Friends, Romans, Community, by Jim Hart

I just finished reading the book of Romans this week. Romans continues to be one of my favorite books in Scripture. Don’t you find that every time you re-visit portions of the Bible that you’re familiar with something new always jumps out at you?

This time it was the very last chapter that got my attention. As Paul wraps up his letter to the Believers in Rome he lists over thirty people by name, giving them special recognition. He called them, sisters, co-workers, dear friends, good men, leaders, those who risked their lives for him, and fellow Jews.

He told the readers to greet Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia. That little tidbit alone amazed me. We know the name of the person that we could call “Christian Zero” in the Roman Province of Asia. What a heritage. Paul seems so grateful for their presence and activity in his life. He recognizes the great need for deep relationships and co-workers in his life.

While looking through the names of people that Paul recognized and honored, I started to think of people in my own life that I consider co-workers in the Gospel. And then I began to consider those people in the publishing world that I would consider to be co-workers.

Chad Allen wrote in his recent blog “I’ve noticed that my friendships seem to head in one trajectory or another too. Not exclusively, of course, but primarily I have friends who support my spiritual pursuits, and I have other friends who support my entrepreneurial pursuits. And I value both equally.”

There are other words that have been tossed around a lot that could mean the same as co-worker. Words such as tribe and community. Both describe a group of people that one could share something in common with: a goal, a belief system, an affection. The ones that we do life with. The ones that we couldn’t get along without.

It’s good to follow Paul’s example to appreciate and honor our own tribes and community. Who makes up your list? Critique partners, beta readers, editors, agents, fellow bloggers and the readers who comment on your blog? People who have given their time and resources toward your work as a writer and author? Some of them may live in another part of the country, or the world, as was Paul’s experience. He had co-workers all over the map. Today, thanks to the internet, we can say the same thing.

But let me close with this. As I was meditating on all of this, and considering those people that make up my own tribe and community – my co-workers - I began to wonder how many people would put me on their own list? And that’s really my challenge for us. Let’s make someone’s list.

Time Management by Terry Burns

We've talked on this subject before but I'm wrestling with it right now and it's on my mind to address it again.

I had a cataract removed and as a result of the surgery I can't get glasses yet until it has healed sufficiently. That means a little bit of a focus problem and I can only work on the computer for about an hour before I have to quit for a while. Needless to say that has altered how I manage my time.

I can spend a full day working up a proposal, researching markets, and getting submissions out for a single client. When that time is chopped up into roughly one hour time slots it takes twice the time, probably more. With sixty clients that's a lot of time.

Of course incoming mail has to be worked, incoming submissions handled, correspondence with clients and editors, and . . . well, you get the picture. My yard work and gardening is benefiting from it as I need to go do something that does not involve eye strain.

This doesn't make me any different from anyone else as we all have challenges carving out the writing, editing, or in my case agenting duties. It is a reminder that the external forces that we have to deal with in doing this time management do change on us and the way we schedule our time has to change with it.

It's also a reminder that writing time does not just magically exist. We can't put it off until we retire, or until the kids are back in school or have left home, or waiting for anything that is eating up our time to go away. Life expands to fill available time and no matter what is going on in our life writing time will not exist unless we carve it out, protect it, and manage and prioritize our time to make it happen.

My eye will heal and I'll get my glasses adjusted and this will change soon. But I know something else is waiting in the wings, it always is. Life is always changing and there will always be a need to adjust . . . and manage my time.

Picture Your Reader by Andy Scheer

Do you know your audience as well as you know the characters in your novel?
Many novelists keep character photos by their keyboards to help them bring to life Ashley, Braxton, Connor, Desiree, and the others in their story. They complete personality profiles and biographies for their cast.

Great practices. But do you also picture your target reader?

Yes, you want more than one, many more. But I’ll follow the advice of Jerry B. Jenkins, who suggests you write for one individual.

I hope you can see her as clearly as you can picture Ashley or Desiree.

Great writers can. Like songwriter George Gershwin. In the book Fascinating Rhythm: The Collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin, the author quotes Gershwin’s friend S.N. Behrman about writing the 1924 hit song “The Man I Love”:

“He told me once that he wanted to write for young girls sitting on fire escapes on hot summer nights in New York and dreaming of love.”

If you can picture your reader — her fears, her hopes, her dreams — maybe your book can speak her language.

Everyone’s Offended by Linda S. Glaz

We’re all offended by something: flags, movies, religion, the government, quotes, books, attitudes. Something! And we all want the entire world to know about it. One man posted that he’s offended by everybody being offended. 

:( 

There’s no exit ramp for this mentality.

And there’s no reality in it, either.

We used to fight it out, debate it, talk it out, you name it. But we had our say and moved on. We returned to our lives, but today, we have this lovely tool at our disposal that dissects more accurately than a scalpel. It’s called social media. And like an octopus, it reaches out with its venomous tentacles and touches as many lives as it can, paralyzing and devouring as it crawls along.

It’s a new kind of hatred. A special kind of hatred because it comes with an attitude of entitlement. “I’m anonymous on the other end of this note and therefore I can say or do anything that I choose without consequences.” No need to gather opinions, truths of any kind, or even another person’s side of the story. Why? “Because I’m entitled to say anything that I choose. And you can’t stop me.”

Years ago, or what now seems to be centuries to old coots like me, we found out we were wrong, and rather than digging in deeper, we used two words: “I’m sorry.”

Not quite as sensational as taking a stronger stand and driving the scalpel in deeper, but it had value. It showed our humanness. Our ability to forgive and move on. To see the other person’s side of things. It stopped the offense and humbled both the offender and the offended. It gave us a starting and stopping point.

My kids laughed at me when I fought computers in our home what seems like forever ago. I said I felt as if it were the artificial creation of real life. Not sure that I’ve changed my mind all that much. I see its potential, but what was meant for good may not be all that good after all. It has become another tool to hurt each other. To have our “say” without consequences. To be offended as often as we like and to gather our chicks with similar opinions under our wings until we all peck and torture anyone with a differing opinion.

Social media has the ability to put out erroneous information, quotes, comments and call them all truth. Truth?

If you’re offended by this post, too bad. Take an aspirin and comment in the morning. But don’t change my words and assume that you know me by one blog post. You don’t. Only those who go past the internet and know me personally will ever understand my intentions and my truths.

Have wonderful day and try not to be offended! J