Do you believe in your job? I mean, really believe in it?
Recently I went to an event where I hadn’t planned to talk at all about being a literary agent. But I found myself talking about books all the same. Granted, I didn’t talk about being a literary agent in the same way I’d talk about it with writers; no one at the event was a writer so they weren’t interested in having a novel published. In fact, I think this may have been one of the few times I went somewhere when no one said, “Hey, my cousin writes children’s books!” As writers, you know what I mean, don’t you?
I think we in Christian publishing, or perhaps in any kind of publishing, are especially blessed to have careers we believe in. Granted, there are many important jobs people do every day and I’m grateful for them. But does my airport shuttle driver think, “Wow, I’m really committed to the eternal mission of being sure everyone gets to the United terminal.” Yes, my ability to arrive at my airport terminal is extremely important. But does a shuttle driver, for example, talk eagerly about her work during off hours?
I find it’s hard to resist letting people know I’m in Christian publishing because I really believe in what I do. I believe in my writers. I believe in the books I represent. I want to serve the editors I send submissions to. I love our readers.
I believe this is a calling.
Your turn:
What are you writing now? Why?
What motivated you to write the book you’re writing now?
How do you express your belief in your work?
Are you called to write or otherwise be in publishing? Why?
A Writer’s Advent
I believe prejudice is a diversionary tactic to keep the body of Christ dismembered and broken on earth. I believe we are created for diverse community. We need each orher. The mommy wars is my first battle to take up. Let’s face it, mommy and wars are two words that have no business together.
My current project is called ” A Mile in Her Shoes.” It’s one part social experiment, and one part life lessons (learned the hard way I’m too stubborn to learn any other way.) about over coming my prejudices against other moms.to do so, I spend time walking a few proverbial miles in the shoes of moms who are different from me. As I get to know people beyond stereotypes, I gain friends I never thought possible.
Loosely based on Ephesians 6:15.
What motivated me? 27 years of being a mom and working with moms and watching us war over everything from nap time to feeding method and hurting each other in the process.
You are right, Tamela. What a privilege to do the work that we love! I just published a book about C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. Their friendship is such an inspiration to me, and it made such a difference to the books they were writing. It’s called BANDERSNATCH. I get so excited to think that others will be inspired by their story.
Hi Tamela,
I’m so blessed to be writing. I shared recently with a friend how I reached this point in my life. As I wait on God’s timing, I write and study the craft of writing.
The book I’m writing now was motivated by my love for God, my love of romance, and my love of America.
Several reasons! My husband’s grandmother was a type of mail order bride. I wondered what would prompt a woman to leave her family far behind, Italy in Grandma’s case, to marry a man she never met. Then, I wanted to capture my grandson, his personality, his “isms”. Hey, some people scrapbook, I write…and finally I wanted people to fall in love with Oregon the way I did when I arrived 23 years ago with all of its unique features so different from my New England home.
It is so interesting to read this blog. It’s the question I’ve been asking myself for the past year, most loudly over the past week. Working in research for the past seventeen years one would think it would be fulfilling to see the scope of resources in the field of auto-immune diseases. However, it leaves me empty at the end of the day and wanting, longing to spend more time writing. The two to four hours left in the day to devote to writing leaves me longing for more, more of the adventure, the story, the amazing and beautiful characters developing on the screen of my old Mac.
I am currently working on a story that takes place in South Carolina in 1938. It is the story of a young girl who is abandoned by her parents, as she will find out, because of the prejudice and manipulation of her grandfather. It follows various characters in their desperate need of family and love and the sense of belonging and how that force will drive a person to the extremes they never dreamed possible.
I do wonder how God could possible use me in the field of writing. I am bewildered and feel extremely blessed that God would choose something so amazing to apart of my life. I pray it is for his glory despite the cracked vessel that I seem to be.
It’s my third book and though I’ve shared my other two with a few friends and family I do look forward to someday sharing them with others though publishing. I would hope that the reader would find them to be an inspiration to battle childhood trauma, addiction, but most of all to see the blessings that fill our days. To be inspired to grab up the blessings in arms and thirsty souls and shout THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Contently, thank you!
You hit a nerve this morning. Thank you! I’m writing a middle grade adventure for the Christian market. I hear all the agents groaning. Yes, no one is buying middle grade. “Why do this to yourself, Kristen?” I hear you asking. “You can write funny romance. Why kids stories?” I do love myself a comedic romance and I’ll keep writing them. But I have three young boys, all readers, and when I see their eyes light up when I am reading out loud to them, the foolishness of writing this story suddenly is worth it. I have a passion for getting great books into the hands of my sons, and if I could write of those great books. Well that would be a dream come true.
Tamela, Diana is so right, both Lewis & Tolkien have much to teach us about writing. In Lewis’ OF OTHER WORLDS, his chapter “On Stories” is so insightful. Her book THE COMPANY THEY KEEP encouraged me so.
I believe God called me to write. I was writing stories at age 7. But without encouragement I didn’t seriously begin till age 48. At 50, an journalist intern in Washington DC, I stood on Capital Hill and knew I was doing it at last.
I’ve been working on a novel for 10 years. Changed the plot a dozen times, got bogged down in research. As a nonfiction writer I was stuck getting everything accurate, until Steve told me, “You’re writing fiction!”
When I took on a research assistant who is now my collaborator—see Diana’s chapter on the Inklings’ collaboration—and we began praying Mon-Fri, the Spirit entered in the writing & Book One of the series is finished, Book Two almost. I am finally feeling like a real author and my spirit is flying On Wings As Eagles.
Tamela,
About 15 years ago I set out to write a book for Barbour’s Sisters in Time series, which required a specific historical event, geographic setting, and particular year in the life of an adolescent girl. I decided to target my city of Quincy, Illinois, and 1838. I had two events, not only in the same year, but the same month! In October, US soldiers drove 851 Kickapoo and Potawatomi Indians from IN and MI to KS, through Quincy–the Trail of Death; AND the governor of neighboring MO issued the “Extermination Proclamation” banishing all Mormons from that state, and thousands headed for Quincy. I loved doing the extensive and intensive research (I’m a fanatic for authentic detail) and writing the story; but when it was done, Barbour had just bought an 1838 book based on the Trail of Tears, and so had no use for mine. So I grieved awhile, then rewrote it as an adult historical novel. But I thought the reader deserved more background about why the Mormons were banished from MO, so I set it aside and researched and wrote a prequel set in 1830, which I finally introduced to agents and publishers at a conference in June. I received four invitations to submit formal proposals. I’ve submitted three, and am still awaiting responses. I have become so fascinated with Joseph Smith, Junior, and the beginnings of Mormonism, that I plan the series to be four or five books, beginning in 1830 when he published the Book of Mormon until his death in 1844 at the age of 39. He started the church in NY, then moved it to OH, then to MO, then to Quincy, IL, then to Nauvoo, IL, his home at the time of his death: those moves provide a logical framework for a series. I do feel a strong sense of mission–the foundations of the religion–which is actually quite different from mainstream Christianity in Who they believe God the Father is and Jesus, God the Son is, seem largely unknown, even to contemporary Mormons. I’m challenged by the prospect of introducing readers to that piece of religious history based on legitimate, formal research, via a strong and compelling story line, with characters readers will come to love and follow from book to book.
I love hearing about all these wonderful projects! Thank you all so much for sharing!
One of the greatest thrills of my life was praying with an adult friend as she accepted Jesus as her savior. We had spent hours talking about what and why I believed, but it was our friendship that opened the door so she wanted to listen. God called me in 2013 to begin writing novels about how friendship and love can crack the shells of nonbelievers so they become open to flipping their entire world view to become followers of Christ. I am writing a pentalogy (3 finished and 2 in progress) that follows several members of two extended families in different provinces at the height of the Roman Empire where conflicts between romantic love and faith and the culture of the times drive the plots. There are very strong parallels to today’s post-Christian and anti-Christian culture, and my own experiences in sharing Jesus help me write characters who speak and act like real people of faith. Like all of us writers, I hope the novels will be so exciting and emotionally satisfying that they are hard to put down. Even more, I hope they will inspire readers to share Jesus with their friends who don’t yet follow him. If they share by passing on one of my books to a friend, all my hours at the keyboard will be rewarded. The stakes for those who never hear because we never share are infinitely high and eternal. I can imagine no greater reward than to meet someone in heaven someday who tells me my novel helped start them along a path to their own faith.
Hey Tamela,
Please do me a favor. Teach us how to pronounce your name. Thanks.
I confess I was never big on becoming a Christian writer in the sense that we commonly use the term. My passion is to write a good story. The idea of writing to entertain other Christians doesn’t get me charged up near as much as creating dialogue.
I remember standing in line for Mel Gibson’s movie Passion of the Christ. Several conversations sprung up between strangers there about what they thought about the movie, pro or con, and how great it was to witness to people about my own faith.
Dialogue. That’s what evangelism is.
My vision is to write stories that would produce the same kind of activity that happened in that line waiting for the movie. The point of contact is shared experience. I don’t see much opportunity for that with a non-Christian by asking “So, how about those Left Behind books?”
And, of course, this is in no way criticizing Christian fiction. It’s just how I feel about my own writing.
mk
It’s like Pamela, but with a T. Thanks for asking.
See? It pays to ask. I would have gotten it wrong.
Thanks for clearing that up. It seems so simple now.
No worries! I answer to all sorts of pronunciations. As long as you’re looking at me and you appear friendly and are saying something reasonably coherent, I’ll respond. 😀
And Tammy? I went by your name (Our name!) in school. 🙂
Tamela, I LOVE that you love your job. It shows in your posts and your interactions with writers, which is really cool.
My current book is about a serial fiction novelist, and it shows the intense joy and hard work that goes into writing. Of course, writing is an issue dear to my heart. 🙂 But the larger theme is that, as Christians, we don’t necessarily need to feel like we belong in this world, or feel comfortable here. If the world fits, then WE are the wrong size. Just as this heroine would be the wrong size if she fit in with her rather broken and selfish family.
And I know I love my job because I talk about it after hours…. and then of course my brain insists on processing it well after hours. Like when it should be sleeping. I’m pretty sure midnight bursts of genius are just part of this business. 🙂
My book is called “Redesign Your HomeMaking: Create Room to Love God and Love People.”
Why am I writing it? In 1995, I was a single mom with three little girls, and we lived in the city. In 1996, I married a wheat farmer with four kids of his own–a total of seven kids, ages 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, and 13.
God gave me the desire of my heart. I married a wonderful Christian man and moved into a beautiful farmhouse. But during the first week in my new home, I knew I was in big trouble. Not only did I suddenly have a family of nine, four days out of the week, but before moving to the farm, I had moved thirty times, and the words “home management” were not in my vocabulary!
Long story (the book) short, God taught me how to manage my home, not only to decrease my stress level, but to teach me (and others) how to free up my resources to love my neighbor. I spoke on the topic regularly from 2001-2012.
In 2009 I shared my one sheet at Writing for the Soul and had interest from five major publishers, but I wasn’t ready to write the book. In 2012, I signed a contract with a small publisher because he became a friend. But in 2013 we went on the mission field to Europe, so I chose to let it lapse.
We’re moving back to the US in two months, and I’m praying about the route to publishing. I’m not one to write every day; it comes in spurts. I just love sharing what God teaches me, and writing and speaking are how I do it. What I really love is coaching: helping people and ministries move forward and achieve their goals. Home management is just one way I do that for full-time, stay-at-home moms. 🙂
Rebecca, that sounds great! I follow a lot of blogs about making life and home more simple and organized, but none that phrase it exactly the way you have. Nicely done.
Tamela,
Susan Wales told me about you and I am so glad she made that connect for me. I enjoy the power of a good story, but never saw myself as a fiction writer. I have written non-fiction stuff for small groups I led and the members always encouraged me to write. I was sitting on the beach in 2010 when God dropped a book series idea in my lap. I was dumbfounded, “what do I know about writing?” I have spent the past 5 years on-and-off learning the craft and still have much to learn. That series of three books has grown to six and I am praying for an editor so I can finally submit and follow God’s ask.
Thanks for your passion for the craft and for writers. So nice to “meet you”.
Blessings,
Kimberly
I HAVE, actually, met shuttle drivers and others in “menial” jobs who absolutely loved their work and did talk about it outside work. In every case, it was obvious that they were gifted to the task—meaning their job fit the unique way in which God has designed them. If you want to know more, check out my book, The Person Called YOU: Why You’re Here, Why You Matter & What You Should Do With Your Life. I’m delighted to know that you are doing work that fits your personhood, Tamela!
I have been following the Laube blog for some time, as evidenced by the fact that I am replying to a 2015 post in 2017. Anyway… In two weeks I travel to Manchester, UK to defend my PhD thesis on Paul’s prayer language. If anyone truly wants to doubt the value of doing something, do a PhD after twenty years in ministry. Note to the world: Calcutta is still a trash heap. Yet, in the midst of doubt, God has a wonderful way of sending “notes to Jim” which always read: “Ah yes, but Jesus is still resurrected and when he shows up again, he will take care of that.”
Today, I received such a note from the Lord, reminding me why I love what I do. I am a biblical scholar and theologian. Although, I just prefer the term Christian. Several weeks ago, my daughter had a miscarriage. It was early in the pregnancy, about 4 weeks. Some people dismissed the loss of life because of that. However, my son-in-law and daughter named the child “Ellis.” As I was talking to my daughter this morning, checking to see how she was recovering, it occurred to me that Ellis’ birthday will on be what the New Testament often calls the “Day of the Lord.” The same day I see Jesus in the flesh, I will get to hold my grand baby Ellis. That is why, when I am asked about my academic conclusions concerning Paul’s prayer language, I will say that Paul always used prayer to focus his audiences’ attention on the most important prayer: Amen, Come quickly Lord Jesus! Personally, I now add to that prayer, “I really want to see Ellis,” and the tears of loss are replaced by a smile of anticipation and a chuckle of joy that I won’t have to pace around a hospital waiting room. I love what I am writing because I love the universal Christian credo: We believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. If we can go to the moon and invent an artificial heart in the midst of greed, lust, and war, just imagine what we will be able to do when sin isn’t even a thought, much less a weed in the garden of new life.
Thanks Tamela.
Even though it is quite belated, I hope this makes its way to you.
Grace and Peace,
Jim Moretz