Sunday, September 20, 2015

A Step in the Write Direction--September 21, 2015--Nonfiction hints

A Step in the Write Direction

September 21, 2015

Update: I can honestly say this is the best week I’ve had since March 7th. I don’t know if six months is some kind of a miracle anniversary or not, but I’ve felt more peace and contentment these last few days. I know much of it is due to the support of my family and the prayers of my friends—those I’ve know personally and those I’ve come to know through this blog and Facebook. Thank you all!...I’m in a weird situation right now—no work to do—that is, for others! So I’m back to cleaning and sorting, reading books and giving them away, and the slides are all done. As soon as I clean out the two 4-drawer file cabinets, I’m going to tackle my photographs—bags and bags of them! I have them in albums up to 1974; the rest are divided by year and that’s all. Will be work, but fun. Any of you have that same dilemma? What’s your secret to getting them organized?

Thought for Today: “I find television very educational. Every time someone switches it on, I go into another room and read a good book” (Groucho Marx, Reader’s Digest, October 2015, p. 21).

Song for Today:
Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till setting sun;
Let us talk of all His wondrous love and care;
Then when all of life is over, and our work on earth is doe,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.
            James M. Black, “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder”

Laugh for Today: Bob forgot his wedding anniversary and his wife was mad. She told him, “Tomorrow morning I expect to find a gift in the driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in 6 seconds AND IT BETTER BE THERE!” The next morning when his wife woke up, she looked out the window to find a box…gift wrapped in the middle of the driveway. She opened it and found…a bathroom scale. Bob has been missing ever since.
Writer’s Tips:                                   Writing Nonfiction

When I first considered writing nonfiction, it seemed that others had already covered every topic I wanted to write about. I had a lot of ideas, but wondered how they differed from those already written. Then, while sitting in a nonfiction workshop, I realized that what made each article unique is the slant that only a particular writer can give it.

God has given each of us a distinctive personality, and He has allowed you and me to go through circumstances in a way no one else has experienced. You are a unique individual—a mother or father, brother or sister, aunt or uncle. You're part of a married couple, a single parent, or never married. You’re a student, you’re employed, you’re retired.

If married, what have you experienced? First-year adjustment, in-law problems, financial struggles? As a parent: infertility, adoption, preschool children, challenges with teens, adult children still living at home? Whatever you’ve gone through, you’re the only one who can write an article or book in your own voice.

The emotion you share in your story will make your article stand out from the other manuscripts the editor receives. Those may have facts—the skeleton, so to speak—but yours can have "flesh." You may have added research and statistics, quotations from other books, and even a friend’s story, but you’re also showing how this experience has affected your life. Showing how God has brought you through this particular situation can help others going through the same trial and help them to find victory.

 Have a good week spreading the
gospel through the printed page.

Donna Clark Goodrich

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