A Step in the Write Direction
May 19,
2014
Update: I’m very excited that I
have new publishers for both A Step in
the Write Direction and The Freedom of Letting Go. As I
mentioned before, the Student Edition of Step will be combined with the original
so there will be assignments throughout. This will be good for students,
beginning writers, and advanced writers as well as it will still contain
sections on sources of extra income for writers, income taxes, Microsoft Word
shortcuts, etc. It will also be useful for writers groups to use as a textbook,
doing the assignments as a group. The expected release date of this new book is
September 2014. And the new Freedom book will also be different in
that it will have discussion questions at the end of each chapter. The three
chapters on letting go of worry, doubt, and fear have been combined, making this
a 13-chapter book. Thus it can be used as a 3-month(13-week) small group study
or, by combining the Introduction with Chapter 1, a year-long study (one a month
for 12 months).
Thought for Today: Whether your
faith is that there is a God or that there is not a God, if you don’t have any
doubts you are either kidding yourself or asleep. Doubts are the ants in the
pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving (Frederick Buechner, Sermon Resources newsletter, April 26,
2014).
Song for Today:
Lord, lift me up and let me
stand,
By faith, on heaven’s
tableland,
A higher plane than I have
found.
Lord, plant my feet on
higher ground.
“Higher Ground,” Johnson Oatman,
Jr.
Laugh for Today: Calories (noun): Tiny creatures that live inside your
closet and sew your clothes a little bit tighter every night (from The Gospel Greats newsletter,
5/6/14).
Writer’s Tips: Today we have a
guest blog you’ll enjoy written by Emily Akin:
Todd Burpo
did not want to write a book. He just wanted to get on with his life as a family
man, pastor, business owner, and volunteer firefighter. It’s not like he needed
anything else to do.
But, now
there’s a movie based on his book, Heaven Is for Real: A Little Boy’s
Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back. It’s the story of what
happened to his son, Colton, who, at age four, suffered a ruptured appendix,
infection, and surgery. He survived, but he says he went to heaven while he was
in the hospital. The book has been on the New York
Times best-seller list for most
weeks since it was published in 2010, and in the Number One spot for some time.
The movie released recently is off to a great start, too.
I heard Todd
Burpo speak at Indianapolis
Christian Writers Conference in 2011. He
was interviewed by Don Cady of Wesleyan Publishing House at one of the evening
general sessions. Burpo’s message was “Sometimes your message is so powerful
that you have no choice.”
Burpo said
that world’s need for his family’s message overruled all of the
objections:
- I don’t have time to write a
book.
- I don’t know how to get it
published.
- I don’t want to subject the
family, especially young Colton, to the public scrutiny.
But, people
kept telling him he should write a book. After months of prayer, Burpo gave God
a suggestion. If he was supposed to publish Colton’s story, God would need to
send the right people to help him.
It wasn’t
long before he got a call from an agent wanting to represent him and help get a
book written. If you know anything at all about the publishing industry, you
know that this never happens. Not only did God send help, He sent the
best. Lynn Vincent, accomplished ghostwriter helped get it written, and the one
and only Thomas Nelson Publishers agreed to publish it. Talk about answer to
prayer!
The family
never expected their story to resonate the way it has. They’ve been interviewed
on many of the major TV shows. It appears that their message is a powerful one
and that the world is hungry for it.
What about
you? Do you want to write a book? Do you have a story you want to tell? Whatever
your situation, be encouraged by the Burpo story. You may have a message the
world needs, too.
Emily
M. Akin blogs at http://blog4writers.com.
She is a freelance writer, blogger, and editor whose work has appeared in
numerous Christian periodicals. She is a regular contributor to Hometown Magazine of the Ken-Tenn Area.
Have a good
week spreading the
gospel through
the printed page.
Donna Clark
Goodrich
dgood648@aol.com
www.thewritersfriend.net
http://donna-goodrich.blogspot.com
"A Step in the Write Direction--the
Complete How-to Guide for Christian Writers"
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