publishing and marketing, and book coach/editor who helps writers become successful authors. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, she and her husband have a blended family of five children.

Social Media/Website Links:
Website: michelechynoweth.com
Blog: michelechynoweth1.wordpress.com
Facebook Author Page: ModernDayBibleStories
Twitter: AuthorMichele
You Tube: MicheleChynoweth

Categories
Write for His Glory

No Matter What

This month we celebrate Father’s Day.

What an awesome time to reflect on our amazing Heavenly Father and all He has made possible for us. Be encouraged by the words of Jesus, Paul, and Peter (verses are from the Amplified Bible translation).

16 For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He[even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3:16-17)

27 Peace I leave with you; My [perfect] peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. [Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.]  (John 14:27)

3 Blessed and worthy of praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ, 4 just as [in His love] He chose us in Christ [actually selected us for Himself as His own] before the foundation of the world, so that we would be holy [that is, consecrated, set apart for Him, purpose-driven] and blameless in His sight. In love 5 He predestined and lovingly planned for us to be adopted to Himself as [His own] children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the kind intention and good pleasure of His will— 6 to the praise of His glorious grace and favor, which He so freely bestowed on us in the Beloved [His Son, Jesus Christ].  (Ephesians 1:3-6)

1 Peter, an apostle (special messenger, personally chosen representative) of Jesus Christ,
To those [elect—both Jewish and Gentile believers] who live as exiles, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia [Minor], and Bithynia, who are chosen 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by the sanctifying work of the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace [that special sense of spiritual well-being] be yours in increasing abundance [as you walk closely with God].
3 Blessed [gratefully praised and adored] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant and boundless mercy has caused us to be born again [that is, to be reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose] to an ever-living hope and confident assurance through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 [born anew] into an inheritance which is imperishable [beyond the reach of change] and undefiled and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are being protected and shielded by the power of God through your faith for salvation that is ready to be revealed [for you] in the last time. (1 Peter 1:1-5)

No matter what challenges you face…

No matter what experiences you’ve had with your earthly father…

No matter what hurts you’ve suffered in the past…

No matter how many sins you’ve committed…

[bctt tweet=”No matter what…. …your Heavenly Father is there for you, reaching out to you with open arms of love. ” username=”@marygscro”] God’s promises are true, His love for you is limitless, His mercies never fail but are new every morning. His peace is yours for the asking through His son Jesus Christ.

Won’t you ask today?

 

Mary Graziano Scro, a graduate of Christian Communicators Conference, is an inspirational author, speaker, and blogger who intuitively weaves analogies and personal testimony with practical biblical teaching. Whether “live” or at the keyboard, Mary loves sharing what God has done in her life to encourage others about the awesome life God has planned for us, IF we are willing to choose wisely in our everyday lives (John 8:31-32). And it’s not only about us – the more we invest in our own unique relationship with Jesus, the more visible He is to a world that desperately needs Him.

You can reach Mary on:

Facebook: Mary Graziano Scro https://www.facebook.com/don.mary.scro

Twitter: @marygscro

LinkedIn: Mary Graziano Scro  https://www.linkedin.com/pub/mary-scro/11/600/a4b

Blogs: Life Is Not A Formula at www.marygscro.com

Categories
Guest Posts

What to Do When You Are Told You Are Not Enough by Whitney Ward

Have you ever been told you are not enough?

For whatever reason and no matter who you hear it from, being told you do not measure up is difficult to hear.

How do I know what it feels like to be told I am not enough? My whole life I have lived with a chronic Primary Immunodeficiency, (PI), called MAGIS Syndrome. Having a PI meant my immune system didn’t work properly. Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio became my home away from home.

There were so many things I would have loved to do and be involved in, but my lack of energy prevented it. The unpredictability that came with my disease caused me to be isolated, lonely, and unqualified. I often felt like people my age were experiencing normal life milestones and my life had just stopped.

I was just not enough.

So, what do you do when you are made to feel you are not enough?

First of all, remember who created you. John 1:3 says that we are all made by God.  In fact, there is not one thing that was not made by Him. When someone makes you feel “less than,” remind yourself God created you and allow your creator to use your story for His glory.

Secondly, when individuals question whether you can accomplish a goal you have set out to obtain, ask yourself this question: “Am I setting goals that fall in line with the passions and talents God has created within me or am I trying to accomplish a goal that is meant for someone else?” It is tough when someone questions our ability, but it may be God’s way of checking our true motives to get us back to what His purpose is for us. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 teaches Christians are a body and we all have a special part God has given us.

No one is the same; we are all unique. Someone else’s goal may seem more impactful than your talents, but remember God knows the exact reason He has given you the part He has and He has already ordained what lives you will touch and minister to because of the dream He has planted in your heart. You may not see the fruits immediately, but keep working for His Kingdom, because God knows the perfect time for your fruit to bloom.

Lastly, if your answer to the above question is yes, you are setting goals that fall in line with the talents God has created within you, then do not dare stop reaching for those dreams no matter what is said to you, or how you are made to feel. Some people may think you are inadequate, but God knows you are more than adequate. Psalm 37:4-5 tells us if we serve the Lord and trust in Him, not only will He give us the desires of our heart, but He will bring them to pass. Not everyone might approve or agree with the path you have chosen, but that is okay as long as you are working towards God’s perfect will and plan for your life.

Remember how I shared there were things I would have loved to do and be involved in, but could not because of my disease?

Guess what?

While I waited, I served the Lord and I trusted Him, He began healing me of my illness and all of those dreams and desires have come to pass. Not only did I graduate from high school, but I have a Bachelor’s in Creative Writing. I have gone on six mission trips, and three of them have been overseas. I am a member at my local gym and I work out at least three times a week. I volunteer for a non-profit called the Immune Deficiency Foundation, helping others who have chronic illnesses. I am now a Sunday School teacher, work in Vacation Bible School, and youth camp at my home church. I have seen when God brings something to pass, He goes above and beyond, just as Ephesians 3:20 promises. It has put a drive in me not to just settle for “some” of God’s blessings and good gifts, but to go all out seeking and reaching for all He has to offer.

This is exactly what I encourage you to do as well. People are human, and they may say hurtful things, but remember Who created you. You are not an accident. Determine in your heart you are working towards the calling and mission God has given you. If you are, do not let anyone stop you from achieving EVERYTHING God has for you, because to Him you are not just enough, you are MORE THAN ENOUGH.

Whitney Ward graduated from Asbury University with a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and a minor in Journalism. Whitney struggles with a rare lifelong disease. She has shared her journey at various venues, and resides in Rubyville, Ohio, attending Rubyville Community Church, teaching Sunday School to 1st and 2nd graders, and manages the church’s website.

Categories
Writer Encouragement

…. Be An Encourager

In a solitary profession like writing, sometimes the thought of being an encourager to other writers might not occur to us. After all, we are taught to be creative, get good edits done, submit to publishers, etc., etc. The list is long and, in most cases, self-directed towards “me, myself, and I.”

Encourage someone else, you might say? It’s all I can do to meet my deadlines, get book proposals done, sign up for conferences, get a few moments of sleep … We are truly self-driven humans with much on our agenda.

Stopping for a moment to look around and see the other writers in our circle of acquaintances and spend time encouraging them might seem like more than you can handle with your schedule of things to be done. But there is a simple phrase that might find a home in your thinking: What goes around, comes around.

I’m not saying that we should only encourage others because we think we will get something out of it, although you likely will. But think of all the unofficial mentors who have helped you along the way. Perhaps a fellow writer you met at a conference who gave a pertinent piece of advice. Or another writer who offered to critique your first chapter or a book proposal and give you feedback.

If you stop and think, I imagine you would come up with a list of several more experienced wordsmiths who have smiled at you and taken you under their wing in one way or another. I am so grateful for the numerous writer-friends who have taken even a moment’s time to encourage me along the way. I know they had better things to do. But they chose to help me in one way or another and I’ll never forget their kindness.

You may struggle with such feelings as, “what if I don’t know enough to be helpful?” Chances are you know some aspect of writing that will encourage another struggling author. If you don’t, try to find someone who you know can help them and connect the two.

You may honestly be at a point in your writing where your schedule is swamped with edits, deadlines, and toddlers that need to be potty-trained. If you are stretched to the max at the moment, be honest, especially if someone is requesting an endorsement for a book. That requires reading the whole manuscript and may push your “To-Do” list over the edge!!

Be truthful.  You might say you can’t help now but perhaps with their next book. Don’t leave them hanging without hope for help. Always try to encourage.

Conference season is here, so look around at that venue for wordsmiths that you’ve longed to attend. Be aware of those sitting next to you and be kind. They may have arrived at conference feeling discouraged and hopeless. You may be the one that can re-set their hope. But you need to look past yourself and become their encourager.

Carry on.

Elaine Marie Cooper is the award-winning author of Fields of the Fatherless and Bethany’s Calendar. Her latest release (Saratoga Letters) was finalist in Historical Romance in both the Selah Awards and Next Generation Indie Book Awards. She penned the three-book Deer Run Saga and has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies. She freely admits to being a history geek. Look for her upcoming series set in Revolutionary War Connecticut. The 4-book series is entitled Dawn of America. You can visit her site at www.elainemariecooper.com

 

Categories
Child's Craft

Quit or Trust God?

I crossed paths with Satan, the other day. He was dressed in his original disguise, as a six-foot long, shiny, slithering black serpent. How do I know it was Satan? He induced fear in me. Fear is not of God.

I was running with my dog, at the White Water Center on one of the many beautiful trails when this slimy thing slithered up to the path. I screamed. Though I kept running and at a faster pace, every shiny tree root looked like a slithering slimy serpent. I ran in fear and realized it. I spoke out loud to God confessing my fear then asked Him how I was supposed to run and not fear about running across another snake.

“Did that snake hurt you?” God seemed to ask.

“No, he just scared me.”

“What were you scared of?”

“That he’d bite me or my dog.”

“Did it bite you?”

“No, but the next one might.”

“Will fear protect you from getting bitten by the next snake?”

“No, only You can protect me from that.”

“Then fear not, my child.”

I had three choices at that moment. I could quit, run in fear, or trust God.

Has Satan slithered into your writing life?

When I first began writing, I didn’t tell anyone I was writing a book. What if it never got accepted? What if people made fun of me for trying to be a writer. What if I quit, then they’d know that I’d quit or maybe they’d think I was trying to be something I’m not.

All of the above did happen and I survived it all. I’ve been rejected a gazillion times, I’ve been made fun of for trying to write and I quit temporarily. But it was all inconsequential. At least I tried.

What fear paralyzes you in your writing? Others are better? You’ll never get published, nobody will read your stuff, nobody will like your stuff? Friends, none of that is from God!

You have three choices. You can quit, write in fear, or trust God.

I read this recently, though I’m not sure where it came from:

“If God showed you all He had planned for you, it would boggle your mind. If you could see the doors that would open, the opportunities that will cross your path, and the people who will show up, you would be so amazed, excited and passionate, it would be easy to set your mind toward victory.

That is what faith is about. You’ve got to believe it before you see it. God’s favor is surrounding you like a shield. Every set back is set up for a comeback. Every bad break, every disappointment, every person who does you wrong is part of the plan to get you where you’re supposed to be.”

Are you gonna fear this? Or believe it?

You have three choices, but I’m here to say, Satan wins in two of those choices. Trust God. Keep the faith and keep writing! Don’t quit. Rebuke Satan. Resist that slimy devil. Rebuke the fear. Don’t stop! Give it another day, take a break, commit to the calling. Trust in God’s timing. You can do it! Let Him plan your course. Simply be obedient as you are indeed doing! You can do it!

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7

Categories
The Ministry of Writing

God Will Bring the Pieces of Your Writing Calling Together

Allowed for reuse. The original can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/theilr/345056969.

So God has called you to write. You have a “writing calling”.

He has burdened your heart to share a particular message, to tell your story, to tell someone else’s story, or to create a powerful creative piece.

The Holy Spirit has guided you to use your gift, talent, or love of writing to glorify the Father.

You know typing away on your laptop merging creativity and craft places you in the center of God’s perfect Will.

Therefore you have pushed through. You have been obedient to write. You are obedient in continuing to write. You know you are doing what the Lord wants you to do.

But…

The project is overwhelming and you feel like it will never end.

The critique was brutal — you have so much to learn.

After receiving your work back from the editor there is so much left to be done.

You are on your eight rejection letter.

It has been three months since the agent’s last email, but he seemed so interested.

You have been writing for six years and nothing has been published.

So did you hear God right? Is writing really what He wants you to do? I believe so. And I know that if you are doing what God has called you to do and are following the Spirit’s guidance that God will come through. I completely trust that God provides and equips us to fulfill whatever he has called us to do.

I believe it because that is what Scripture teaches:

From Hebrews 13:20–21:

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Don’t give up. God will come through. That impossible project will get done. You will grow and develop into the writer He needs you to be. He is going to open that door. [bctt tweet=”God will answer your prayers. He is going to accomplish through you what He purposes.”]

One day it will come together.

Being an 80’s kid I have had my share of Rubik’s Cubes. None of them have ever been completed. I also never followed through with my idea to bypass the work and repaint the squares.

I’m sure you are familiar with one of these devices of torture. It is a cube so there are six sides. Within this cube there are nine squares on each side. Those squares can be one of six colors. The goal is to maneuver them in such a way that one whole side of the cube becomes a solid color.

A Rubik’s Cube being conquered is a pipe dream for me. Its completion is in the realm of capturing a unicorn or finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow to me, but it has been done.

Interestingly in his book, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, author and pastor Mark Batterson wrote that God working in our lives can be like a Rubik’s Cube. Like someone beginning to be victorious with the cube it can appear the task God has placed on our hearts will never come to pass. But eventually those random pieces begin to line up and finally a complete picture comes into view.

Again I have never accomplished this task, but I have seen it done. It’s amazing to see. For a while it looks as if the one working the cube has no clue what they are doing. Everything is a mess — nothing lines up. Then eventually — boom — the colors begin to line up. The cube begins to take shape. It appears that the task may actually be accomplished. Then it happens — the cube is done.

Once it’s done one wonders why it was so hard to do in the first place.

This is how God will work in your writing.

Right now, in your current situation you may feel your writing is going nowhere. You may feel like all the little pieces will never line up, but don’t give up. Over the horizon the puzzle of your calling will come together, and you will wonder why it ever seemed so hard.

It is then you will know with certainty that God Will Bring the Pieces of Your Writing Calling Together.