A 1 Corinthians 13 Approach to Writing by Steph Beth Nickel

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ESV).

Patience
If anyone knows the importance of patience, it’s the writer. We must be patient with others, with ourselves, and with the process itself.

Kindness
Kindness goes hand-in-hand with patience. Being kind to fellow writers, writing-related professionals, and readers is crucial. But we must remember to be kind to ourselves as well.

Envy
Do you feel yourself getting fidgety? Who among us can’t think of other writers we’re envious of? Rather than letting envy take root, we can look to these writers for inspiration and motivation. If we’re deliberate in our efforts, it will become easier.

Boasting
There’s a difference between boasting and effective marketing. It has to do with focus. Boasting draws attention to the writer. Effective marketing considers how a writer can pour into the lives of their readers.

Arrogance
Just as there is a difference between boasting and effective marketing, there is a difference between confidence and arrogance. Confidence says, “I have something important to say and the skills to communicate effectively.” Arrogance says, “I am a more capable communicator than so and so.”

Rudeness
Rudeness and arrogance speak the same language. (Just an aside … we can disagree with someone and communicate our perspective without being rude—and without compromising our integrity. This takes great skill and much practice.)

Insistence
Writers must resist the temptation to develop a “my way or the highway” attitude. After all, there’s always more to learn.

Irritability
One need only glance at their Facebook newsfeed to become irritated. The temptation is to react with our words rather than respond. In most cases, this will only inflame the situation. A thoughtful, prayerful response will usually go a lot further in getting our point across.

Resentfulness
Again, the focus of resentfulness is self. Instead of exhorting and encouraging, words written from a place of resentment will likely discourage and dishearten.

Rejoicing in Wrongdoing
Life and writing are full of tension. One of the challenges facing writers is how to maintain authenticity and honesty in the darkest times while not glorifying the darkness.

Rejoicing with the Truth
As writers we can celebrate truth whether we’re writing fiction or nonfiction. As we make that truth accessible to our readers, we have achieved something important.

Bearing All Things
Laundry. Dishes. Vacuuming. Illness. Heartache. Depression. Whether it’s the day-to-day or those unexpected realities of life that we don’t see coming, as writers, we must bear what comes our way—and keep on writing. In fact, these are often the things that fuel and enrich our words.

Believing All Things
If God has called us to write, we must trust that He will guide our steps—when the path ahead is well-lit and clearly marked and when we lose sight of it because it is hidden in shadows.

Hoping All Things
Writers are familiar with hope. We hope that we’ll be able to craft something worth reading. We hope that someone will be blessed/challenged/entertained by our words. We hope that the wellspring of ideas won’t run dry.

Enduring All Things
From heartbreaking criticism to five-star reviews. From flying high to plummeting to Earth. From plain old hard work to free-flowing streams of creativity. Writing and endurance go hand in hand.

Persistence
There is always more to read, more to learn, and more to write. May we all continue to press on.

Writing. How Do I Love Thee? by Glynis M. Belec

           

Let me count the ways. I have always loved words. I remember fancying myself a writer as a child and creating some peculiar poems – they always had to be funny . Then there were those (according to me at the time) pretty hip songs.

An example of a poetry beginning that I remember:

How to Get Rid of Aunt Martha

by Glynis Latham Belec

Her kisses are squashy

Her lipstick is red

Her perfume is strong

Her hugs I do dread.

She pinches my cheeks

And says that I’m cute

And she always reminds me

To eat all my fruit. . .

(There’s more. I can’t remember it. Poor Aunt Martha was scared by Frederick the mouse and such, if I remember correctly!)

Sometimes I like being a pack-rat. Here is an
old report card of mine from (yikes!) 1967

In school I always did well in English. The words on my report card when I was ten years old encouraged me aplenty to do something with composition.  So I did. I wrote little things in my own diaries and in my jotters.  I wrote short stories and plays in my mind. No one would know about them or see them except me and God.  I was pretty shy about who I would show my writing to and at the time I sure didn’t have much confidence in my efforts.

I would absorb the classics, especially Black Beauty, Beautiful Joe, Little Women and more. Mom and Dad had bought us (my two sisters, my brother and I) subscriptions to a weekly comic. Mine was called DIANA. Every Christmas our parents would buy us the Annuals for the magazines. They were all prettily packaged under the Christmas tree. I could hardly wait to open and read my annual. It was like a very thick DIANA magazine with a hard cover. I loved that yearly gift and I am wishing now that I never got rid of my collection.

I always did a decent job in school with my writing and when I went into nursing school years later, I had to write an essay on safety. I got an A and the prof told me that I had a knack for the written word. No one had quite said it in those terms. I remembered that and when I had an opportunity to enter a writing contest many years, a husband and two children later and won first prize, something started to stir in my soul.

In 1986 I met Jesus face to face.  Shortly after that, I

realized that my passion was not something to hide. My passion was actually a gift. And how quickly I realized that if I didn’t accept and use that gift from God, I was surely missing out. Plus I was not being obedient to the Father.

By no means have I hit the big times in my writing 

career.  Although I still feel like success is a state of mind and not the thickness of the wallet. (Mind you a trial run of a thick wallet because of my writing would be something worth considering. I digress).

Just like so many of my beautiful writer friends, though, I keep slogging and praying and giving thanks for the open doors (and sometimes the closed ones). I long to write full time, but, the time isn’t quite right for that.

Jesus continues to open my eyes and continues to be the motivation for my passion.  For that I am so very grateful.

My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer. NIV Psalm 45:1

    

            

InScribers Review: Do I Love Writing? - Lorrie Orr

While visiting my daughter in Vancouver last summer (2012), I noticed a book on her shelf and asked if I could borrow it. She'd found it in a used bookstore. By Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing, is a collection of essays first published in 1990 in which he "shares the wisdom, experience, and excitement of a lifetime of writing."

I read most of it on the 90-minute ferry ride home. Bradbury's enthusiasm for writing so fired me up that I began a short story that very day, triggered by something I saw at the ferry terminal. Although not a "how-to-write" book, Bradbury shares what works for his writing life, and much can be extrapolated to anyone's schedule.

Bradbury advocates writing a lot - every day. But rather than a "stick-to-the-chair-no-matter-what" approach, he confesses to getting out of bed each morning filled with words. And so, he plays. He practices word association and from these associations come stories. His exuberant approach to writing is illustrated in the following excerpt:

"The history of each story, then, should read almost like a weather report: Hot today, cool tomorrow. This afternoon, burn down the house. Tomorrow, pour cold critical water upon the simmering coals. Time enough to think and cut and rewrite tomorrow. But today - explode - fly apart - disintegrate! The other six or seven drafts are going to be pure torture. So why not enjoy the first draft, in the hope that your joy will seek and find others in the world who, reading your story, will catch fire, too?"

Read widely. Bradbury's favourite authors are a motley crew, ranging from Shakespeare and Molière to Shaw and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Poetry, essays, novels, songs, music, and art all act as influences upon ideas. The more we take in, the richer our writing is.

When I did a search for the book while writing this post, I discovered that it's available on-line as a pdf. Free.


Read it. Fall in love with writing again.

Oh, and Ashley, I'll return your book someday. Maybe.

by Lorrie Orr

Go Ahead and Write! -- Lynn Dove

One of the young ladies in my youth group is an avid writer. She has a hunger for expressing herself on pen and paper and she is eager to write her first book. She has read my first book and is waiting patiently for my second novel to be released so she can read that too. She is an avid reader too. The thing is, as much as she loves to write, she is already asking the question so many young people ask at her age...can she make a "living" out of writing? Eeeeeeek!

Since going on this writing, publishing journey over a year ago, I am still coming to terms with what it means to sell and market books. I'm convinced that there are spectacular writers out there but so very, very few who actually make it "big" in the industry. For all intents and purposes, the industry is a very, very discouraging place for would-be novelists.

I read somewhere that traditional publishers only publish 2% of manuscripts that are sent to them. That means they turn 98% of authors away. Certainly a few of those authors are those who have vastly over-estimated their writing ability. (Ever watch American Idol? Some of those people who can't carry a tune are actually shocked to be told they can't sing. Well the same holds true for writers. Some people were just never meant to write.) That said, traditional publishing houses are in the business to make money. They know what kinds of books are popular and what will sell immediately. It's not only who you know in the business, it's what you know about the business that will determine whether or not a traditional publishing house will even look at you.

So why write?

I have been writing since I was in elementary school. I had amazing teachers who encouraged me to write. I never thought I would actually have one of my stories published. I didn't write to become published (although I know that to be the goal for many a writer). No,...I wrote because I just LOVED to write. It's a form of expressing myself.

My biology teacher in high school signed my yearbook "To the only literary biologist I know!" When I handed in an essay, in any subject area except Math, my teachers could expect a treatise that Tolstoy would be proud of. (My editor will tell you that he spends most of his time slashing and cutting down on my verbiage...sorry Evan.)

I would say I am "driven" to write. It's part of who I am. I am called by God to write and so I write. I told my husband when my book, Shoot the Wounded, was published that if one person read it and liked it, I would be happy. Well, God has greatly blessed that effort. 

For me, writing has become an expression of praise and worship to God. He has gifted me with this talent so every time I write, I am praising Him with my gift. So I say, to all my young writer friends out there, go ahead and write! If God has called you to write, go for it! Write for the sheer enjoyment of writing, and write to glorify the One who gave you the talent and the ability to write!

"Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, Who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word." 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

Did you catch that last part? "...strengthen you in every good deed and word." That should be a great encouragement to all those writers out there.

~ originally published in FellowScript, Nov 2012