Someone came up to me recently and mentioned they had been wanting to write a book. I asked them the subject of the book and they weren’t sure. They just thought it would be great to write a book. Sometimes well-meaning would-be writers have no idea of the blood, sweat and tears that go into the writing of a book. Are they prepared to attend writer’s conferences, attend workshops and go through umpteen re-writes to perfect their craft? Writing is a craft. Granted, there are rare exceptions, the author that writes their first novel and it becomes a New York Times bestseller. The chances of that are about as good as winning the lottery.
It takes time and determination, research and editing to bring a thought or idea to fruition. For me, research was the fun part, learning new things every day. My particular genre to begin with, was women of the Bible as God really saw them. Writing is a joy to most of us who have chosen that vocation. We do have our down days and dry spells when we stare at the computer before us and nothing comes to mind. I’m reminded of Jan Karon who wrote that one day she saw an Episcopal priest walking down the street, followed by a boy named Dooley and a dog named Barnabas, and that was the beginning of the wonderfully popular Mitford Series.
It starts with an idea. For my first book, it was seeing the woman at the well in John 4 come alive; for the second book, we were studying Martha in a Bible study. Each time God has let me know my next subject, yet while the inspiration came via the Lord, the leg work and writing was my task. So if you have a book in mind, consider your subject, write a few pages and get into a critique group. Go to a writer’s conference and attend workshops that you feel will help you hone your style. There are a lot of books out there, but who knows, you just may make the NY Times best seller list!
