Poor in spirit, rich in heaven, by Tish Mason, Tuesday 14 August 2018

Hello, I,m Tish, and I'm taking Susanne's blog spot while she has a six-month sabbatical.

Kingdom Coffee goodies on sale
at Big Church Day Out – but our Creator
God has a banquet for us in heaven.

I was at a music festival recently, helping at the Flame International hot drinks point. Unlike most people, I had not come for the music, but at the end of my shift I took a walk and found a circus tent where Stu Garrard and his band were playing ‘Words from the Hill’ – songs based on the Beatitudes – the first part of Jesus’s sermon on the mount. I was experiencing considerable self-doubt about my writing at the time and wondering if God wanted me to continue. The beauty of the songs resonated with me. You see, I am not really a proper writer. I went to creative writing classes for a year and learned a few techniques. Most learned how to write a good short story, but my stories had too many characters, and situations that could not be resolved in a few thousand words. I decided to quit and just write the book that had been in my head for two years.

It took a year, followed by another year to edit, rewrite and check for errors.  Then I sent it to publishers most likely to take a novel about a young girl trafficked from South Sudan to the UK – bit of a niche market! None of them did, so in my head now there are now two scenarios:one is to enter competitions, get short stories published, start a blog, build up a following, find a sympathetic publisher; and the other is self publish, sell through local networks, try not to despair when the self-publishing platform shows no sales this month, rejoice when by a miracle nine copies sell in a week, if only I knew why!

I am on a steep learning curve on social media, which I know is a powerful sales tool, but it works better if you are already famous – and I am not Donald Trump! I have found useful online communities, and time-wasting gossip shops. I have spent hours developing a website and learning how to link it to my Social Media pages.

I have given up many times. Each time something has made me carry on – a chance encounter, an opportunity to speak, a conversation with another artist. People like the story! They ask if I mind that they have passed it on to a friend; they are rereading it; poor Maria; they want to know when I will write the sequel. I am trying, but I cannot cope with going round the writing, self-publishing, marketing loop again.

As I listened to the songs I realised that they were not just about those who are poor in the material sense or feeling low. We all have a unique gifting from God and a passion to make the world a better place, but it is hard to keep at it in our own strength. The beauty of worship reconnected me with the Creator, and once again I found the encouragement to press on. When we are poor in spirit there is space for God to fill us with heavenly riches.

May God bless your creativity whether you are well established in your writing or, like me, struggling to get going.

Letitia Mason fell in love with East Africa while teaching at a harambee school in Kenya. She writes for Burning Issues, and published Lost Children of Cush, a novel of South Sudan. Tish works for Flame International and lives in Surrey with her husband and a crazy dog.  

www.mariaofsouthsudan.wordpress.com 

@TishMason1