STEP IN THE WRITE
DIRECTION
January 28,
2013
Update:
It’s mostly been a good week. We
had a revival at our church last Sunday through Wednesday and, for the first
time in years, I was able to attend every service. The speaker was unusually
good, very unique. I told him he should be a writer as he shared anecdotes from
his life, and then gave them spiritual applications. . . . Saturday we
celebrated our youngest daughter’s birthday and for the next three weeks, our
three children will be 48, 49, and 50. (I know that’s hard to believe from my
picture that I have kids that old!) . . . The one sad happening was hearing of
the death of my dear friend Eleanore Forder, who her husband Reg called “The
First Lady of Christian Writers’ Conferences.” The Phoenix
Thought for
Today:
“We crucify ourselves between two
thieves: regret for yesterday and fear of tomorrow” (Fulton Oursler).
Laugh for Today:
(from
Sheila Heil’s newsletter): I didn't know if my granddaughter had learned her
colors yet, so I decided to test her. I would point out something and ask what
color it was. She would tell me and was always correct. It was fun for me, so I
continued. At last, she headed for the door, saying, "Grandma, I think you
should try to figure out some of these colors yourself!"
Book Review:
The Freedom of Letting Go
is the perfect book to read to begin the new year. It covers the following
topics:
Letting Go of Grief;
Letting Go of Failures—Your Own and Other People’s;
Letting Go of Your Successes;
Letting Go of Possessions;
Letting Go of the Hurts in Your Life;
Letting Go of Your Children;
Letting Go of Health Issues;
Letting Go of Your Youth;
Letting Go of Guilt;
Letting Go of Control;
Letting Go of Worry;
Letting Go of Doubt;
Letting Go of Fear; and
The Land Beyond Letting Go.
Book may be purchased on Amazon or send a check (or
PayPal) to me at: 701 South Dobson Rd.,
#350 , Mesa , AZ 85202 Maricopa
County
Writers’ Tips
(The words below are
part of the Foreword written by Sally E. Stuart, former editor of the Christian Writers Market Guide, for my
book A Step in the Write Direction. I
think this Foreword by itself gives a lot of good advice for
writers!)
So you want to be a
writer! I understand that feeling. Although I’m not one of those people who grew
up always wanting to write, from the time I wrote my first article in the late
1960s I’ve wanted to do nothing else. Writing consumes my time and my
passion.
I hear from would-be
writers like you all the time. People who started with a great more passion than
I did, but who have no idea how to move from the manuscript phase to
publication. Although the Christian
Writers’ Market Guide will lead you to appropriate markets for your writing
projects—and tell you how to submit to them—there is so much more you need to
know to prepare for that giant step toward publication.
Writing is like any
other new business you might want to get into. It has its own rules, guidelines,
and even language. If you want to enter the arena of publishing, you first need
to be in the know about what preliminary steps you need to take—and what is
expected of you as a writer. …
Many of those writers I
hear from who want to know how to get published have been working sometimes for
years on their writing project. They may hold in their hands a finished or
nearly finished project that they want to see published as quickly as possible.
They often assume that
it’s just a matter of writing what they want to say, sending it off to an
editor, and it gets published. What they don’t understand—as I didn’t at the
beginning—is that each editor has a list of guidelines that have been prepared
to help the writer come to them with a manuscript that fits their criteria—such
as the right length and the right slant to fit their specific needs. And
ultimately it needs to be on a topic their readers want to read
about.
What this means for you
as a writer is that your manuscript can be too long or too short or does not
target the appropriate market for that publisher. It is critical that you see
and follow those guidelines from the beginning of your writing project so you
don’t have to go back to square one and do a lot of rewriting.
Another problem I run
into quite often is expressed by writers who have written something, but they
don’t know what category it falls into when identifying potential markets in the
market guide….This is a critical step in both writing with a specific audience
in mind and finding those publications or book publishers open to what you have
to offer.
Unfortunately I find a
lot of writers who may have a great premise for their writing project, but it is
written to too broad an audience—or to no identifiable audience at all.
For example, writing a
book or story for children probably won’t sell unless you target
it to children of a
particular age. Or, writing an article on money management for adults may not
sell unless you target it to adults in a certain stage in life. Each publication
or publisher targets a specific audience, so you need to know who that audience
is and write your material to reflect their specific
needs.
* *
*
Thanks, Sally, for the good
words, and I pray all of you have a good week spreading the gospel through the
printed page!
Donna Clark Goodrich
"A Step in the Write Direction--the Complete
How-to Guide for Christian Writers"
