Tag: encouragement for writers

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God-Given, Weird, Unexplainable–Joy!


For the last decade, I’ve prayed for God to give me a word to meditate and think on throughout the year. In 2010, the word was “peace,” and God used the word to convict and heal me of a tendency to worry.

In January 2011, I felt impressed to begin concentrating on the word “joy.” And like a pig-tailed toddler with a sweet tooth, I had pictures of God giving me presents. Maybe He would overwhelm me with material blessings (I entered the HGTV Dream Home giveaway several times, just in case). Perhaps He was going to provide a huge advance check for a writing project…or send me on a national television show to gain much-needed exposure for my blog.

As you can see, my thoughts leaned toward the selfish, temporary, and trivial. I’m so glad He knows what we REALLY need.

I won’t bore you with all the circumstances that hit our family in 2011. Suffice it to say, we were shaken and stretched in ways we never imagined. But in the midst of stressful moments–such as when my father underwent emergency triple bypass surgery–I felt peace, instead of fear. Not that I didn’t have moments of panic, mind you. But when worry showed up like a scorned lover, I took a deep breath and told him: “Get lost. I’ve got a new beau, and He’s not going anywhere.”

Mostly, it worked. 🙂

Just like the arteries near my dad’s ticker were bypassed by a skillful surgeon, my heart had been strengthened the previous year by God’s gentle scalpel of truth. I’m so thankful He tirelessly fought the stronghold of anxiety that had crept into my life.

Want to know something else? During 2011 and into 2012, God DID give me a present, wrapped in a great big, blood-red bow: weird, unexplainable  joy.

It is a spiritual gift, after all–just not one we talk about very much. My friend Megan says, “Joy’s not sexy, like wealth or prosperity. But it’s longer-lasting.”

I like that.

Joy means counting our blessings, both tiny and immense, while the world moans and heaves and believes all is lost.

Joy overcomes me when my eight-year-old cuddles with me and shows me his cursive practice. Joy warms my heart when my hubby texts me–because he misses me. And joy bubbles up when my teenager says, “I love you Mom!” out of the blue (it doesn’t happen often, believe me).

JOY is simply this: Jesus, at work in us, to do what we can’t do on our own.

There are many verses about joy, but one of my favorites is Psalm 28:7–“The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.” 

My heart has leaped as I’ve spent time with Him. And as I’ve learned to take joy in His presence, He has given me a few answers to the desires of my heart, as well. Those “hugs” from my Father have satisfied my desire to know He’s listening, while whetting my appetite for more of Him–not just His blessings.

As Neh. 8:10 says, “The joy of the Lord is my strength.”

It has been, and it will continue to be. I am praying the same for you.

Photo credit: hotblack from morguefile.com

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Standing as a Writer, a Lesson Learned from My Daughter with Down Syndrome

My four children are blessings.

But they also make it challenging for me as a writer to, well, write.

After reading Heather St. James’ hilarious post last week about writing with kids in tow, a thought occurred to me. Yes, it is challenging to write with kids, but they also are life-sized object lessons to spur on my pursuit of publication.

Here’s an example.

Our third daughter, Polly, who was born with Down syndrome, has low muscle tone. When she was two and a half years old she wasn’t close to walking, so her therapist suggested a stander; a wooden contraption with Velcro and steel to buckle your child into. The hope was that Polly would bear weight on her legs, build muscle, and start to tolerate the sensation of standing.

She was to stand for three hours. Every. Day. Did I mention she was two?

The first few days Polly was ambivalent. “Polly, time to stand,” I’d sign and say (sign language at the time being her primary form of communication), and she’d shrug her shoulders as I strapped her in.

Soon, though, she grew combative. She learned a few tricks, like to hike her rear up over the thick leather strap to make a seat to rest on, or to pull the Velcro strap apart one-handed, thus freeing herself from her therapeutic shackles.

I’d raise my eyebrow, and she’d look at me like, “What? I’m standing?”

The season of the stander was a difficult time for our family. But the strength my daughter acquired was undeniable. After two months, she pulled to stand on her own, with a triumphant, cheeky grin plastered on her face.

How does this relate to writing?

When I first started writing, I don’t think I actually wanted to write. I wanted to be known as a writer. I wanted to see my name in print. I craved the imagined silence of hours ticking away at a computer somewhere, alone, without my kids hanging on my legs.

But I lacked writing muscle. When it actually came to “butt on the chair” time (to quote Mary DeMuth in her book 11 Secrets to Getting Published), I waxed and waned between ambivalence and combativeness. I wanted to write the next great American story in one sitting. I didn’t want to have to work at it.

I discovered that good writing demanded writing muscles: write consistently, set deadlines, read about the craft of writing, learn from others living a writing life. Also, growing muscle required humility. I needed to ‘fess up’ when I, like Polly, tampered with the shackles of a literary life and attempted to squirm free.

If I let myself get out of hard work consistently, I will never learn to stand as a writer.

Sometimes when I write, the vision of Polly in her stander pops up in my mind. There are several other things besides writing, too numerous and embarrassing to list, that I try to sabotage in my life. I kick. I undo. I push.

My daughter–patient, diligent, and courageous in her daily attempts to do things I take for granted–teaches me a valuable lesson.

If I want to publish a book, or even as Papa Hemingway says, “write one true sentence,” I need to put in the time, effort, humility, and courage to grow strong enough to stand on my own as a writer.

P.S. An update on Polly. She is now six years old. She walks, runs, climbs stairs and in fact, we can’t get her to slow down.

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The Bookstore Blues

If you want to induce an anxiety attack in me, take me into a bookstore.

I’m not talking about doing a bookstore book signing, either. I’m talking about walking into a bookstore to browse, to wander aimlessly among the shelves, to read titles on spines and admire book displays. I stroll through the aisles, suddenly paralyzed by the enormity of talent that lays before me between book covers.

I’m terrified.

The reason for my reaction is that walking into a bookstore brings me face-to-face with what I am attempting to do with my writing career: competing with all the other authors out there for readers. It unleashes a storm of insecurities inside me.

Why would someone choose my book to read over all those others?

What value does my book have in comparison to the other thousand on the shelf?

Did I write a good story?

Did I write an adequate one?

Can anyone even find my book amid everyone else’s?

Who would be willing to pay money for it?

What was I thinking?!

And then I recall a pivotal conversation with a dear friend of mine, my mentor and an accomplished author in his own right. “You should write a book,” he said.

“I know,” I replied, voicing the nagging desire I’d felt for years. “But why would anyone want to read what I have to say?”

“Because no one else can say it in the same way as you will,” he assured me. “Every one of us experiences life in a way unique to us, and that’s what you’ll bring to the table. Whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, no one will tell it like you will.”

Encouraged by his confidence in me, I took the plunge and wrote a non-fiction book about personal spirituality. The first publisher who was interested in the manuscript wanted me to change the perspective to reach a different audience than I had originally intended; I wrote the book for adult Christians, but he wanted to revise it and aim it at adolescents. I did something that I now (as a much more experienced author!) marvel at – I told him “thanks, but no thanks.” I believed in the value of what I had written and for whom I had written it, and even if it meant I had to continue looking for a publisher, I would do it. Eventually, I did find the right house and the book was published.

And then I learned, the hard way, that I was almost solely responsible for marketing it.

I had no idea what to do. The book never took off, although it sold enough copies for me to savor being an author.

I vowed if I ever wrote another book, I would do it differently.

Differently may be an understatement.

Now I write fiction – both humor and suspense – and market aggressively. I love what I do, and I know that if just one reader enjoys my book, I’ll be glad I wrote it.

But I still try very hard to stay out of bookstores.

What keeps you writing when you think of your book afloat in a sea of competition?

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Four Ways to Untangle Your Writing Life

Image/FreeDigitalPhotos.net There’s something about chaos in my home office that infuriates me.

As I attempted to help my husband install a new computer, the jumbled mess of wires overwhelmed me. Lying on the floor, flat on my back, reaching under my desk, I needed more than a flashlight and my glasses to see where to plug in the cables. I wanted something to calm my frazzled nerves.

At times, I also find myself overwhelmed with the tangled web of my writing life. I have so many projects going at once that I can’t focus on the most important ones.

So, how do we unravel the emotions and confusion of our writing lives?

Stop and take inventory. As I inspected the knotted wires behind my desk, I saw that each wire needed to be threaded back through a narrow space under my desk and poked through a small round cutout in the desktop, before I could connect my new PC. I took a deep breath and thought about my angry reaction to my husband’s request. We had purchased the new computer for my writing needs, and he needed me to crawl under the desk because of his old college knee injuries.

Since I tend to overreact at times, my routine frustration over my harried writing schedule serves as a warning sign for me to stop and reassess my priorities. I try to remember to seek God first for guidance. Have I made too many commitments again? Do I need to redefine the boundaries of my work and my everyday life? 

Make some space. After we pulled the computer desk away from the wall to allow space to work, I found that the electrical supplies to my paper shredder, stapler, hole-puncher, and phone charger complicated my task. I unplugged all of them and moved the equipment, so I could focus on just the computer wiring.

Sometimes I also need to back away from my writing life to gain perspective, especially before making new commitments. My other activities, projects, and life issues contribute to my inability to manage my time. I’ve considered enrolling in the course, “Managing Multiple Priorities,” but I could never find the time.

Sort through the maze. Before I unplugged our old computer, I decided to tag each cord at its connection to each device. Then, I sorted the cables and bundled the wires with plastic ties. 

Prioritizing my writing projects requires more than plastic cable ties. The process motivates me to evaluate my passions and interests to see if each project meshes with my overall plans. My impulsivity often leads me astray. And someone else’s requests can produce unnecessary and avoidable stress.

Go forward. After installing my new unit, I expressed my appreciation to my husband for his help, and I thanked the Lord for giving me the patience and the helping hands I needed.

The writing life offers temptations and distractions daily. I’d prefer to believe that I have my writing life in order. But with every new task, I experience a learning curve. I’m well aware that I’m still a work in progress.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith …
(Heb. 12:1 NIV1984).

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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“This I Believe”: Creating a Writer’s Manifesto

Making another addition to the Manifesto!

This I Believe was a series of wildly successful radio broadcasts hosted by Edward Murrow from 1951 to 1955. Murrow introduced the series this way:

“’This I Believe. By that name, we bring you a new series of radio broadcasts presenting the personal philosophies of thoughtful men and women in all
walks of life. In this brief time each night, a banker or a butcher, a painter or a social worker, people of all kinds who need have nothing more in common
than integrity—a real honesty—will talk out loud about the rules they live by, the things they have found to be the basic values in their lives.”

What are the rules we live by as writers? What are the “basic values” in our art? Few of us have taken the time in the midst of our writing lives to identify what we believe about writing, about our work as writers, about its place in the world. I had been writing for decades before I began to form my own credo. Almost immediately, I discovered it was a powerful antidote against the many discouragements we face as writers. And the tonic begins the moment you start composing. But wait! There are rules to follow as you begin.

1. Have fun with it. This IS about ultimate things, but it’s NOT about perfection–grammatical, linguistic, or otherwise.

2. Don’t worry about originality. Many other writers have expressed brilliant thoughts before us. Beg, borrow, and steal from them (with attribution, of course!).

3. Consider it a living document that will grow, deepen, and re-shape as you move further into your art and your faith.

4. Post it somewhere you can see it, so it can prod, re-focus, and inspire you as you work.

That’s it. So here is part of my ever-changing manifesto. I share it with you simply as an illustration. Each writer’s credo will bear the marks of her own passage and thought.

* There is no part of human experience that is not worthy of attention, illumination, and restoration.

* I commit to writing not simply out of curiosity, out of delight in words, or a desire to entertain. All these are good enough motives, but will produce lesser works. My best and most honest writing will be done where my skin meets the world in the thinnest, rawest places.

* Writing is a vocation, a calling, a kind of pilgrimage that takes us, like Abraham, from one land to another, through, of course, wastelands, where the promise of a promised land appears invisible and impossible, but the writing inexorably, day by day, moves us closer to holiness, the city of God.

* Words contain power to slay and to resuscitate. Every work describing the world as it truly is will do both: there cannot be resuscitation without death; there cannot be death without resuscitation.

* Writing is a response back to a word-creating God who invites us–just as he invited Adam–to name all that is, to complete a creation that is still undone, still unfinished. We speak back because creation was intended to be a conversation, not a monologue.

* Writing recognizes that faith and spirit are not disembodied abstract ideas, but are incarnated in the world around us. Our faith calls us to the things of this world—to mud and fish slime, to huckleberries and stingrays— to love them, to speak their names, to find in them the glory that was spoken into their very cells.

* Writing from faith is not an attempt to contain or explicate God, to unravel mystery, the wonders that surround us, but rather to articulate mystery, that it may draw us, first, to the edge of his cloak, then closer . . .

Enjoy the process! And count us in! Share at least one of your own writing beliefs with all of us here. Perhaps we’ll add yours to our own!

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Take Beautiful Pictures with Instagram

I get random questions from people all the time, “Ingrid, how do I block my Aunt Beatrice who won’t stop tagging me in pictures that are not even of me?” These are the things I know. These are simple things to me, but to some of you figuring this out is like wrestling with air: impossible. So I always love your input on what to learn and how you can better use your social media skills to influence your tribe and build your readership.

What is happening in my social media world? My new obsession: Instagram!

Yes, I am a little bit late to this game, I know. (It is very rare that I am tardy, but on this one my friends, I AM!) My friends have all had it for a few years, and I have watched them. I have played with it many times, but it was for the “elite” iphone users. I have had T-mobile for years, and yes, they lock you into a contract, and then you are stuck. But Instagram for Android was released a few months ago, and I hopped on the bandwagon with no convincing.

Instagram is doing well. In case you didn’t know, Facebook bought Instagram for 1 billion dollars. You don’t even know what Instagram is? Well, check this out. Here is a picture of mine; right now I am at the Telluride Blue Grass festival.

What is Instagram? Instagram is a free and fun way to share your life with family and friends with edited fun photos. Each picture is taken through your iphone or android phone. You then choose to edit your photo through with very different filters. Instagram’s intuitive set up lets you link your photo to your social media world, either via Twitter or Facebook.

As an author, Instagram can be a valuable tool in using pictures to tell stories about your life and the life of your books.

1. Maybe if it is a novel, you can post pictures of things related to your characters; be creative. I would love to hear your ideas about how you can use this tool to create more buzz and excitement for your books.

2. Connect with your audience, your readers, and your friends. Publish your fun photos. Be creative and show a little bit of your world without intruding into your private world. Use this as a valuable tool to connect. It is a necessity to connect with your readers visually. Help paint them pictures of things you want them to understand about your books.

3. Hash tag your photos like you do on Twitter, and if you can, pick the same Twitter name for your Instagram name. I would love to hear your feedback and see your Instagram photos.

Follow me at @gridlocked on Instagram and Twitter. ☺ Let’s take beautiful and inspiring pictures.

P.S. My favorite new joke: How much does a hipster weigh? An Instagram. If you don’t get it, don’t worry. 🙂

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A Writer’s Flash-Point

Life is packed with flash-points, moments of ignition, moments when something contagious is sparked.

A few years back as a freelance writer for national and international magazines, I nurtured an until-then-dormant desire in the recesses of my heart: I wanted to write a book. I had no idea what book, but it sure sounded glamorous. Jo Ann Fore – Author.

I envisioned days penning words in a secluded cabin surrounded by soaring mountains and pristine lake waters—which would lead to countless fans, best-seller lists, and media engagements, of course.

My fantasy lived a number of quiet years before I joined the ranks of thousands of others who had made writing a book an official goal. I was proud of my fearless move. I did it. I set the goal! That much closer to authorhood.

Funny thing though, verbalizing that goal always led to the inevitable question: What are you writing?

What am I writing? (Flashpoint One.)

I really didn’t know.  All I knew was someday I was going to write a book. I had dreamed of writing a book probably since I held my first crayon.  But, someday.  Someday when I had more time, when my daughter was grown, when life wasn’t so hectic.

My husband, Matt, taught me a valuable lesson about the word “someday.” When he and I dated, I was extremely commitment-shy after having escaped a not-so-great (okay, horrific) marriage. Today Matt and I joke about the countless pre-proposals he tossed out before he got to the real one. Consistently he asked, “Will you marry me?” This both warmed my heart and petrified me. Feeling a bit bi-polar each time he asked, I simply smiled and said, “Someday.”

Until the day Matt called me out. “Maybe you dangle it just far enough out of reach to avoid the reality. There’s really nothing intentional about the word someday.”

Once he was serious about his proposal, he let me know that “someday” was going to have to move to a set date. We just celebrated our seventh anniversary. If I kept saying “someday” I may have lost this amazing husband.

I was unknowingly sabotaging one of my greatest desires. (Flashpoint Two.) And now, I was doing the same thing with my aspirations to write a book.

It was time to drill this thing down. What am I writing? I want to help hurting women. I want to offer lasting hope and practical application. So, what is my message?

Once I articulated that, I could move forward. After I settled the premise of my work I was ready to write. (Flashpoint Three.) That was the day the book became more than a dream, more than a goal. It became an intentional laser-focused choice.

Along these lines, Huffington Post’s Complete Guide to Blogging offers a great exercise we can use to nail down the focus of our book: “What is your point? How would you explain your point to a batty, slightly deaf relative in one sentence? Write that sentence down. This is the gist of your piece.”

I would love to see your answers in the comments section below.

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On Becoming an Artist

“Red boathouse at sunset” by Karen L. Macek

Last year, I realized something that changed the way I look at myself and my writing.

I am an artist.

Over the course of my writing career, I’ve called myself many things: journalist, essayist, columnist, editor, reporter, researcher.  (I’ve also called myself other names at times, like stubborn, stupid, crazy, and masochist – especially when I’ve struggled to meet writing deadlines.) When I began writing fiction a few years ago, I added the descriptors of novelist, author, plot architect, and starry-eyed dreamer.

But artist?

Not in a million years.

For me, ‘art’ always referred to visual or performance genres. Art is the domain of my sister when she paints beautiful marsh landscapes in oils on canvas. Art is my daughter bringing a character to life on the stage, or playing haunting melodies on a flute or piano, or throwing clay on a wheel to transform it into a smoothly shaped bowl. Art is the creation of something new and tangible, and though I produced countless pages of words, I just never felt it rated as ‘art.’ I didn’t use paints, or clay, or costumes or musical instruments; my tool was a word processor, and my product was all in my head. And, with any luck, the heads of my readers.

Galley material, yes, but gallery worthy?

Not even close.

As far as I was concerned, writing was simple information management – collecting information, fitting it together (coherently, hopefully), and passing it on to readers. Whether it was just reporting the facts or organizing disparate information into a mystery novel, it was all about language skills and communication. Not Art with a capital “A.”

But then one day I was helping my daughter fill out a personality inventory, and I came across a section that listed occupations. I looked for the usual category of ‘Writer,’ but couldn’t find it in any of the traditional places I expected to see it. Instead, it was lumped under the category of “Art.”

The longer I thought about that label, the more I realized that what I do when I write truly is Art. Like any painter or musician or sculptor or actor, I look at the world around me and then translate my own experience of it into a new form, a personal, one-of-a-kind articulation of what is, or might be. I have a vision of life that ‘colors’ my representation and allows me to penetrate the surface of what I see to get at the heart of what lies beneath. Maybe my lens of choice is humor, or inspiration, or romance, or fantasy, but whatever it is, it helps me bring a freshness to my subject that is the essence of artistic endeavor.

I create with words, and not only is it my calling, but my sacred trust.

And now that I understand it that way, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that I’m an artist. After all, my Father is too, you know.

Do you consider yourself an artist?

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With Us Here Tonight

Shortly after my first book was published, I gave a book talk at our local library.

Then I gave another talk at another library. And then a third library.

Then a Rotary Club called me. A few months later, I found myself the featured speaker at a Shriners dinner. Last month I presented a talk at the National Eagle Center. Birding festivals, book conferences, annual meetings, schools, service organizations–I’ve addressed them all.

Wait a minute. I thought I was a writer, not a speaker.

Guess what? Book authors get to do both!

The fact is, you NEED to do both if you’re going to successfully build your readership and market your writing. That means you should work on your public speaking skills, and the best way to do that is to take every opportunity you find for a speaking engagement. Develop the following five types of speeches, and you’ll be ready for anyone!

The Sound Bite is the one you will use a bazillion times. It’s the one-liner you’ll utter every time someone asks you what your book is about. It’s also one of the hardest to compose because you need to distill your book and its value down to one sentence. My sound bite for my series is “The Birder Murders is a humorous series about a really nice guy who happens to find bodies when he’s out birding.”

The Book Talk is the speech that focuses on your book’s content. If it’s nonfiction, you can give a general review of the topic itself, or focus on just one chapter’s point and why it’s important. If it’s fiction, you discuss characters, their relationships, the plot, how you came up with all of it, what you want to accomplish with it. This works best with audiences who have already read your book because they will have questions about what they’ve learned and/or enjoyed from reading it.

The Business Talk is about your experience with the publishing business of being an author. The changes we’ve seen in publishing, including the growth of e-books and marketing paradigms, is a topic that appeals to audiences composed of business people or future authors.

The Writing Talk is about your own process of writing a book. Do you do research? Conduct interviews? Journal or set word goals? The beauty of a Writing Talk is that it is appropriate for a variety of groups, and depending on the slant you give it for the group you’re addressing, it works equally well as a classroom talk, a keynote address for a gathering of library supporters, an awards speech, a writers conference, a book club… you name it.

The Topic Talk is the newest talk in my own arsenal of speeches. Because my books are about nature, I’ve started giving talks about nature education and conservation issues. If it is mentioned in my books, it’s fair game for a talk and a great way to use extra research.

Here is a great resource to help you to continue to develop your public speaking skills.

What talks could you present for your book? Do you have any ideas for talks that I have not mentioned?

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Fame and Fortune

Twenty-three years ago, when I first began writing a humor column for our local newspaper, my editor told me that I could expect local fame, but no fortune.

Today, I know he was right.

And wrong.

He was right because within a few months of my byline’s first appearance, I had a stranger come up to me at the local ice skating rink and tell me how much he enjoyed my column. Even bundled up in my parka and stumbling around on the ice with my children, he recognized me, thanks to the photo that accompanied my column. I thanked him for reading and promised myself to never leave the house again until I’d at least applied some mascara.

Fame makes so many demands on a writer.

My editor was wrong, however, when it came to the fortune part. True, I received a mere $5 a week for the short column I labored over for days, and no New York book agent or Hollywood scriptwriter came knocking at my door offering me any contracts. My net income from writing is abysmal, I’m still clipping coupons for groceries, and my husband politely refrains from laughing each year when he prepares to file my taxes.

But my fortune has steadily grown over the years and sometimes even surprises me with dividends I didn’t know I’d earned.

My fortune lies in every reader I have reached and in every life I have touched, whether I know about it or not.

This realization came to me especially powerfully a few months ago. I had an email on my author website from a woman I’d never met, asking me if I would give her permission to use my poem in an online anthology she was preparing for young mothers. When she told me the name of the poem – “A Mother’s Midnight Prayer” – I was stunned, since I’d written it 17 years ago, and it had appeared in a monthly magazine to which I occasionally contributed. The woman told me someone had given her my poem to read, and that it had inspired her in the course of many long nights with her own children. She also told me that my poem appeared on several websites for moms, and lo and behold, when I searched  for my own poem, I did, indeed, find it on the web, always with my name attached, and often accompanied by reader comments noting how meaningful they found my poem. One reader even reported that she’d had my poem on her refrigerator door for years, reminding her to cherish the fleeting days of her children’s early years.

To connect with others in our humanity and love – this is why I write, and it’s worth more than any material fortune could hold.

What unexpected dividends have you experienced in your writing life?