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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 » The Writing Life » Page 53

The Writing Life

I Almost Quit Writing

By Bob Hostetleron October 2, 2019
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Nearly twenty years ago, I was totally spent as a writer. I’d endured a three-year process of revision and revulsion on one book that had me doubting my ability and drained of all enthusiasm for writing.

I’d had a good run. I’d authored or coauthored numerous articles and books. I’d won awards and appeared on best-seller lists. I didn’t need the stresses of editing and revision, contracts and deadlines.

So I prayed.

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

And God answered. I decided, before throwing in the towel, to write a proposal for a book that would really float my boat, a project that I would enjoy more than anything I had written to date. I sent it. I never got an offer.

But a couple months later, an editor who had seen my proposal contacted me and asked if I would be interested in an assignment to work on a project called The Prayer Bible. It wasn’t the door I had knocked on, but it was in the same neighborhood.

For the next couple months, I spent my workdays praying through the second half of the Old Testament, praying God’s Word, a process that not only revived me and stoked my prayer life—I believe it saved my writing ministry.

If I had given up then, my novel The Bone Box—a timeslip novel before I knew what timeslip was—would never have been written. My dream of writing a novel based on events in my Amish family’s history would never have become the historical novels (coauthored with a distant cousin), Northkill and The Return. My love for Shakespeare and the Bible would never have resulted in The Bard and the Bible: A Shakespeare Devotional, a labor of love that offers a daily reading based on a short quote from Shakespeare’s works with a corresponding or contrasting verse from the King James Version of the Bible (which was produced in the same era, country, and city, by men who knew each other). My longtime dream of writing children’s books would have died on the vine, long before I got the inspiration for Don’t Close Your Eyes: A Silly Bedtime Book.

And those are just some of the 30+ books I’ve been blessed to write and publish since the day I didn’t give up. Some have made money. Some have won awards. And, more importantly, some have touched lives. Maybe even changed a few.

So don’t give up. No matter where you are in your writing journey, no matter how discouraged you may feel, consider the impact of all the words that remain in your future. The readers you may gain. The articles and books you may have in you. The lives that are waiting to be touched—maybe even changed. It’s going to be worth it. Maybe soon, maybe not. You don’t get to decide the timing.

But you do get to choose to persevere.

 

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Category: Inspiration, Personal, The Writing Life

044 How to Become a Better Writer with Jeff Goins

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on October 1, 2019
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Today we are getting back to the fundamentals and talking about how to become a better more successful writer.  And who better to talk to about this than Jeff Goins? Jeff a writer, speaker, and podcaster. He is the best-selling author of five books, including You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One) and Real Artists Don’t Starve (Affiliate Links). His award-winning blog GoinsWriter.com is …

Read more044 How to Become a Better Writer with Jeff Goins
Category: The Writing Life

044 How to Become a Better Writer with Jeff Goins

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on October 1, 2019
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How to Become a Better Writer with Jeff Goins
You can listen to this episode 044 How to Become a Better Writer with Jeff Goins on Christian Publishing Show.

Read more044 How to Become a Better Writer with Jeff Goins
Category: The Writing Life

043 How to Use Public Speaking to Change Lives and Build Your Platform With Aurora Gregory

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on September 24, 2019
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Today we are going to talk about one of the scariest and most powerful tools in the book promotion toolbelt: public speaking. There is a reason nearly all of the top nonfiction authors are also public speakers. Even many novelists find public speaking to be a key way of driving book sales. If the idea of public speaking scares you, don’t worry! Joining us today is Aurora Gregory. Aurora is the …

Read more043 How to Use Public Speaking to Change Lives and Build Your Platform With Aurora Gregory
Category: The Writing Life

043 How to Use Public Speaking to Change Lives and Build Your Platform With Aurora Gregory

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on September 24, 2019
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How to Use Public Speaking to Change Lives and Build Your Platform With Aurora Gregory
You can listen to this episode 043 How to Use Public Speaking to Change Lives and Build Your Platform With Aurora Gregory on Christian Publishing Show.

Read more043 How to Use Public Speaking to Change Lives and Build Your Platform With Aurora Gregory
Category: The Writing Life

More Carrots and Sticks

By Bob Hostetleron September 18, 2019
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Last week I opened a can of worms, to use a cliché—and one should never use clichés, because they’re old hat. I asked some of my favorite authors (and clients, as it happens) whether they motivate themselves as writers with “carrots” (i.e., some kind of reward) or “sticks” (an external discipline of some kind). The responses were so many and varied—and enlightening—that I decided to follow that …

Read moreMore Carrots and Sticks
Category: The Writing Life

042 Why Podcast Tours are Replacing Blog Tours and What to do About it

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on September 17, 2019
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Today we are going to talk about promotional tours for your book and which works better, a blog tour or a podcast tour. We’ll also talk about why podcast tours are replacing blog tours and what to do about it. What is a blog tour? A blog tour is when you (or your marketing/PR person) schedule a series of blog posts about you and your book.  These posts take a few forms: Author Interview – The …

Read more042 Why Podcast Tours are Replacing Blog Tours and What to do About it
Category: The Writing Life

042 Why Podcast Tours are Replacing Blog Tours and What to do About it

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on September 17, 2019
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Today we are going to talk about promotional tours for your book and which works better, a blog tour or a podcast tour. We’ll also talk about why podcast tours are replacing blog tours and what to do about it. What is a blog tour? A blog tour is when you (or your marketing/PR person) […]
You can listen to this episode 042 Why Podcast Tours are Replacing Blog Tours and What to do About it on …

Read more042 Why Podcast Tours are Replacing Blog Tours and What to do About it
Category: The Writing Life

7 Reasons Why Christian Authors Need to Embrace Podcasting Now

By Steve Laubeon September 16, 2019
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Podcasting is here to stay. Here are seven reasons you should take it seriously as an author.  1. Podcasting Is a Tool of Bestselling Authors Here is a list of the 10 bestselling Christian authors for September 2019. (A Bible study of Lysa TerKeurst’s book is actually #9, so I edited the list to remove the repetition.)  Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis   The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman …

Read more7 Reasons Why Christian Authors Need to Embrace Podcasting Now
Category: Audio, Book Business, Marketing, Platform, Podcast, The Writing Life

Carrot or Stick?

By Bob Hostetleron September 11, 2019
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Some writers motivate themselves with a “carrot” and others with a “stick.” That is, some use rewards for motivation (i.e., “a Snickers bar if I write 3,000 words today”) and others lean more on—for lack of a better term—punishments (“No soup for you!” Okay, that’s a Seinfeld reference, but I hope you get the gist). I asked some of my favorite authors and clients what works best for them. Here’s …

Read moreCarrot or Stick?
Category: The Writing Life
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