Step in the Write Direction--June 30, 2014--Would you write without a byline?

A Step in the Write Direction

June 30, 2014

Update: Not much to update this week. Still resting up from the Oklahoma trip and getting ready for the Michigan trip, and finishing several editing/proofreading jobs including the galleys for the updated Step in the Write Direction book. I do have a prayer request to share though. My “bestest” friend (friends for 69 years) is now under hospice care at home with cancer of the liver. I visited her Saturday and she was cheerful as usual, but thin and a little confused at times. Prayer request, however, is for her husband—a super nice guy, but doesn’t know the Lord and this is what bothers Kathy the most—that she won’t see him again. Say a little prayer for the two of them today, would you? Thanks!

Thought for Today: The disciplined person, the disciple, is someone who is able to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done. The whole purpose of the [spiritual] disciplines is to enable you to do the right thing at the right time in the right spirit” (John Ortberg & Dallas Willard, Living in Christ’s Presence, 2014, 143).

Laugh for the Day: One day, my husband announced to the family that he was going to fast and pray. Ginny, our five-year-old, had recently learned that fasting meant not eating. "No!" she shouted. "You can't fast! You'll die!" Her dad carefully explained that many men and women fasted in Bible times. Ginny paused a moment. Then, with a flash of insight and a note of warning, she proved her point: "And they're all dead!" she said. (The Gospel Greats Newsletter, June 24, 2014)

Second laugh: Here’s 1-second video that’ll make you laugh, especially if you’re over 40:  www.youtube.com/embed/qteu4ld_SCE?rel=0

Song for the Day:

More about Jesus in His Word,

Holding communion with my Lord,

Hearing His voice in ev’ry line,

Making each faithful saying mine.

            —Eliza E. Hewitt, 1851–1920

(Do we Hear His voice in every line we write?)

Writer’s Tips (#5 of unpublished writer’s devotional book):

Our Reward for Writing

Do you not know that in a race all runners run, but only one gets the prize?

Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games

goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it

to get a crown that will last forever (1 Corinthians 9:24-25).

A speaker at a writer’s conference asked the question, “Would you write if you didn’t get a byline?” I’m sure, knowing we were all Christian writers, he expected all of us to answer with a resounding “Of course!”

I was a little slow at answering the question in my mind. My first thought was, Other editors might see the article and want to purchase it for their magazine. How would they know who wrote it? Then I thought, What if a reader wants to get in touch with me—not necessarily to offer praise for the article, but to let me know it helped them, or to share something they’re going through. They won’t know my name.

My final answer, however, was that the message was more important than the byline—which is why I often write deeply personal articles under a pen name.

There is an old story about the Greek Marathon. Muscular, conditioned runners paced nervously near the starting line for the long-distance race. In the midst of it all, a young stranger with an awesome physique took his place at the starting line. Taking no notice of the other contestants, he stared straight ahead. Two prizes awaited the winner: a bouquet of flowers and the honor of standing beside the king.

There was no question of who would win, and allegedly someone offered the stranger money and property not to run. Refusing the offers, he toed the mark and when the signal was given, he was the first away—and the first to cross the finish line.

At the end of the race, a bystander asked the young man if he thought the flowers were worth as much as the money and property he had refused. He replied, “I did not enter the race for the flowers. I ran so that I could stand beside my king!”

Bylines are nice, checks are more than welcome, but oh, to someday cross the finish line and stand before our King!

Would you write without a byline? Why or why not?

 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"

A Step in the Write Direction--June 23, 2014--The Mission Field of Writing

A Step in the Write Direction

June 23, 2014

Update: I’m glad I had most of this blog done last week as I found I’m not completely recuperated from my 10-day trip to Oklahoma. Seems I can’t do what I used to (my husband keeps telling me that). However, I do have my ticket now for my 10-day trip to Michigan. Will fly into Grand Rapids Thursday, July 10, visit my ex-sister-in-law (we’re still friends) and nephew and nieces; Friday visit my brother in Mt. Pleasant; go to my sister’s cottage in Houghton Lake on Saturday or Sunday; then Tuesday go to our district camp meeting where my nephew, Dave Clark, has charge of music for the week. My brother and wife will also be there from Tennessee….Friday I’ll go to Adrian where I’ll hold a one-day writers’ workshop Saturday, July 19 (if you know anyone in southern Michigan or in the Toledo, Ohio, area, you can let them know about this). Sunday I’m going to my home church in Jackson, then back to Grand Rapids to fly home Monday, July 21. That’s my last trip for the year!!

Thought for the Day:

Lord Jesus, teach me to be generous,

teach me to serve you as you deserve,

to give and not to count the cost,

to fight and not heed the wounds,

to toil and not to seek for rest,

to labor and not to seek reward,

except that of knowing that I do your will.

—St. Ignatius of Loyola

Song for the Day:

Ready to go, ready to stay;

Ready my place to fill;

Ready for service, lowly or great;

Ready to do His will.

            —Author Unknown

Laugh for the Day: A minister had a ready Scripture for every occasion.  While he was preaching, he swallowed a fly and quickly said, "He was a stranger and I took him in."

Writer’s Tips (#4 from unpublished writer’s devotional book):

The Mission Field of Writing

I have brought you glory on earth by

completing the work you gave me to do (John 17:4).

One day, while in my senior year of high school, I pulled a verse out of my “Promise Box” which read, “I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance.” Aha! At last I knew what I would be—I was called to be a missionary!

I shared my story at missionary rallies, and when I began college and someone asked me my plans after graduation, I proudly announced, “I’m going to be a missionary.” And of course it was to Africa. Wasn’t that where everyone went?

As time went on, however, the desire grew dimmer and I began to question whether it really was a call or just a happenstance that I read that verse that day. After all, it was the next card in the Promise Box. I was embarrassed, however, to admit to friends and family that I really wasn’t called. And I didn’t want to give up my dream. When the song was sung, “Ready to go…ready to stay,” I was ready to go, but not to stay. It took years before I realized that writing is a mission field.  That although I wasn’t called to go to a foreign field, I could still pray and give and help send others.

I did fulfill my dream in a sense, however. After I began a Christian writers club in my home town, a friend brought me an article to critique. She ended up selling it to Decision magazine, and later shared with me that two men—in different parts of Africa—wrote and told her that because of her article, they had accepted Christ. So a little piece of me did get to Africa after all!

What is your writing mission field? Is it writing devotionals? I e-mailed a devotional to a friend one Sunday morning. She printed it off just before leaving for church. Dashing to her car, she noticed her neighbor in the yard—a single man she hadn’t become well acquainted with yet. He looked a little discouraged, she thought, so on impulse, she handed him the devotional. “Here, you might enjoy this,” she said. When she returned home, her neighbor knocked on her door. “I had planned on committing suicide this morning,” he told my friend. “My wife left me and I decided I didn’t want to live anymore. But this”—holding up the piece of paper—“this gave me hope.”

Is your mission field writing personal experience stories—sharing an experience you’ve gone through and how the Lord helped you. After writing an article about letting go of my mother eleven years after she died, I received a letter from a widower who said, “…now I can go on.”

Whatever field of writing you choose, when you know God has called you to write and when something you write helps change someone’s life, then you can know that you, too, are a missionary.

My mission field today is:

 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"

A Step in the Write Direction--June 16, 2014--Father's Day

A Step in the Write Direction

June 16, 2014

Update: Home from Arizona and trying to get caught up on emails and proofreading and editing jobs. As much as I enjoyed being with my daughter and family, as Dorothy said, “There’s no place like home.” Now I have the revised version of A Step in the Write Direction to proofread. I wanted to print it out first but, unfortunately, my 5-year-old printer quit working over the weekend, so the first errand tomorrow morning will be at Staples. Here’s hoping all your fathers and husbands had a great Father’s Day today!

Thought for the Day: My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, "You’re tearing up the grass."  "We’re not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We’re raising boys."  (Harmon Killebrew, former baseball player).

Song for the Day:

Faith of our fathers, living still

In spite of dungeon, fire, and sword!

Oh, how our hearts beat high with joy

Whene’er we hear that glorious word!

Faith of our fathers! holy faith!

We will be true to thee till death!

            —Frederick W. Faber, 1814–1863

Laugh for the Day: The expectant father was a little on the broke side, so he took his wife to the pizza palace to have her baby because he heard it had free delivery.

Writer’s Tips: For Father’s Day

Singing with Our Dad

                                       In days gone by we'd gather 'round

The piano we once had,

We'd sing the songs we children liked,

Then up would speak our dad:

"Sing this one song," he used to say,

"I sang it as a lad."

He'd hum a bit of a favorite song,

And we'd sing it for our dad:

            Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,

            That sav'd a wretch like me!

            I once was lost, but now am found,

            Was blind, but now I see.

The years passed by; we moved away,

Then a call came on the phone,

"Your dad is sick," and once again

We gathered at our home.

"Please sing for me," his voice was weak,

"The words I do not know,

But let me hear you sing again

As you did so long ago."

            Precious mem'ries, how they linger,

            How they ever flood my soul,

            In the stillness of the midnight,

            Precious, sacred scenes unfold.

A year went by, then one more call,

"Your dad won't last the night."

We caught the plane, but he was gone

'Ere we could end our flight.

But though he's gone, those words he said,

I still can dimly hear,

"Please sing for me, just one more time,"

This song I love so dear":

            When I get to the end of the way,

            I will rest at the close of the day,

            And the toils of the road will seem nothing,

            When I get to the end of the way.

Yes, now he's gone, but one glad day,

We'll meet him on that shore,

Our family all will gather 'round,

And we shall part no more.

We'll laugh and cry and reminisce

Of memories we once had,

And then, for all eternity,

We'll sit and sing with Dad.

            Will the circle be unbroken

            By and by, Lord, by and by,

            In a better home awaiting

            In the sky, Lord, in the sky.

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--June 2, 2014--writer's devotion

A Step in the Write Direction

June 2, 2014

Update: (You can see the update on this on the June 9, 2014 blog.)

Thought for Today: Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself" (William Faulkner).

Song for Today:

Earthly pleasures vainly call me;

I would be like Jesus.

Nothing worldly shall enthrall me

I would be like Jesus.

   “I Would Be Like Jesus,” James Rowe, 1865–1933

Laugh for Today: "Why are you so sad?" a friend asked a man whose aunt had just died.  "You never appeared to care much for the poor old lady." "I didn't," admitted the man, "but I was responsible for keeping her in the mental hospital the last five years.  Now she's left me all her money and I have to prove she was of sound mind."

Writers’ Tip: (3^rd week of unpublished Writers’ Devotional Book):

Why Do We Write?

I have a message from God for you (Judges 3:20).

Booker T. Washington says, concerning public speaking, “I believe that one always does himself and his audience an injustice when he speaks merely for the sake of speaking. I do not believe that one should speak unless, deep down in his heart, he feels convinced that he has a message to deliver. When one feels, from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head, that he has something to say that is going to help some individual or some cause, then let him say it.

It’s the same with writing. Wightman Weese, former Tyndale editor, said at a writer’s conference, “Too often we write merely because the screen is blank and we feel we should put something on it.”

Do we write because someone has told us we should? One girl stood up at the end of a conference and shared, “I learned this week I’m not called to write.” We all laughed, then she continued. “Many well-meaning Christian friends told me I should write, but I never felt called. I’ve always wanted to be an artist. I’m going home now to do what God has called me to do.”

We may be writing because a speaker impressed upon our minds that we should “write two hours a day” and we took that as gospel truth.

­

Perhaps some of us write for money. A would-be writer wrote me a letter, asking how to get started. “I want to make enough to be able to quit my job and stay home with my four children,” she told me. I advised her to keep her job for a while.

We may write because of the pride we feel seeing our name in a magazine or on the cover of a book. If that’s the only reason, watch out. Pride often leads to a fall.

We may write to taste success.  Emily Barnes writes, “Success is really not your responsibility. You’re called to do what God asks….Leave the outcome to Him!...Your job and mine is to be faithful and obedient—to God’s Word. He’ll do the rest.”

But how often do we write because, like Booker T. Washington, we are convinced we have a message to share? When we feel—from the bottom of our feet to the top of our head—that we have something to say that can help someone, that is the best reason to write.

I write because:

 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--June 9--writer's devotional

A Step in the Write Direction

June 9, 2014

Update: Not much to update. Got home from Oklahoma tonight around 8:00. Had a good week with my daughter and family (son-in-law is pastor in Cushing). Taught 3 classes at a Christian writers’ workshop on May 31 which I really enjoyed, then gave “The Freedom of Letting Go” talk at the end. Sunday night my oldest granddaughter got her district minister’s license; Thursday our youngest granddaughter celebrated her birthday, then graduated from high school on Saturday, so it was a busy week. Now am taking tomorrow to unpack, do laundry, catch up on a proofreading job and 2 editing jobs. It’s good to be home!!

Thought for Today: God can keep you from stumbling, but be sure to tie your shoelaces (unknown).

Song for Today:

Ready to go, ready to stay;

Ready my place to fill;

Ready for service, lowly or great;

Ready to do His will.

            “Ready,” author unknown

Laugh for Today: "I desire no remuneration for this poem," the visitor to the publishing office said.  "I merely submit it as a compliment."  "Then, my dear sir, allow me to return the compliment," said the editor.

Writers’ Tips (week #4 from unpublished Writer’s Devotional Book):

The Mission Field of Writing

I have brought you glory on earth by

completing the work you gave me to do (John 17:4).

One day, while in my senior year of high school, I pulled a verse out of my “Promise Box” which read, “I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance.” Aha! At last I knew what I would be—I was called to be a missionary!

I shared my story at missionary rallies, and when I began college and someone asked me my plans after graduation, I proudly announced, “I’m going to be a missionary.” And of course it was to Africa. Wasn’t that where everyone went?

As time went on, however, the desire grew dimmer and I began to question whether it really was a call or just a happenstance that I read that verse that day. After all, it was the next card in the Promise Box.

I was embarrassed, however, to admit to friends and family that I really wasn’t called. And I didn’t want to give up my dream. When the song was sung, “Ready to go…ready to stay,” I was ready to go, but not to stay.

It took years before I realized that writing is a mission field. And although I never went to a foreign field, I did fulfill my dream in a sense. After I began a Christian writers club in my hometown, a friend brought me an article to critique. She ended up selling it to Decision magazine, and later shared with me that two men—in different parts of Africa—wrote and told her that because of her article, they had accepted Christ. So a little piece of me did get to Africa after all!

What is your writing mission field? Is it writing devotionals? I e-mailed a devotional to a friend one Sunday morning. She printed it off just before leaving for church. Dashing to her car, she noticed her neighbor in the yard—a single man she hadn’t become well acquainted with yet. He looked a little discouraged she thought, so on impulse, she handed him the devotional. “Here, you might enjoy this,” she said. When she returned home, her neighbor knocked on her door. “I had planned on committing suicide this morning,” he told my friend. “My wife left me and I decided I didn’t want to live anymore. But this”—holding up the piece of paper—“this gave me hope.”

Is your mission field writing personal experience stories—sharing an experience you’ve gone through and how the Lord helped you. After writing an article about letting go of my mother eleven years after she died, I received a letter from a widower who said, “…now I can go on.”

Whatever field of writing you choose, when you know God has called you to write and when something you write helps change someone’s life, then you can know that you, too, are a missionary.

My mission field today is:

 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

 

www.thewritersfriend.net
"A Step in the Write Direction--the Complete How-to Guide for Christian Writers"