10 Sources for Writing to God’s Glory by Nina Faye Morey

“I am a little pencil in the

hand of a writing God

who is sending a love letter

to the world.” 

~Mother Teresa 

I have many writing resource books on my bookshelves and several more on my Kobo eReader. I also have some well-liked writer’s websites and blogs. I can’t possibly cover all of them in a single blog post, so I’ll focus on a few favourites that I’ve found useful in helping me to write to God’s glory.

#1 - The Holy Bible, Bible Commentaries, & Bible Concordances: I want to ensure my words faithfully reflect God’s loving message, so I regularly pray and read His Word. I search for relevant Bible verses that will help me to make my points and impact reader’s lives. I have several Bible versions on my bookshelves, the NIV, KJV, NKJV, NRSV, NLT, to name just a few. I quote verses from whichever version expresses my thoughts the best. I also consult such Bible study guides as The Bethany Parallel Commentary and The New Strong’s Concordance. I regularly visit Bible websites to quickly locate passages, like Biblehub and Biblegateway.

#2 - Elements of Fiction Writing Series by Writer’s Digest Books: This is a terrific how-to-write series that includes Nancy Kress’s Dynamic Characters and Beginnings, Middles, & Ends; Orson Scott Card’s Characters & Viewpoint; and James Scott Bell’s Conflict & Suspense and Plot & Structure, and several others.

#3 - Busy Writer’s Guides by Marcy Kennedy: Showing and Telling in Fiction, Strong Female Characters, Dialogue, How to Write Faster, and more. This series of short guides is great when you’re in the middle of writing and want a quick reference.

#4 - Grammar/Editing Blogs: Mignon Fogarty’s Grammar Girl blog is my first go-to for answers to questions about correct grammar or punctuation. I also like the following: Grammarly Blog, Writer’s Relief, The Editor’s Blog, Jane Friedman’s blog, and C.S. (Susanne) Lakin’s Live Write Thrive. Other favourite grammar resources are The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White, Coles Notes Handbook of English Grammar and Composition, Canadian Secretary’s Handbook by Collier Macmillan (A treasured 80’s holdover from my secretarial days.), and a quick little reference book, Write! Better by Ray Wiseman.

#5 - Joanna Penn’s Blog, Books, & Podcasts: Joanna Penn is a bestselling author, international speaker, and award-winning entrepreneur. She’s written several self-help books for writers, including How to Make a Living with Your Writing, How to Market Your Book, and Successful Self-Publishing. Her blog The Creative Penn is a favourite among creative writers. She also has a popular podcast, The Creative Penn.

#6 - Writer’s Magazines/Newsletters: My favourite writer’s magazines are InScribe’s FellowScript (I may be just a bit biased!), the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild’s, Freelance, and The Writer’s Digest (along with their website).

#7 - Writer’s Organizations/Websites: InScribe Christian Writers’ Fellowship and The Saskatchewan Writer’s Guild. Besides their quarterly magazines, both of these writers’ groups have lots of valuable information on their websites and provide great conferences, workshops, and courses for writers.

#8 - Dictionary, Thesaurus, & Quotations Dictionary: I love my well-used hardcover copies of the Oxford Thesaurus, Canadian Oxford Dictionary, and Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.

#9 - Poetry Resources: Creating Poetry by John Drury, The Poet’s Dictionary by William Packard, Writing the Sacred by Ray McGinnis, and Merriam-Webster’s Rhyming Dictionary.

#10 - Writers’ Market Guides: The Canadian Writer’s Market, The Christian Writer’s Market Guide, Poet’s Market, and The Best of the Magazine Market for Writers.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the work of truth.

~2 Timothy 2:15

Photo Credits: © Nina Faye Morey

Organizing My Computer by Bryan Norford

I was taught that my desk should show some disorganization. If it was too messy I was not in control of my work, but if it was too tidy, I obviously had nothing to do. Unfortunately, computers do not understand that rule.

Organization is probably the least inspirational part of writing, yet, If we look below the surface, it’s something that still requires inspiration to ensure it works effectively. In fact, inspiration is necessary for every aspect of writing, even the most mundane parts of the work.

To consider that we need not pray about the mundane is to exclude God from the infrastructure of our lives, no more so than in our writing. It’s really pointless praying for inspiration for that perfect piece if it’s lost in a computer maze.

So here are some ideas for organization that I use, and contrary to my previous advice, I spent too little time seeking guidance for—from others or from God!

My Documents library includes many directories, including Articles, Blogs, Books and Diary. Articles is the least organised, simply with all completed articles in alphabetical order. My Diary lists each years’ blogs on Norford’s Ramblings, dating back to 2008, as documents. The Blogs directory list blogs on other sites, including a sub-directory for blogs to Inscribe.

Books is the most comprehensive directory, as that is where most of my time and energy is spent. Each book title naturally has its own sub-directory, but within each of those are the following sub-directories:

0 Original Script: This is kept up to date with the latest revisions.

1 Edited Script: Any scripts edited by others kept for reference.

2 Images: Downloaded images I may use for cover design, and cover design development.

3 Agreements: Publishing or other agreements scanned and kept for reference.

4 Correspondence: Critical letters or emails regarding the book, including endorsements.

5 Published Script: Holds camera ready documents and PDFs of the book for self publishing.

6: and 7: Left free for other directories that may be required for a particular book.

8 Seminars: Holds document and power point presentations for the book.

9 Superseded: Really important: keeps outdated materials separate from current scripts or images, but still available for future reference.

I use numbers for these sub-directories to maintain the order I want, rather than alphabetical order.

Also in the Documents Library I have directories for Invoices, Promotion, and Templates. These are separate from the individual book directories as the contents often include more than one book. At present, I have no sub-directories for these, but as they grow, they may also need subdividing. The Templates directory holds cover or interior templates a publisher may provide or require for processing.

These ideas are, of course, specific to my work, but may be adaptable for your particular needs. If so, I pray that you may be inspired to clean up your computers, and able to access your materials more efficiently—especially that remarkably inspired, but long lost piece!

How do I Develop Necessary Skills in a Writers' World? - Janis Cox

Bell clipart
from Clker.com

"School is never out for the pro!" Those were the words that Brenda used to motivate us this month for our posting.

She is right. I think I have learned more in the past 10 years than I did in my first 50. Yes it has been an uphill climb but very exhilarating at each of the peaks. Of course, the slides down are not too much fun. But God knows that we have our ups and downs.

Brenda asked:

"How are you developing and growing your skills as a writer?"

Well right now I am trying to grow my skills as a marketer – or promoter. Or somehow find an audience.

My Learning:

• Write! Canada – Thomas Umstaddt’s course. Opened my eyes to social networking. So I have been busy learning more about blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. That’s enough for me at the moment. But there is Pinterest, Digg, Google, and on and on.

• Using Google as Search Engine - Every time I have hit a wall and think I can’t go any further – I Google for the answer. I always seem to find something that works. Thomas said to Google 50 times a day. Well I don’t think I have hit that number but some days I am close.

• Set up a self-hosted Word Press Blog. This was a big learning curve. Setting up the blog wasn’t too hard. But finding the right pluggins – that is harder.  

• Publishing and Marketing a book - And the other learning curve is working on edits and preparation for final publishing of my book. When I self-published a few copies it took lots of time. But now when I am working with a real publisher I have to work with others – it seems to be taking longer. I say, “patience, Jan, patience.”

Some Interesting Resources:

Twitter Ideas by Ruth Snyder

What is a Platform? by Chip MacGregor

How to Create a Twitter List in 4 Easy Steps - by Author Media

How to Launch a Self-Hosted Wordpress Blog in 20 Minutes or Less - by Michael Hyatt

Janis Cox

Janis, a former school teacher and small business owner, found a new passion in writing in her retirement.

She has published a couple of devotionals and a number of articles. Her Bible study is available in PDF.

As owner of Under the Cover of Prayer and A Better Way, she writes often.

Her children's book, Tadeo Turtle, is scheduled for release in September. Email her at Janis or visit her at www. janiscox.com.

Out There with Blogs and Book Reviews – Ramona Heikel

This past year of writing has definitely been an experiment and an education. To ease my problems at work with tendonitis brought on by non-stop computer work all day, I started taking 2 days a week off in January of this year. Then I dug out my pen and paper and pursued two of the writing projects I’d dreamed of doing for years.

I’ve been curious about making a webpage, but put off by the belief that I had to learn HTML. And I’d been wondering if I had enough to say to consistently write posts for a blog. So I finally took the plunge and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy and inexpensive it was to create a website.

WordPress guided me through each step and their built-in formatting and graphics made me look like a pro. I haven’t succeeding in writing as many blogs as I’d intended, though, partly because I’m trying to keep my topics focused on only a few areas. But I am “out there” and that is a success for me.

For almost twenty years whenever books excite me, I’ve been writing my own personal book reviews, and most of the time it’s a novel that stirs up my emotions. I think it’s my way of preserving the experience of meeting fascinating characters, entering into their world, living through their trials and reaping their inner rewards of revelation and transformation. Sometimes an extraordinary non-fiction book may inspire me to take notes, and I’ll record some valuable insights and perspectives on the Christian faith or various other topics in a review.

I’ve wanted to share that excitement with others, especially because I don’t normally read what everyone else is reviewing. When I find a great book I want to say, “Hey, everybody, look at this gem I just dug up! It’s worth reading!” So when I started my own blog in February, I started posting my reviews of favorite books. I call them “book responses” because they are literally my reactions and aren’t necessarily in the proper format of a review. Sharing these has been a thrill for me.

Then, because I finally had a blog, I signed up to be a reviewer for two publishers and a website. Now I am actually reading hot-off-the-press books and children’s books. One of the genres I am focusing on writing at this time is children’s stories and articles, and reviewing children’s books not only helps get the word out about my favorites, but it also keeps me up to date on what is being published. I have even been sent a book by a children’s author who saw my reviews and asked me to review his new book!

Since I am attempting to write an educational “learning is fun” fiction story for middle grades, I am also reading other books of that type, and I don’t know when I’ve had so much fun. Can I just recommend one? If you are at all inclined toward science or history, pick up Benjamin Franklinstein Lives by Matthew McElligott. It’s a delight from start to finish.

Blogging and reviewing have made this writing year a successful one. My audience has expanded as well as my enjoyment!


Posted by Ramona
Happilywriting.com

ICWF Blog Tour Finale

Hello, folks!  If you haven't had a chance to check out all the great posts in the ICWF Blog Tour, the links are now updated so that you can do that.  Thanks to all the participants who shared their experiences with Inscribe and to everyone who followed the tour.  I'd also like to give a huge congratulations to Kurt and Val Jones, winners of the grand prize draw: a one-year ICWF membership, a copy of Inscribed, and an ICWF book bag.

ICWF Blog Tour July 2011

WELCOME to the Inscribe Christian Writer's Fellowship Blog Tour! During the month of July, various Inscribers will be posting some of their thoughts and stories about ICWF on their blogs. The tour will kick off on July 4 with a stop at ICWF President Jack Popjes' blog, and wind up on July 27 at member Jan Keats' blog.

Watch this page for updates to the tour, including direct links to the posts as they come up and any added stops on the tour.


July 4 – Jack Popjes – INsights and OUTbursts
July 5 – Tracy Krauss – Expressions Express
July 6 – Marcia Laycock – Writer-lee
July 8 – Mary Waind – Beech Croft Tales
July 11 – Bonnie Way – The Koala Bear Writer
July 13 – Joanna Clark Dawyd – Joanna Clark Dawyd

July 15 - Kimberley Payne – Fit for Faith
July 18 – Violet Nesdoly – Line Upon Line
July 22 – Janet Sketchley – God With Us: Finding Joy
July 25 – Laureen Guenther – Reenie's Resources
July 27 – Janice Keats – The Master’s Path


Leave comments on the blog posts to be entered in our GRAND PRIZE DRAW: an Inscribe book bag with a free annual membership and a copy of Inscribed: 30 Years of Inspiring Writing. The more blogs you comment on, the more entries you'll get in the draw—e.g., if you comment on 10 blogs, you'll get 10 entries in the draw (but one comment per blog, please). Contest is open only to non-Inscribe-members (members are free to comment on blogs but will not be entered in the draw).


For more information about the tour, or to join in, please contact Bonnie Way.

Famous Journals - Bonnie Way

Many people, writers and non-writers alike, keep journals or diaries. My mom likes journaling so she can look back on what she was doing a few months or years ago. During a time when I was very lonely, the pages of my journal became a listening ear to my thoughts and feelings. Like Anne Frank, I found that "When I write, I can shake off all my cares."

Many of us feel like British author Frances Burney (1752–1840), that “To Nobody, then, will I write my journal! since to Nobody can I be wholly unreserved—to Nobody can I reveal every thought, every wish of my heart, with the most unlimited confidence, the most unremitting sincerity to the end of my life! For what chance, what accident can end my connections with Nobody? No secret can I conceal from No-body, and to No-body can I be ever unreserved. Disagreement cannot stop our affection, Time itself has no power to end our friendship. The love, the esteem I entertain for Nobody, No-body’s self has not power to destroy. From Nobody I have nothing to fear, the secrets sacred to friendship, Nobody will not reveal, when the affair is doubtful, Nobody will not look towards the side least favourable.”

And yet others journal in a more public way, sharing what they write with Everybody. In our modern era, journaling has gone electronic—it’s now blogging. As I’ve surfed through the blogosphere, many blogs that I’ve seen are one person’s ramblings on their own life—and more or less interesting, depending on their life and their writing skill. Yet with the millions of blogs now being published, there is something there that keeps us not only writing such blogs, but also reading them.

Martha Brockenbrough suggests that journals are a way to “learn about yourself and your fellow humans.” We are all curious about those around us, whether they think and feel and see what we do. And not only those in our own era, but those in past eras as well. Historically, journals are important documents about times past. Think of famous journals you’ve read or heard of—Anne Frank’s is probably the first that pops into your head, but other people such as Lewis and Clark, Sir Ernest Shackleton, David Thompson and Charles Darwin also kept journals that are now publicly published.

Recently, my mom and I were touring Dundurn Castle in Hamilton, Ontario. Our guide kept referring to the journal written by the thirteen-year-old daughter, Sophia McNab. It was easy to imagine a bored and creative young girl, confined by the manners of the time to the nursery upstairs, recording the daily happenings in the pages of her journal. It is interesting to consider that her journal would become the most important source about a time when children were to be seen and not heard and women belonged in the drawing room. As one blogger says, “Doesn’t it make you just want to keep a diary, something to ensure that the record is accurate, a reference book for the tour guides in the unlikely event that your house is still standing 180 years from now?

So whether you blog or journal in a more traditional sense, don’t think it useless or silly. You never know who may read what you write and learn from it!