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Get Real!
Cec Murphey, the writer extraordinaire who has written and co-authored several runaway bestsellers, including 90 Minutes in Heaven, shared these excellent thoughts recently on The Writer’s View. We were discussing the issue of how to be more authentic and vulnerable in our writing. Cec says:
“Of course it’s difficult to be real (another word for vulnerable). And let’s not make this a gender issue. It may be more difficult for males, but that’s not a reason to hold back…
What would have happened if Moses had used the same argument and not told about killing the Egyptian? Maybe David shouldn’t have written Psalm 51. Don’t overlook Elijah’s dark, depressive experience.
For me, being real is the most difficult aspect of writing; it’s also the most rewarding. When I’m real (vulnerable, naked, honest, transparent, open), that’s when I connect with people who hurt. And yes, I get blasted by a few people. And yes, that hurts, but it doesn’t stop me.
When other writers open themselves and show their real selves, they give me permission to keep trying, despite my failures. I’m bored with those writers whose illustrations teach us to believe they rush from victory to victory and never fail.
One final curmudgeonly comment: Reader identification is the mark of good writing in fiction or nonfiction. I can identify with reality; I’m turned off by perfected saints.”
Great points by Cec, who calls himself a ”Curmudgeon of the First Order”! For more information on Cec’s ministry or to sign up for his great newsletter, please visit his site at http://themanbehindthewords.com.
What Marks a Real Writer
I enjoyed this snippet from an interview with Anthony Snider, the winner of the 2006 Bridport Prize Competition:
“To steal a great line from Czeslaw Milosz: ‘I am a poet because I am always thinking
of something else,’” Snider says with a smile. “There is a back burner that is going all
the time, and if someone says something in a conversation that is an interesting turn
of phrase, or I hear somebody put something together that is interesting, I’ll write it
down and put it away in a little journal of snippets… Sometimes poems are
just begging to be written… Everything flows through.”
Great Work Advice-Don’t Do These 5 Things!
I thought this was a fantastically helpful article from Robert Half International. It appeared on MSN Careers:
5 Ways to Tarnish Your Professional Rep
Without a doubt, getting ahead in your career has much to do with your skills and on-the-job contributions. But a lot also depends on how you are perceived by your colleagues and managers. The impressions you make with others can greatly affect your advancement potential. Are you taking the right steps, or are you inadvertently sabotaging yourself?
Here are five ways to jeopardize your professional reputation — and career prospects:
1. Not raising your hand.
A colleague needs someone to take on a few of his duties while he’s out of the office next week, and the boss asks everyone on the team for volunteers. You sit quietly until a co-worker offers to help out. Bad move. Taking on projects that fall outside your normal responsibilities can help you expand your skill set and explore new avenues for professional growth. While you may not always have the time to volunteer for an extra assignment, passing on every opportunity also will prevent you from being viewed by your manager as a go-to person in the deparment.
2. Overpromising.
You may be the hardest worker in the company, but if your boss and co-workers cannot rely on you to deliver results you’ve committed to, you may be passed over for plum assignments. Avoid the urge to promise more than you can realistically deliver, and let people know when you hit a snag that could prevent you from meeting your deadlines. You won’t acquire more responsibility if people can’t depend on you.
3. Being a know-it-all.
It’s smart to offer feedback during brainstorming sessions and to colleagues who are stuck on challenging projects. But keep in mind that there can be too much of a good thing. If you are blunt or forceful with your opinions, it can seem like you are giving orders and not offering suggestions, and consequently lead to resentment among your colleagues. This attitude can be especially harmful during group projects, when effective collaboration is key. Be tactful when presenting your thoughts and respect others’ right to disagree, no matter how strongly you feel about your ideas. Co-workers will appreciate your feedback and desire to help, even if they don’t follow your guidance.
4. Never admitting your mistakes.
Creating an excuse to justify poor performance is dishonest and unprofessional. Plus, chances are your ploy won’t stand the test of time. If you make a mistake, step up to the plate; then go further by devising a plan for both correcting and avoiding similar incidents in the future. Employees who accept ownership demonstrate professional maturity and confidence.
5. Being part of the rumor mill.
When there’s bad news to share or complaints to be made about situations at work, you don’t want to be the person leading the talk at the water cooler. There’s nothing wrong with bonding with co-workers, but being associated with negative discussions makes you seem negative — which won’t please managers and can harm relationships at work. It’s best to remain above the fray as much as possible.
A major snafu at work isn’t the only thing that can harm a promising career. Sometimes it takes just one minor misstep. Make sure your own actions aren’t derailing new opportunities from coming your way.*
*Featured on MSN Careers, July 24, 2008 See http://msn.careerbuilder.com/custom/msn/careeradvice/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=1563&SiteId=cbmsnhp41563>1=23000
Wildfire Marketing
If you need help with marketing your book or expanding your speaking ministry, I highly recommend that you e-mail Rob Eagar. Even better, meet with him in person! His ministry, Wildfire Marketing, will be instrumental in helping you shape and hone your message and focus your ministry for maximum impact. For more info and AWESOME free resources, including great articles and free e-newsletters, visit Wildfire Marketing’s website at http://www.startawildfire.com. You’ll love it! And please tell Rob I sent ya.
Blessings!
Belonging…
Here’s an intriguing quote:
You must learn one thing.
The world was made to be free in.
Give up all the other worlds
Except the one to which you belong.
-David Whyte
The Smallest in Christ
If I had to choose one Bible verse to characterize the cry of my heart and the attitude I want to have toward the Lord, I would pick Psalm 19:14:
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
When everything is stripped away and I’m hunkered down at my desk with a messy stack of papers, books, a tall cup of Starbucks and a cat wedged between my monitor and my keyboard in a blissful state of ”desk sprawl,” I just want to be obedient, available, and willing to express the message that the Lord wants me to share with the world.
Recently, I was reading a missions report from a Russian pastor. This humble, godly man risks his life to drive his car hundreds of miles over frozen lakes with NO ROADS and NO SIGNS to visit Christians in isolated villages in Siberia. Often, his car breaks through the ice and almost falls into the freezing water. It’s a true miracle that he makes it across that frozen taiga. Every few miles, he faces a life-threatening situation, and God rescues him. Over and over. At any moment, his life could end. And sometimes he does all of this to reach JUST ONE PERSON for the sake of Jesus Christ. Most amazing of all, at the bottom of the page, after describing these truly harrowing adventures, this man signed his name “The Smallest in Christ.”
Wow. Ouch. God, is my desire to be THE SMALLEST IN CHRIST? Do I consider it a privilege to be last so others can be first? As an author, (yes, even as a Christian author) I see that there’s a lot of positioning and placement done, lots of fuss and seeking after fame, lots of buzz about “who’s the next big name,” “who’s the next rising star.”
I’m pretty sure that God is calling us to eliminate all of that and instead, to call on the Name that is above every name.
Like Christ, we have to be willing to give up any vestige of glory and allow ourselves to be THE SMALLEST IN CHRIST. Let’s make His name large. He must increase. We must decrease.
Comments? Please share them here. Thank you!
Relevant quote for Generation Hex
“You don’t always have to chop with the sword of truth. You can point with it, too.”
– Anne Lamott
I love Anne Lamott’s quote, especially in light of our call to always be ready to provide a reason for the incredible hope that we have in Jesus Christ. Comments? Please post them below.
My “Book Baby” Has Finally Arrived!
Other authors have told me that holding that first copy of your new book makes a writer feel a bit like a new mom holding a newborn in her arms - a fitting analogy. I don’t have any kids yet, but today, I received the FIRST copy of my latest book, Generation Hex. Wow! It’s amazing to have a year’s worth of research, blood, sweat and tears pay off and hold that slick, shiny tome in hand. Definitely a joyous, surreal moment!
Dillon Burroughs, my co-author, and I are planning an exciting “8/8/08 Book Launch” on, that’s right, AUGUST 8, 2008. We hope you will be willing to go online and buy a copy of the book on that date! It’s also the date when the Olympics starts, so please let that remind you. :) Gen Hex should be in stores by then, and the book is also available on www.christianbook.com, www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, and more.
Of course, we also encourage you to support your local Christian bookstore, so stop by and pick up one or two copies for yourself, friends, your pastor and youth pastor, teens or family members. In Generation Hex, we take a unique approach by creating open dialogue with Wiccans and New-Agers and interviewing many actual pagans in order to present a true and balanced perspective on Wicca, New Age and pagan spirituality. However, we also approach the book with solid theology and a conservative biblical foundation, rooted in Scripture. For the book, Dillon and I interviewed numerous practitioners of Wicca and other pagan faiths to discover what they really believe and how Christians can most effectively reach out to them with the gospel.
Publishers Weekly offers some fantastic reviews of newly released books. Here’s a cool one related to Generation Hex: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6577725.html?industryid=47139
We’re asking YOU - our friends, family members, author pals, fabulous and wise intercultural couples, fun colleagues and website cohorts - to participate in a blog tour for Generation Hex, and we hope you’ll help us out!!! If you would like to be on the blog tour and receive a FREE copy of the book from Harvest House, please e-mail Marla at marla_alupoaicei@yahoo.com. Thanks! We appreciate you.
Write Award-Winning Poems-Great Tips!
R U A Poet? Me, too. Here are some tips for those of you who are just starting out… and those who are already experts in your craft. One of the greatest things about being a writer - and one of the most freeing - is the fact that you’ll never be perfect, but you’ll always be getting better! Hope gets us through the day. Hope and hard work, and the ability to look at what we wrote today and realize that it may be just a little bit better than what we wrote yesterday.
Anyway, back to POETRY. These tips are guaranteed to improve your work significantly!
1. First of all, remember that in poetry, the NOUNS carry the weight. They convey the semantic force of your sentences. Nouns are the wheelbarrows that carry the blossoming flowers of your verbs. Use active verbs, but focus even more on using surprising and relevant nouns. (All of you prose writers know that in prose, the VERBS carry the weight.) To be a successful poet, you have to change your thinking about the way words work.
2. Get a thesaurus or synonym finder and use it. As Mark Twain said, “The difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.”
3. Read as much contemporary poetry as you can. Some of my fave modern poets are Louise Gluck, Li-Young Lee, Marianne Boruch, Kathleen Peirce, Linda Pastan, Mary Oliver, John Hodgen, and Robert Bly.
4. Don’t rhyme. If you must rhyme, write the poem in free verse first, and then go back and rhyme it. Make the sense of the poem serve the rhyme, not the other way around. Use a rhyming dictionary to help you come up with good rhymes that aren’t forced.
5. Avoid connecting words. In a poem, you aren’t telling a story. Leave some elements to the imagination. Don’t explain why someone did something or qualify their acts, and don’t use time modifiers. For example, instead of saying (and I know this is totally random):
Freedom is its own harvest
because it knows what it wants.
You would say:
Freedom is its own harvest.
It knows what it wants.
See the difference?
7. Take associative leaps. Don’t censor yourself too much. Once you know your subject, try putting together new combinations of words. Say, my subject is my desk, and on my desk are the following objects:
-paper with clouds printed on it
-speakers
-paper clips and binder clips
-a razor knife
-a cross carved of faux stone
-a can of dust remover
-a flashlight
-a book called “Wild Mind”
So, from the objects on my desk, I could use free association to come up with something like this:
My desk is a clean sheet of paper. The wild mind speaks
like a razor in the clouds. A cross carved from dust.
A stone, a flash, unbound.
Cheesy example, but you get the idea! And it really works. I hope these tips are useful to all you poets out there.
About Marla
Marla Alupoaicei possesses a God-given passion for sharing relevant resources and practical biblical truth with her readers. She provides specific information for artists, writers, married couples (including intercultural couples), and caregivers.
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