Writing

Build it right!

/ Dora Hiers

Clear property: Pray 

“Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” (Ps 127:1 NIV)


Your family is in the market for a new house. You’ve toured at least thirty houses, but none of them will work. Battling discouragement and frustration, you notice a property for sale. 

A property? You hadn’t considered building a house. Will it work? You crunch numbers and flip through floor plans to find the perfect layout. With each floor plan, you imagine sipping coffee in the kitchen and watching the kids play in the back yard, their laughter floating through the open window. Or snuggling next to your loved one in front of a toasty fire on a cold winter’s night. Finally, with a picture of the house and all the memories you’ll make firmly planted in your brain and in your heart, you’re ready to make the next move.

Whoa! Don’t swing that hammer yet. 

You have some work to do first. “What?” you ask.

Pray. 

When my husband and I considered a home-building adventure, horror stories about builders, shoddy workmanship and lawsuits frightened us. After all, the decision involved our hard-earned money. Lots of it!

With the lot for sale by the contractor, we prayed about our relationship with him and that our finished house would be a place of peace and tranquility. 

In the same way builders construct a house, writers create stories. Doesn’t it make sense to pray over our books and our writing process?

Make prayer your first step. There’s no point in moving on if you don’t ask God to be part of the process. After all, He’s the Master Builder.

Ask Him to clean out the junk, to free your mind to ideas, to unlock the creative well. To clear the land. To prepare you for the journey.

Then, do your homework. Devour tons of books written in your favored genre. Study sentence structure and dialogue; identify action beats and tags. In the same manner that you would choose a floor plan, determine which writing methods you like and practice to see what works best for you. Attend a writer’s conference. Join a writer’s organization, or several. Take online classes. Read “how-to” books. Follow blogs dedicated to offering writing tips, like Seriously Write and Seekerville.

Pray some more before you move on. You’re going to need it. 

What about you? What’s the first step in your writing process?


Join us next week as we discuss building on a firm foundation.

Where are you at today?

/ Dora Hiers / 2 Comments

Three books. Done.

That’s not an easy task for me. I’m a perfectionist. I could edit until after the book’s printed and I’d still find changes to make. But, I’m working on that. Time to let go of the Marshals and free my brain for something different.  


Where do I turn for ideas and inspiration?  Not where. Who. 
God.

God used a newspaper article to plant the seed for Journey’s End, and a tv newscast for Journey’s Edge. For both books, I asked “what if?” until the idea for the books no longer resembled the original story. And Journey’s Embrace all started with a dream. Yep. I see you shaking your head. No kidding. The dream actually became the opening scene.

I never know how God will plant an idea. So, it’s time to scour newspapers, soak up my favorite television shows (not easy in the summertime!) and keep a pen and paper handy by my bed to jot down ideas. Now, I’m sitting at my desk, wading through files and notes, poring through story lines and characters, waiting for one to take hold of my head and capture my heart. My computer screen idles. Empty…blank…white. 

With Edge under consideration with White Rose Publishing and Embrace ready to submit, I’m at a crossroads. Waiting on God. Praying for peace. Growing patience.  


Jeremiah 6:16 (NIV)

This is what the LORD says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.

That’s where I’m at. Asking God for the ancient paths, where the good way is, so I can walk in it and find rest for my soul.

Where are you at today?