"Say it"

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Do you question whether you should write a memoir for your kids and grandkids? Do you wonder if your life’s stories are important?

At times we all have nagging uncertainties: Do I have anything important to say? Haven’t other writers already penned everything significant?

To counter those doubts, you’ll often read statements from me like this:

You are part of a story much bigger than yourself:

Your story is important.

It’s part of God’s story, and God’s story is part of yours.

Today, friends, to reiterate your stories’ importance, I’m pleased to introduce Edward Paz* and his piece entitled, “Two Very Encouraging Words.”

Take Edward’s message to heart because it is true!

Say it.

Because no one has said it with your style.
Because no one has said it with your energy.
Because no one has said it with your passion.

Say it.

Because no one has said it to your tribe.
Because no one has said it to your audience.
Because no one has said it to your followers.

Say it.

Who cares if someone else talked about it?
Who cares if someone else blogged about it?
Who cares if someone else wrote a book about it?

Say it anyways.

The truth is,

If you haven’t said it, it has yet to be said.

Friends! Wonder no more whether your stories are important: They are! Believe it!


You have stories that only you can share.

Your stories are not your own. They have been entrusted to you by God.

Connect your stories with God’s story—not as a hobby, but as an important ministry to your family.

* I encourage you to get acquainted with Edward and his powerful ministry of encouragement at http://edwardpaz.com

Related post: Are your stories important? http://spiritualmemoirs101.blogspot.com/2011/05/are-your-stories-important.html

Several of you are finding surprises of joy in writing your stories, and I pray that will be true for all of you!

See the little square box below with the “f” in it? Click on that and this post will show up on your Facebook wall! Try clicking on those other little gray and white boxes, too, and you can e-mail this, share to Twitter, Google Buzz, or +1.

Spread the word. Invite your friends to join us. Everyone has stories to tell!

Story idea: Your "lions and bears"

David was only a boy.

Goliath was a champion among Philistine forces, standing over six feet tall.

He was muscular enough to strut around wearing a bronze helmet, a coat of armor weighing 125 pounds, bronze greaves on his legs, and a javelin strapped across his back. His spear shaft’s iron point alone weighed 15 pounds.

Goliath was an arrogant, defiant, loud, taunting bully.

He terrified King Saul and the Israelite armies. Their fear had incapacitated them for forty days by the time little David entered the scene.

When David said he’d fight Goliath, King Saul scoffed, “You can’t win against that giant! You’re only a boy!” (See 1 Samuel 17:33.)

But David didn’t give up easily. He explained that while herding his father’s sheep,

“When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and take the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too.… The Lord who saved me from the claws of the lion and the bear will save me from this Philistine!” (verses 34-37)

King Saul finally agreed to let David face Goliath, and you know the rest of the story.

But let’s back up a bit. Imagine what went through David’s head before and during his fights with the bears and lions.

“I’M SCARED!”

“This is too hard!”

“Am I going to die? Save me, Lord! Make them go away!”

God could have made the bears and lions slink away, but He didn’t. Instead, He left them there and helped David fight—and win.

Later, when David faced Goliath, what did he think of the lions and bears then?

I suspect it was something like “Those lions and bears were easy compared to this!”

If God had not allowed David to fight the bears and lions, would he have been prepared to face Goliath? I don’t think so.


Those battles were opportunities for David to grow: phyically, mentally, and spiritually.


God used the bears and lions to prepare David for the future.


David remembered how God helped him in the past, and that gave him confident faith to face even bigger challenges.


Fighting lions and bears helped equip David to fulfill God's purposes for his generation (see Acts 13:36, one of my favorite verses).

Through the very process of fighting lions and bears, God strengthened David for even bigger challenges in the future.

What “lions and bears” has God allowed into your life? 

What did you learn about God in the midst of fighting your lions and bears? What did you learn about yourself?

Looking back now, in what specific ways did God use your lions and bears to deepen your faith and toughen you for an even bigger challenge—a “Goliath”?


What Goliaths have you faced since then?

Story idea: Write a vignette about God preparing, equipping, and strengthening you—through the process of fighting your lions and bears—to stand up to a Goliath, and win. 

Related post, My lions and bears:  http://grandmaslettersfromafrica.blogspot.com/2010/06/my-lions-and-bears.html

How do you keep on task?

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I’ve lost count of how often Pastor Sid has urged us to leave a spiritual legacy for our children and grandchildren.

His messages make me want to holler from my back-row seat, “Amen! Everybody needs to write a memoir!”

Last Sunday, Pastor Sid reminded us of Deuteronomy 6:4-9:

“… Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

In other words,

God gives parents a responsibility:

to teach children,

to encourage them,

to inspire them—

constantly,

 thoroughly,

conscientiously,

night and day—

to love Him with all their heart, soul, and strength.

God gives grandparents such roles, too—see Deuteronomy 4:9, Deuteronomy 6:1-2, Exodus 10:1, and Proverbs 13:22.

In Psalm 127:4, Solomon said children are “Like arrows in the hands of a warrior.”

Pastor Sid challenged us: “Put feathers on those arrows!” That takes time.

It also takes time to sharpen arrows, and it takes skill to aim them so they hit the target.

When built well and aimed correctly, arrows fly straight.

You and I have a responsibility to invest in “arrow-making”—to equip and nurture our children and grandchildren so they fly straight and arrive at the right place.

One way is by talking with kids and grandkids—telling them your God-stories, “wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night” (Deuteronomy 6:7, The Message). In doing that, you’ll leave a spiritual legacy for your children and grandchildren.

But let’s be realistic: Of the stories your parents and grandparents told you, how many do you remember?

I have forgotten 95% of my family’s stories. How about you?

You know where I’m going with this:

Another way to “make arrows” is by writing what you’ve seen God do in and for you and your family—writing it and placing it in the hands of your kids and grandkids.

Preserving your God-stories in writing means even generations not yet born can read your book long after you’re gone.

In doing so, you’ll leave a spiritual legacy for your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren—who knows how many generations?

When building strong kids and grandkids, or anything else important, often obstacles pull us off track.

In writing your spiritual memoir—as a ministry, not a hobby—what obstacles lure you away? Lots of things could entice you to say, "I don't have time to write today. Maybe tomorrow."

And before you know it, you're turning the calendar page to a new month.


Sound familiar?


Pastor Sid reminded us that sometimes we must refocus or reprioritize the way we spend our time.


Think about it. Pray for wisdom to refocus or reprioritize your time so you can keep on task.

Do you have helpful tips for scheduling your time?

Keeping focused?

Staying on task?

Remaining enthusiastic about writing your stories?

Please share them! Let’s help each other leave spiritual legacies for future generations!

Leave a comment below or on Facebook, or e-mail me at GrandmaLetters [at] aol [dot] com. (Replace [at] with @ and replace [dot] with a period, and scrunch everything together with no spaces.)

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Saturday Snippet: Leads, Part Four, the flashback lead

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Your lead—your opening—pulls your reader into your story.  

It causes curiosity and lures him in.

To keep your reader from meandering away, write a lead that inspires him to stick around and read all the way to the end of each vignette.

Many people create leads after they’ve written the main body of their piece because, “Often, in the process of composing, beginnings do not clarify themselves until endings arrive,” writes Priscilla Long in The Writer’s Portable Mentor, a delightful book I recommend.

She continues, “‘Good leads often show up late,’ writes many-book author Ralph Keyes in The Courage to Write. ‘…I generally find the best opening deep within the narrative. This opening only makes itself known as I read drafts, see what catches my eye, something that sets a tone, that gets the piece up and running. Knowing this, I don’t concern myself with beginnings until the end.”

In previous blog posts we’ve examined several types of leads, and today we’ll look at the flashback lead. (Thanks to my friend Shel Arensen for sharing this material. You’ll enjoy getting acquainted with him. See below.*)

The Flashback Lead: Start with the most gripping part of the action, then flashback to the beginning of the experience; use the word “had” because it moves you back to the beginning.

For a flashback example, here’s this excerpt:

Alone in Amsterdam

by Shel Arensen

I opened my eyes, suddenly awake. An eerie sense of uneasiness crept over me. Had I heard someone moving in the room? It was too dark to see. Then I heard the door click.

I sat upright in bed, straining to see who might have invaded the barracks-style hostel room where I was staying in Amsterdam, Holland. I sat perfectly still, hardly breathing, for several minutes. No one else stirred.

“I must have been imagining things,” I told myself as I lay down again. I decided to lie on my stomach so I could get back to sleep quickly. When I turned over, I noticed what was wrong!

My pants, hanging on the wall near my bed, were twisted, and the lining of my pocket was hanging out. With a frightened gasp, I reached for my wallet. It was gone!

My misfortunes had started the day before when I arrived at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. I was to make connections there for Kenya, where my missionary parents lived.

“I’m sorry,” the voice of the ticket agent had grated in my ears, “but tonight’s flight to Nairobi is full. We can’t take any more passengers…. I will confirm your ticket for the next plane to Nairobi.”

“When will that be?” I questioned.

“Next Thursday—Christmas Day. Here’s your ticket. Enjoy Amsterdam. Who’s next in line please?”

… I was forced to step aside. Stunned and bewildered, I wandered over to a bench to collect my thoughts….

It was Sunday night…. Now I would be unable to leave Amsterdam until Christmas – four days later….

Did you notice where the flashback ended? Where does Shel move the reader back to the story’s beginning? (Paragraph five.)

Feel free to experiment. You can come up with many variations on lead types. Keep in mind your lead’s purpose: to catch your reader’s attention and motivate him to read your story.

Have fun!

*Check out Shel’s novel, The Dust of Africa, at http://www.amazon.com/Dust-Africa-Shel-Arensen/dp/0595497616

Read my two blog posts about Shel:

Germs? Or angel dust? http://grandmaslettersfromafrica.blogspot.com/2010/04/germs-or-angel-dust.html

The Dust of Africa

http://grandmaslettersfromafrica.blogspot.com/2010/03/dust-of-africa.html

Related posts

Leads, Part One

http://spiritualmemoirs101.blogspot.com/2011/07/leads-part-one-please-don’t-get-mad-ive_20.html

Leads, Part Two 

http://spiritualmemoirs101.blogspot.com/2011/07/leads-part-two.html

Leads, Part Three 

http://spiritualmemoirs101.blogspot.com/2011/07/leads-part-three.html

SPECIAL EDITION: I need your help: Final four days of Barnes and Noble’s special Rising Star Special Collection

I’ve never sought fame or fortune with my memoir, Grandma’s Letters from Africa. I’ve only offered it up to God to use it as He sees fit.

Flannery O'Connor said, "When the book leaves your hands, it belongs to God," and that’s exactly how I have always looked at it.

I offered the book up to God, praying He will use it—and He has, often in ways I could not have anticipated.

The memoir has received three honors along the way: Editor’s Choice, Rising Star, and Reader’s Choice.

And then a few weeks ago Grandma’s Letters from Africa received this additional honor that includes phrases like “hand-picked” and “up-and-coming authors.”

Here’s what arrived in my in-box:

June 17, 2011

Dear Rising Star Author,

Congratulations! Your book will be listed in the Barnes & Noble Rising Star Special Collection on bn.com (Barnes & Noble) and will be available through this exclusive boutique through the end of the month of July.

It is very important to promote, market and drive traffic to your title listed on the Rising Star Special Collection page at bn.com. The demand and traffic you drive to this page is watched and followed by the B&N national buyer. Website demand is an instrumental piece when a buyer is considering stocking a title in store.

Below is the link for the Rising Star Special Collection

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/iUniverse-rising-star-books/379000118/?cds2Pid=16451&linkid=1563532

Best Regards,

Rising Star Board

In the left column of the blog for Grandma's Letters from Africa (http://www.grandmaslettersfromafrica.blogspot.com/) you’ll find endorsements from Bob Creson, President/CEO of Wycliffe Bible Translators; Don Parrott, President of The Finishers Project; and others.

You’ll also find links to a couple of reviews there in the left column, one by Laura Frantz and the other by Anne Holmes.

Almost everyone says they laughed and cried when reading Grandma’s Letters from Africa.

Here are additional comments readers have sent me:

“…I started reading it aloud to my husband …. and we laughed (and I cried) as we related to your stories.… Thank you for your open, honest letters to Maggie and for being willing to share them with all of us! I sense God is going to use your book in our lives.” SHC

“I went to sleep with your book last night. I LOVE it. It’s so beautifully written, and brings you and Africa to life in such a gentle and sweet way.” GH

“I just finished reading your book 5 minutes ago. Thank you so much for sending it. I really, really enjoyed the reading. Your descriptions are so clear and interesting. I cried with the beauty and love that you end with in the Psalm of Africa and the Postscript. What a great tribute to your faith and perseverance, the grace of the African people, and our great and loving God!” KH-W

“I asked mom if she was done with your book, and if I could take it and read it. She said ‘only if you promise to bring it back.’ She said she read it in only a few sittings, and she wanted to read it again.… I see why momma wants to have the book back.… I'm half way through the book. I think I could use five more. One for my friend,  … one for the [church] library, one for me, one for [Pastor Mike], and one extra to give away when I need to.….”  PR

Do you know someone who’d enjoy Grandma’s Letters from Africa?

Your pastor? Your Missions Committee Chairman? How about a copy for your church library?

You can buy it for them as a gift: (at a reduced cost!)—remember to use the special link, (you’ll need to scroll down):  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/iUniverse-rising-star-books/379000118/?cds2Pid=16451&linkid=1563532

Or you can forward this blog post to them. Just below this blog post, you’ll see little gray and white icons that allow you to e-mail this, post it to Facebook, share to Twitter, Google Buzz, or +1.

Please help get word out. I have only four more days!

Spread the word!

Leads, Part Three

If you want your memoir to accomplish more than merely gathering dust on your kids’ and grandkids’ bookshelves, craft top-notch leads for your vignettes (chapters).

To review from Leads, Parts One and Two,* the lead is the first thing your reader reads—your opening sentences.

Your job: Create a lead that grabs your reader and thrusts him into your story.

Lead-writing can be challenging:

“Master copywriter Gene Schwartz often spent an entire week on the first 50 words … — the headline [or title] and the opening paragraph. Those 50 words are the most important part of any persuasive writing, and writing them well takes time. Even for the masters.”  (http://www.copyblogger.com/writing-headlines-that-get-results)

For some of you, lead-writing might be the hardest part of composing each of your vignettes, but it's doable and can even be fun.

Learn the difference between effective and weak leads by noting them in everything you read: articles, blog posts, sermons, essays, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Ask yourself, “Why do some entice me to read on—or not?”

Then, with what you’re learning from them and from this blog, fashion leads for your chapters.

So far we’ve examined the following types of leads: quote, scene-setting, action (or narrative), anecdote, and statistics.

Below you’ll find more options:

Startling assertion: A shocking statement surprises readers and builds suspense. Example: “Not all enemies carry arrows. My grandfather just carried a six pack and a pitiful hangover. Julie Redbook, she carried a grudge so heavy it crushed a few bones of my childhood. And there’s this woman I know who carries around the shame of slapping her son. And tearing into her good man with a tongue blade sharper than any scalpel.” Ann Voskamp, When You’ve Been Wounded, Cheated, Disappointed, and Heartbroken, at http://www.incourage.me/2011/05/when-don’t-been-wounded-cheated-disappointed-heartbroken.html

Question: “Have you ever noticed that kids who grow up in small towns usually are ______?” If you draw your reader in and get him to think how he’d answer, he’ll probably keep reading. Avoid using a question lead too frequently.

A “You” Message: Address the reader, using the word “you,” to help him identify with the person(s) in your story. Example: “You recognize shapes as written words and can spell them out letter by letter. You write down lists so you won’t forget. You read a book for leisure. You enjoy crossword puzzles. You get news from the Internet or a daily paper. And as you study God’s Word, He speaks to you. For millions of people [however], these skills do not exist….” (from “Eyes to See, Ears to Hear,” Rev.7, Fall 2006)

News article: In the first two sentences, answer the Five W’s – who, what, where, when, why. This is the “pyramid” style that used to be the most standard style of lead. “Thirteen high school students and a teacher from Coeur d’Alene were sent to the hospital Wednesday evening with injuries after their bus tipped over on U.S. Highway 95 in Hayden.” (The Spokesman- Review, January 11, 2007)

Many writers craft their lead last. I recommend that you write the body of your piece and set it aside. Come back later, re-read it, and probably the subject of your lead will appear to you somewhere within those paragraphs. When you find it, in many cases you can leave it where it is but capture the essence of it by using different words. In other words, “Dig it out, polish it, craft it” (Shel Arensen).

Grab your reader’s attention and make him want to read the rest of your piece.

*Related posts

Leads, Part One

http://spiritualmemoirs101.blogspot.com/2011/07/leads-part-one-please-don’t-get-mad-ive_20.html

Leads, Part Two

http://spiritualmemoirs101.blogspot.com/2011/07/leads-part-two.html

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Leads, Part Two

An excellent lead is a must for your memoir’s vignettes (chapters). The lead is the first thing your reader reads—your opening sentences.

A well-crafted lead stirs curiosity in your reader, hooks her, and draws her in.


A lead can make or break a story: It can entice a person to read it—or to close the book, slide out of her chair, and walk away.


Lead-writing can be hard work, even for pros. Like Bill Roorbach said, “…Most first lines weren’t first till after much revision.…” (Writing Life Stories)


In Leads, Part One,* we considered two types of leads, the quote lead and the scene-setting lead.


Today we’ll look at three more types:


Action (or narrative) lead: “The dusty earth vibrated and bushes crashed, snapping the silence of the tawny African plain. . . . We caught a blurred glimpse of some creature approaching us, carving a path through the dense thorn scrub brush. Two tick-eating birds flapped frantically off a massive iron-grey back as their resting place lunged out from under them. Now we saw clearly what was heading our way. It was a rhinoceros, one of Africa’s most unpredictable animals.” (Dr. Jon Arensen, Rhino! ) (Jon and I worked together in Africa; besides being a storyteller, he’s an anthropologist, linguist, and Bible translator. Be sure to check out Jon’s new memoir, Drinking the Wind: Memoirs of an African Odyssey. It covers his childhood in Africa and his many years working among a people group in Sudan. Buy Drinking the Wind from Amazon at this link: http://www.amazon.com/Drinking-Wind-Jon-Arensen/dp/9966720448)


Anecdote: Use a short story to illustrate or personalize your story’s broader topic or main point. For example, this anecdote lead kicks off a story about a broad topic, the surge in violence across America: “Even before the fireworks launched from the French Quarter’s Jackson Square, 2006 went out with a bang in New Orleans – a handful of them, actually. At 7 p.m. on December 31, several of those bangs felled a 42-year-old man, who was found inside his FEMA trailer with multiple gunshot wounds to the back of his head. At 8:45 p.m., another man was shot several times and left dead on the sidewalk. At 10:12 p.m., a third was killed inside his home.” (The New Math on Crime, by Will Sullivan, U.S. News and World Report, January 15, 2007)


Statistics, if brief, can effectively create curiosity and entice readers to keep reading. For example: “More than one billion people won’t get enough to eat today. In the next seven seconds, another hungry child will die.”
(World Vision, http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/learn/hunger?open&lpos=top_drp_OurWork_Hunger)


Many writers craft their leads last. After you write the body of your piece, set it aside. A day or more later, re-read it, capture the essence of your vignette, and determine what type of lead will work best. So far we’ve looked at five types: quote, scene-setting, action, anecdote, and statistics.


Next time we’ll cover these leads: startling assertion, question, a “you” message, and the news article lead.


Between now and then, analyze leads in good newspapers, magazines, blog posts, novels, memoirs, devotionals, and newsletters.


Wednesday, my friend Carol, a real pro and a former coworker, left his comment:

"A fun exercise to get your head around this is to look carefully at the opening words of famous or favorite writings. 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times' ... 'Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.' ... 'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again' ... 'There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.' Read more: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/article_a125216a-649f-5414-88b5-76a688ea3b6a.html#ixzz1SlIEFJaN "

Ask yourself: Why do some leads succeed and others don’t?

*Related post: Leads, Part One

http://spiritualmemoirs101.blogspot.com/2011/07/leads-part-one-please-dont-get-mad-ive_20.html