Dwell in the Land, and Cultivate Faithfulness - Joylene M. Bailey

The problem with me is that I want to learn everything at once.

I love learning. But I often don’t take the time to learn something well before I’m off to the next thing. (Which is a strange practice for a perfectionist, now that I think about it.)

I just want to know everything. I can’t begin to explain how disappointed I was at the age of 34 - married with children - to suddenly come to the realization that I would never know everything there was to know in the world.

Devastated doesn’t even come close.

*****

Apprenticeship is very different from learning something quickly and moving on to the next enticing thing. 

When I picture an apprentice, I picture a student walking with his master. Watching closely, listening carefully, mimicking the movements, learning the tone of voice. Apprentices of the Middle Ages actually lived with their masters’ families. For several years! By the end of their apprenticeship they would have understood the meaning in every raised eyebrow, every twitch of the lips, every “harrumph!” that they encountered in their master’s actions. And they would have understood their craft inside out and backwards.

This week I have been pondering Psalm 37, with regards to my writing. Verses familiar to me that I have had highlighted for many years:

Verse 3.  Trust in the LORD, and do good …

Verse 4.  Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Verse 5.  Commit your way to the LORD …

Verse 7.  Rest in the LORD …

  

But what’s this? Artfully tucked between Trust in the LORD and Delight yourself in the LORD are two little lines conveniently skipped over time and again:

Dwell in the land

and cultivate faithfulness.

That, to me, is apprenticeship at its core.

Dwelling in the land of writers is an apprenticeship with community. I like to dwell in the land of writers.

I am fresh off a Spring WorDshop, where it was invigorating to breathe the same air as like-minded people. And I learned so many things I had never thought about in quite that way before.

I love my writers group, where I can bounce ideas off of trusted writer friends, get constructive feedback, and grow in my craft.

That’s dwelling in the land of writers.

Cultivating faithfulness takes work and attention, and is part of the apprenticeship that is often done alone.

The definition of cultivate is:

-       - to grow and care for

-       - to foster the growth of

-       - to improve by labour, care, and study

There is something about this part of apprenticeship that is just so … daily.  

It’s not something quickly learned, enabling me to blissfully skip off to learn something new. It’s a step by step, day by day growing, improving, and knowing.

It’s being faithful to the word and the Word.

Day in and day out, sitting my bottom in the chair and putting my fingers to the keyboard.

This is the hard part for someone who likes to go off to learn the latest thing.  Someone like me.

But I think that dwelling in the land and cultivating faithfulness with my writing is the best possible apprenticeship I could have.

LORD, I trust in You. I commit my writing to You. Grant me the motivation, determination, and focus to be faithful in my apprenticeship. Above all, may it bring You glory.

Amen.

 Joylene writes from Edmonton. You can catch her blog here.

Shoot For The Moon - A Lesson Learned from Apprenticeship - Gloria Guest

Super Moon - Photo taken by Reg Guest

I’ve never really thought of my life long pursuit of writing in terms of an apprenticeship but upon looking up the definition I realized that is what it has been. I particularly related to one definition which basically defined it as someone who works under an employer to learn a skill while agreeing to low wages. That pretty much sums up my entire time working in the trenches as a reporter; one of the more gruelling ways you can attempt to make a living with your words, but one well worth it if you are looking for excitement, love to work with deadlines or just have newspaper ink in your veins. Regardless, the lessons you will learn will be immeasurable and invaluable to your writing career and your life.

 According to another definition, an apprenticeship is a way of training in a trade or profession, often while employed but also including studying.  As writers we are always in some form of on the job training even if the job is simply our own task at hand; to submit an article, to publish a book or more. Life as a whole becomes our classroom as does the internet, writing groups, and/or writing classes.

This past fall I entered into an apprenticeship that has proven of immense value to me through partaking in two on-line writing classes from the University of Toronto; Intro To Creative Writing/Fiction and Writing Through Reading. Both classes are a part of a larger Creative Writing Certificate I hope to attain. In the first class, although I expected to know most of the material since it was an introductory class, I was surprised to find that there were many things I hadn’t learned previously. I am still more of a beginner than I realized! Writing is a craft after all and we never fully come to the end of developing that craft.

In the Introductory class I was challenged to go deeper with my character and plot development and gained a lot of insight into my own writing style through the comments of my instructor and other classmates. A strength that was pointed out was my realistic dialogue, with the suggestion that I could possibly do well writing script for plays, something I have thought of once or twice but hadn’t seriously considered. A weakness I discovered was Point Of View; learning how to use it best for each piece of writing I did and to not shift out of it. I so appreciated all of the constructive feedback that brought me along in POV.

Writing Through Reading was an immensely interesting class whereby we read various authors works and discussed them thoroughly within the group, thereby gleaning much knowledge as to story structure, plot, character and many other aspects of the piece. We then completed our own assignment based on what we had learned and often had the chance to re-work a piece for another assignment. In this class I developed my critique reading skills and editing skills. I was also strongly encouraged by my instructor and others to keep on writing my memoir; parts of which I had shared with them.

I have been bogged down in my writing life for quite a few years with aimlessness and no particular goals in sight. As Zig Ziglar said, “If you aim for nothing, you will hit it every time.” From taking these two classes I have now set a personal goal to finish my memoir within a year. I also plan on continuing with the classes to attain my Creative Writing Certificate and to start the Editing Certificate through Simon Fraser University in B.C.

These goals are setting the bar pretty high for me and I don’t expect them to be easy. I may even fail at some of them or at all. But as Norman Vincent Peale so famously said, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.”

Don't Stop Cause We Can't Stop - By Rohadi

Write.

A lot.

And don’t stop.

If you can find peers and mentors along the way even better. I wrote briefly on the exceptional value of having like-minded artists to share your craft with in my first post on Inscribe. In this post I'll share my rhythm and tools that have helped me create over the years. Maybe an idea or two will work for you….

The habit of writing is perhaps the single greatest tool to become a better writer. Being a voracious reader is a close second, but honing your craft on a daily basis is crucial to continuously improve your prose. In what manner you put those words down isn’t so much important as the exercise itself. This routine is not only a job to improve, but it feeds the appetite of the writing soul. I’m one for journals/notepads (see below). I rarely leave home without a pad of paper--it’s my method to deal with the constant swirl of ideas in my head.

Whimsically jotting down odd ideas is one thing, but the opposite end of the spectrum includes the arduous labour pouring through draft after draft of a piece of work. Whether you have a publisher lined up or not, the task of producing crystal clarity in a completed work is a necessary task to hone writing skills. Sending that work to an editor (or critique group) so it can be gently torn to shreds is another step in growing tougher skin and improving by leaps and bounds.

_________

Write—a lot—and don’t stop.

If you open the tool chest of the writer what will you find? Here’s a glimpse of mine.

Notepads for every occasion (I have a weakness, I know). The pen and the paper are better for my mind over electronic versions. Each one of my projects has a separate notebook that I can pick up and insert brief ideas or long thoughts, that in their scattered form, start to take needed shape.

Writers and artists are also picky in a manner that few people can relate to. Your tools are important and even the type of pens used (quick and don’t skip) are necessary features. I’m a creature of habit and when I find something I like I’ll buy 5. Right now I'm partial to Pilot VPens in blue (not black, it doesn't flow right) to scribe.

Although the tactile feel of paper and pen are my primary choice, I rely on important apps and software as well. Evernote is a powerful tool that can neatly categorize ideas based on tags (or electronic notebooks). Play around with the app and you’ll always have the resource so long as you have your phone. I generally build most of my blog posts within Evernote before transporting them over to Wordpress.

Eventually the computer comes into play. I've found dictation to be an interesting method of getting large portions of text down quickly that have been sitting dormant in my mind. (Although dictation doesn’t always hear the right word which leads to lost ideas as you try to remember what you were dictating 15 seconds ago.) My writing software of choice is Scrivener (I’ve essentially abandoned Microsoft Word as a writing tool). The capability of separating ideas into folders for quick access and clarity works wonders to build ideas and narratives.

These are some of the pieces I like to use in my writing endeavours. What are some unique tools in your arsenal?


_________

Catch Rohadi at his missional church blog, and check out his Christian themed adult coloring book coming out in June.

The Long and Winding Road - Tracy Krauss

Like the apprentices of medieval times, my writing apprenticeship began with lots of observation. In other words, reading. I still think that reading widely is one of the best ways to learn, but one drawback is the way styles and conventions change. I was a closet writer for about sixteen years before I ventured to share my words with anyone. While it wasn't the worst writing in the world, it certainly wasn't the best either, and much of that was due to my reliance on classics, while not paying attention to what current best practices entailed. I came to a rude awakening when I submitted my first manuscripts. Rejection followed rejection and things that I had never even thought about before  came glaringly to light.

The next stage of my apprenticeship relied mostly on this painful trial and error method. Rejection was followed by revision, resubmission and inevitably more rejection. Forgive my use of the cliche, but it really was a 'rejection-revision-resubmission-rejection' merry-go-round, and it lasted for about seven years. Looking back, I am sure I could have learned most of these lessons by taking a course or joining a critique group, but I didn't have the time, the finances, or the contacts. (Hindsight says these options would have been easier and faster, but c'est la vie...)

I've heard other authors say they could have wallpapered a room with rejection letters. In my case, I literally could have done so. I was tenacious if nothing else, and estimate at least 140 submissions to various publishers and agents over that period. It was cathartic to tear those early letters up in despair, but now I wish I would have kept them. In any case, I finally got some positive feedback on three different submissions in 2008 and signed a contract for my first book, And the Beat Goes On.

The apprenticeship continued, however. I was suddenly thrust into the world of marketing and self promotion; social media and networking. Talk about a steep learning curve! Since that first book came out in 2009 I am amazed at how much I have grown and learned about all aspects of the industry - and also appalled at how much I still need to learn! I often feel like I am one step behind the pack, struggling to keep up.

Not only has the learning continued on the business side of things, but my writing has changed and grown as well. (At least I hope I can say that!) I have a fairly long list of published work from novels to stage plays to non-ficiton, yet, it seems I am always finding things that I wish I could change. Too many adjectives, too many elaborate dialogue tags, too much exposition ... these are just a few things I see in some of my earlier novels that make me cringe. Until the rights to those works revert back to me, however, there is little I can do about it. While the average reader doesn't seem to notice, I NOTICE - and that means this apprentice is still growing and not ashamed to admit it.

If I was to do anything differently I would probably make sure I joined a critique group sooner. It is so important to have other eyes look over one's work and some of the mistakes that irritate me now might have been avoided if I had had more honest criticism. Also, I think I would be more diligent in making sure each contract is the best it can be. I was so excited to even get a contract the first time that I didn't really care what it said. Seven years is a long time to wait for the rights to one's own words. Similarly, formatting mistakes I have found in another series of my books are beyond of my control.
 
My writing apprenticeship has been long and sometimes winding, spanning more than thirty years. I use the verb 'has' because I still feel like I am a long way from mastery. Maybe that's the key to keeping things fresh.

************************

Tracy Krauss writes (among other things) from her home in northern BC. Website