Category: Encouragement

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When writing, find your Nancy

Jody CollinsBy Jody Collins

When I began blogging almost 3 years ago I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Maybe you’ve felt the same way?

I was welcomed by a few new online friends into the High Calling network and encouraged to pursue my passion.  In just three years, God has shown me a few things about the path I’ve chosen, this ‘writing for the world,’ and given me some perspective-makers to keep me focused: 

1. Find Your Nancy

As you’re tapping and typing away at your laptop or desktop computer, there IS no audience, it’s just you and Jesus and your words.  You send them out into the blogosphere and pray for a connection.  You hope they’ll land somewhere, maybe touch a chord and speak to somebody. At least that was my prayer.

Lo and behold, one day I got a comment on a blog post. (Yay! It’s Okay to do a Happy Dance when someone leaves a comment.) Someone actually read what I wrote and told me about it!

It was an encouraging precious word from a woman named Nancy.  And she showed up every week, to read whatever I’d written. In spite of my fears that my words were than less-than-profound, she’d remark on their depth or how encouraged she felt.  Every week since then she has read and commented on my posts.

Now I have a very small crowd of ‘regulars’—fellow writers/bloggers and readers who encourage me as well. But I always remember Nancy—to write just for her—as if she was the only one listening. It personalizes my writing, which makes it more relatable.  It also gives me hope.

2. Choose Your Words

Not everything is a blog post! Like the nurse logs in the Washington Coast rainforest, some things just serve as detritus for new growth.  You know all those sticky notes and backs of envelopes?  Those inspired scribbles from a Sunday morning sermon you wrote on the back of the bulletin?  The scraps of paper you found just in time to scratch a revelation on?  Yeah, you’re probably not going to write all that down…

Not everything gets into print—much of it is practice for the process, part of the pile—a paper detritus that is the growth medium for what you DO write. The Holy Spirit will quicken in you the words that need to see the light of day.  Some of it will serve as markers, sitting in your notebook or under a paperweight, reminding you of how far you’ve come. Just keep writing. Persist, and then choose the honest, compelling words to share.

3. Build Relationships.

I am no professional marketing person to speak to what ‘platform’ is.  I am a believer and a writer and simply offer my words back to God to use as He sees fit.  Looking past all the social media skills and conferences and platform building, I think the core truth is this:  Building your blog (or your writing audience) is all about relationships.  

I am not concerned with numbers or stats, really.  For me, it’s all about connecting. But how can you extend your reach? Widen your audience? By reading other peoples’ words, commenting when you can and having them click back and find you.  That’s how others will find what you have to say.  There are other voices that share your passion and vice versa.  Maybe it’s Patheos, maybe it’s The High Calling, maybe it’s an online magazine—like Ruminate or Relief Journal or of course, where you are at now, the Faith & Culture Writers Connection!

There becomes an overlapping of the circles that you find yourself touching, an ever-expanding Venn diagram of comments and topics and people.  I personally am interested in keeping my reach small so I can go deep, rather than being wide and therefore shallow.  You’ll find what feels right for you. But wide or deep, it’s all just relationship connections.

As you write keep these three things in mind.  Find your Nancy and write for her. Choose your words and persist. Build relationships. Do this consistently and you will see your writing and creativity move forward and impact people you never thought possible.
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Jody is the Volunteer Coordinator and Administrative Assistant for the Faith & Culture Writers Conference.  She blogs at threewaylight.blogspot.com.

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Rough Draft – Our conference theme, our lives.

Cornelia Becker SeigneurBy Cornelia Becker Seigneur

I love the quote by Maxwell Perkins that goes like this: “Just get it down on paper, then we will see what to do with it.” Perkins, as the editor of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe, knew what he was talking about.

I just wish I would live by those words, as I should.

The blank page. Why does it haunt us?

Just begin.

The perfectionist in us perhaps, or the fear of being criticized or the fear of the painful memories we channel when we begin to write. But, the quote by Perkins reminds us to just begin, just get it on paper, onto the computer, into that journal.

That’s why we are really excited to announce the theme of the 2015 Faith & Culture Writers Conference:

Rough Draft: From Blank to Beautiful.

We want to gather friends of words and story and The Word together to give them permission to create. To not be afraid of the blank page. To know that it’s okay to know that our work is in progress. Because aren’t we all rough drafts, creations of God whom He’s working on?

Every year as we think through, pray over, and dream about the theme for the Faith & Culture Writers Conference, we come up with five words that represent our vision for the year. This year, to go along with the Rough Draft theme, we wanted to have those five words reflect the nature of the creative process. Those five words this year are:

Decide, Dare, Prepare, Persist, Release.

Follow these 5 words, and you will find your creativity expand and your writing career moving forward.

Decide. We need to decide we are writers, dreamers, artists, activists, authors, entrepreneurs, believers. It starts with a yes. An, “I can do this, I will do this, I start today.” It is a simple yes, packed in deep dreams and beliefs and that you-know-you-are-called vision. Don’t wait for someone else to give you permission, to tell you you are good enough. You do not need their permission. God has already given you permission. He has shaped you and molded you and made you into a creative being. He is a creative God. His first words, “In the beginning, God created.” Decide. Begin.

Dare. To write that first word. That first story. That first blog post. That first article. That first book proposal. That hundredth book proposal. Let’s face it, It takes courage to get our words and story out there. It takes guts. People may not like our work, they may not appreciate our story, they may think we are not good enough. That’s okay. Do it anyway. It’s your calling.

Prepare. Yes, you do need to decide that you are a writer with something to contribute, and you then need to dare to get your art out there, to have courage. But then, you need to find a way, get some advice, seek out the expertise of others, learn how to write moving blog posts. As a writers’ conference, we want to help you prepare for that launch of your words, your art, your story, your creativity.

Persist. Okay, you’ve decided to begin, you’ve said yes to the dare, and you’ve begun to prepare for what that means. Perhaps, it’s twice a week blog posts, meeting with a friend, seeking out an editor, attending a writers conference. But, then truth be told, it takes persistence. It takes sticking with it! There really are no one–book wonders or one-blog-post-goes-viral-and-you-are-famous wonders, or one-anything-wonders. Most of those authors who “make it” have been writing for years. When no one was noticing. Until one day, they got noticed.

Release. It’s time. You’ve decided to get your words out there, you’ve dared to be creative, you’ve prepared and you’ve stuck with it. Now, let it go. That’s it. Let people read it, and keep getting it out there, and leave the results to God. If one or a million or just you are changed by your words, your story, your art, it was worth it.

Cornelia is a freelance journalist and the mother of five children and finds her pen often turning to the chaos and craziness and beauty in her family life. She is the Founding Director for the Faith & Culture Writer’s Conference, and blogs at www.corneliaseigneur.com.

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Encounters With Polar Bears, Macaws, and Other Writing Adventures

By Lynn Hare

I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.

Ezekiel 36:24, ESV

I threw off the cold rainfall of Portland, Oregon last fall on a plane that touched down on a tarmac lined with palm trees in ninety-two degree Anaheim summer. At the hotel, the pool’s chlorine-laden mist beckoned with tendrils of playful wonder. A boy wearing a coontail hat dashed through the lobby, fists filled with Disneyabilia and Adventureloot.

For years, you and I have traveled many lands, praying for a regenerative spirit over truth-laden stories. Daily we accept the challenge for adventure from the Holy Spirit and transform Christendom—one chapter, one page, one word at a time.

Our passionate words of strength renew readers’ hope. Every time our keyboard hums, we offer a fresh encounter with a Jesus the world has never known. Through our diverse experiences, we explore ways to open hearts and minds to uncharted expanses of revelatory freedom. And as God crafts and shapes our voices, He releases creative ways for others to renew relationship with Him.

Our Pilot has dropped us (sometimes with parachutes and other times without) into the most unlikely terrain. This tribe of writers has braved the North Pole of frosty polar bear attacks in ice storms of rejection. We’ve conquered the parched trek of barren Sahara plains as sand filled our shoes when words would not come. We’ve cupped palms to our mouths and hurled questions at God across raging ravines and His Word has relentlessly echoed back.

We rush forward, drawn to the call of the vibrant-banded macaw in the heart of the Amazon rainforest of lush growth. Then we linger in the virtual aisles of Amazon.com, discovering volumes to devour, one plantain after another. Forerunners of grace, we become atmosphere changers, no matter what surprises the latitudes and longitudes of the future hold.

I pray that you and I forgive each other loudly and often. Let’s joyfully forgive and laugh at our own mistakes—and revel in them. May our readers catch and multiply His grace as it renews hearts, souls, and homes.

And as we peer through the binoculars from this vista, let’s ask, “Holy Spirit, where to next?”

 

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What Leadership Means to Me

By Matthew O’Connell 

I once thought events like Faith and Culture stem from one person. That one person alone makes all the plans and other people help execute it. My first meeting with the Faith & Culture Writers Conference leadership team quickly changed the view that I was inculcated with.

I attended the Faith & Culture Writers Conference last year. A friend heard that I enjoyed writing and asked if I wanted to go with her. I signed up only minutes after she told me, having no idea what to expect. I remember the anxious anticipation days before Faith and Culture. The event started with worship and I turned to my friend saying, “I thought this was a writing conference?” It appeared more like church than what I envisioned a writing conference would look like.  “When are we going to get to the good stuff?” I wondered.

But, I quickly found that writing is a form of worship, and God is the only good stuff one needs.

As William Young, the Friday night keynote speaker, began his talk, my posture changed from relaxed to sitting at the edge with my hands on my chin. I don’t remember blinking for the next 45 minutes. One thing he said stuck with me, something I will always remember: “I will never again ask God to bless what I am doing, but ask to be apart of what He is doing.”

After the first night concluded, I felt like Moses coming down from Mt. Sinai. My friend and I talked the entire ride home about the experience we just had. The next day I attended the breakout sessions, absorbing every piece of information I could. This is the first time I ever saw an agent in person. I heard of them vaguely, like some mythical sea creature that didn’t exist. A whole underworld of supportive writers, agents, mentors, and publishers were at my fingertips. I sat in the front row at every workshop so I can ask more questions.

I left the conference with a new appreciation, enthusiasm, and revival in my writing. I began writing everyday and have been ever since. I am currently on my third re-write of my memoir, and actively making posts on my blog. I stayed in contact with Cornelia, the conference director, and attended one of the monthly Writers Connection meetings she leads.

At one of those meetings, I came a half hour early and saw Cornelia and remembered her. Her enthusiasm and warmness makes it impossible to forget. I began talking about a writing contest I entered and how I think they are amazing. Interestingly, she told me, “We just discussed at our last leadership meeting how great it would be to have a writing competition this year at our conference. Would you want to help organize it?”

A week went by and I was unsure how serious her request was. None-the-less I was filled with ideas. I sent her a long message of all my ideas for the contest. She asked if I could attend the planning meeting the following evening. Luckily I wasn’t working and was able to join the leadership team.

As people began trickling in they didn’t even question my presence. We opened up in prayer and fellow team member Veylnn gave a short devotional on what the words Faith and Culture mean. The night before, Cornelia had sent us the itinerary for the meeting. I thought it was just for our reference and that we weren’t going to hit every point. Nope, we were going over every last detail. I had prepared a few vague ideas regarding the proposed writing contest.

We started discussing which people were speaking. As one idea was brought up, another person would give an idea. Slowly the conference began building one piece at a time, becoming its own separate entity from anything we imagined. No idea came from one person, but everything was constructed entirely as a collective effort. Each new idea was spoken louder, with more enthusiasm than the last. We were almost jumping out of our seats; “What if we had a panel of blogger mentors?” and so on.  Slowly the conference was falling into place.

This conference no longer belonged to us. It was God’s. We were just the vehicles he chose to deliver his message. Cornelia at one point said, “I don’t know how this is going to work, I am just trusting God He will provide.” I couldn’t count the number of times she and everyone in the group said this. Trusting God’s plan for this conference was a huge a theme through every step of the process.

Each time we met as a leadership planning team, I became closer with the other members, more than I thought I could in such a short amount of time. I learned that leadership isn’t about any isolated person, or idea, it is the collective effort of every person. A machine with God at the heart of it.

I reflected on when Paul Young talked about only being a part of God’s plan. Throughout this whole process we utterly depended on God and only wanted His will to be done, that He would invite us into his grace. God delivered far more than I deserve. It was clear from the very beginning God has had (and is having) His hands on every stage of the process for this conference.

When we get to together for leadership meetings it gets progressively longer as we share our hearts with each other. I am so thankful to be surrounded by so many God-loving writers and friends. I wake up every morning thankful that God has placed so many amazing, supportive, loving people in my life.

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If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write

By CORNELIA BECKER SEIGNEUR

One of my favorite writing quotes is by Martin Luther: “If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write.” I think I have always appreciated the power of the pen, the strength of story and the wonder of Words.

As we head into the weekend for Portland’s second Faith & Culture Writers Conference at Multnomah University, Friday-Saturday April 5-6, I am excited to lead a breakout session on “Freelance Writing in the Digital World.”

I love sharing the story of how God opened the door for me to freelance for The Oregonian newspaper beginning in 1996. I have had the honor of penning stories of doctors going to Africa, of kids raising money for orphans, of entire youth groups traveling to Mississippi rather than go to a summer camp for fun. After people read my stories, I receive emails or phone calls from folks saying they read my story and they decided to donate funds, or help someone, or go on a mission trip. Wow, that feeling of lives being changed through story is amazing.

My daughter Rach had written a teen column for The Oregonian while she was in high school and one of the things she wrote about once was how she did not want gifts for Christmas but instead she wanted money so she could go on a mission trip to Mississippi. She received a check in the mail for $ 100 from a reader who was so moved by her story. My Rachie said to me, “Mom, I did not realize how much writing can impact people.”

While I have specialized in stories of faith and culture, family and community for The Oregonian, I had also  dreamed of writing for Christianity Today, and am grateful for the opportunity that has opened up for me to do just that.  I have been able to pen stories about (the late) Richard Twiss and Lopez Lomong, whose story is that running — and writing — saved  his life.

I look forward to penning more stories. But first, our upcoming writers conference. And, speaking of Christianity Today, I asked my editor Katelyn Beaty to donate magazines, and they did. We have a few gift subscriptions as door prizes, and a box full of magazines to give away. Christy Tenant Krispin will be here representing CT and its This is Our City Project, which collects stories of folks reaching out and impacting culture locally.

Buzz is building for this weekend’s conference as people who have never been before are learning about it. It’s fun to see all the connections being made with old friends and new friendships forming. Twitter hashtag #faithculture2013 is active on our @WritersUniteNW Twitter page and our  Faith & Culture Writers Connection Facebook page can be found at:  Facebook Faith & Culture Writers

Registration at the door on Friday-Saturday April 5-6 is $ 75 and students are just $ 25. Visit: Faith & Culture Writers Conference

 

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Encouragement for Writers

By Pam Lau

 

Many years ago, Madeleine L’Enlge wrote, “We’re never sure that what we write is true and honest. We try to make it true and honest. How much I succeed is really beyond my control. It happens if I am given the Spirit to write the work.”

Her words are truer today than ever before. If we have something to say – through a blog, a poem, a story, a song, an article, a stage, a sermon – we often wonder if what we say is true.

But the world has never been more complex than it is today and simply “telling it like it is” doesn’t help us much if we don’t take the time to observe the changes in our culture, in ourselves, in our small and big worlds: It’s really a New Day.

If you’re like me, you take some time most days to sit alone crafting a message through writing or speaking or singing. I’m 45 years old and I’m still in wonder how it is only through the gifts of the Spirit that my art comes – that love spills into my work. The problem is I’m human and I still doubt, I’m unconvinced that I served my message long enough or intensely enough. I’m never quite satisfied – but that’s pride – that’s not love and suddenly it’s not about my audience anymore.

My session on Saturday is all about truth-telling as a writer/speaker/communicator in a culture where there’s a divide between the generations spiritually, theologically and geographically.  This is not about being “right” or being at the center of attention with your “truth.”  It’s about writing or speaking something of value to others and finding your most powerful tools to get that message across to others who are waiting for it.

I’m not an ordained minister and I don’t see myself as having all the answers.  But I do see myself as the lead learner on this subject as I’ve been researching and interviewing for my next book.  We all want truth.  Your audience is looking for the truth that Jesus promises will set us free.

Here are a few of the truth-telling tools I will talk about on Saturday:

  • Live in Real Time; not with Nostalgia
  • Test Words for Balance and Diversity
  • Write with Open Accountability, Not with an Image

What are some obstacles you see in our culture that keep us from telling the Truth well?  I hope to meet you there and continue this conversation.

 

 

 

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“See, I am doing a new thing!”

By Ashley Larkin

 

Doubt and insecurity can cling heavily to those who experience the stirring to create. Even for those who confidently call themselves writers, the process of bringing forth words can at times breed feelings of discouragement and loneliness.

Writers of faith, like other writers, may ask, “Who cares about what I have to say? Is anyone listening? Do I have something unique to share with the world? Is it worth making myself vulnerable to do it? What if I put myself out there and fail?”

In large part, the Faith and Culture Writers Conference exists to speak to those very places of unbelief and struggle. To proclaim that God is doing a good thing – a new thing – in and through you, as you partner with him in bringing forth words.

This year’s conference theme verse proclaims this very truth: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:19

The conference planning team desires that each one who attends leaves feeling not only equipped with useable skills, but also with a new sense of confidence and hope in this God-given calling to write. In short, we desire for you to be encouraged.

In Acts 27, we see a powerful picture of encouragement, as the apostle Paul speaks confidently about what he knows to be true: God controls the situation and will bring a good end.

Though Paul has advised against this sea voyage, soon he finds himself on a ship with 275 other people, thrown about by a violent storm. Days pass, and eventually those on board lose all hope of being saved and begin to throw their provisions overboard.

In the midst of this impossible-seeming situation, an angel of God visits Paul and assures him that none on the ship will be lost. Paul returns to the men and tells them that God’s hand is upon the ship and none of them will die. They do not believe him at first, but Paul continues to encourage them (in verses 33 and 34) and tells them to eat. Paul takes the lead, breaking bread, giving thanks to God and eating.

His example inspires those aboard. Verse 36 says the once hopeless men are encouraged and take in enough food to fill themselves. In fact, after eating, they believe they will make it to shore and proceed to lighten the ship further (by tossing wheat overboard) to ensure this will be the case.

The men feel encouraged when Paul proclaims to them the good God has spoken to him. It is a good even Paul does not yet “see,” but he chooses to believe and move forth in faith with hope. When the men are encouraged, they take in what they need for their sustenance. Then, they willingly lighten the boat’s load, getting rid of what is no longer needed, not from a place of defeat, but of hope.

For you who walk with Christ and embrace this calling to partner with the Word made flesh in sharing words, you, too, can believe in what God says, though you do not yet see the outcome. You can freely take in that which you need for your encouragement, including the emboldening, support and care of others on the journey. Once encouraged, you can walk in new lightness, gradually casting aside what is no longer needed.

We do not know all the pieces of the story, but like Paul, we can choose to agree with and believe in the good end that God knows.

Be encouraged.

 

Ashley Larkin writes several times a week about the good of living fully awake at her blog Draw Near.