Writers! What are you writing? What are your plans?

Alice

Administrator
Coach
I noticed in the poll, that writers are leading the creative tribe as far as numbers go. I would love to know what you write, and what your plans are for what you write. I know some authors who write for their own expression, some blog, and some publish books... All are valid expressions, and I don't believe that "publication" is needed to validate your gift.

Is your writing going well? Do you feel that you are fulfilling all you are called to do in your writing? If not, what blocks or hinderances do you have? Several of us in this group blog and have published, so we would be happy to answer questions related to those topics, or whatever!

My belief is that a rising tide raises ALL boats - we succeed together by going higher and further than we can alone. So, whatever your goals, lets encourage one another to succeed!
 

Lew Curtiss

Member
Coach
Books
Well, Alice, since you have asked ... Father and I are currently writing our first book The Table of Making: My Creative Journey. It's autobiographical and talks about both the spiritual and the creative transformation that Father has lead me through during the last 10-years. It's in Draft 3.5 and has been out to select Beta Readers twice. I'm on the verge of finding an editor and entering into that process - something entirely new to me.

More Books
Father and I are also in concept development for two additional books. One is about my journey into relational-faith, and the second deals with my life as an urban monastic. Father assures me that together we have a good many more books to write in which we share what we're discovering with others.

Blogs
Lastly, I write two blogs; Creative Harmonies which discusses relational-faith, faith-driven art, and their convergence. And on my art website, in StudioNotes, I write about the hows and whys of the art that Father and I make.

Links
Here are the links for those wishing to visit;
Creative Harmonies - https://creativeharmonies.wordpress.com/
Lew Curtiss / Visual Srtist - StudioNotes - https://lcurtiss.weebly.com/studionotes

Thanks for listening,
Lew ~
 

Alice

Administrator
Coach
Lew, sounds like you're busy! If you would like a recommendation on an editor, let me know.
 

Lew Curtiss

Member
Coach
Thanks, Alice. I will keep that in mind. I also plan on asking Dave Hayes, Tamara Engwall, and any other writers I can think of.

Thanks again,
Lew ~
 

Sue Beckman

Mentor, NW Ekklesia
Coach
I noticed in the poll, that writers are leading the creative tribe as far as numbers go. I would love to know what you write, and what your plans are for what you write. I know some authors who write for their own expression, some blog, and some publish books... All are valid expressions, and I don't believe that "publication" is needed to validate your gift.

Is your writing going well? Do you feel that you are fulfilling all you are called to do in your writing? If not, what blocks or hindrances do you have? Several of us in this group blog and have published, so we would be happy to answer questions related to those topics, or whatever!

My belief is that a rising tide raises ALL boats - we succeed together by going higher and further than we can alone. So, whatever your goals, let's encourage one another to succeed!
Well, since you have asked:

I have a blog, www.journeyoffthetracks.blogspot.com
I have in the past, adapted short stories into Reader's Theater scripts.
I a currently working on a short story, one that Papa God downloaded to me. But, only the first part at the moment. It seems it will be a process, one between Papa and I, for healing.

I am also considering adapting The Song of Songs (Song of Soloman) into a Reader's Theater script. Papa and I have just come to the writer's table to begin our journey with that. Not sure where that will go, but it is an interesting journey.
 

Seneca

Administrator
Staff member
Coach
Thanks, Alice. I will keep that in mind. I also plan on asking Dave Hayes, Tamara Engwall, and any other writers I can think of.
I would suggest you get an idea of what kind of editor you're wanting before getting opinions, and when you do get opinions, you can find out how that editor works and why the author likes them. Different editors have different strengths, and are generally either a content editor or a line editor. They may claim to do both, but they'll do one better than the other. Publishers will use two or three editors on one book, and if I had all the money in the world, that's what I'd do too.

If you've got some good betas, and they are looking for flow issues, places that need clarification and that kind of thing, and you can take direction and fix problems that they may not be able to articulate you can probably get along without a content editor. I'm really someone who appreciates line editors, I want them to do the work for me - fix me please!

A main issue with line editors is the voice thing. If you've got someone who thinks they can be an editor because they have a decent command of the English language but little experience editing someone else's work, they'll either change your voice in the process or they will do too little in order not to. I've worked with several editors, who have varying degrees of experience.

Editor #1: Line editor who's experience is authoring her own books and copywriting for online businesses which showed in her work. She restructured my sentences to make them compelling and dynamic. Didn't preserve my voice, but that was ok for what it was.

Editor #2. Content editor who was extremely hands off. She put in a comma, asked me to elaborate on a couple points and said things like "This sentence doesn't work. Can you find a way to rephrase it?" There was a lot of back and forth for so little. This felt more like consulting or teaching than editing to me, but if you are someone who is very close to what you've written, and you don't want anybody monkeying with your words, I can see how this would be a great option. Plus, no voice change issue. Credentials? Don't know, other than a famous author has her for all his books.

Editor #3. Another line editor. (Yay!) Loads of experience, this is all she does, and for a wide array of people and industries, so she has had practice maintaining voice.

Something you might consider is getting some sample edits. Pay the people of course, but you'll see how everybody works and who you can work with.
 

Alice

Administrator
Coach
I agree with Seneca. The makes excellent points - and remembers to make them! ;-)

I have in the past, adapted short stories into Reader's Theater scripts.
Do you have a group that performs these? I remember we would do short skits/plays in church when I was growing up. Do you publish them?

I a currently working on a short story, one that Papa God downloaded to me. But, only the first part at the moment. It seems it will be a process, one between Papa and I, for healing.
Those are sometimes the best and most powerful - both for you and future readers! Keep us posted and let us know if we can help in any way!
 

Alice

Administrator
Coach
I'm currently working on finishing up the illustrations and formatting of a couple books my friend wrote. We started this process 4-5 years ago just as something for her kids. Since I entered the self-publishing world, I discovered how easy it was to put them out there for the world, so we are going to do that. We hope to have them published so she can give them to her kids for Christmas.

I'm in the early stages of a couple of other co-authored books... And am trying to decide which of the list of my personal projects I should tackle next. I have an idea for a larger project, a fictional/how-to for healing.
 

Lew Curtiss

Member
Coach
Editor #2. Content editor who was extremely hands off. She put in a comma, asked me to elaborate on a couple points and said things like "This sentence doesn't work. Can you find a way to rephrase it?" There was a lot of back and forth for so little. This felt more like consulting or teaching than editing to me, but if you are someone who is very close to what you've written, and you don't want anybody monkeying with your words, I can see how this would be a great option. Plus, no voice change issue. Credentials? Don't know, other than a famous author has her for all his books.

Seneca ~ Thank you very much for your counsel. I'm very much in favor of preserving my voice. The book, being of an autobiographical nature, needs to be in my own voice. As for my Beta Readers, they've been both generous and priceless about pointing out difficult, thin, or confusing parts of my MS. Their counsel has lead to my successfully unpacking various parts of the book for the reader. It's the old idea that the author knows the context of what they're saying, but the reader doesn't. So with this type of input, I believe that the book is much stronger.
 

Lew Curtiss

Member
Coach
I am also considering adapting The Song of Songs (Song of Soloman) into a Reader's Theater script. Papa and I have just come to the writer's table to begin our journey with that. Not sure where that will go, but it is an interesting journey.

SUE ~ Do it! This would make an awesome Reader's Theatre piece. And I'm so glad to hear of your Writer's Table where you and Father meet to hammer out your projects. Go Sue go!
 
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Sue Beckman

Mentor, NW Ekklesia
Coach
I am in process of adapting the Song of Songs! Having to think through how it is to be presented. Jesus and I are talking about this in our Rehearsal Room. Such an interesting process of partnership artistically. It is not all on me. I can actually relax and allow the process to flow.

Also, the short story that I have been working on, "Jeannette's Journey" is currently "on hold". Haven't had any more inspiration to continue, so it is just there for the time being. That is also an interesting journey for me.
 

Alice

Administrator
Coach
I'm working on a book on prophetic art - or at least my journey into that realm. I'm at the first editing stage - I feel like there are some gaps, so I'm taking a break for a bit until I can see them more clearly. I'm too close to it right now. I would like to get a couple more in my fiction series finished, but I hit a block. I have several projects to finish in the next week or two, so hopefully after that I'll come back to things with fresh eyes.
 
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