Get a cuppa tea or your favorite beverage and let's continue our chat about writing!
First, I want to share a verse from the Bible that has encouraged me often in my writing and I am quoting
from the Amplified Bible:
I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ (right up to the time of His return), developing that good work and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you. (Philippians 1:6)
Now that's encouraging. The Lord is working with and in us to complete the good work He has for us.
And keep in mind Jesus is the Alpha (beginning) and Omega (ending). He knows how to give you a new
beginning and bless you, even in an ending. The enemy would like to steal away the joy of an ending in your life. Perhaps something has ended in your life recently--a job, a relationship. The end of an era is not the
end of your destiny. The best is yet to come according to this scripture!
To review our first posting about getting off Unpubbed Island we said
Step 1 is to make a quality decision that you will do whatever it takes to get to Pubbed Island.
Step 2 Write Every Day...SOMETHING
It may just be answering emails or writing a note on a card you send out snail mail. It could be journaling.
Journaling is a great way to get the the creative juices flowing. I have a Prayer Journal in which I write
out first, my praise and thanks to the Father for whatever is current, then my petitions. I look up and
write down scriptures He may give me. I may not write in this journal every day, but I do write regularly.
I heard an author say that when she comes back to writing on a novel after stopping for a time, a good
way to get back into it is to journal in the main character's point of view for a few paragraphs.
I also have a Fiction Journal where I record snippets of dialog, descriptions, settings, characters, plotting methods. good hooks, good endings. You can get organized with this into sections and have a great deal of information at your finger tips for future use. Author Phyllis Whitney first gave me the idea and now others have greatly expanded this idea.
Step 3 Study to show yourself approved (to some agent, editor or publisher!)
When I decided to finish my novel I had begun years earlier, I decided to take a novel-writing course.
Courses like this can really help you. There are quite a few out there and you can google some of them.
I took Rosey Dow's novel writing course and it may still be available at http://www.christianfictionmentors.com/.
Next time we will cover some of the first things I needed to study--Theme and Worldview.
Be blessed today and feel free to comment.
Elva---your best friend on Unpubbed Island
