Writing and God's call

My posts here have dwindled in recent months.  I've enjoyed writing essays about the journey with Jesus. Although I am not ready to call this blog complete, the light is flickering out.

However, I have begun a new blog entitled A Writing Adventure, where I am trying to capture some of my random exploration in writing a mystery novel.  My focus hasn't changed:  to honor God is what I write and I have felt his call to this new field of fiction writing.  Please join me at A Writing Adventure. 

Story

I was in Colorado Springs last weekend for  the Peak Fiction Writers Conference and was reminded again of the importance of story.

God, of course, knew that and connected with our minds and emotions through story.  The Bible is filled with narratives about people who came to understand God better through some amazing circumstances.

Here's the summary for the story of Ruth: two widows are destitute but God redeems them.  The book of Ruth is so much better!

Look at this one:  A boy trusts God and defeats a giant soldier with a stone.  Or read the story of David and Goliath.  No comparison.

So go read a story today!

No praise due

“I was but a Pen in God's hand,
and what praise is due to a Pen?"

Richard Baxter

Conference

Paul had to pull a small suitcase around on wheels because he had brought his entire manuscript for editors to read. Marie passed out bookmarks to everyone she met, because her book will launch in a couple of months. Jeff discussed the intricacies of fantasy writing while warning that fantasy doesn’t sell well in the Christian market.

My days at the Colorado Christian Writers’ Conference in Estes Park were a kaleidoscope of images and words. I asked God to give me interesting contacts during our meal times and his answers were fascinating. I met a book editor, a couple of authors whose books will be featured here at some point, and many new friends.

Several ministries were highlighted – and I’ll be featuring those in a weekly column for awhile.

Writers can set sidetracked onto the craft of our latest novel or how to meet a magazine’s deadlines. But we were reminded that we, as followers of Jesus, write for him.

In Habakkuk, the prophet declared, “I will climb up into my watchtower now and wait to see what the LORD will say to me and how he will answer my complaint.” (Hab 2:1)

Each of us gets to do that, to climb our watchtower and wait for the Lord.

But here’s the kicker. God gave Habakkuk this instruction: "Write my answer in large, clear letters on a tablet, so that a runner can read it and tell everyone else.” (Hab 2:2)

If you write, let it be God’s answer. If you read, be the runner who tells others what God has written.

Either way, be waiting and watching for God’s words.

On Writing: Whipped Cream

On the writing road, there’s a fork of decision. I’ve been promoting the path of the knife: cut out all the unnecessary and get to the meaning of the work. There’s another path that many wanna-be writers take: the way of the gushing.

. Sometimes reading the bad makes the good more obvious. Check these out (and remember that learning and writing should be fun, too):

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli, and he was room temperature Canadian beef.

5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.

8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.

10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.

Now do you see why I love the Michelangelo principle? Release the angel, don’t heap on the whipped cream.

On writing: Cut!

We’ve talked about writing with focus, because knowing the purpose of your piece controls your word choices. We’ve talked about trimming all that isn’t part of that focus, calling it Michelangelo’s angel.

Now, here’s another author’s advice to writers:

Less is more. Sometimes publishers hire me to rewrite a book. The author had a great idea but had trouble bringing the writing up to expectations. I've noticed that all these books have something in common: tons of unneeded words. I can say the same for many of the manuscripts I've read by aspiring writers. My rule is this: If you can get rid of a word without weakening the sentence, then do it. Don't hesitate. Don't waffle over it. Cut it. Squash it. Exorcise it. Evict the little bugger. He's a freeloader who snuck on the train when no one was looking. Do this for the whole book. Perform literary liposuction. When you do, you will be left with what we arrogant writers call "tight writing." Will you do it perfectly? No. Some time ago I was listening to an audio version of one of my books while I tortured myself on the treadmill. I caught myself saying, "Didn't need that word . . . Could have done without the adjective . . . what was I thinking?" So my advice in a word is: cut. I wish I had learned this sooner.

-Alton Gansky

Author interview: Debbie Fuller Thomas

Debbie Fuller Thomas has just published Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon. An interview with her follows:

Your story is about a mother whose daughter was switched at birth. How does Marty find out that her child was switched?
Marty's daughter, Ginger, is the victim of a fatal genetic disease, Neimann Pick Type C, which often strikes every sibling in a family. Marty is concerned for her other 2 daughters, and when it's determined that she and her ex-husband are not carriers of the disease they know something's not right.

Where did you get the idea for your story?
My inspiration for the book came straight out of real life from a news story I heard about two families fighting over switched-at-birth babies when one child is orphaned. Of course, the circumstances and setting in my story are different, and the characters are completely fictitious. But I knew it would be a heartbreaking dilemma for any parent, especially for one who had suffered through the death of a child she thought was hers.

Do you have a favorite character?
I would have to say Andie, because even at 13-years-old, she doesn't become a victim. She's a little quirky, and she's had to mature quickly. Even though she's developed an attitude toward God and her situation in general, she keeps it to herself most of the time, and we understand her need to vent occasionally.

On what level do you think women will identify with Marty, her biological mom?
I think most moms would understand the panic of discovering they had the wrong child, and the guilt at not realizing instinctively that something was wrong all along. On another level, Marty is a caregiver who sets aside her own dreams to nurture her family. As women, we often set aside our dreams out of necessity, guilt or lack of support from our families, but like Marty, we don't have to abandon our dreams completely.

The story is set at a drive-in movie theater. What led you to choose that setting?
I think there's a nostalgic winsomeness about drive-in theaters and I want to encourage families to take advantage of the few drive-ins that are still in operation. I remember the smell of hot coffee when my mother poured cups from the thermos, and falling asleep in the backseat with my pillow and blanket. There's a sense of intimacy and togetherness that comes from being alone with your family, even though hundreds of other people are watching the same movie. I also used the run-down condition of the Blue Moon Drive-in as a reflection of the relationship between Marty and Andie and of the condition of their spiritual lives when they first meet.

What is the meaning behind the title: Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon?
Tuesday night is family night at the Blue Moon Drive-in. Andie needs a family, and the desire of Marty's heart is for her dysfunctional family to be a whole again.

Who are some of the other interesting characters in your story?
Andie is sandwiched in the birth order between Winnie, the needy younger sister, and Deja, an older teen who is bitter about the situation. Some interesting dynamics that take place when the three of them interact, especially when mom has to work long hours and there's too much unsupervised together-time.

What is the message that you would like your readers to take away from Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon?
I believe that God is our Father and that we were created to commune with Him on a deep level, but sin orphans us. When we're open to it, God is ready and willing to re-claim and restore us as his children.


How did you begin your writing career?
I operated a home day care for 6 preschoolers when my children were young, and I was in desperate need of a distraction to keep my sanity. So I began to write a novel during their naptimes. I finished it in about 2 years. It was my 'practice novel' which gave me confidence and helped me plot the blueprint for Tuesday Night.


What advice would you give to someone starting out as a writer?
Don't quit. I sold the first article I ever sent to a publisher and didn't sell another thing for 19 years. It's not going to happen overnight. It's an apprenticeship - a craft to be honed. When you're tempted to give up, remember the encouraging things other writers, agents or editors have said about your writing. If God has given you some talent, what acceptable excuse can you give Him for not using it?

Leave comments here - or email me - to be entered in a drawing for a free copy of this book. Entries close on April 30th. I'll be drawing on May 1 so tell your friends to enter as well. Please, US addresses only.

On Writing: Past Boring

“When we discovered that all the food was cooked and ready to be served, we opened all the cupboards, thinking to ourselves that there weren’t enough glasses in the cupboard but surely there were somewhere – those kids again! – and we put the plates on the table along with mismatched silverware and some jelly glasses.”

Are you snoring yet? Whew, this is a boring sentence but one with a little bit of promise.

Let’s talk about re-writing today.

The sentence above is wordy, lacks focus, and, in the end, winds to a insignificant close. Its length and complexity imply that it is important – but it is not.

So let’s re-write it:

“After the food was cooked, we set the table for supper.”

Or, “We discovered the glasses were missing when we set the table.”

Or, “With kids, it’s jelly jars and mismatched silverware instead of the china and candles we once enjoyed.”

There are many more sentences we can pull from that monster. I'll bet you can do better than I just did. Don’t dread re-writing. Play with it. Come up with several of your own sentences from my dreary lead sentence. Chip away the unnecessary and spring loose the meaning. Re-writing can be a game so have fun with it!

Put some of your sentences in the comment section below to help us all.

On writing: carving the angel

For being a romance, the first chapter of Ruth is pretty depressing. We walk with a family hit with famine, moving to a foreign country to survive. Then the men of the family die, leaving the women alone and destitute.

We see Naomi return home in defeat, angry with God for her losses. A fog of despair and bitterness settles over that first chapter.

But the last verse gives us a hint of the coming victory, for Naomi and Ruth return to Bethlehem during the barley harvest.

If you were to underline every reference to harvest in the second chapter, you’d have a long list. Here are a few examples:

"’Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain…’”[1]

“So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters.”[2]

“She found herself working in a field…”[3]

“Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters.”[4]

There are lots more. Go find them when you’re done reading this. The author of Ruth eases us out of the depression of chapter 1, preparing us for the victory of chapter 4, by using harvest imagery.

Where Bethlehem (which means, “city of bread”) had once suffered a famine - a shortage of grain - now it is erupting in abundant harvest. Not only is there a plentiful crop for the harvesters to bring in, there is enough left over for a foreigner like Ruth.

The craft of writing ushers in the author’s purpose, which in Ruth is to reveal God’s nature of restoration

Word choices and imagery are a key part of strong writing. This is where the Michelangelo principle helps. First be clear on your “angel in the marble” and then choose the tools for intricate carving.

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[1] Ruth 2:2

[2] Ruth 2:3

[3] Ruth 2:3

[4] Ruth 2:4

On Writing: in the beginning

In the beginning, there was a list of names. We were introduced to Elimelech, Naomi, Mahlon and Kilion. And in the end, there was a list of names. We learned the connection to Boaz, Obed, Jesse, and King David.

Ruth is an amazing biblical romance that rises above a love story to proclaim a truth: God can turn impossible situations to good for those who love him.

Last week, we discussed the angel principle which is the purpose of your written piece. You should be able to write that purpose in one sentence and that “angel,” or point, will control your writing.

In looking at how Ruth began, we quickly understand that this is a book about people. We meet a family in the early paragraphs which is beset by troubles – from famine to loss of loved ones. Naomi is angry with God and defeated by life.

In the end, we see how God took that impossible circumstance and produced the son who would head the kingly line of David.

Every scene in the book of Ruth further reveals either an impossible situation or the way out. The first readers of this story would know that King David had God’s hand on his family’s situation. Today, we carry this forward to know that Jesus, as a descendent of David, also had God’s hand on his family’s situation.

Biblical texts are brilliantly written, an excellent way not only to uncover God’s nature and plan for his people, but to see how to communicate ideas richly and clearly.

Be sure that your beginning and your ending are focused on your “angel” and watch how your writing will ripple with new richness.

Next week, we’ll explore more about how the craft of the writing reveals the purpose.

On Writing: Michelangelo's principle

Faced with a fresh block of marble, the famous artist Michelangelo faced the same question we as writers face with a project: how to begin.

But it’s the wrong question, as Michelangelo explained so eloquently.

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free,” Michelangelo explained.

As writers, we need to do the same. We need to find the angel in our work and eliminate any words which aren’t part of the angel.

Last week, we discussed the need to know the reason for writing a piece. That reason, or take-away, is the angel of your work.

So our issue is to know the purpose of our writing and eliminating that which is not the angel. Chisel words that don’t add to the final idea. Be ruthless here. Leave a pile of marble dust on the floor as you reveal the principle you’re developing.

See rabbit trails as a rambling luxury that will not get your reader to the angel in the marble.

Here are a few practical suggestions:

• Never fall in love with a particular sentence. It might be eloquent and wonderful but if it isn't part of the angel, chip it away. The delete button on your keyboard should be as well-used as Michelangelo’s chisel.

• Focus. Maybe there are 10 wonderful points you want to make, but don’t make them all in one article unless you’re writing a book. Then you can focus on one point per chapter.

• Read your own work critically. How many word choices are redundant? How many words are unnecessary?

• Be sure your angel is addressed in the introduction and in the conclusion of your piece. Your reader should be clear on your point.

Next week: a wonderfully crafted biblical romance that illustrates the angel principle.

On Writing: ya' think?

She was brilliant and she knew it, drinking trendy coffee and discussing authors with foreign names. She finally focused on me and gave me the oddest compliment I’ve ever received: “You look like some one who….thinks.”

I think it was a compliment.

But whether or not I look like someone who thinks, you need to think if you want to write. If you long to paint pictures with sentences, you have to first have an idea to convey and a purpose to your writing.

I know that you want to smother your text with colorful adjectives and skillful word choices but first you have to have a point to all this. I have read paragraphs of lush description, applying layers of color and texture to a scene. I could smell the roses and taste the hint of lemon in the air, but I had no idea why I was there.

Description fleshes out the purpose of the writing but description can’t be the purpose.

You as the writer need to be clear on your point. Some call it the “take away” or the theme of the article or book. Call it what you what, but know what it is.

Can you, in one sentence, describe what you want your reader to gain from your writing? If you can’t, you need to do some thinking before you do some typing.

Look at Luke, who in the first paragraph of his gospel disclosed his point: “It seemed good also to me to write an orderly account …so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”[1]

And John framed his entire gospel around his “take away”: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”[2]

Last week we talked about knowing the reason you write. Today, I’m asking you to know the reason you are writing each piece.

Next Tuesday: The Michelangelo approach

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[1] Luke 1:3-4

[2] John 20:31

On Writing

Maybe you want to be a writer. You blog, you read books on writing, you have a best-selling novel wafting through your dream senses.

Let’s talk.

If you google “writer,” you’ll find 24 million hits. And most of those are things for writers to collect buy. Writing is big business.

It can get overwhelming and maybe you’re stuck on how to meet your goals.

So let’s start with the obvious: what is your goal? Write it down. (What else would a writer do, anyway?)

My goal is to express ideas in a clear, creative way that impacts people and honors God.

Writing is about ideas. My sister is an artist who paints her ideas. My husband is a carpenter who builds his ideas. But for me, I write.

Writing is about thinking. I’ve found that I work out the idea as I write. It’s a meandering process that resembles that snaking line at Disneyland but I have often completed a few paragraphs to wonderingly discover thoughts that I didn’t know I had. How does that work?

But I want to give you a single assignment before we examine that any further. Write down your goal. Keep it in one manageable sentence. None of this using semi-colons to string 1000 words together. Pare it down. Make it clear. Store it on your hard drive where you can find it. I’d love to hear what you come up with.

Remember that words are important to God. God’s words created the world and God’s Word saved the world. Being made in God’s image ought to open that door of expressing thoughts with words

Next week, we’ll look more at the process of thinking and writing.

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…”

Gen 1:26

The book

If you'd like to purchase a copy of Sumballo, follow this link. You can order your own copy there. You can also click the logo for the book on the right hand side of this blog, which will take you to the same site. And remember to sign up for the drawing but hurry, because tomorrow at midnight is the deadline (Nov. 28th).

Free giveaway!

Exciting news! The best of the Sumballo articles are now available in a paperback book with a gorgeous, original painting on the cover (by Ann Iungerich).

Check it out at

http://www.lulu.com/content/1303448

But the best part is that I’m going to give away a copy of the book.

I’ll select the winner from the comments to this post. Or email me at sumballo@gmail.com if you'd like in that way. Let your friends know. Get your entries logged by Nov. 28^th and I’ll let you know on the 29^th who won.