The Hocus-Pocus of Focus - Bruce Atchison

 I can't help but notice that my story-telling desire has been focused on the things I loved. That makes sense as we all love to talk, or write, about what we love.

I was unpopular in school. To gain some favour from my peers, I often told jokes or funny stories. The boys were busy playing sports so it was the girls whom I entertained.

Once I had a computer with a synthetic voice to read what I wrote, I began writing about my long-time love: electronic music. Two fan magazine published my reviews of CDs and cassettes of musicians who weren't popular except with my friends. I also had a few articles published in underground "zines" before I decided to go professional.

Since my freelance writing teacher said to write what I know, I tried querying magazines about what I knew. But most publications weren't interested in electronic music, radio listening, or house rabbits.

Undaunted, I quit freelance writing and wrote 3 memoirs. The one about my house rabbits sold moderately well but the books about my time at a school for the blind and how a cult-like house church messed me up didn't sell at all.

While all that happened, I blogged on the topics I was writing in my articles and books. My hope was that people would read my posts and decide to buy my books. That only helped me sell a few copies.

So I retired from writing in November of 2021. Because Canada Pension Plan kept a watchful eye on me, presuming me guilty until proven innocent, I felt compelled to promote my books and blogs. Now I'm free of the pressure and enjoying life. I do plan on writing and perhaps publishing two books I was working on but I'm in no hurry

Am I Not Worthy of My Hire? - Bruce Atchison

I often wonder why I bother with writing. It hasn't paid my bills in the past 21 years, though I tried my best to sell my articles and books. In this world, we work for our money so we can pay our bills. As Ecclesiastes 10:19 (KJV) points out, "A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things."

Is not our work worthy to be purchased? As Paul wrote regarding remuneration for the servants of the Gospel in 1 Timothy 5:18 (KJV)  "For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward."

For most of us, there's more to the craft than money. Firstly, there's our love of the written word. Being able to craft a compelling story or poem is aesthetically pleasing. Even if no magazine or book compilation features what we wrote, we still can be proud of it.

We also bless others by what we've written. In my case, people have complemented me on blog posts which particularly inspired and edified them. No doubt the rest of us Christian writers have had the same experiences.

I've also found writing to be excellent therapy. My second and third memoirs didn't sell well but writing them helped my heart to heal. The pain of being sent off to a boarding school and having been lied to in a house church has largely abaited. God used those books to exorcise those painful memories from my life. Doubtless others have had the same experience.

Our writing is also a legacy to our children. In my case, my sister Linda learned much about our family life through the events I recorded about being exiled to Jericho Hill School. I'm certain that other InScribers have had the same experiences as well.

Ignition: How I Went Professional - Bruce Atchison

Stories were my childhood deliverers. The animals in Fables of the Green Forest temporarily led me away from the pain of my exile in Jericho. The Hobbit transported me into fantasy realms, the like of which I never dared hope for. Black and Blue Magic gave my soul wings during my sojourn in the tilted land. But we live in a practical world where money answers everything.

In the cold  wind of freedom, once my exile ended, my stories hid shivering in my heart. Inspiration went dormant as the struggles of public school and work ensued unabated. Nevertheless, a spark of my childhood fascination with the craft of storytelling survived deep within me.

Though I wrote on an amateur basis, I never dreamt I could be paid for my scribbling's. My abundant  supply of articles appeared in fan "zines" but payment seemed a total fantasy. Practicality held my muse prisoner so I only wrote CD reviews of electronic music albums and recycling tips for the work newsletter. Those utilitarian tear sheets bolstered my pride but remuneration seemed an impossible dream.

Out of the smoldering ruins of a lay off, I received a golden opportunity. The work counselor asked me about my hobbies. On the next visit, I presented him with a small stack of my photocopied tear sheets. Then he fanned my creative spark by telling me I could go professional. What had I to lose?

Certainly the magazine writing course helped me understand the value of my work but many editors rejected my fledgling prose. Then, of all publications, The New Age Journal purchased a Three-hundred-word article about a newly-formed choir of blind singers in Edmonton. I glided on air as I took that fifteen-dollar cheque to my bank. At long last, I became a professional writer.

But the path grew steep and rocky as I struggled to research magazine content and to write catchy query letters. I obeyed all the commandments of my teacher, yet few rewards arrived in my mail box for my arduous labours. In the swamp of despondency, I changed directions in the hope that the trail would grow verdant with remuneration.

So I mined the treasures of my life after taking an online course on autobiography writing.  Realizing my extensive manuscript was far too cumbersome, I divided it into memoirs. When a Man Loves a Rabbit was my first paperback. More than 200 bunny-loving friends purchased it and reported how much they enjoyed the amusing tales of my long-eared companions.

Success soon eluded me. Deliverance from Jericho was my second memoir. It bombed horribly. The sighted world couldn't relate to my narrative of being in a school for the blind for six painful years. So I racked my brain for a profitable and engaging topic on which to write.

How I Was Razed should have been a hit. I presumed Christians would be interested in how God led me out of a cultic house church to the sunlit land of his truth but few bought it.

So I turned my back on memoirs. God willing, I will write about who goes to heaven from the viewpoint of the Bible. I also hope to unleash those restless short stories pacing the back corridors of my mind. Slowly approaching retirement, my fear of being cut off from the pension I slaved so hard for is lessening. Even so, I'm learning to trust in the heavenly Father and to deal with today's evil. May my Lord be glorified by the work of my hands and this labourer be worthy of his hire.

I Am, Therefore I Write - Bruce Atchison

"What do you do for a living?" That question fills me with dread because I'm on disability. People I know seem to be succeeding at every turn of their lives. My life, on the other hand, was nothing but blunders and wrong turns.

After all the trials and errors, I've found that writing is the only thing I do with any proficiency. At the CNIB smoke stands and cafeterias, I worked too slowly. The only reason I was a security guard was that the company was desperate for guards. The only reason I was a government clerk was because of the quota to hire disabled people as well as women and native people.

Of course becoming a writer wasn't easy for me. My vision is so poor that my nose almost touches the paper when I write. Spelling was a huge problem too. The English language has many exceptions to the rules. I managed to collide with every one of them.

The house church elders made my life even more miserable by claiming I didn't have enough faith to be healed. Time after time, the congregation laid hands on me and prayed fervently but to no avail. The minister even claimed that I lusted for good vision so God denied it to me. I often wished I was dead so I wouldn't have to be humiliated for having limited sight.

Though I had written a few articles on an amateur basis, a job counsellor suggested that I try going professional. Since I had recently been laid off from the government, it seemed like a good idea. I took a magazine writing course from the University of Alberta Faculty of Extension and began pitching ideas. My first article sold after a year of hard work. This inspired me to keep writing and sending out query letters.

Eleven years ago, I took a course on autobiography writing online. Three memoirs later, I now feel confident to tackle fiction short stories.

I love writing. Putting together an article or story fills me with excitement. Being able to create characters and settings is akin to God creating the world but on a much smaller scale. When I feel satisfied with my edits, I can say, "It is very good."

MY MEMOIRS ARE MY LEGACY - Bruce Atchison

I'm convinced that one way to leave a good lasting legacy is to write memoirs. Having read many in preparation for writing my second book, I found the personal stories of being in a blind school most helpful. Learning the details of life in those institutions reassured me that my recollections were valid.

Though I wrote about some bad things which happened in my life, my latest memoir shows how God providentially used those to give me a passion for his truth. Being in a cultic house church and learning the minister's blasphemous doctrines now fuels my desire to study the scriptures as God meant them to be understood.

I learned so much from excellent Bible teachers such as Hank Hanegraaff, John MacArthur, and R. C. Sproul. They taught me the concept that everything in Scripture must be taken in its proper context. This includes cultural and literary aspects. Much of the Bible is a mystery to new believers because they weren't taught about the Old Testament times and cultural norms. Neither do they know how to interpret the various genres of writing in the scriptures.

The danger regarding reading the Bible  without an understanding of its history and the Lord's character is that people come up with bizarre ideas and misconceptions. The house church I attended had many false notions. One of those was the idea that evil spirits could be kept out of a person's home by dedicating it to the Lord. The lay minister got this notion from Deuteronomy 20:5 which reads, "And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it." As you can read from the context, demons are totally foreign to the context of Israel going to war. Uneducated believers, as I once was, would never know this without being taught how to read verses in context.

This is just one example of how my latest book is a perpetual blessing to my familial relatives as well as my siblings in the body of Christ regarding reading his Word. Showing, rather than telling, demonstrates how gullible I was and how wicked the church elders were. The end of How I Was Razed shows our heavenly Father's gentle leading as I transitioned from naive believer to biblically-equipped saint.

Furthermore, he bore my angry words when my eyesight grew worse instead of better, no matter how I psyched myself up to believe he would heal me. Now I understand clearly about providence and how the Lord works through disabilities. I'm much happier now than I was in that cult  because I understand the true nature of our heavenly Father.

One thing I want to do for my family members is to write a memoir about my sister Diane and our adventures during our formative years. Before I was exiled to Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind, Diane and I were best friends. We walked everywhere together and had so much fun. I'd like to share that part of my life, especially with Diane's children. My sister died in 2004 of a liver disease so I now have nobody who I can reminisce with about those relatively carefree days. The book will be a memorial to my beloved sister who I still miss today.

The Course That Changes My Course - Bruce Atchison

Before 2004, I never thought I could write a whole book. Though I had attempted it in the past, I became intimidated at the prospect.

An ad in Writers Weekly, an e-mail newsletter, caught my attention one morning. Among the courses advertised was a tutorial on writing an autobiography. Since freelance writing hadn't worked out for me, I thought I might give that course a try.

After studying hard and passing the autobiography writing test, I set to work on my life's story. Imagine my surprise when it grew far longer than I had believed it could.

One point stressed in the lessons I took was to focus on a theme. Instead of an autobiography, I wrote a memoir of my life with house rabbits. The first print run of When a Man Loves a Rabbit sold out so I ordered two more. Even better, I received many heart-felt complements on my debut paperback.

Encouraged by that success, I wrote my second memoir. It concerned the six painful years I spent in a school for blind and partially-sighted children in Vancouver. Being five-hundred miles from home for months at a time had a traumatic effect upon my character. But the bullying and lack of empathy from supervisors, as well as from my parents, hurt worse. Writing those painful memories down and handing the pain over to Christ had a therapeutic effect. Much of the emotional pain left me and even the nightmares don't come as often these days.

Though my Deliverance from Jericho paperback sold only a dozen copies, I decided to risk one more memoir attempt. How I Was Razed is the story of how I became enamored with a cultic house church for fifteen years and how I eventually discovered what biblical Christianity is all about. I hope to have this journey from cultism to Christianity published this year.

Because of the Writers Weekly course, I succeeded in a field of writing that once seemed daunting to me. I'd like to try short fiction stories next. Having written a few in the past, and enjoying the creative process involved in inventing them, I believe I'll concentrate on writing more once I've finished promoting How I Was Razed.

By the way, you can visit the Bruce Atchison's books page to check out my memoirs and book excerpts.

THERAPEUTIC WRITING - Bruce Atchison

Almost nine years ago, I learned a valuable technique for dealing with emotional baggage. June Hunt, host of the Hope For The Heart and Hope In The Night radio shows, advised that I write down the name of everybody who wounded me. Then I must forgive those folks one by one, placing them (along with the painful incidents), in the hands of Christ. She also said I should do this as often as I feel upset about things in my past.

Nine months after I called Hope In The Night, I thought of a new way to deal with my mental anguish. From my upcoming How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity memoir, here is how I used my writing to purge myself of these painful memories.

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In February of 2004, the heavenly Father led me to another effective technique of dealing with my bitterness. I found an ad on the Writers Weekly site that offered lessons on how to write an autobiography. I completed the course but I didn't publish my lengthy life's story in its original form. Instead, I wrote When a Man Loves a Rabbit (Learning and Living With Bunnies), a memoir of my life with house rabbits, in 2006. Writing that paperback taught me much about the writing craft.

A year later, I published Deliverance from Jericho (Six Years in a Blind School). God used this memoir to heal many emotional wounds I had received as a child. Each time I encountered painful memories of being exiled five-hundred miles from home for months at a stretch, I poured out my heart to the Lord and handed over the pain to him. Writing and publishing that paperback also eased the pain of tormenting memories from my time at that institution. I had fewer nightmares about Jericho too.

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In addition to being a member of InScribe, I've self-published When a Man Loves a Rabbit (Learning and Living With Bunnies) and Deliverance from Jericho (Six Years in a Blind School). I hope to have How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity in print some time in 2012. Read more about them here. You're also welcome to contact me directly for more information.

PUNCTUATION MATTERS - Bruce Atchison.

What difference does proper punctuation make? If you want your work published more often, then it does matter. This is no guarantee of publication but using correct punctuation is a big step in the right direction.

I've been taking a course called Punctuation Review from Creative Writing Institute since the end of September. For the first time in my life, I'm grasping rules which remained impenetrable throughout my junior high and high school years.

Additionally, I'm now beginning to understand all those English terms that my Language Arts teacher fired at me forty-plus years ago. Why? My adult perspective, my desire to master these writing tools, the fact that I'm able to learn at my own speed - these factors are what assist me in understanding the details of writing well.

I cringe whenever I re-read articles that I submitted in the past, even as recently as last spring. This is because I used to base my understanding of punctuation rules on conjecture and half-remembered lessons. No wonder most of my articles were rejected.

Editors may seem like cruel ogres when they reject our labours of love but these folks usually have good reasons for their decisions. Because of the steady avalanche of submissions, they need a literary smelting method to divide the gold from the slag. Proper punctuation, especially if it conforms to the publication's style manual, shows that the writer is serious about easing the editor's workload. This also shows that considerable effort went into the piece.

Though this course is tough enough to make my brain whimper, I persist in beating these punctuation and sentence structure concepts through my skull. The glamour of story or poetry writing is missing from this course but I know it will improve whatever work I tackle in the future.

In addition to being a member of InScribe, I've self-published When a Man Loves a Rabbit (Learning and Living With Bunnies) and Deliverance from Jericho (Six Years in a Blind School). I hope to have How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity in print some time in 2012.

Read more about them here. You're also welcome to contact me directly for more information.

I'm Glad I Missed That Bus - Bruce Atchison.

Why doesn't God do miracles today? That was what I often wondered throughout my childhood and early adult years. The Bible is filled with accounts of supernatural healings, storms being stopped, days being lengthened, armies routed, food being multiplied, and dead people being resurrected. Not until a few years ago did I learn of a special sort of miraculous process that occurs continually, yet we rarely acknowledge it.

As R. C. Sproul once explained on his Renewing Your Mind radio program, providence requires much more in the way of miraculous power than any straight-forward miracle would. So many factors have to line up perfectly for the providential act to take place. I experienced many of these, one of the most notable being the time I missed the last bus home after a meeting of shortwave enthusiasts.

When I told Don, the man in whose house the meeting was held, what happened, he graciously let me sleep on his couch. Since he didn't provide me with a disposable razor or tooth brush, I looked dishevelled the next morning when I reported to work at the airports branch of the federal government. I usually brought a bag lunch to work but as I hadn't been home to make one, I ate lunch at the cafeteria. While speaking to an acquaintance seated across from me, I mentioned that I needed a new place to live as my current apartment was too noisy. She said the main floor of her house was vacant and asked if I would be interested in seeing it. When I arrived there the next Sunday afternoon, I knew that the place would be much better than that hole in the wall I currently rented.

Because of one missed bus, I ended up renting a much better place where I had three years of peace. The embarrassment I felt about waiting on the wrong side of the street and having to beg a night's lodging from the president of the Canadian International DX Club was far outweighed by the years of quietude I enjoyed at my acquaintance's house.

My upcoming How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity memoir contains many examples of God's kind providence. Even his letting me join a cultic house church has redounded to his glory in that I now know the truth. Because of being deceived, I feel a burning desire to defend the Word.

My previous books, When a Man Loves a Rabbit (Learning and Living With Bunnies) and Deliverance from Jericho (Six Years in a Blind School) also show the Lord's providence in my life, even though some experiences were far from enjoyable. Read more about them here. You're also welcome to write to me directly if you like.