For you: Marty Duane’s “The Writer’s Prayer”

Many things will distract you from writing your memoir, and they might even be good things. For example, I just attended a women’s retreat and it was refreshing and inspiring. I also stocked up on groceries, went to church, monitored coronavirus cases,  emailed friends, spent a few hours with my granddaughter, texted my kids, watched a Hallmark movie, and carried out the inevitable cooking, dishwashing, cleaning, and laundry.

All good things. But I didn’t do much writing.

When life gets busy, busy, busy, let’s remember: Writing a memoir is a ministry. Like the Psalmist said, “O God, let each generation tell its children of Your mighty acts; let them retell stories of your power” (Psalm 145:4). (See also Deuteronomy 4:9 and Luke 8:39.)

Your stories can shape the lives—including the spiritual lives—of your children, grandchildren, great-grands, nieces, nephews, cousins, friends, colleagues, and even people you’ll never meet. Therefore, focus, exercise self-discipline, and manage your time well. Figure out priorities. Maybe for a while writing can’t be a priority, and that’s okay.

But because writing your memoir is a ministry, make it a prayer priority.

“Make prayer your first writing assignment every day,” Bob Hostetler says.

Lloyd John Ogilvie acknowledged that in his ministry he faced “soul-sized issues,” so he prayed:

“Sovereign Father. . . . You have given me . . .

an imagination able to envision Your plan

and purpose for me,

and a will ready to do Your will.

. . . I know You will go before me to show me the way,

behind me to press forward,

beside me to give me courage,

above me to protect me,

and within me to give me wisdom and discernment.”

(Quiet Moments with God, Lloyd John Ogilvie)

Your family has soul-sized issues today, and as new generations join your family, they, too, will encounter soul-sized issues. God has a plan and purpose for you, a role to play in your family.

As you carry out that plan, God will go before you, behind you, beside you, above you, and within you. You can count on Him!

You probably have no idea just how much God can use your stories to impact soul-sized issues in the lives of those around you, so today I share with you Marty Duane’s “The Writer’s Prayer,” a humble prayer for himself and for all writers:

Dear Author,

Today, the words I use, let them be Your words.

Words of Hope, of Love, of Faith.

Allow me, with trembling hands, to be Your voice. . . .

Let me never forget, the words I write today

May change the life of one, maybe two.

But as the Psalmist says, I bring You all my sheaves,

They may not be many, but they are Yours. . . .

You gave to me

this small talent of writing,

and it is through this talent

You have given my heart a voice. . . .”

(Click here to continue reading “The Writer’s Prayer”)

Take delight in what God has put on your heart.

Recognize He has given your heart a voice.

Focus. Be single-minded. Pray. Write.

The secret to writing better than you are capable of writing

Are you struggling to write? Or have you given up on writing altogether?—lost hope? walked away?

If so, you’re not alone. We all get discouraged from time to time, but author Bob Hostetler has a remedy for us.

In his blog post, “Your First Writing Assignment,” Bob tells of his own experience—getting burnt out on writing. Undone.

But then—and I’m sure it was a God-thing—he got a writing assignment that required him to pray—and it was prayer that refueled him and saved his writing ministry.

“I pray before I write. I pray while I write. And then I pray after I write that God will even further transform my offering through the work of godly publishers, editors, designers, artists. . . .

“I pray, not to change God or others but to change me. I pray for wisdom to manage my time wisely, for discipline to apply my mind to my writing and my butt to the chair. . . . For some writing projects, I’ve assembled a prayer team to support my writing with their prayers. . . .”

Bob encourages all of us to “ . . . make prayer your first writing assignment every day. Before you sharpen your pencil or turn on your computer, before you outline, before you jump into a writing exercise or research task, pray.

“Whatever it takes,” he says, “if prayer is not your first writing assignment every day . . . you’re cheating yourself, your readers, your editors, and even God, who will partner with you in your writing . . . for the asking.”

You’ll be inspired by Bob’s post, “Your First Writing Assignment.” It will take only a minute or two to read it, and it will be well worth your time.

Prayer revolutionized Bob’s writing—

it could revolutionize yours, too.

Tuesday Tidbit: Read this only if you’re serious about writing and publishing your memoir

If you’re serious about writing and publishing your memoir, make a commitment to learning the art and craft of each skill necessary.

Consider yourself a student. Devote at least a couple of years to learning how to write, and then how to publish.

Join a writing group. Network.

Read the best books.

Attend writing conferences.

Develop a system for collecting information you know you’ll need in the future.

For example, I have dozens of folders saved on my computer for skills such as writing good dialog. I have ten pages of links and notes on dialog alone!

I have at least that many pages devoted to dozens hundreds of other topics including:

• audience
• author bio (how to write one)
• beta readers
• book descriptions
• chapter titles
• Chicago Manual of Style
• clarity
• copyright info
• covers for books
• critique
• details describing people
• editing topics and resources
• formatting
• grammar

. . . and dozens of other topics.

And here’s another bit of advice: Follow the best blogs.

Recently Anne R. Allen shared a great resource listing the top 100 writing blogs. I have learned from many of them and recommend you look into them, too—they’ll help you grow as a writer. And Anne R. Allen consistently offers rich resources, too. Follow her on Facebook.

And pray! Commit yourself and your writing to God. Ask for His help in practical, specific ways. And watch what He does.

God has often surprised me in answer to such prayers. For example, this morning He brought me a huge help to solve an overwhelming problem with formatting my manuscript for publication. WoooHooo!

If you’re serious about writing and publishing your memoir,

learn the art and craft of each skill necessary.

You can do it!

You must do it!

Tuesday Tidbit: The secret to writing better than you are capable of writing

Are you struggling to write? Or have you given up on writing altogether? Lost hope? Walked away?

If so, you’re not alone. We all get discouraged from time to time, but author Bob Hostetler has a remedy for us.

In his blog post, “Your First Writing Assignment,” Bob tells of his own experience—getting burnt out on writing. Undone.

But then—and I’m sure it was a God-thing—he got a writing assignment that required him to pray—and it was prayer that refueled him and saved his writing ministry.

“I pray before I write. I pray while I write. And then I pray after I write that God will even further transform my offering through the work of godly publishers, editors, designers, artists….

“I pray, not to change God or others but to change me. I pray for wisdom to manage my time wisely, for discipline to apply my mind to my writing and my butt to the chair…. For some writing projects, I’ve assembled a prayer team to support my writing with their prayers….”

Bob encourages all of us to “… make prayer your first writing assignment every day. Before you sharpen your pencil or turn on your computer, before you outline, before you jump into a writing exercise or research task, pray.

“Whatever it takes,” he says, “if prayer is not your first writing assignment every day… you’re cheating yourself, your readers, your editors, and even God, who will partner with you in your writing … for the asking.”

You’ll be inspired by Bob’s post, “Your First Writing Assignment.” It will take only a minute or two to read it, and it will be well worth your time.

Prayer revolutionized Bob’s writing.

It could revolutionize yours, too.

Writing your untold stories

Pain. Ache. 

Heartbreak. Grief. Anguish.

All of us have experienced such woes, but too often we avoid writing about them.

How about you? Have you avoided writing the painful stuff?

Which of your stories remain untold?

Mick Silva says writers must be willing to take a chance—to risk examining our hard bits and pieces—and then to risk writing about them.

“That necessity to risk is why writing takes courage above all else,” he says. “Risking pain to seek the deeper truths about yourself and life, risking sharing what you know. Risking paying close attention when you experience pain or fear, knowing it means you’ve been chosen to understand, express and explain this particular view of it best….”

Writing about our sorrows can bring us healing, but there’s more: God can use our stories to give others hope and faith to get through their own heartaches.

God even planned for us to do so:

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 tells us that the God of all comfort reaches out to comfort us in our troubles so that we can comfort others with the comfort we have received from Him. That means writing about God helping you through your painful experience is a sacred calling, a ministry.

Take, for example, Dana Goodman’s experience: “During my intense grieving moments, other people’s stories gave me words to describe the ache that was indescribable. They gave me hope that a new day would dawn, and I would not be stuck in the black forever.” (Dana Goodman, author, In the Cleft: Joy Comes in the Mourning)

And so, we write:

“In a world that groans of brokenness

and screams of injustice,

it matters that we hold our creative candles

right up next to the pain.”

Settle Monroe

A word of caution: Writing about heartaches and tragedies can be excruciating—because to write them requires us to relive them. If we haven’t healed enough to write those stories, we must wait until we can relive them and write them.

When we’re ready to write the hard stuff, remember: Readers need to enter our emotion and live through the experience with us. They need to make an emotional connection with us.

To “hold our creative candles right up next to the pain,” we can employ method writing, a concept Bill Roorbach explains in Writing Life Stories.

Bill’s method writing is a spin-off of method acting. Here’s how that works: Before the curtain rises, the actor remembers a time in which he experienced the emotion he needs to act out. He spends time reliving that emotion so that when he steps on stage, he is wrapped in that emotion and succeeds in playing his part.

Method writing, then, requires us to step out of the present and into the past. We must take time (make time) to remember the event and rediscover the emotions that enveloped us.

Once we are reliving that emotion, we need to find the best words to describe it. That can take a long time, but it’s worth the effort.

We also must reflect on our accompanying thoughts and imaginings. We ask ourselves:

• What was at stake? What did I have to lose or gain?
• What life-shaking questions did I ask myself?
• At the time, in what ways did I envision this situation would change my life?
• What were my hopes, fears, and prayers?

When you’re caught up again in that event, get it onto paper or computer screen because that’s how you reach your readers—that’s how they join you in your experience, that’s how they learn from your experience.  

We need each other’s stories! We need each other’s hope!

What untold stories do you need to write? Others will benefit if you’ll put them in writing.

Ask God to help you.

Abba…

Help me write in all my weakness,

in vulnerability,

bruised and broken,

in tears,

crippled,

in poverty and pain,

waiting for your strength and your timing….

Bob Hostetler’s poem, A Weak Writer’s Prayer