More than Writers

  Keren Dibbens-Wyatt’s latest book Recital of Love was published by Paraclete Press in September. I asked Keren to tell me a bit about herself and about Recital of Love , which I received as a pdf file of the ARC (Advance Review Copy). You describe yourself as a mystic, writer, poet and artist. Do you find that one form of creativity provides inspiration for others? Is one of these your favourite or is that something, which changes from time to time? I think if you are a creative person then the chances are you’ll try lots of different ways of expressing that. For me, though, almost everything begins in prayer. That and the contemplation of nature and Scripture are where all my inspiration comes from. Writing is the main expression of that for me. At this time, art comes second to that, and I probably spend the least amount of time on poetry, because for me that comes at very specific, usually highly emotional moments. You obviously have a passion for words. Apart from th...

  Years ago, hubby and I attended the Calvin500 conference in Geneva. It was a wonderful time, with some very interesting lectures. One of the lectures was about Calvin’s Impact on the Arts , a lecture that wasn’t what we expected. The thing that surprised us was that it was really Calvin who had liberated the Arts. Calvin stated that art was one of the richest gifts of God to mankind (not sure my paintings fall into that category, but still...). Up till then art was seen as belonging to the Church, not even signed. Calvin changed that. Growing up in the Netherlands, I had never heard of Halloween. We celebrate Reformation Day, singing Luther’s Hymn in church (the only time that happened, church was Psalms Only, so it felt extra special), colouring in church history posters, listening to exciting stories about Martyrs, Reformers, Missionaries and Bible smugglers. We learned that we were free to read the Bible in our own language because of the Reformation. Nobody mentioned we...

Thanks to all who supported my cyberlaunch for Tripping The Flash Fantastic . It was great to “see” many ACW people there. When I started writing, nobody had heard of the term cyberlaunch. I was spending lots of time queuing in the Post Office to get manuscripts weighed and sent off by snail mail. Most of what I needed to send to publishers would not fit in this box so a queue in the Post Office was something I got used to! Pixabay I was still using Tippex though never on a manuscript I wanted to send to a publisher. I used it for my drafts when I didn’t need to type out the whole document again at that point.  And yes, younger viewers, there were days before computers, cloud storage, cut and paste, email submissions, the internet, and smartphone! Don’t mention dinosaurs to me. There are times I feel like I am one… I’ll have you know I can hear you sniggering from here!. So you’ve had to adapt, that’s what you’re telling us, Allison, isn’t it? Oh yes. (Cue the nodding dog from that...

  From  Where Does Inspiration Come? by Trevor Thorn   All in all, we have had very little to complain about since Lockdown. We were required to ‘shield, and live on the edge of a pleasant Cambridgeshire village. We can walk from our door to the local millennium wood and just beyond that is the River Cam with walks both towards Cambridge and towards Ely. The Cambridge walk is, at times, complicated by the enthusiasm of cyclists to enjoy the river ride which is only reasonable as the path is a designated cycle route part paid for by Sustrans, the cycle charity and grant maker.   However, Covid has taken its toll here in a different way. For 4 years I have been working to produce a childrens’ song book called ‘Sing of God and Science’: the agreed publication date with a significant national publisher of Christian resources was to be in June this year. But who in their right mind would launch anything that would largely depend on schools and teachers to buy? At this mom...

I was lying on the grass basking in the sun.   I squeezed my eyes shut against the glare and drifted in the beautiful heat filled haze.   A shadow fell upon me and I opened my eyes. A tiny puff ball cloud was edging its way into the sun’s territory.   So small yet seemingly of far greater power, the sun’s reign momentarily conquered.   Bit by bit the fierce golden orb was obliterated but nothing could put out its light.   The cloud turned charcoal grey with waving streaks of red, gold and pink streaming from its edges.   As surely as the sun was hidden by the cloud, so the cloud was changed by the sun.   I gazed up marvelling at the beauty and stretched out my arms longing to take hold of the cloud, bring it down to earth and tether it.   I wanted to see, to know it and hold it close to me, but it constantly eluded my grasp and in minutes it was gone, travelling on its unseen path, dwindling into the distance. I gazed after it as I basked once a...

When we write, we’re mindful of our target market (hopefully!). We might be writing specifically for Christian men or women, for seekers, for children or teenagers, or for another particular audience. And we want to reach as many as we possibly can within that group. Reach, of course, largely depends on marketing and promotion. And for many writers, particularly the introverts among us, this is probably the most difficult part of the whole process. It certainly is for me. But if we want our book or our blog to be read, we need to promote it. Many publishers ask for marketing strategies before they will consider signing a contract with an author. I totally understand this – of course, costs need to be met, and if a manuscript is good, we want as many people as possible to read it. But what we really hope is that it will take on a life of its own and that word will spread like wildfire. But are high-volume sales and reach always what it’s about? Jesus told a parable about a shephe...

I've only just begun to take point of view (POV) seriously and it's tricky. Never bothered by it before, now it's getting in the way. There was much the same attitude to music as I sailed through the grades untroubled by theory. In the end I bowed to pressure and tackled it – a paper exercise that failed to enhance performance or enjoyment. With my head constantly in a book from childhood an instinctive flair for grammar and spelling seemed to serve me well. Avoidance of boring rules (to me) became an art form. My first NaNoWriMo in 2018 was a romp: launched into with gunging-ho attitude, zilch preparation and virgin (almost) mind. The embryo fantasy novel that came out the other end has now been exhumed and examined more closely. Which is why POV can no longer be avoided. Question: Why has it not been an issue before?                                                 ...

  As those of you who read my blog will know, my job consists of writing all day, every day. Or at least editing, i.e. researching meaning, selecting little specimens of text and putting them in place, rearranging and deleting, and composing new text. An important part of this consists of correctly interpreting passages of English that have been written at various times during the past 1200 years. The other day I was engaging with a sentence from John Milton’s polemic Areopagitica — subtitle ‘For the liberty of unlicenc’d printing’ — published in 1644. Every acute reader upon the first sight of a pedantick licence, will be ready with these like words to ding the book a coits distance from him, I hate a pupil teacher, I endure not an instructor that comes to me under the wardship of an overseeing fist.   I put my question (which is of no importance for this blog) to my colleague Andrew, a specialist in seventeenth century literature, and in the course of our email discussion, ...

  Faith, Hope and Charity: Charity by Rebecca Seaton Money is one type of charity... The dictionary defines charity as 'assistance given to those in need' or 'a kind and understanding attitude towards, or judgement of, others'. In the Bible, charity is linked to good works (Acts 9:36) and we are reminded to perform charity for the benefit of others and the glory of God, not our own glory (Matthew 6). So it seems that charity is using our resources to help others. What does this mean and how could it be presented in our writing? It could be giving physical resources, whether financial or other practical support. As a fantasy writer, this often presents itself to me as practical aid in times of trouble. A character may have supported my main character through kind words or illuminating prophecy but when the chips are down, a spear, map or boat is gratefully received!                                 ...

A while ago, someone posted in the ACW group about a programme called A Secret History of Writing . I’m afraid I can’t remember who it was, but thank you to them for flagging it up. I finally got round to watching the programme, and I found it interesting to see how writing was birthed and developed. Do watch the programme if you can, I’ll only say one thing about its content in this blog: spines. Early books were written on animal skins. The skins would be flayed, soaked in water, and then stretched into a ‘page’. When the skin was hanging up to settle into shape after being stretched, the presenter pointed out a faint line that ran down the middle of the skin. This was where the animal’s spine had been, and would be the fold in the page. In other words, the part of the book we call the spine. Spines are important. They hold everything together in our bodies, as well as books, enabling us to function. Our backbones literally run through the core of us. I suspect most of us don...

"For (even the whole) creation (all nature)  waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God's sons to be made known  (waits for the revealing,  the disclosing of their sonship).                                                            Romans 8:19 We as a country wait expectantly for life to return to normal! Yet this is a time for us to discover the Lord and let Him make known to us those gifts, talents, skills and abilities He has put with us. For those finding time on their hands due to restrictions I am praying for constructive, innovative, and even inventive discoveries. This applies to people of all ages, whether it's children learning and parents being inspired with ideas to keep them amused, or those with medical, scientific, engineering abilities to find new ways to solve a multitude of pr...

One of my older brothers (I have four) texted me today to tell me about a story he had been working on. Most of his writing is connected to his job, but he has written some lovely memoir pieces and he definitely has a flair. He told me he had been working on this story for a few months. It was based on people we knew, but he had embellished it. He mentioned the emotional investment he had put into it and I could understand that. The couple he was basing it on were very special to us as a family. We were a family of eight children (I also have three older sisters), and this lovely couple were childless and showed us great affection as kids. I was getting excited as I read his text. It sounded wonderful. Then he dropped the bombshell... laptop crashed, hard drive irretrievable, story gone forever.  He is my older brother,  but not this old I was gutted for him.  Many if not all writers have had this happen, and it can be crushing. When we've invested our time and our heart ...

Psalm 25: 4 Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; Having graduated from the Procrastination Stage of Writing to the Planning Stage, I am now with not a little fear and trepidation stepping/diving/jumping into the actual writing of my first chapter in my first ever novel. Scary.  What has helped me kick my sweet by-in-by into actual work mode is the contest set up by our Association of Christian Writers. Yep, there’s a £100 carrot.  I’ve never entered a writing contest, but I like the British saying of “ in for a penny, in for a pound.” Please do send your linguistic corrections to your colonial cousin whenever you like, but as I’m the one writing this blogpost at the moment, I’m defining this saying as “ if you’re already doing something a little crazy ( such as thinking you could switch from factual to fiction writing), then you might as well do something else you’ve never done: Enter a Writing Contest!” I’ve included the rules below. Rules like these terrify me, a...