Writing tips “We are never more in touch with life than when life is painful” These words of strength are echoed in Fred’s writings over and over. He says, in another letter in May of 1981. “In the midst of all the darkness, I was…
Marketing tips, Writing tips Spirituality is a vast untapped resource Spirituality is a vast untapped resource in our understanding of human development, illness, health, and healing. Specifically, research in medicine and psychology has found that people with a developed spirituality…
Marketing tips, Publishing tips, Writing tips Who are you and why are you the person to write this book? We started this work to uncover the hook of your book. Now we’re going to build on it. This will also lead beautifully into creating the outline for your book.…
Marketing tips, Writing tips An impenetrable sense of rightness Our religion can “hell-ify” us by inspiring in us an impenetrable sense of rightness or even superiority. That sense of rightness can inoculate us against humility, infusing in us an…
Marketing tips, Writing tips It takes both halves of our life Whether we find our True Self depends in large part on the moments of time we are each allotted, and the moments of freedom that we each receive and choose…
Marketing tips, Publishing tips, Writing tips Low trust is the greatest cost in life and in organizations Low trust causes friction, whether it is caused by unethical behavior or by ethical but incompetent behavior (because even good intentions can never take the place of bad judgment). Low…
Writing tips What You Can Learn from Other Spirituality Writers The first thing you learn from other spirituality writers is that there is no formula that works for everybody. Spirituality writers are effective at what they do when they tap…
Writing tips Precision Precision is difficult to achieve. Imprecision is easier. Imprecision is available in a wide variety of attractive and user-friendly forms: cliches, abstractions and generalizations, jargon, passive construction, hyperbole, sentimentality, and…
Marketing tips, Publishing tips, Writing tips Your Elevator Pitch Once people know that you’ve written a book, you’ll get asked a million times, “Hey, what’s your book about?” Most who ask this are only half-heartedly interested so you have…
Marketing tips, Writing tips There is nothing to join, only something to recognize, suffer, and enjoy as a participant All we can give back and all God wants from any of us is to humbly and proudly return the product that we have been given - which is ourselves!…
Marketing tips, Writing tips Don’t worry about the audience, but do worry about audience But here’s the contradiction. While Zinsser tells writers not to worry about what readers might think, he also advises writers to work hard to keep readers’ attention, to not let…
Marketing tips, Publishing tips, Writing tips …unless you’re passionate about it I love this quote from Tom Peters as he revealed the inspiration for his landmark book In Search of Excellence: “I didn’t know what I was doing when I wrote…
Marketing tips, Writing tips The complexities of any issue that matters It can be hard to maintain a sense of and be faithful to the complexities of any issue that matters. Serving on a committee at one point to review a…
Writing tips Come let us hear your voice In 1984, Lou invited Fred to come again and to read in Trinity’s sanctuary in Charlotte NC. Through his novels, his sermons, his prolific published works, Fred’s words had reached…
Writing tips A parent’s decision about how to approach their child’s spiritual life is a high-stakes proposition with lifelong implications Parents often are very clear as they tell me the reasons they stop short of joining in a spiritual discussion with their child: “I don’t want to share my views…
Marketing tips, Publishing tips, Writing tips If you don’t have your audience nailed down, what can you do? Consider your ideal client for your business. If you’re writing a book associated with your business, then it makes sense to write a book that is perfectly positioned to appeal…
Writing tips Challenges to my Christian identity Many challenges to my Christian identity have come from my fellow Christians who advocated versions of Christianity that horrified me and made me want to run for my life in…
Marketing tips, Writing tips Personal Fit Another way to look at this idea of “personal fit” is through the lens of ikigai, an ancient Japanese ideology. A combination of the Japanese words “iki,” which means “life,”…
Writing tips If Things Aren’t Going Well Sometimes, you know that you’re not doing well. The writing may not be stuck, but it has ceased to tap anything deeper than your thesaurus. The prayer may not have…
Writing tips What About Me? The book I most often recommend to writers is William Zinsser’s On Writing Well. It is wise, practical, and enjoyable to read. Friends have even heard me talk about Zinsserizing…
