3 Things a Country Music Singer Taught Me About Writing

by Sherma Webbe Clarke | @sdwc8181 

Life lessons are everywhere. Sometimes strangers teach them.

While attending my first ACFW conference in Nashville, Tennessee, my husband and I strolled along the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge. We observed a young singer and a cameraman filming a music video. With a guitar strapped against his body, the singer belted out a few lines of a song while performing a choreographed move. An acrobatic move involving taking a leap while he sang and played the guitar. He tried the move repeatedly until he achieved the desired result. Intrigued by the idea that I might be watching a country music star in the making, I lingered. I watched. I listened to him sing.

Two years later, I wonder what rung he has reached on the ladder of stardom. Is he performing at the Grand Ole Opry? Is he paying his dues at a Lower Broadway establishment? Or maybe he’s working in a hardware store and living in his parents’ basement surrounded by boxes of his broken dreams. I'll never know, but I thought he was bold and fearless, qualities he’d need to be successful in the music industry.

As writers, we are just as vulnerable when sending our words out for the scrutiny of readers as a musician performing in front of curious passersby on a bridge. I wondered—am I fearless? Am I persistent enough to pursue my dreams?

Persistence

This summer I had a vulnerable moment in my writing journey. I entered a local playwriting competition, which gave me the opportunity to explore a different kind of writing. The well-wishes of family, friends, and strangers bolstered my morale during an Andy Warhol-ish fifteen minutes of fame. On closing night, I watched the performance with tingly skin and sweaty palms. When another playwright accepted the award for her winning play, I felt defeat churn in my stomach.

At first, I comforted myself with the fact that I had participated. I had tried something new, and for a moment, I felt content. Then I overanalyzed my contribution. Why wasn’t my play good enough? Why didn’t I…? Should I have…? For the next two weeks, disappointment grew, and I wrote nothing. Not even a shopping list. My bubble had burst, and I felt more unsettled than I’d like to admit.

Why do we push aside all of the positive reinforcement we receive to focus on one negative comment or experience?

Then, a church member asked about the competition. “I didn’t win,” I answered. There had been only one winner and the rest of us had lost. Boo-hoo. “So you tied for second,” he said.

Perspective

From that statement, my perspective changed. The chains of failure fell away and suddenly the desire to write returned. Ideas filled my mind. New characters appeared. Second place became a launch pad for possibility. I thought of the singer on the bridge. Perhaps he writes songs late into the night after his shift at Home Depot.

Power

Ecclesiastes 9:10 urges us: Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. Does that imply we try once and if it doesn’t work out, we surrender? Should we stop writing when an editor points out areas that need work in our stories or when a rejection letter arrives? Jeremiah 12:5 says:

If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses?

In other words, pursue your goal with power. Every day. Every time. With all your might. 

Sometimes I wish I could talk to the singer on the bridge. And maybe thank him for that moment in time. He is a reminder to “do it with all your might” no matter who’s looking or what Discouragement might whisper into my ear. I needed the picture someone taking a step toward a dream to lock into my memory bank for the days I’m tempted to give up on mine.

Big or small, what step have you taken this week to bring you closer to a goal?

About Sherma . . . 

Sherma Webbe Clarke is a contemporary fiction writer and a 2017 ACFW First Impressions Finalist. Her inspirational writing has been included in Christian devotional books: Grace Notes and Blessed. She loves to take her husband by the hand to explore nearby and far-flung areas of the globe. This wanderlust has its perks. She credits many of her story ideas to these adventures. Quiet, early-morning walks along the railroad trails on her home island of Bermuda provide inspiration when she is homebound.

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The Tree That Bore Too Much Fruit

By Elizabeth Musser @EMusserAuthor 

When I was writing The Long Highway Home, one of my very favorite Persian proverbs was this:

Oh, how that proverb made my heart sing, and I found it profoundly true.

Usually. Hopefully.

In our lives as Christ followers, we long to ‘bear fruit’, by doing the ‘good works’ He’s chosen for us before time to bring Him glory. But sometimes it takes a long time—maybe even a lifetime—to be humble enough to ‘bend ourselves thankfully to the ground.’

Sometimes it takes months or years or decades to get over ourselves and realize to Whom we owe our gratitude. 

I recently attended my 40th high school reunion. Since I live out of the country, I don’t have the opportunity to attend many reunions, but I’ve been to a few, enough to have been able to say after this one, “Well, we’ve finally gotten over ourselves. As we approach sixty, we are, for the most part, more self-aware and less out to impress.”

This has been true of my experience in ministry and in writing.

Early on, I tried so very hard to produce fruit. 

These were the two things I could do, and I had to prove that I could do them well. For the Lord, of course. I literally wore myself out, trying on my own strength, and failing, until I learned to come humbly before the Lord and trust Him for the results.

So now, when there is fruit, I know, I KNOW, Who to thank, and it isn’t myself. I love that visual of a branch, laden with fruit, hanging toward the ground, so that even the little fingers of children could pluck a piece of the tree’s juicy fruit.

But something that happened in our yard recently forced me to ask this question: Can we at times bear too much fruit? 

My husband and I returned to our home outside Lyon, France after having been in the States for over ten months. We had a wonderful young couple renting our home. They kept the house in great shape, and they mowed the yard when necessary, but we didn’t ask them to prune our fruit trees. We figured, with three young children, both the husband and wife had enough to do without worrying about our trees. So we came back to an immaculate house and an overgrown yard.

Last week as I was blithely typing in my little writing chalet, a tool shed that sits in our front yard, I heard a strange noise. I stepped outside the chalet to listen. It sounded like a squirrel or some other animal was frolicking in one of our little apple trees.

But we don’t have squirrels in this part of France. And the only things that tend to frolic are birds and bees. But this noise was of leaves rustling and apples jingling and then a crunch. I walked over to the tree, careful not to step under it. Upon closer inspection, no animal or insect was bothering our dear little tree. She had another problem that was, unfortunately, much worse. One of her biggest branches was breaking off because it was overladen with apples, hundreds of apples on this one branch. Little by little it groaned and gave way, the branch bending ever more towards the ground, although I do not believe the tree felt thankful. She was literally having a limb ripped off because of too much fruit.

We hadn’t been here to prune her back in the right season and she, bless her sweet soul, had just done her job as best she could: producing apples. Now it looked like she had done her job too well. Indeed, my husband sadly had to come and cut off the branch where it was irreparably broken.

I wonder if sometimes, as we strive to serve our Lord, we are in danger of producing too much fruit?

We serve and we give and we bear the burdens of others and we keep on going, ignoring our bodies’ plea for Sabbath rest. We become overworked, but often we tend to ignore self-care which in time leads to broken branches and burn out. We dodge our Master’s pruning shears, avoiding them at all costs.

Until…

The bough breaks.

We need the Lord to cut us back and often that involves calling us to slow down. While wearing myself out in ministry and writing, I became very ill. I felt the Lord’s pruning shears as I was forced to rest. But I learned invaluable lessons about life rhythms and seasons and Sabbath.

May we take heed and allow our dear and perfect Gardener to cut us back. May we abide in Him and soak up the perfect rest for our souls that He offers. So we will bend, but not break. 

 “I am the true vine and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit…” John 15: 1-2

About Elizabeth 

ELIZABETH MUSSER writes ‘entertainment with a soul’ from her writing chalet—tool shed—outside Lyon, France. Her new novel, The Long Highway Home, has already been a bestseller in Europe and is a finalist for the Carol Awards.

For over twenty-five years, Elizabeth and her husband, Paul, have been involved in missions’ work in Europe with International Teams, now called One Collective. The Mussers have two sons, a daughter-in-law and three grandchildren. Find more about Elizabeth’s novels at www.elizabethmusser.com and on Facebook, Twitter, and her blog.

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What if “better writer” was the journey and not the destination?

By David Rawlings (@DavidJRawlings)

Every writer under the sun wants to be a better writer.

Each of us has the carrot of being a better writer dangling a few feet in front of us, always out of reach. Even those whose names grace our bookshelves – including the ones whose names feature again and again – want to get there. In fact, the best writers never stop reaching for being a better writer.

So apart from the usual advice – you know, you need to do 10,000 hours before you become an expert – how do you actually get there? Surely it’s more than “keep practising?”

Here’s another way of thinking about that: what if “better writer” was the journey and not the destination? As I’ve continued to develop my writing skills, I’ve spoken to countless authors and read everything I can get my hands on when it comes to what I need to reach the Holy Grail of being a “better writer”.

Treating the drive to be a better writer as the journey does something inside my head. Once I start to think about improving and developing as I go, it does a number of things:

• Take the pressure off. If you realise you are always becoming a better writer, rather than short of your elusive goal, it can take pressure off you. I know it has with me. Any improvement is an achievement, not step #5 in a 5,000-step process.
• Help you to enjoy the journey. I’ve found when I travel that if you focus too much on the destination, it can make the journey seem like something to be endured, not enjoyed. And I want to enjoy this journey - I'm putting so much of myself into it.
• Realise your improvement is a constant, not a goal. I set out on my writing journey thinking if I learned enough things, I’d eventually make it. But it’s not that. I’ve learned you need to keep learning.
• Puts my earlier efforts into context. I look back on my first manuscript, or my first draft of my current WIP, with different eyes. It’s no longer a poor first effort, it’s now the best I could have done AT THAT STAGE OF MY DEVELOPMENT. And now I’ve developed beyond that. 

 So that’s why I now view being a "better writer" as a journey. How does that sit with you?

About David Rawlings

Based in Adelaide, South Australia, I am a sports-mad, married father-of-three with my own copywriting/communication business who reads everything within an arm’s reach.

I can see a typo from across the room and always – always – make sure my text messages are grammatically correct. My manuscripts have finalled in the ACFW's Genesis competitions and the OCW's Cascade Awards.

And now I'm working with the Steve Laube Agency as my agent to find that elusive first publisher.

WASGIJ?

by Marion Ueckermann

I love building puzzles, and about once a year, I’ll go through a spate of whiling away the hours on this pastime. In fact, I recently completed a 2000 piece puzzle that I loved so much, I placed it between two pieces of glass and created a table top from it.

Now, you’re probably scratching your head and wondering what puzzles have to do with writing and reading. They actually have quite a lot in common, and here are a few things I could think of off the top of my head…

They both create a visual effect:

·         the puzzler pieces the tiny pieces together to build a beautiful picture

·         the author forges images for the reader by stringing words together

They both create a relaxing experience:

·         strange as it may sound, piecing together a puzzle can be rather relaxing—even though there are moments of frustration when you can’t find where to place a piece…or if you get to the end just to find there are pieces missing

·         people read to relax—but the relaxation levels could depend on what book you’re reading…not sure how relaxing a Steven King book is

You learn from both:

·         dopamine, the chemical responsible for learning and memory, increases when building jigsaw puzzles

·         Confucius said you cannot open a book without learning something—how true!

They both stimulate the brain:

·         you harness both brainpowers—left (logical, follows sequence) and right (creative, intuitive and emotional)—when putting together a puzzle

·         reading will do the same, dependent on the book, ie. fiction will feed the imagination (right brain), while non-fiction will build on knowledge, logic, reasoning, strategy, etc. (left brain). Creative non-fiction I’d guess would stimulate both.

My sister is a jigsaw fanatic, too, but we have totally different ideas about what to do when we’ve built a puzzle. She will paste that completed image to a hard board in the hopes that one day she’ll frame it and hang it. I think she could build a small house with all the puzzles she’s done this with. I, on the other hand, will break it up to build another day (except, of course, for my table top one). Readers react the same way with books—some will get rid of a book once they’ve read it, while others will slide it back onto their bookshelves to read the story once again.

When my brother emigrated to England two years ago, I inherited a puzzle from him and his wife. A WASGIJ?. Don’t know what a WASGIJ? is?—don’t worry, I didn’t either. Let me explain…it’s a back-to-front puzzle (if you read the word from right to left, it spells JIGSAW). In other words, the image on the puzzle box is actually what the final built puzzle is looking at, ie. if it were an image of the Eiffel Tower, you might find the built puzzle is of a couple picnicking on the grass in front of the tower, gazing up at the tall structure. Here is the puzzle I was given.

A WASGIJ? is rather challenging as you’ve no idea where the various pieces fit. Do they go on the right, the left, the bottom, or the top? It takes quite some time to piece this puzzle together, and all you have to go on is a cryptic clue on the box. This puzzle’s clue was: Uproar at the Vets!

And here’s the finished image, here’s what has everyone in that veterinary clinic in a tizz.

Authors are generally either Plotters or Pantsers (or a hybrid somewhere in between). I’m a thoroughbred Pantser, and this WASJIG? puzzle reminds me of myself because in my writing process, I work to a bare skeleton—kind of like the cryptic clue on this puzzle’s box. I have a vague idea what my story will look like, but am often surprised by what happens between that first word and the last…something like the process of not knowing what image will materialize when you tip the WASJIG? pieces onto a table. Life can be a little like a WASJIG?, too, don’t you think? So often unsure of what the bigger picture will be.

So, what kind of puzzler / reader / writer are you? I’d love to hear your stories on any, or all, of these pastimes.

MARION UECKERMANN's passion for writing was sparked when she moved to Ireland with her family. Her love of travel has influenced her contemporary inspirational romances set in novel places. Marion and her husband again live in South Africa, but with two gorgeous grandsons hanging their hats at the house next door, their empty nest's no longer so empty.

Visit Marion at www.marionueckermann.net

If you’d like to receive information on new releases, cover reveals, and writing news, please sign up for my newsletter: 

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My novella, Spring’s Promise, will be sent free to new subscribers.

Celebrating the little wins

I love seeing wins from other authors when they share them on social media.

It’s great to see when people you know are launching a book or have signed a contract. It’s heartwarming to share in the big wins of award nominations or best-seller lists. It's encouraging to see colleagues (and friends) recognised for the talent they have and the stories they tell.

It helps when, like me, you’re stuck in a bit of a no-mans land.

Allow me to explain … I’ve written two manuscripts. The first one is a finalist in the Oregon Christian Writers Cascade competition, the second is being looked at by a number of agents.

That’s good – it’s some kind of recognition at least. I’d much rather have those than a series of flat-out rejections, but I’m now waiting for answers. I haven’t had any ‘noes’ but I also haven’t had any ‘yesses’. Hence no-mans land.

So in this time of waiting (I’m still writing by the way) and before I’ve got anything significant to celebrate, I’ve taken to celebrating the little wins in my writing. Those things that might otherwise slide on past unacknowledged.  So this is my list of celebrations in the past month:

• Someone read the first three chapters of my award-nominated manuscript and asked “where’s the rest?”
• I came up with another novel concept that, after I fleshed it out and analysed it in the cold, hard light of another day, was actually still as good as when I came up with it.
• I told my elevator pitch for my next manuscript to someone and they wanted to know more.
• I came up with a plot twist that improves my WIP, it's still consistent with my characters and works on every level.
• I set myself a goal to write 6,000 words in a week and I did.
• The short story I wrote for my newsletter got some great feedback from people who said they were touched by it.
• I connected with my mentor and got another shot of encouragement and support.
• My first newsletter went out and subscribers took the time to email me their appreciation of what I’d done (if you do want to subscribe, visit my web site: www.davidrawlings.com.au and you'll get that short story I mentioned before.)

That’s how I’ve decided to address no-mans land. While I’m waiting for big news, I’m enjoying the steps on the journey. And one thing I keep appreciating about celebrating your little wins – it helps you appreciate the hard work you’re putting in, and allows you to see the everyday things you may otherwise miss.

Which little wins could you celebrate this month?

About David Rawlings

Based in Adelaide, South Australia, I am a sports-mad, married father-of-three with my own copywriting/communication business who reads everything within an arm’s reach. I can see a typo from across the room and always – always – make sure my text messages are grammatically correct.

Oh, and I love cooking, comedy and surfing. Over 25 years, I’ve made writing my career and paid the bills with words. It’s not a big leap from the six-year-old writing short stories instead of doing homework.

And now I'm working on finding a day between Wednesday and Thursday to squeeze in more writing.

www.davidrawlings.com.au