More than Writers

Screenshot from the Flodesk app I was looking at my Mailchimp account the other day, and realized that I sent out my first newsletter five years ago. Oh fun, I thought, I can share about the delights and joys in the next missive. Then I looked more closely and realized that was only a test newsletter, and that I took a year before I actually wrote my first missive (which I sent in May 2018). I wasn’t exactly regular with the practice, and took seven months before sending out the next one in December 2018. After that I must have made a New Year’s resolution to write monthly, because in January 2019 I continued the practice and have done so ever since.  What took me so long to get regular in this practice? It’s something that my friends in publishing said I should implement but it felt like one more thing for the to-do list. One more piece of writing for which I wasn’t paid and didn’t have a deadline. And so I put it off, month after month, until my mentor encouraged me to commit. ...

First of all, my apologies for the blog being delayed. We have just returned from a barbeque with some wonderful friends, and I realised today it’s the 30 th , my MTW slot! We’re staying with friends in Jersey, and time is running away with us. I lost count of the days, maybe because I have no internet when out of our friends’ house? No social media, no instant contact with friends and family. That in itself is odd, like returning to the time of a house phone only. I was in college when mobile phones became more common, although you still needed a huge handbag to carry a mobile around with you. Jersey is a beautiful place and staying with friends makes it even more special. With hubby, we have been binge-watching Bergerac, to get into the mood. Travelling around Jersey no longer in the 80s is fun as we try to find Bergerac landmarks. I will have to look for books set in Jersey as well, to remind myself of this beautiful place. Yesterday we visited the War Tunnels, another time wa...

Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Picture this. You meet a new writer who likes your work (wonderful), has bought your book (even better), and they’re after writing advice from you (flattered to be asked). What do you say? My thoughts are:- Be well stocked up on tea, coffee, or other non-alcoholic beverages. Writing is hard work (and alcohol doesn’t aid concentration). You need something to keep you going. Biscuits may prove to be your Slimming World consultant’s friend! Having to get up every so often means you get screen breaks! It’s an ill wind and all that. Do keep hydrated. Dehydration does nothing for creativity.  Despite writing to screen, it pays to have pen and paper handy. I often have ideas for stories while working on blogs. I jot these down and examine them later. Sometimes they’re excellent and I use them. Sometimes they’re not as good as I thought and I discard them. There seems to be an unwritten law stating the busier you are wi...

  What does self-care for a Christian writer mean? In mid-July, I busied myself reading the MTW’s blog posts I had missed in days and noticed a trend in these posts. It was advice on how to thrive and achieve as a Christian Writer.   These write ups were backed up with prayers considering what each one of us tries to accomplish in just one day!   I looked at my life as a Christian writer. I have a portable calendar that shows what I have to accomplish each day by God’s grace.   Some days have book launches, zoom meetings, blog write ups, personal newsletters to read or give feedback, review deadlines, TBR list to consider, things to catch up from my part time job, family commitments, social media, etc. In the midst of all this, there are personal challenges and writing goals to do!   Many of us face personal challenging situations such as dealing with loss, health, family or job issues.     I used to feel disappointed by the few comments on my bl...

Last week  my friend Marilyn and  I took a little break in sunny Eastbourne.  We had no idea when we booked it some time ago that the temperatures would be hitting unprecedented highs across the country, but we still went as it seemed better to be on the coast than roasted inland. . . I booked the hotel which was unfamiliar to us, online and I wasn't sure of its exact whereabouts (I'm useless with maps) so it was amazing to discover that it was situated right on the front overlooking the sea, not too far from the pier.   From our arrival onwards as the minutes and hours rolled into one another and we drifted along the prom and tackled the shelving shingle on the beach; as we  paddled in the calm sea at low tide and took big breaths to jump in the waves and swim in the high tide. . .As we sat on the pier reading exciting novels against the backdrop of lapping waves and hazy scorching sunshine, as we enjoyed fish and chips and eating outside in the breeze of ...

  ‘Everyone has a book in them, but in most cases, that’s where it should stay.’   Who exactly said this in the first instance is not really known?  There are many versions and many possibilities as to the author on the internet, take a look.  Perhaps one of the reasons for saying that’s where it should stay is that it would not be considered a good book?  Maybe another reason could be that the writer is not a good storyteller?  Whatever the reason for the quote and whoever the author is, I disagree.  God made us in His image and that means He gave us a gift of creativity.  So, if that gift is writing, then write that book, that song, that poem, that novel, that memoir – write what you feel God is telling you to write. As this is my debut blog for More Than Writers, I thought I would share a very small snippet of my writing journey.  Before I do so, why have I referenced Aesop’s fable in the title?  Simply because we don’t have to be...

  At the end of our garden is a field. At the bottom of that field is a railway line. The Cambrian Coast mainline runs less than 500m from our home, separating us from the beach, and the sea beyond. Having a trainline so close has never bothered us. There are at most ten, two- carriage trains running a day. Indeed it was such a novelty when we first moved in that one of us would yell ‘train’ excitedly whenever one passed. I admit that I have started to do that again, now that our grandson visits regularly. That was until Network Rail thought it was a good idea to do some routine maintenance on the line, including the replacing of worn sleepers. And, so as not to disturb the train scheduling, that work would be done between 1 am and 5 am, on three consecutive nights. The very same nights when the summer finally deigned to arrive this far north, and it was impossible to sleep with the windows closed. It turned out it was going to be impossible to sleep whether the windows were open...

  Why are there so many books?! Do you ever feel that you can’t cope with the vast numbers of new books pouring out from the minds of authors month by month, on top of the vast numbers that already exist, so many of them already forgotten by just about everybody? More specifically, I get that feeling when I read the notices of all the new ‘Christian books’: for example, listed in the back of Together magazine, or in the publisher’s catalogues that come with it. Surely our faith is not so complex that it needs to be written about over and over again? Surely even the complicated bits have all been thoroughly explored by now? Surely the application of it to life has been covered, with so many books out there? And even the multifarious ways in which those applications can be made, even all of them must have been discussed over and over again by now? Those excruciatingly fine theological and liturgical distinctions must have been restated numerous times? So, what possible justification ...

  The Armour of God for Writers by Rebecca Seaton     Ephesians 6 instructs us to ‘Put on the full armour of God so that…you may be able to stand your ground…and pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.’ (Eph 6:10-18) It also lists the seven parts of armour and how to use them. Many of us are familiar with this but what does it mean for writers? The belt of truth is the first part of armour listed. This is key, as we should hold the truths about who God is and who we are in Him as the foundation on which everything else sits. Starting our battles, from our first book ideas to sharing our work, is crucial to what happens next. Readiness is also important. This might sound obvious: after all, it would likely be fatal to go into war unprepared. But how often do we falter because we haven’t prepared enough, or have let our flame flicker partway through the course? The enemy stirs up doubt but God gives us all we have to be ready. ...

I recently spent time with my sister and her family. I was with them longer than planned (such a hardship!) due to disruption of the trains. I was speaking at a Ladies’ Event, and it fell on a day when school was shut, meaning my ten-year-old niece could come, so I asked her if she’d like to read aloud the meditation I planned to include in my talk. She said she would, which meant that; a) I had the privilege of her doing so.   b) I didn’t need to read it myself. Before we left for the event, Abbie practised reading the meditation. She read it very well, until she came to the last couple of lines, where she paused. “I can’t read this out,” and she pointed on the page:   I know about God. He's here. (full meditation below) Abbie worked out how to convey the meaning, but her words made me think. I can’t read this out. Because a word had a line through it. As Christian writers - and in general, actually - how often do we try to read out things God has crosse...

" You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You. So trust in the Lord (commit yourself to Him, lean on Him, hope confidently in Him) forever; for the Lord God is an everlasting Rock [the Rock of Ages].                                                                             Isa.26:3-4    What a promise, one that is absolute truth. Since November’s diagnosis of breast cancer, I have had two operations, a seroma with sepsis infection and have just finished three weeks of radiotherapy. Peace has been in every stage.   When pulled down by pain, a friend's prayin...