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Home » Archives for Bob Hostetler » Page 27

Bob Hostetler

Your First Writing Assignment

By Bob Hostetleron October 25, 2017
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If your writing doesn’t start with this practice, you’re cheating yourself.

Lauren Winner, author of the wonderful memoirs, Girl Meets God and Mudhouse Sabbath,  tells about an experience she had when a writing student of hers showed her part of a memoir that was astounding, far better than this student’s usual writing. Winner asked the student what had transformed her writing over the course of just a few months.

The student said she’d gotten stuck on a major piece she was writing and told her priest about it. The priest said, “Have you prayed about this?”

She hadn’t.

So she did.

And the quality of her writing soared.

Winner says, before that experience, and before she saw with her own eyes the transformation in that student’s writing, “It never occurred to me . . . that there might be a connection” between prayer and writing. But there totally is.

Fifteen or so years ago, I thought I was totally spent as a writer. I’d been through a three-year process of revision and revulsion on one book that had left me doubting my ability, and drained of all enthusiasm for writing.

So I prayed.

I do that when I get desperate and there’s nothing good on T.V.

And God sent me manna from heaven—in the form of an assignment to work on a project called The Prayer Bible. For the next couple months, I spent my workdays praying through the second half of the Old Testament and recording many of those prayers as prayer prompts for that Bible’s marginalia. It was a process that not only revived me, and stoked my prayer life; I believe it saved my writing ministry. It also changed the writing process for me. It made prayer an indispensable part of the process for me—so much so that I don’t know how I ever wrote a thing before I came to see the absolute connectedness between prayer and writing.

God was talking about writing as much as anything when he spoke to Zerubbabel through Zechariah: “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6, NIV). If I truly believed that, why would I try to write anything in my own strength, apart from prayerful dependence on God? I pray before I write. I pray while I write. And then I pray after I write that God will even further transform my offering through the work of godly publishers, editors, designers, artists, and so on. I pray, not to change God or others but to change me. I pray for wisdom to manage my time wisely, for discipline to apply my mind to my writing and my butt to the chair. I pray for my memory (at least until I forget). For some writing projects, I’ve assembled a prayer team to support my writing with their prayers, and I’ve tried to keep them up-to-date via email.

If you are at least as wise as me (which is not a high bar at all), you will make prayer your first writing assignment every day. Before you sharpen your pencil or turn on your computer, before you outline, before you jump into a writing exercise or research task, pray. Pray before you write, as you write, after you write. Pray for self-awareness, for focus, for inspiration, for protection. Pray to hear God clearly and to respond to him fully. Pray (as I often do) to write better than you are capable of writing.

Put a Post-It note reminder on your computer screen. Set a reminder on your phone. Enlist a prayer partner. A prayer team, even. You might want to journal your prayers. You might learn to pray God’s Word, the process that rescued my writing. Whatever it takes, if prayer is not your first writing assignment every day, then please believe me when I say you’re cheating yourself, your readers, your editors, and even God, who will partner with you in your writing…for the asking.

 

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Category: Career, Faith, The Writing Life, TheologyTag: Faith, Prayer, The Writing Life

Be Published? or Be Read?

By Bob Hostetleron October 18, 2017
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Is your goal “being published” or “being read?” What pieces of writing and publishing advice do professional agents and editors wish would go away…forever? I asked that question of some of my friends in the industry (yes, I have friends, and most are much smarter than me). The last two weeks I have posted (here and here) some of their responses. But I’ve saved one more for last. One savvy, …

Read moreBe Published? or Be Read?
Category: Book Business, Book Sales, Career, Marketing, Platform, The Writing LifeTag: Book Business, Book Sales, Get Published, Marketing

Writing Advice We Wish Would Go Away

By Bob Hostetleron October 11, 2017
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I mentioned in last week’s blog that I asked some of my writing and publishing friends to tell me what one “writing rule” they’d like to see go away…forever. Many cited the timeworn, “Write what you know” (see here). Others, however, gave different but similarly helpful answers. Author, speaker, and writers conference director Lin Johnson said, “I heard this often in my early freelance days and …

Read moreWriting Advice We Wish Would Go Away
Category: The Publishing Life, The Writing LifeTag: The Writing Life, Writing rules

Don’t Write What You Know

By Bob Hostetleron October 4, 2017
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I asked some of my writing and publishing friends to tell me what one “writing rule” they’d like to see go away…forever. Many of them gave the same answer. Emphatically. Author, blogger, and writers’ conference director Edie Melson said, “We need to quit killing creativity with the time-worn advice, ‘Write what you know.’ Instead, go write what you’re passionate about.” New York Times and …

Read moreDon’t Write What You Know
Category: The Writing Life, Writing CraftTag: The Writing Life, Writing Craft

You Gotta Know the Territory

By Bob Hostetleron September 27, 2017
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So you’re writing a book. In what genre? Don’t know? You must. My colleague, Dan Balow, recently wrote a valuable blog post (here) that touched on the many genre categories and sub-categories in today’s publishing world. You should read it—when you finish reading this, of course. “I don’t care about genre,” you may say. “I’m a writer, not an editor or publisher.” To which I say, “Tough.” If you’re …

Read moreYou Gotta Know the Territory
Category: Book Business, Book Proposals, Career, Genre

Fail Better

By Bob Hostetleron September 20, 2017
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Writing is hard. Writing for publication is even harder. And writing to be read and re-read is a Sisyphean task (go ahead, look it up; I’ll wait). So it is no wonder that Samuel Beckett’s line from his novel, Worstward Ho, has been adopted not only by athletes (they are tattooed on Stanislas Wawrinka’s arm) and billionaires (Richard Branson cited the quote in an article about his airline’s future) …

Read moreFail Better
Category: Inspiration, The Writing LifeTag: Failure, Inspiration, The Writing Life

Dress for the Job You Want, Not the Job You Have

By Bob Hostetleron September 13, 2017
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You’ve heard the standard career advice, “Dress for the job you want, not the job you have,” right? It’s not just about workplace wardrobe. It means, basically, don’t wait until you’re hired to start acting the part—because you may have to act the part in order to get the job in the first place. It means, if you work in the mail room, instead of pouting and grumbling, stand up straight when you’re …

Read moreDress for the Job You Want, Not the Job You Have
Category: Branding, Get Published, MarketingTag: Branding, Get Published, Professionalism

Why I Use That Dirty Word … PLATFORM

By Bob Hostetleron September 6, 2017
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It’s a dirty word to aspiring writers. It is even unpopular among many agents and editors. It elicits snarls and sneers from people who just want to write great stuff and get their writing published. I’m talking, of course, about the word “Platform.” It refers to the extent of a writer’s influence. It answers the questions, “How big is your audience? How many people are already reading what you …

Read moreWhy I Use That Dirty Word … PLATFORM
Category: Marketing, PlatformTag: Marketing, Platform

A Writer’s Top 6 Productivity Practices

By Bob Hostetleron August 30, 2017
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I’ve met fifty book deadlines, never missing one (though I have renegotiated a few), and many more article deadlines. These days, as a writer, editor, and agent, I have even more tasks, schedules, and details to juggle than ever before. Happily, I’ve installed a handful of productivity practices that aid my feeble mind and fragile memory. Here are six that I find the most helpful: Working ahead …

Read moreA Writer’s Top 6 Productivity Practices
Category: Technology, The Writing LifeTag: Productivity, Technology, The Writing Life

Every Book is a How-To

By Bob Hostetleron August 23, 2017
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C.S. Lewis famously said, “We read to know we’re not alone.” I think that is true. But I have long subscribed to a similar statement that I see as sort of a corollary to “Lewis’s Law.” It is this: No one reads about other people. We read only about ourselves. Feel free to quote me. And send me royalties. But you might say, “How can that be, Bob? I read a lot of romance novels. They’re fiction. …

Read moreEvery Book is a How-To
Category: Craft, The Writing LifeTag: readers, The Writing Life, Writing Craft
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