Yep, times have changed

 

During a recent Grandparents’ Day at our youngest granddaughter’s school, I was definitely made to feel my age when her class asked what school was like for us.

‘We sat on forms – long wooden seats – behind long wooden desks that had holes for inkwells,’ I explained. ‘When we practised handwriting in our copybooks, we would use a pen and nib and dip the nib into the ink. We had to be careful not to make a big blot on the page!’

Their eyes rounded. But at least they did not ask the same question our granddaughter once asked me: ‘Nanna, when you were at school, did you use one of those things like a feather? Was it called a quill?’ Hmm. Imagine our grandchildren’s disbelief too when I showed them a small slate my father made me and a slate pencil I used in my first year of school in Queensland in the fifties!

We may complain about aspects of producing our manuscripts today as writers, but at least we do not have to use a quill and ink as Charles Dickens did – or my great-great-grandfather’s brother, R D Blackmore, as he wrote Lorna Doone in 1869! How did they do it? I well remember how long it took to write and rewrite by hand my many essays at university in the late 1960s. Thankfully, by the time I returned to study in the 1980s and again in the 1990s, things had changed. By then, we had a huge, old desktop computer at home – yay!

Things have changed too in the area of book promotion since the 1990s. When my first novel Heléna was released in 2007, while online promotion was vital (Amazon arrived in 1994 and Facebook in 2004), my then publisher ensured my novel also featured in the printed Christian bookstore catalogues mailed to subscribers, as well as in printed Christian magazines. Now the picture has changed indeed. These days, whether we have a traditional publisher or choose to self-publish, we need to be enthusiastic, innovative self-starters, willing to promote our own books as much as we can and to be as tech-savvy as we can.

Yep, times have changed – and those of us who are older may find this a challenge. Yet it is also interesting and even exciting to keep learning new things, don’t you think? And what a bonus too that, at the click of a button, we can promote our books far and wide rather than rely on print advertising only or word of mouth! But most wonderful of all to me is the fact that God surely did not make a mistake when calling us to write at this exact time in history. What a privilege, whatever the challenge, to be Christian authors in 2025 and beyond!

In the light of this then, could I suggest you take a moment now to stop, put your hands in your lap, breathe deeply and remember the Lord is with you and in you right where you are? Sit back and rest in his loving presence. Then, before moving on, thank him that he knows you intimately, has given you the desire and ability to write and will never leave you, whatever twists and turns your writing journey may take. The Lord is so faithful. May we in turn be faithful writers for him.

Jo-Anne Berthelsen is a Sydney-based author of seven novels and four non-fiction works. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked in teaching, editing and local church ministry. Jo-Anne loves encouraging others through both the written and spoken word and is a keen blogger. Jo-Anne’s books, including her latest, God Moments, is available via her website, Koorong Books and Amazon.