The “Faithful Writers Toolkit” newsletter is no longer offered, but you can find past issues, other writer resources, and more of my writing when you subscribe below to “Essential HEARTSPOKEN Connections,” a seasonal reflection on the Heartspoken Life’s four essential connections: with God, with Self, with Others, and with Nature.
Please share with your writing friends.
Reading time: less than 3 minutes
November 25, 2018
Happy Thanksgiving, my Faithful Writing friends:
Faithful Reflection
It’s difficult for God to communicate with us if we don’t ever pick up the phone. In this post, I explore “Ten Ways To Talk To God.” One of them is prayer journaling, which I’ve recently taken up again. It gives me a structure and discipline around talking to God, and I’ll be sharing more about that with you in the future. What’s your favorite way to talk to God?
Faithful Quote
“The single most important piece of advice about prayer is one word: Begin!” ~ Peter Kreeft, Prayer for Beginners.
Writing Tip of the Month
“Write with the ear, not the eye.” ~ C.S. Lewis. Learn to hear the cadence of your writing. After you’ve written a draft, always read it out loud, sentence by sentence. With practice, you’ll begin to hear it as you write it.
Word of the Month: perfidious
(adj.) Deceitful or unworthy of trust; treacherous; disloyal. Derived from Latin perfidiosus meaning “treacherous.”
Despite his charming and likable ways, there was no act too perfidious, if it ensured he got what he wanted.
November Resource: BookBub
This site is chock full of helpful tidbits for marketing a book or blog. Check out these two articles from BookBub, “How Successful Authors Use Social Media:23 Content Ideas,” by Diana Urban and by Ricardo Fayet.
Writing Prompt
Use this image to inspire your writing or reflection. The image is used courtesy of Edie Melson and may be re-used as long as you retain her watermark.
Don’t make this hard. Set the timer on your smartphone for 10-20 minutes. Don’t think; don’t edit; just WRITE! Feel free (but not obligated) to share your results in the Faithful Writers private Facebook group.
Faithful Writer Spotlight: Kathryn Haueisen
We have so much talent right in our own group. I’ll be featuring a group member each month, so be sure to let me know when there’s something you’d like the other group members to know about: a new publication, an event, a recognition. Don’t be shy!
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Kathryn always intended to be a writer, and she earned a degree in journalism with that in mind. “But life has a crazy way of taking you places you didn’t intend to go,” she says, and she became a Lutheran pastor, channeling her muse into sermons, workshops, and writing curriculum. Retired since 2014, she can again focus on reading, researching, writing, and speaking. Her blog “How Wise Then: Ancient wisdom for modern times” is a rich collection of posts, many of which apply faith and principles to everyday situations as well as some of the world’s most intractable issues. It is gutsy and wide-ranging.
Kathry’s latest book, Asunder, is a fictionalized approach to divorce recovery, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. She co-authored A Ready Hope: Effective Disaster Ministry for Congregations. She edited 40-Day Journey with Kathleen Norris and God in the Raging Waters – Stories of Love and Service Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by Bishop Paul Blom.
Kathryn’s current obsession is traveling back to the early 1600s to learn everything she can about her own ancestors and the people they joined on the grand adventure on the Mayflower to establish Plimouth Plantation in 1620. Aside from overwhelming her children and grandchildren with details, she’s also converting her discoveries into a historic novel to be published in 2019 or 2020.
She’s also on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
See you in December!
P.S. Have a question or comment? Leave it in the comments below.
P.P.S. You don’t want to miss these monthly newsletters. To get them in your Inbox each month, please subscribe (CLICK HERE). When you add your name to my email list, you’ll get a special gift and my enduring gratitude.
Compass Points Newsletter November 2018
What a a lot of a lot here, Elizabeth. I love everything that you have included. I totally agree with CS Lewis and always read my work out loud. And in my creative writing classes, as soon as we write in class we each have to read our story out loud. And it makes a huge difference!
I’m so glad you found the content useful, Pam! I so appreciate your reading and commenting. And any time you want to share info, let me know.
Thank you for sharing my information with your readers. I’m thankful Nancy Camden introduced us. Regarding praying with a journal, I’ve been doing that for decades; to the point I can hardly pray without a pen in my hand.
I was happy to share it, Kathy — I feel the same way about reading Scripture and praying — a pen and paper or journal are never far away!