Excellence in the Message - Bonnie Way

I spent Friday night at a literary soiree at the second annual Write! Vancouver conference. To kick off the soiree, Marc Cote, publisher of Cormorant Books, and John Stackhouse, professor at Regent College, discussed what excellence means for a Christian writer.  Most of us can point to excellent Christian writers of past centuries (Tyndall and Shakespeare were mentioned), but what does excellence mean to each of us in the message God has called us to tell?

John and Marc began by discussing excellence versus humility.  As Christian writers, we are called to both--excellence does not mean arrogance and humility does not mean that we don't strive to be our best.  Humility is an understanding of where you are in the scheme of things; even if God has blessed you with the gift of words, you need to work hard to honour that gift and to write as best you can.

Of course, excellence does not mean success.  Dan Brown's name came up frequently during the evening as a writer who is successful but not excellent.  Our pursuit of excellence may mean that we achieve excellence but not success.  Yet as Christians, we answer to God and not to man; God's definition of "success" is not the same as man's.

Nor does excellence mean that we will get noticed.  We must be true to our calling, single-minded in our pursuit of art.  Marc pointed out that if you chase the market, you will never catch up--at best, you will write what is popular today and by the time it gets published, it will be two years old.  If you follow your vision, you'll always be on time with what's inside your heart and mind--or with the message God is calling you to write.  In fact, often what gets noticed in not excellence, as in the Dan Brown case.

What is excellence?  It needs to be a function of your calling, your vocation, your message.  Marc asked how you will feel about your work once it is past revision--when your book has been published and you can't change it anymore, will you still like it?  Or will you regret not working harder on it?  However, the pursuit of excellence can also be paralyzing--a writer may never publish their book because they can always revise it.  Thus John challenged writers to be able to stand before God and say, "At this season of my life, about that message, that was the best way I could say it."

Writers are often admired for the belief in the Divine speaking through chosen people.  All creative people recognize that creativity is a gift, that moments of inspiration happen when we least expect.  At the same time, we have an obligation to carve out the time to write and to put our best effort into those moments of inspiration.  Inspiration does not equal excellence.

John challenged us to perform as we practice.  Whatever we write--long or short--should be excellent.  Don't use the excuse "it's just a tweet" or "it's just a blog post" to write something that is not excellent.  He has a small, target audience in mind as he's writing and, after writing each chapter, asks himself, "Did I reach my audience?  Did I speak excellence for them?"  For the writer, it's also important to read well; great writers learn from other great writers.

The panel was an inspiring and encouraging way to kick off the Write! Vancouver conference.  I felt challenged by John's and Marc's words to push myself further in my writing and to make sure I write what is excellent, not what is "good enough."  Their discussion remained in the minds of many writers on Saturday, as we frequently came back to the question of excellent in writing during other workshops.  And so I challenge you too, as a Christian writer, whatever the message God has given you to tell, tell it with excellence.

Power of Encouragement--Sulo Moorthy

“ Leaving comments is a great way to support your fellow writers,” read Brenda Leyland’s e-mail on the listserv a few weeks ago. I cannot agree more. We, writers, whether we acknowledge it or not, thrive on compliments, applauds or any kind of encouragement. If not for the comments left on our postings, the nod of approval at the writers’ group, the sound of clapping at the book reading or the hopeful foot-note of the editor on our returned manuscript, some of us would have given up writing a long time ago.

You cannot fathom the empowerment of such words, whether written in a line as a comment or said in a few sentences. Especially if the compliment comes to a beginner or a struggling writer from an accomplished fellow writer, a well known author or an editor, it becomes the wind beneath the wings to propel the recipient to another height.

It’s going to be twelve years since I had the privilege of getting the compliment from the mouth of Linda Hall, a well known author, and the guest speaker at the 2000 ICWF Fall Conference. The previous evening she had heard me read my poems at the poetry reading session.

Being new to writing, and not having met any writer before, I was clueless as to what to expect at the Writers’ Conference when I arrived. In case I was asked to read some of my work, I had brought with me the three poems I had ever written, and traveled all the way from Saskatoon by bus.

Although I never intended to read my poems , no sooner had I spotted the Our Family magazine on the display table with my poem, Am I A Christian? , I braved enough to put down my name for the poetry reading that evening. Little did I realize at that time that the poetry session titled Peanut Butter and Jam was meant for light, funny and laughter- provoking readings, rather than the serious and spiritual ones like mine. Only when I sat and listened to others' poems and the holler of laughter following the readings, did I realize my mistake. But it was too late for me to withdraw or to exit from the packed auditorium without being noticed. So, left with no option, I went and read out my poems when my name was called out.

The next morning, when I heard Linda Hall on the stage mention about one of my poems and say how much she was inspired by it, I felt as if I was suddenly airlifted to heaven. For a beginner like me to hear a compliment publicly from a great author like Linda Hall was beyond my expectation. She need not have bothered to take a few moments out of her speaking time to compliment an unknown writer like me. But she did. It surely reflected something great about her, other than her writing. There's no doubt, Hall would have forgotten about it no sooner she got down from the stage on that morning. But I haven’t. It’s still fresh in my mind as if it happened only a week ago.

The author's compliment as well as what I learned at the conference from other writers energized me to write and submit an article to Fellowscript as soon as I returned home. Result-“ Never Do” Wisdom for Budding Writers was published with my byline in Fellowscript in the following Spring.

Even though, it's not advisable to rely on others' approval and appreciation for our success, encouraging words do play a key role in keeping us on course. Blogging may be the only kind of writing some maybe doing at this season of their writing. As Brenda suggested, leaving comments is a great way to support our fellow writers. It does take time and effort. But, it’s within our power to do it, whether we are well known authors or unpublished ones.

“Do not withhold good from those whom it is due, when it is in power of your hand to do so.” Proverbs 3:27.