Monday, April 18, 2011

God's Publishing Efforts by Guest Blogger Sharon Elliott


Sharon's blog can be read daily at www.sanewriter@wordpress.com


All authors have one ultimate goal in mind – to be published. After all, that’s why we are writing. We actually think other people want to know, and indeed need to hear, what we have to say. We attend writers’ retreats to get tuned in to God’s voice, and we pack ourselves off to writers’ conferences with proposals in hand, seeking the appropriate publisher (or at least a willing one) for our words. We’re concerned about things like capturing our voice on the page, writing tight, weaving humor into serious subjects, and showing not telling. Then once we release our work to the world, we turn our attention to marketing and getting the word out there about our books so people can get the message in their hands and hearts. We pray they understand the takeaway – the main point we are trying to convey.

As an author Himself, God is concerned about these very same things. He was the Ghostwriter for the best-seller of all times, but the published works He continues to produce – those with His personal name on the cover – tend to need more of His hands-on marketing efforts. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (NKJ). That word “workmanship” is poiema in Greek and it literally means “a product, fabric, and thing that is made.” It’s the word from which we get our English word “poem.” In other words, we are literally God’s poem which He is trying to publish and market.

When God reads back over His poem that is you today, has He captured His voice on the page? Can He see that He’s written a tight, easy-to-comprehend message? Does His joy burst through even in these serious times? Has He accomplished the show-don’t-tell goal in you because you are living what He has penned in your heart?

As the personally authored work of His hands, what’s the takeaway people remember when they read you?


Thank you Sharon for once more offering our readers a timely, life changing word.

Reader, please stop by Sharon's blog for daily inspiration for your writers journey.

Diana

3 comments:

Timothy Fish said...

"All authors have one ultimate goal in mind – to be published."

I was thinking about that just last week. It made me sad when I thought about it.

Jeanette Levellie said...

Wow. I never thought of this before, Sharon. I DO want to show, not only tell, what my Jesus is like, and exhibit joy in the midst of messes.

Thank you so much for this; I'm going to re-post it on my FB wall.

Blessings,
Jen

Unknown said...

Excellent post, Sharon! Neat to think of our lives as the poems of our great God! May my life speak to others of the infinite One worthy of all of my praise. Thanks for this challenge. Have a blessed Easter!