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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Encouragement

Encouragement

My Best Reading Advice

By Bob Hostetleron October 16, 2024
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My wife and I, newly married and preparing to enter training for ministry, hosted a seasoned pastor in our home for one of our entrance interviews. He asked what sorts of books we’d been reading, and we answered. I expected him to be impressed with my answer. After all … well, never mind.

But he smiled kindly. “May I offer a piece of advice?”

What were we going to say? “No”? So we gave the expected answer.

“Don’t read books,” he said. And then, after an artful pause: “Read authors.”

Ding ding ding. I may not be smart (hold your comments, please), but I knew immediately that this was something to hold onto.

He explained briefly that there are so many books to read (and this was before Amazon existed!), that one could spend a lifetime consuming this and that, wheat and chaff, hit or miss. But when you find an author of worth, you’ll do yourself a favor if you make a note and pursue his or her oeuvre.

I remember nothing else of our appointment with that good man. But that was worth the price of the glass of our iced tea he drank. Since then, my life has been enriched by so many authors: William Shakespeare, William Faulkner, E. M. Bounds, Samuel Logan Brengle, Eugene Peterson, Dallas Willard, Robert Frost, Dashiell Hammett, E. Stanley Jones, A. W. Tozer, Louis L’Amour, C. S. Lewis, Josh McDowell, Francis Schaeffer, John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, James Michener, Charles Dickens, Wendell Berry, Jack London, Mary Oliver, Anne Lamott, G. K. Chesterton, and, more recently, Wallace Stegner, Kent Krueger, Leif Enger, and so many more—including my wonderful clients, of course, all of whom belong somewhere between Lamott and Chesterton in the above list.

This is not to say that there’s no room in my reading for new authors (or “one-hit wonders,” so to speak); I intentionally include such books in my annual reading plan (which I’ve written about here). But once I find an author who floats my literary boat, I’ll keep reading like a dog on a bone, even if that means mixing metaphors and similes.

So, how about you? Do you read “books”? Or “authors”? Do tell, please.

 

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Category: Book Review, Career, Encouragement, Inspiration, Reading

Where’s Your Writer’s Galilee? Judea?

By Bob Hostetleron September 26, 2024
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Sometimes being a writer—and writing for publication—is so delightful, amazing, and wonderful, that you feel like a pig in mud. And sometimes being a writer feels more like you’re a pig in raisin sauce. Maybe you can’t identify. Maybe you’re just loving the writing life, riding high, cashing the checks, and collecting the awards. If that’s the case, then you can close this window now. Just click …

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Category: Encouragement, Inspiration, The Writing Life

Can Writing Heal the Writer?

By Bob Hostetleron September 11, 2024
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Most of us know, as readers, that the words we read have tremendous power to heal. But can the words we write heal us too? I asked some writer friends if they’ve been healed by the act of writing. Here are some of their responses: When my son was young, we were in a life-threatening accident in which our elevator landed abruptly in a basement and quickly filled with water. Surviving that event …

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Category: Encouragement, Inspiration

Thank You for Being Here!

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon September 5, 2024
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Anyone who reads blogs notices that many posts don’t generate comments. A lack of responses doesn’t mean no one is reading the blog post. Most blog posts don’t invite comments. They are intended to inform. Here, we do our best to be accurate, encouraging, and educational. However, we know opinions differ. In the Christian publishing community, the polite person is reluctant to express disagreement …

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Category: Encouragement, Inspiration

Christian Authors Are Special

By Dan Balowon August 28, 2024
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Since the author’s worldview and perspective are significant elements of a book’s content, whatever that worldview happens to be, books written by Christians are not like those written by those who are not. The core message of a book written by a Christ-follower is special. Their acknowledgment of Genesis chapters 1 and 3, and their belief that God sustains the world and has a plan for …

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Category: Career, Christian, Encouragement, Inspiration

Answering “Where Should I Start?”

By Megan Brownon August 14, 2024
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For many aspiring Christian authors, the work of writing and publishing can feel both exhilarating and overwhelming. With endless advice on structures, marketing strategies, and writing techniques, it’s easy to get lost in the details. Many times, new authors will ask me, “But where do I start?” Before diving into the nuts and bolts of the writing world, there’s a foundational step that …

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Category: Career, Encouragement, Faith, Get Published, Theology

Marketing God

By Dan Balowon August 8, 2024
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Since beginning my career as a marketer, I’ve seen many things come and go, strategies that worked in one situation but not in another, and seemingly great ideas that never worked at all. Marketing is an inexact profession, consisting of trial and error. Keep track of what you do. Continue those things that work; stop doing things that don’t. Rinse. Repeat. John Wanamaker, founder of the …

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Category: Encouragement, Inspiration, Theology

Surviving the Journey

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon May 23, 2024
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Do you have what’s needed to be a successful writer? I think you do! A teachable spirit. As a naive beginning writer, I wanted to make an impact by being different. But my story structure and plots were too divergent for the genre to which I aspired. For instance, an early draft of a novel that later went on to be published in a new form showed the character falling into sin at a party. Please …

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Category: Encouragement, The Writing Life

A Case for Reading Physical Books

By Bob Hostetleron April 4, 2024
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Ebooks are great. I read, on average, 25 or more ebooks every year. They’re convenient, especially when traveling. They don’t take up precious shelf space. They don’t have to be dusted. I don’t feel guilty when I read an ebook, but I purposefully choose physical books for the majority of my reading, for numerous reasons. Reading a physical book provides a more sensory experience. Touch, smell, …

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Category: Encouragement, Inspiration, Personal

When You Are on the Bench

By Steve Laubeon March 18, 2024
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The NCAA Basketball Tournament is upon us, with lots of drama accompanying March Madness. As you watch a game, of any team sport, the focus is on the players in the contest. The camera follows the stars and their every move. What you rarely do is watch the bench or the players on the sidelines. I find this to be a fascinating metaphor for the writing and publishing “game.” There are …

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Category: Book Business, Career, Encouragement, Writing CraftTag: Career
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