A Hope is only a Dream until written down - by Jo Wanmer

 A Hope is only a dream until written down...and then it becomes a goal. It obtains substance. As the good book says, 'Faith is the substance of things hoped for.' Faith activated makes things happen.

 

Many years ago I attended a business conference with my husband. The speaker challenged us to set a goal for two years time. She taught us how to set goals every week for fifty weeks to make sure it happened. What was my goal? What did I want to be doing in two years time. Not having a business, I set a goal to preach. It was my calling, but I had little opportunity to exercise my gift.

I put pen to paper and wrote down the dream -  to preach ten times in the next two years. It became a goal. I made a simple chart and marked off every five weeks.The task was to prepare one sermon in each time frame. I added the task to my calender and largely forgot the idea. When the reminders popped up, I'd outline a sermon in my journal using revelation the Lord had given me. 

The strangest thing happened. About five months before the two year mark, I had preached one sermon, maybe two. I wasn't paying close attention. Then our pastor resigned suddenly. The leadership asked me to preach and organise other speakers. And yes, by the time the fifty weeks was up I'd preached ten times or more. How did that happen?

We must move our hopes and dreams, even our callings from God, into definite written goals. 

In my last blog here on 30th May, I wrote about Goals and Deadlines. I shared the steps I was creating to achieve publication. The timeline for my efforts was the Omega conference in Sydney. I'd booked. I was determined to use it to learn enough and make the connections to be published.

Life intervened, as life always does. A wedding was scheduled for the same weekend leaving me with a difficult choice. I cancelled the conference and left my goals floundering without a time line. However I pushed on, fulfillng tasks, editing, determined to get at least one book published.

Sometimes fulfillment comes in unexpected ways. If your eye is firmly on the goal, it manifests even from a different direction. Now, two months after I publically declared my determination to see my books printed, I have an agreement with a publisher. A publisher who produces a polished, professional product. Maybe, just maybe, it will be out by the end of the year. 

As excited as I am about this, it has spurred me to greater goals. Two books published a year is the new goal. And I must keep on writing more, so I've decided to join NaNoWriMo in November. At the moment my brian is locked in editing mode, but I have a date to release the creative side of me. It is another positive goal.

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and men of violence take it by force. Matt 11:12

Our writings are a part of the growth of the Kingdom. Jesus looked for men and women of violence to take it by force. In some little way, I think our determination is helping this task.

What is your goal? Have you written it down? Put it on the wall where you see it often. 

My husband pinned a picture of a car on a corkboard. I took no notice. Then one day we decided to buy a new vehicle before the end of June. He was busy. Armed with his instructions I bought a Honda taking the only car they had available. When I drove it home, he pointed to the corkboard. It showed the exact same car, down to every detail - model, leather seats, sun roof and colour. There is such power in a written, activated goal.

Do you have similar stories? Please share them in the comments.

Jo Wanmer lives in Qld with Steve, her husband of 53 years. Her greatest achievement is 9 great grandchildren under five! She writes out of her passion to bring a dynamic faith and daily experience of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to her readers. God loves everyone of them and is waiting to embrace them, chat with them and laugh together.

Her first book, Though the Bud be Bruised, won a Caleb award in 2012. The next book is entitled El Shaddai, the book where God is a character. 

Of Birthing Books and Babies by Jo Wanmer

 

A baby begins with a lone egg. 

A book begins with the beginning of an idea, just like a seed in a womb. Fertilization, a sperm or a boost of another idea or concept, pushes the writer to start to grow and develop the seed. Expectantly, we begin to create something for others to absorb.

A baby in the womb develops quickly. By the end of the first trimester it even has individual fingerprints and, if a girl, more than a million eggs stored in her ovaries. (babycentre.com) 

Our books' skeleton's form quickly too. Ideas are noted, and the plot develops. Characters start to come to life. The work of growing the plot word by word and then adjusting it takes the bulk of our time.

After a while the book, which the author thought was their creation starts to take a life of its own and make its presence felt. It can  demand its own way, just like the baby within a womb grows without the mother determining sex, size or features. The mothers role is to nurture and protect the little life. 

The most important task for the writer is to keep tapping those keys, to keep the document growing.

As the baby grows, the mother prepares for the day of birth. She plans for a total change of  life and gathers everything a baby would need. Similarly, a writer prepares to launch their book into the world. There are so many things to do to complete a book. Endlessly we edit and then check again. A social media presence must be built to welcome the baby, for without readers we strive for no reason. Marketing, choosing one cover, and then another, gathering responses from beta readers... The list goes on when all we wanted to do was write a book. Like mothers, many first time authors don’t understand the effort needed to successfully push a book into the world.

The big difference between birthing a paper (or digital) baby and a flesh and blood baby is gestation time. I was sure I could write a book and see it published within a year. Some can I know, but not me. Some have shorter gestation times and produce a wonderful volume. Others bring their book forth before due time…and it struggles to live.

A few years ago my granddaughter carried twins, but they decided they only wanted 28.5 weeks to grow in the secret place. For ten long weeks they were nurtured, fed and cared for in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Their short cut didn’t save them any time and put themselves and their Mummy and Daddy through a lot of stress. Thank God they are now strong and healthy two-year-olds.

A book born prematurely often needs similar care and attention, even to the point of edited versions being reproduced later….or sometimes the book simply fades away.

The first time I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) another author was posting her progress on social media, detailing the adventures of her heroine. She completed her 50,000 words within the allocated month of November, edited her work over night and then published it on Amazon the next day. I'd read so much about her protagonist that I down loaded the book to read. It was worse than a premmie book. It was deformed and ugly.

How important to carry our book until it is fully developed and to garner as much help as we can from the writing community, who are always keen to help. Editors and line editors are our lifeline. My first book had its own midwife, a title I bestowed on my best friend. She read every word (multiple times) and gave me advice and feedback throughout every stage of development. Even then my books need expert help from editors and mentors.

Then of course there are those of us who carry a book for a decade, or who simultaneously carry two, three or more manuscripts, all with different due dates. Those books are in danger of being aborted, especially when there is a lack of attention by the writer.

But as with all pregnant mums, eventually, despite the discomfort and the ups and downs there is a birth. As painful and exhausting as processs is, ultimately the result is beautiful. And the brand-new book is released and can go all over the world, to bring pleasure and inspiration. 

So can I encourage you, as I encourage myself, to stir up the gift that is within you? Continue to grow and develop the thing of beauty that the Lord planted in your heart. Then bring it forth in inspiring beauty.

Have you a hidden book developing within? I'd love to hear your book-birthing stories.

Jo Wanmer is first of all a mother to many people and a mother to several writings. She has two books languishing in the womb and another in seed stage! 

Her book, 'Though the Bud be Bruised' was birthed ten years ago and was well received. She also has many published article and short stories. Her article 'Mum meet my mother', was a winner in the Stories of Life competition in 2021

Shut Doors, Open Doors – by Ruth Bonetti

The times are a-changing sang 70’s folk singers. Fifty years later, we're buffeted by tidal waves crashing mayhem into our lives. How can we ride them rather than flounder and sink? 

Writers can express words of hope for the many who struggle around Australia, the globe. 

Fellow authors encourage

Did you sign up for NaNoWriMo? Did you meet the goal to write 50,000 words? For the uninitiated, like-minded writers group in a digital ‘cabin’ to encourage each other, joke, support and share emojis of chocolate and coffee. 

 

November is the cruellest month for tired teachers drowning in end of year concerts, student exams, reports. Plus their own performances. So I knew there was slim chance I’d meet the word count but hey, I enjoy the friendship. This year, I produced a teensy 670 words. But so what? Just to articulate a project prompts subconscious planning. My WriMo version can evolve over the next two months when teaching and performing halt. 

Other writing counts

There are many forms of writing besides that novel or screenplay. Emails to politicians, letters to the editor of a newspaper. Heartening messages to uplift those who share their despair on social media. Many dread uncertain futures. How can we reassure them–ourselves–that even as doors shut, others will open? 

Active vs. passive shutting

As I clear out my teaching studio for the year (maybe forever?) I'm heartened by a gospel spiritual that never seemed appropriate for primary school students:

Shut de door, keep out de devil

Shut de door, keep de devil in de night.

Shut de door, keep out de devil

Light a candle, everything’s alright. 

The Light of the World

The Holman Hunt painting reminds us to open our heart and life doors to Christ. 

One opening door is opportunities to share Christ's light with hurting, fearful people. To encourage those facing doors slamming on their career, business, mortgage – and life. 

Edicts from our rulers threaten that those who resist will be barred from public buildings. 

Was my November performance with Noosa Orchestra my last ever? The program included The Lark Ascending for solo violin and orchestra. I poured my heart into the supporting clarinet solos. 

The lark circles higher, soars, surmounts the ugliness of the present world. 

So, also we must lift up our hearts. 

'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.' (Jeremiah 29:11)

 

Keep looking up. 

ABOUT Ruth Bonetti

Ruth's many earlier books give practical support for confident performance of words and music, drawing on a lifetime of experience as a musician and educator. Her Trilogy Midnight Sun to Southern Cross has won awards including the CALEB Nonfiction prize. In coming writing, Ruth is open to a genre transition...

Blog (occasional!)

Facebook

The Curious Case of NaNoWriMo and Two Very Different Writers

This image of this writerly couple is © Susan Bruce 2020.

It’s that time of the year again where writers all over the world hit their writing desks on November 1 and start pounding those keys in a frenzied attempt to write 50,000 words in a month. Yep, it’s NaNoWriMo time – National Novel Writing Month – and we’re all invited. All we have to do is to head over to the NaNoWriMo site, enter a project and start creating. 

 

Simples?

 

Image by Hazi54 from Pixabay 

Well it depends. If you are like my husband, the inimitable Marc Z Jeffrey, you will thrive during ‘Nano’ as it is affectionately called. If you are like me, then maybe not. 

 

Marc amazes me. He can pick a story and run with it. He rarely gets bogged down but seems to able to ride the waves of writer’s block like a world championship surfer on Boomer Beach. If he can’t write one day, he makes up the word count the next. He types about a third faster than me too. There I am, plodding away, and his fingers are racing over the keys. NaNoWriMo is his element.

 

Marc has ‘won’ Nano five times (he thinks – he’s lost count!). That means that despite working long hours he’s managed to get 50,000 words on paper in 30 days. And that’s not typing the indefinite article 50,000 times!

 

I asked Marc why he liked Nano and he gave me the following answers:

1.    November is a good time to write because there’s no sport to watch on free-to-air TV. It’s also before Christmas ramps up. December is too hard with parties and finding time to buy great presents for his wife (okay, I added that bit).

2.    It’s a social thing because people here and around the world are writing at the same time. You can join ‘write-ins’ with other authors (in person and online) and feed off their energy in a frenzied Sharknado of writing (okay – I added that last bit too).

3.    Nano gives us a good excuse to write. I mean, we know we don’t need an excuse to be creative, but the rest of the world hasn’t always got that memo. Because Nano is a focus for one month only, Marc finds he faces less judgement from non-writerly people. I must note that no one in this household has that attitude other than our dog (and sometimes the bird who wants to whistle football songs… endlessly). The cat loves it when Marc writes because she gets to sleep on the fleecy blanket in his study. Our dog thinks we should be playing with her all the time and that this writing stuff is a huge waste of time. Some might say she’s a dog, not a person - and so doesn't count as 'people' - but she has a huge personality, so she has to qualify. Let's call her a non-human person (NHP).

4.    It allows him to neglect household chores ­(which in our house means the ‘dishwasher’ breaks down – a LOT!) 

5.    If he succeeds in writing 50000 words he has the best part of a novel written – albeit very roughly.

 

Image of this non-human person is © Susan Bruce 2020.

When I asked Marc what the disadvantage of Nano was – he said: you have to edit the novel you write! Marc loves editing other people’s manuscripts. He can spot an errant apostrophe at a thousand paces and grab a past participle by the scruff and drag it kicking-and-screaming into the present. But he never seems to get around to editing his own work. The good thing is that there is work ready to polish – but the bad is that you need to actually polish it. 

 

Harsh, but fair?

 

But what about me? What is it about Nano that works/ doesn’t work for me?

 

1.    I don’t care about television sport as much as Marc does. I probably prefer writing in winter because it's cold and wet outside; but November is an okay time as we can set up our computers on the patio on a warm night and have a romantic evening, typing. Yes. I know... 😎😆😂

2.    I love the social aspect of Nano. I’ve made great friends from attending write-ins at cafes. I might not have got much writing done on those days, but I’ve made friends who continue to inspire me in my writing journey.

3.    I don’t need an excuse to write – I can neglect housework anytime! The above mentioned canine NHP sees it as a challenge to disrupt me whenever I sit down to work.

4.    It’s an opportunity to try new things. If you write outback romance but have yearned for years to write a tentacled shape-shifter urban fantasy detective mystery (Christmas themed) then you might be able to use Nano to get this story out of your system. Or maybe it could spawn a whole new direction for your career. Hmm spawn...

 

Image by M W from Pixabay

The main problems I’ve experienced in Nano are:

1.    A lack of preparation. I never seem to hit NaNoWriMo when I have a story ready to write. On the occasions when I’ve ‘won’ Nano I’ve ended up with a tale with faulty foundations that needs rewriting, rewriting, rewriting. NaNoWriMo seems to suit ‘pantsers’ – those who write by the seat of their pants. These daring souls – like my afore mentioned spouse – have no fear of the unknown (on paper anyway) and can boldly go where they’ve never gone before. Me? I'm not a total plotter - and I try not to lose the plot 😁 - but I like to have a roadmap. If I know where I’m heading, I’m happy to improvise along the way.

2.    I like to edit as I go. Nano also works well for those who like to write and edit later – or not – as the case may be. The NaNoWriMo website encourages you not to edit as you go. However, I like to spiral edit – editing the section I wrote the day before, before writing new stuff. This slows me down but I don’t seem to be able to work any other way.

 

I’ve decided not to do NaNoWriMo this year (no typing Sharknado for me). I may still sign up and harness some of the collective creative energy Nano generates, but I’m not going to try for 50K words. 

 

But please, tell me what you are doing. Have you signed up this year? Have you ever tried NaNoWriMo? Did it work for you? Why/why not?

 

Susan J Bruce, aka Sue Jeffrey, spent her childhood reading, drawing, and collecting stray animals. Now she’s grown up, she does the same kinds of things. Susan has worked for many years as a veterinarian, and writes stories filled with themes of suspense, adventure, romance and overcoming. Susan also loves to paint animals. Susan won the ‘Short’ section of the inaugural Stories of Life writing competition and won the 'Unpublished Manuscript' section of the 2018 Caleb prize. Susan is the editor of'If They Could Talk: Bible Stories Told By the Animals' (Morning Star Publishing) and her stories and poems have appeared in multiple anthologies. Her e-book, 'Ruthless The Killer: A Short Story' is available on Amazon.com. You can check out some of Susan’s art work on her website https://www.susanjbruce.com.

---

Reference:

 IMDB 2013, ‘Sharknado’, viewed 28 October 2020, <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2724064/>. I’ve never actually seen Sharknado but from the preview I really, really want to. It looks hilarious. They made six movies in all.

It's that NaNo time again - Susan J Bruce

November is here and so is NaNoWriMo. By NaNoWriMo I mean National Novel Writing Month - an initiative created to inspire writers to create a short novel of 50 000 words in thirty days. Some will write in notebooks, some may write on vintage typewriters like the one pictured above and others will fire up their latest MacBook or PC. Some will write slowly using NaNoWriMo as a motivator to write every day. While others will blitz the word count in 24 hours. I kid you not.

According to the NaNoWriMo website, I've participated in the challenge eight times, but I've only 'won' it twice by reaching the 50K words in the month. I can’t say that all those words were usable at the end of that time. More like about 10K. So why do it again? Especially when I like to edit my writing as I go?

In all truth I was going to give NaNoWriMo a miss this year but then my writing group, which contains several seasoned authors, decided that they would have a go. I couldn’t back out, could I?

I decided to dive back in and see how many words I could write. I’ll be delighted to reach the 50K word count but if I can write 20-25K words I’ll happy. The thing is, I’m approaching the writing differently this year.

In the past I’ve rocked up to the NaNoWriMo site on day one, created a project and started writing. Now this may be a great strategy for the ‘pantsers’ amongst us – those who write by the seat of their pants and don’t plot. I can do that for a short story or even the first 10 000 words of a novel but I can’t seem to ‘pants’ a novel length plot. 

I admire people who can, but I don’t work that way. I’m a ‘tweener’  or a ‘plotser’ – halfway between a plotter and a pantser. I work best when I have a rough outline signposting the way and a clear understanding of how the novel will end. Then I can write freely and create interesting tangents. The problem comes if they are too interesting and change the nature of the story, but that’s a discussion for another day.

Marathon running has a lot in common with novel writing.

This year I thought I was better prepared. It makes sense doesn’t it? If you want to run a marathon – or a half marathon – you have to plan and prepare your body and mind for the task (yes, I'm an expert on running - NOT :D). I didn’t do the writing equivalent of running 10 kms a day. I didn't even do writing sprints, but I thought about the plot and my characters and tried to get a sense of their voice and their heart. 

I also chose to write a shorter novel so that it would be complete in around 50-60K words. For me that meant writing an amateur sleuth mystery based on a character I created years ago. I had fun pondering her backstory and giving her a lot more colour and depth than she had before. I didn’t get all the background work finished before I started the story, but I did do some and it made a difference.

Until… the second week hit. NaNoWriMo likes to deliver some knockout blows. One often happens in the second week – you hit a roadblock. This year, this is where the story became much sadder than I wanted it to be. It was based on a short story I wrote a while back and I fear this particular tale may work best in it's original form. I was faced with the decision: to either keep writing this story or do something different. As I'd already done a lot of character work on the first story, I decided to switch to a different novel with the same character, a month later in her timeline. 

The beauty of NaNoWriMo is that you can do stuff like this. It doesn’t even matter if I finish the 50K words, or if I write 8K words in one novel and 42K works in another. The important thing is to keep writing and explore the genre I’ve chosen.

I’ve written a YA with crime elements before but not a murder mystery, so the genre is new to me but it’s a fun idea. NaNoWriMo is a great time to try something new. If it’s not the right genre for me then I’ve still had 30 days of writing practice - and that may spark other ideas I can run with. 

NaNoWriMo isn’t for everyone but it can be a useful way to dong the nasty inner editor on the head and knock her out for a while. She can have her day when I’m finished with the first draft. It WILL need editing, believe me, whatever I write.

What about you, oh intrepid writers? Are you doing NaNoWriMo this year? What genre are you writing and what strategies do you use to help you create a story that works? What's your experience this year?

Let me know in the comments below.

Susan J Bruce, aka Sue Jeffrey, spent her childhood reading, drawing, and collecting stray animals. Now she’s grown up, she does the same kinds of things. Susan has worked for many years as a veterinarian, and writes stories filled with themes of suspense, adventure, romance and overcoming. Susan also loves to paint animals. Susan won the ‘Short’ section of the inaugural Stories of Life writing competition and won the 'Unpublished Manuscript' section of the 2018 Caleb prize. Susan is the editor of 'If They Could Talk: Bible Stories Told By the Animals' (Morning Star Publishing) and her stories and poems have appeared in multiple anthologies. Her e-book, 'Ruthless The Killer: A Short Story' is available on Amazon.com. You can check out some of Susan’s art work on her website https://www.susanjbruce.com/animal-art .

Doing the Deep Work by Elaine Fraser

The monotony & solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind. Einstein

I often wish I could just go into a cave and write and write and write. However, my life only allows me to do that for a couple of hours a day–unless I go on a writing retreat. 

In order for me to do my best work, the kind of deep work you have to do in order to go deep into the topic, deep into the research, deep into the thinking, with long cycles of reflection, I need to make sure I get to my version of a cave as often as possible. 

That’s how I develop ideas. That’s how I do good stuff.

After a busy couple of years of travelling, I was beginning to forget how to get back into the wellspring of the deep, quiet solitude of work.   

Hopefully, each book I write will be better than the last, however, if I’m so busy travelling and doing myriad other things, I question if I am bringing my best to my work. I want the quality to always get better, so I really need to put myself in a place where I can disappear into my thoughts. 

I’ve found that NaNoWriMo doesn’t work for me. Neither does Stephen King’s advice in his instructional memoir, On Writing (A strict diet of 1,000 words a day, six days a week). 

Anne Lamott proposes something similar in her guide, Bird by Bird (Sitting down to write at roughly the same time every day).

The problem for me is that each week has a completely different routine. I also work from home with my husband, and we have projects and unexpected things that come up. 

So, I have to have a different approach. When I’m working on a book, I have to approach each week as its own scheduling challenge. The reality is that I just have to squeeze as much writing as I can manage in the most practical manner.  

Sometimes, this might lead to times where I write at a regular time or other periods where I binge write for days.

The point is that I commit to plans that I know I can achieve and commit to as many hours of deep work as I can. 

Every week looks different, but what’s consistent is that I rack up deep hours and watch my next book start to come together.

And those persons who can shut themselves up for long periods and work out their thoughts alone, constructing beautiful and orderly representations of their own spirits, are to me a continual mystery. I know this is the way that things are accomplished, that ‘monotony and solitude’ are necessary for him who would produce creative thought.Youth and Life by Randolph Bourne (1913)

In February, I went camping for a week and hardly looked at my phone or computer. I realised I'm rarely left alone with my own thoughts and imagination. One of my goals this year is to increase the number of hours I spend in solitude and in deep work.

Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, tries to log one thousand hours of deep creative time every 365 days.  He says, there’s no rule about how many you get in a day. Sometimes there’s zero and sometimes they can be nine or ten–it doesn’t matter if you’re sick, it doesn’t matter if there’s other stuff you’d like to be doing. Collins keeps 1,000 creative hours a year as a minimum baseline. 

The number isn’t important, but the overall objective is that over time there’s quality work. Creative hours lead to some kind of creative output–whether it’s research or writing or thinking–it’s leading towards producing something. 

Are you challenged in this area? Are you a Stephen King, Anne Lamott or Jim Collins? How do you get into the wellspring of the deep, quiet solitude of work?

Elaine Fraser writes YA fiction and inspirational nonfiction. She writes about life issues with a spiritual edge. Elaine blogs at http://www.elainefraser.co, Kinwomen, and several other journals. She travels several months of the year and is otherwise found in her library in Perth, Australia—writing, reading, and hugging her golden retriever.