Three Strikes You’re Out! By Linda S. Glaz

Season opener in Detroit today, and it looks like the weatherman is going to put his blessing on it. The sun’s shining, it’s warm…well…warmer than it’s been for a while in SE Michigan, and I can almost smell the dogs grilling…the mustard ready to tingle my nose. Phones are ringing in every business as folks are calling in sick so they can attend. Detroit takes its baseball very serious, folks, always has.

I remember my scrapbook as a ten-year old. Must have been at least two inches thick, filled with the stats and newspaper articles on Stormin’ Norman Cash and Al Kaline, two of my favorites (I was SUCH a tomboy). I could quote the stats of each member of the team. Could tell you how Kaline reached beyond himself for an impossible catch that broke his collarbone, but won the pennant for us in 1962. He wasn’t thinking of how much he might be hurt; he was thinking of the game, the team, the win.

In 1970, Kaline turned down a raise with the Tigers. Turned down a raise? That’s right. After 17 years with Detroit, “Mr. Tiger” said his batting average was lower than usual and he didn’t feel he deserved it. His entire career, 22 years, was with Detroit, and he brought much more than merely great baseball. He taught us ethics outside the classroom. And, I might add, without steroids. But that’s a whole ‘nuther post.

How many of us can say that we have that kind of honor? As writers we want the big advances, big contracts, big publishers. But so often, as with plenty of athletes, I would assume, we don’t want to do the work. We want the easy life, the way to make a boatload of money without reaching beyond our ability. But as Kaline showed us, there is no victory without hard work.

Yes, the Tigers open today, and I’ll have a bunch of submissions in my inbox anxious for me to give the authors the stamp of approval. Will I find any Kalines in there? Or will the authors not have done their homework and strike out?

 

Go Tigers!

Smell those peanuts?

How do you define success in your writing? by Terry Burns

How do we know if we have succeeded in our writing goals if we haven't defined what success is to us?

When I wrote the novel Mysterious Ways, God obviously knew where He wanted it to go and He saw to it that it went there. As I said, I have no idea how that was accomplished. It wasn’t a large group, but it was where He intended it to go.

We all have to ask ourselves that question: What if the market God has in mind isn’t a large number, what if it is a smaller group?

What if it is only one?

What if that one is us?

Are we still willing to write in obedience if God has a very small audience in mind? I made the commitment long ago to do that. It’s something each of us needs to decide for ourselves.

We have to go through an exercise where we can really come to terms with what we deem to be success for our writing. Do we need the big sales to feel we have achieved success? Do we have to reach a certain group of people to feel that? For a secular writer, if they don’t sell thousands of copies, they aren’t considered a success. How many does a Christian writer have to reach to feel successful?

If I only sold one book and it led to a person finding salvation, it would be enough although I certainly want to reach out to more.

How do you define success?

Taken from our new book "Writing in Obedience" written  with Linda Yezak.

This book is for the new Christian writer or the writer looking to decide how God wants them to incorporate their faith into their writing. How do we know what the Lord wants us to do? Are we being called to write or do we want to write for Him as an offering? What is required of the author using their writing for the Lord and how do they go about it? What do we really want to achieve with our writing, and how do we define success?  Available for order here.