My Best Writing Advice by Colleen van Nieuwkerk

 

My writing life has grown in these past eighteen months. I have become a writer and an author who is published. All of this is amazing to me!

Previous to this time, as I served in full-time ministry in our church, I mostly wrote devotionals for team meetings and some curriculum.

After retirement I led our ministry to women as a volunteer for a short time, and then God asked me to take a rest period. He basically put me “on the shelf” for about two years as I processed life and considered the future.

The curriculum I have been presently writing and teaching came out of that period of rest. It is now fifteen years since God asked me to carry a burden for women who long to follow him but don’t know where to begin, or how to establish life-long rhythms that invite deeper spiritual relationship.

All of the writing and teaching for those past years has led, in more recent months, to writing my memoir and also other short, non-fiction pieces for publication.

There are two main pieces of writing advice I have received over many years that have been most helpful, no matter my perspective.

Hook. Book. Look. Took.

This advice came from one of our Christian Education Directors in our church. It can apply to both writing or speaking, and I have used it in both ways.

1. Hook - Draw my reader in with a personal story or interest point.

2. Book - Share the biblical foundation that supports my topic.

3. Look - Weave together my topic with the biblical foundation that can be applied to the current topic.

4. Took – Share and encourage how this topic applies personally to whomever I am writing. Ask good and tough questions to help the reader make their own life application.

As I began to write and teach the current curriculum for women, my pilot class encompassed many ages and stages of life. I wrote generally and the content was embraced. However, as I moved further into my outline and we completed the first year, I realized that I was writing mostly to one particular group of women. This thought brought me to my other best writing advice.

Who is My Person?

I recently realized that I came to this advice backwards. Any coaching I have received since delving into better writing tells me I need to know who I am writing for—my person—before I begin sharing my words.

I wrote for many years with a broader perspective than I should have, and yet God still honored those words. They may be applicable to any age or stage, but I believe our influence will be even deeper if we write to a specific person struggling with a problem or situation they face and offer a solution to consider that comes from our personal experience.

I am enjoying my writing life and have learned so much. This is all part of our life-long learning process.

My life verse says this so well, as our words are first meditated and then expressed, whether in our writing or in our speaking, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14 ESV)

Colleen van Nieuwkerk is GG to three sons plus 3; twelve grandchildren; and two great-grandsons. Colleen writes curriculum for women as well as teaches and is currently writing the story in book form of how this all came about. She lives in northern Alberta and can be found online @colleenvannieuwkerk.com

Finding Great Advice by Sandra Rafuse

Having my publishing date near the end of every month this year has been a bonus for me because I get to read all the blogs that are published before mine. Since we all use the same prompt as the topic for our blog, what I read from those who publish before me helps me immensely by giving me so many ideas and much information to use. I feel I don't have the experience I would like to have had to write something using this month's prompt and I have struggled with the January and February prompts as well. Each one has been a challenge for me. Why? Dana-Lyn's comment says it all. . . "I am extremely new to the craft of writing." I love that sentence. That's me. (Thanks for sharing that, Dana-Lyn.)

For now, I can say I received the best advice about writing from books. I've always loved to read. I'm remembering a couple of favorite old books from when I was a lot younger and still lived at home. For a time, my father subscribed to Reader's Digest for those hardcover books they offered that had two stories in one book. I remember enjoying those. I remember reading and rereading 1001 Arabian Nights - The Complete Adventures of Sindbad, Aladdin and Ali Baba time and time again. Then, for most Christmases, there was a new book wrapped up and placed under the tree for me. I would spend an entire day at some time during the holidays, curled up on the couch, reading and finishing the book before the day was done. And I can't leave out mentioning second hand bookstores and all their treasures that came along as the years went by and. . .wait. . .the Scholastic book orders that were sent away every month at school. It felt like Christmas time when the orders came in. Words. Books. Reading. Understanding. Now Writing. There's my connection to the best advice I've ever received for writing.

When I consider all I've read, I am aware of the power, the impact, the emotions words have on me. I feel them in my mind and in my heart. I am amazed how authors have written their stories, or articles, or poems, etc., using the words they have chosen and they have made them into something so meaningful and beautiful and organized and clear. How do they do that? I think about it now as I write. As I learn to put words together so they come out saying something good. I am happy to be in this new chapter in my life. It certainly is a lot of work. And I'm happy about that, too.

Sandra Rafuse lives in the small town of Rockglen, Saskatchewan, with her husband, Bob, a Gordon Setter named Sadie, and a Peregrine falcon named Peet. She is a retired teacher, an amateur writer, and is thoroughly enjoying having the opportunity to share what God has been teaching her through her life experiences.

Photo at top of page by Annie Spratt on Unsplash.

Just in Case by Brenda J Wood

I needed glue to hold my latest crafty thing together.

I started the search.

1. Glue gun? Out of right-sized glue sticks.
2. Cellophane tape? Last roll used up.
3. Fabric glue? Not working with fabric.
4. Ceramic glue? See number 3.
5. Glue stick? Down to the nub, not enough to use.
6. Homemade? Flour and water? Only whole wheat flour on hand.
7. Wood glue? See number 3 repeatedly.
8. Epoxy? Seriously, I am not putting a radiator together.

However, most of the time, I have all of the above on hand. I use them all occasionally, regularly or before they wither up.

That’s like writing advice. I purposely collect writers’ comments all the time. Why? Because like glue, they all come in handy sometime. Here are some of my favourites.

“You can’t edit a blank page.”
— Jodi Picoult

“Agony is an untold story inside you.”
— Maya Angelou

“If it hasn’t been written, then you must write it.”
— Toni Morrison

“Start! Water runs when the faucet is on.”
— Louis L’Amour

“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”
— Stephen King

“Easy reading is damn hard writing.”
— Nathaniel Hawthorne

“The scariest moment is just before you start.”
— Stephen King

“Writing is sitting at a typewriter to bleed.”
— Ernest Hemingway

“The best time to plan a book is while doing the dishes.”
— Agatha Christie

“Never use two words when one will do.”
— Thomas Jefferson

“I hate writing, I love having written.”
— Dorothy Parker

“You can make anything by writing.”
— C.S. Lewis

“Write what should not be forgotten.”
— Isabel Allende

“I shake off everything as I write; sorrows disappear, courage is reborn.”
— Anne Frank

“You fail only if you stop writing.”
— Ray Bradbury

“I write because if I didn’t, I would die.”
— Isaac Asimov

“A writer is a world trapped in a person.”
— Victor Hugo

“I’m writing a book, page numbers done.”
— Steven Wright

I hope some of these become your own glue.

(Top) Photo by Thirdman on pexels.com

Brenda J Wood has authored more than fifty books. She is a seasoned motivational speaker, who declares the Word of God with wisdom, humour, and common sense.

God Never Said, "Ok ya'll, I have enough people!" - by Mary Folkerts

 

Sometimes it feels like the world is already so saturated with words that adding mine to the mix is like throwing a bucket of water into the ocean. Who will even see what I write? How can my writing make a difference?

A few years back, I had the opportunity to go to a She Speaks conference for writers and speakers. The whole weekend was full of encouragement and inspiration, but the following are a few pieces of valuable advice that really resonated with me.

1. We all have a place at the table with our different gifts and talents. No two writers are the same, for we all come with unique personalities and stories, which God wants to use for His glory. As one of the presenters expressed, God has never said, “Ok y’all, I have enough people!”

2. Have a right heart before God. Ants can take down big trees! I must not let the little ants inside my soul destroy what God is growing inside of me. I must be humble, remembering that this is God’s doing, not mine.

3. Growing slowly is good. Jennifer Dukes Lee used the illustration of a cornfield. One does not reap the field the same week you plant it!

4. A lamp cannot burn without oil. I can have all the right tools, but if I don’t depend on God’s Spirit to work through my words, they don’t carry His power, no matter how fancy they are.

5. “Walk with a limp and show Jesus as the healer!” Hosanna Wong

Our job is to faithfully use our words to point others to God, even if our audience is only one soul in need of encouragement.

He redeems my brokenness,
redefining my story
as His story,
using my weaknesses
to speak to the one
who feels her weakness
too heavy to bear.
He puts wings to my words,
flying them to
the one
who needs to feel seen.

There’s no need for measuring sticks,
comparing,
competing,
shuffling for position.
There is always more room,
room for every story,
every heart
to reflect His glory.

It’s when my pride rides in
on a high horse
saying it is I
who has done this thing,
that I am felled like a mighty
oak on a windy day.

Oh Father may I be
on my face before you,
humility and awe
the position of my
daily choosing.

 

Mary Folkerts is mom to four kids and wife to a farmer, living on the southern prairies of Alberta, where the skies are large and the sunsets stunning. She is a member of Proverbs 31 Ministries' COMPEL Writers Training, involved in church ministries and music. Mary’s blog aims to encourage and inspire women and advocate for those with Down Syndrome, as their youngest child introduced them to this extraordinary new world. For more inspiration, check out Joy in the Small Things https://maryfolkerts.com/ or connect on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/maryfolkerts/