y o u r w r i t e r s g r o u p...

I don't want to be Don Miller

It's strange blogging. It's like publishing your journal or taking your shirt off in front of the class. It feels sort of wrong like I'm doing something I shouldn't, which is probably why I like it. But for a while now I've been hovering around a few hundred visitors a day and while I'm not unhappy with that, I do sometimes wonder if I was to post some pictures of naked people, or Mel Gibson carrying a cross, or the secrets of the Da Vinci Code or something if I wouldn't get more "traffic" as they call it.

One thing I've noticed is that a lot of people come here looking for Donald Miller, which is pretty funny. Though he's likely to get a kick out of that because he says he's never been the one people go looking for, he's actually light years cooler than I am. And it is funny in one sense because I'm supposed to be an all-mighty book editor, holding the keys to a writers' survival. But I actually like not being Don Miller. I've had a little taste of the sort of maddening popularity he's arriving at now. When I was young it was piano recitals that brought unwanted attention. Now it's at writers conferences and I don't enjoy that part. It makes me act weird and I get kind of shaky and afterwards I have to go be alone for a while before I'm normal again.

But this is what I'm building up to: the trick: how to be yourself. I just wrote a bunch of articles for Breakaway, Focus' magazine for teen guys. The topic was being who God made you, how to find it and how to hold on to it. It's what we all want and yet for some people it's so ellusive. It's what most editors are looking for when they sit down to be pitched to and it's what we look for in our favorite actors and actresses who are basically the same people no matter what role they're in. We love people who are authentically themselves, and no one seems to understand this as well as young-minded people. Holden Caufield became a poster boy for that sacred principle of youthful idealism, resisting all the phonies and those who subscribed to an artificial culture of any kind.

The thing with cultures is no matter what kind you're talking about, they require artifice. Publishing has its culture. Writers are pressured to adopt identities and it's accepted as a normal part of life, of being a healthy member of society, of being an adult. But what's the difference between that and say, a cult? Very little, actually. My point is, maybe we should take a lesson from Holden. From Don. From our inner teens. Don't be phonies to try to win points. Don't fit your culture, or try to impress people, no matter what the reason: a job, a better life, a book contract.

I'm being somewhat nonspecific here and I know it, but for me, not wanting to be like Don Miller can be difficult. I consider him very close to my ideal identity. But being authentically yourself as a writer means you have get over your fears to actually be yourself. Here's what Miller says: "I just want to write stories that have a lot of crazy things happening to crazy people. If it happens to have some theological truth in it, cha-ching!" Some might say his tack is deceptively simple, that he's actually striving very hard to strike a particular pose, fit just the right niche, whatever. But I don't think so. No one's that good. Sooner or later, the act is going to slip (Jim Bakker). There's no substitute for real.

This is why I can't be Don. I'm this person. And that's the message I'd like to leave you with tonight. YOU are what editors are looking for because YOU are what readers are looking for. Believe it or not. Maybe you think that's too simple and idealistic. Someone has said that fiction readers are all about the mental age of 18-22. I believe that. And I believe that gives us a very specific value. It's easy to get a little smart and say it's childish to place such a high premium on being yourself, but remember Jesus with the children. Cynicism and artifice have no business with innocence and genuineness. Childishness is a spiritual value. And actually one of the bigger ones.

I've written elsewhere about geeks and you can just apply it here as well. "Normal" people are geeks. No one's really cool. The way the new CBA is shaping up with folks like Miller, Lauren Winner, and Brian McLaren, there's a lot of room for some genuinely geeked-out cats, maybe one like you. Those who pose and hide behind fears will go the way of the dodo. And those who find their truest selves and show it without apology will continue to make us smile and scury to publish their genius.

Celebration of New Christian Fiction

Quick note to mention that the "Celebration of New Christian Writing" takes place tomorrow. Here's Pat's great description of what a New/Emerging Christian fiction writer might look like.

Be sure to stop by the contributing bloggers and leave some comments.

All for writing

So how was your Thanksgiving? Mine was a lot of fun. I’m really fat. Shouldn’t have eaten so much, but I didn’t want to worry about it. So I didn’t. I ate tons. My estimate was about 20,000 calories in just under 4 hours. It’s probably not a record, but it's a small wonder I didn’t explode. Went for a walk afterwards and I definitely "ambled" better than usual...

But even in my chubby state, all the time I was wondering if any of it was usable for the book. It was a holiday; I wasn't supposed to be "working." But that’s always the way. Pretty much every waking moment gets scanned. It's sort of always been this way—this compulsion to preserve everything. And even the things I know aren't particularly worthy. Like this: These are cool characters on Word 2004. ❧ 龤 They probably don't come through in html, but that's not interesting, is it? No. That's useless babble. It isn’t even particularly interesting. But...

But to me, that's what good writing is. It's like breathing, so natural and unchecked you don't even question it. It's impossible to write well if you're thinking about writing well. We have to get past all the self-censoring thoughts and the idea that everything has already been said much better than we could. Of course it's already been said better—in a way. But the way you would say it is also significant. Remembering that is crucial, and often the first task of writing. It's a battle of continually choosing the self-important idea that you have something of value to share.

Your way of seeing and expressing familiar ideas is significant. That's who you are, you little narcissist. And people love to see who you are, how you see things, your ideas, your self. They like to experience your insights because in everything is the reflection of themselves: the books they read, the screens they watch, the children they bear, the gods they serve. They want to see it all created in their own image, for their pleasure and edification. It can be seen as sinister and deplorable, or it can be seen as a beautiful aspect of human nature. We all live within the paradox: wanting to know we're unique, special unto ourselves, but also that we're not alone in the world. Someone else sees it, feels it, knows it too.

There's the conflict that keeps me scanning my whole life for fodder. All of us are completely alone and yet we're all made of the exact same stuff as everyone. It's both our curse and our asset. Of course, we don’t talk about it on the page, but maybe that's one of the benefits of blogs. It's there—in our writing and our daily lives. Meaning is experienced through relationships, both in affirming and denying our individualities. And it's experienced through writers' eyes in the same way...

It's all interconnected. And to me, it's a beautiful, terrifying thing.

REAL BLOGS!

I have this experience with blogs:

I try to find one that sticks to a central theme, someone who's figured out their reason to blog rather than just publishing their every thought. A purpose for being that draws you in and makes you want to keep reading. They're delicate, my expectations. I don't want too over-the-top, but I also can't muster interest in much high-brow or obtuse stuff that just misses the point and doesn't deliver the goods in the first few lines.

I'm a blog snob.

I want real, honest, bare bones, guts and stuff. That's what a blog is for.

So, okay. I forgot the treat at work. I feel terrible about it, even though I know you'll get it tomorrow. I pounded the steering wheel and suppressed a few choice swears when I realized during my commute home tonight, if it makes you feel better.

But as I was sitting on the overpass, I realized my mistake. I also realized how much I care about making this a solid reading experience for you. I don't want to betray your trust and I know your time is precious—as precious as mine. None of us have time to search through a million different links to find the good blogs. It's frustrating enough how many classic books I still have to read, let alone the "frivolous" meanderings of contemporaries.

But tonight, rather than reading me, take some time to visit the blogs on the left column. These people are different too. Kelli Standish, Jeanne Damoff, Mary DeMuth, J. Mark Bertrand, Katy Raymond, Pat Loomis--these are people expressing the fire. They are real, honest, unapologetic workers of the kingdom. Passionate. Unsafe. They're the real treat. And they go unnoticed. "Oh, they're only the links." No way. They're there because they "get it." Go check it out for yourself.

And then come back tomorrow when we'll have Jim Pannell, publisher and founder of Brook Street press who will tell you a litttle about what he's doing to offer an alternative to CBA.

Happy surfing, everyone.

Blogs! Power! Revolution!

the blogging revolution

Anyone familiar with 1984 knows technology deserves to be distrusted. It threatens to overtake everything, and not just the existing establishment. Eventually, the lives we once led are fundamentally changed, and not always for the better.

But check out how all our lives have been changed by the Internet. We're seeing the overthrow of existing media outlets and the power centers redispersing to ordinary citizens like you and me. Blogs are leading the way, as are places like amazon.com and online forums, where you can get all sorts of opinions on all sorts of interesting things.

It's even changing book publishing. Many publishing professionals think books are exempt from these surges of change since quality and "long gestation periods" are still the modus operandi in publishing houses. But even print media will fundamentally change from it's existing form in the emerging demand for greater, newer, fresher, and more meaningful art than the old sources currently supply. This means we've got to be better than the common secular writers and artists who now dominate these outlets. We've got to be sharper and more flexible, quicker to adapt, and more patient in the change-over process. Ultimately, we've got to plugged in to this new community while we work to hone our skills. You with me?

Toward this end, the new writer's group I'm talking about must continually evolve and develop. So far, there are only a few dominant voices out here, trying to engage with the community. But I estimate for every active voice, there are hundreds more who have yet to tune in and make their presence known. They're the ones we need to be going after, rather than reacting with dismay when some new "competition" comes on the scene. In a very real sense, the emerging Christian writing community is a single spirit, a body struggling to break out of its current form. We all struggle against the same phonies, the same sensational distorters attempting (and succeeding) to titilate the purient interests and baser nature of our culture.

Yes, we're all writing different books. But they aren't competing books. We all have unique callings. God wants to use all of us, not just the loud ones or the sell-outs. The central aim is change, progress, and unity. I know I sound like a politician, but maybe by banding together we'll gather steam and resist the industry forces that would require us to bow to clichés and gimmicks. We can change the common perceptions of Christian publishing. But to do it, we have to have information and a community in which to share it.

The answer is more active voices.

So get out here, Christians! You've got a calling to fulfill.

Tracking Weblog Services

Okay, this is so big brother it will freak you out. Or if it doesn't, you're just more comfortable with the whole Internet-looking-over-your-shoulder thing than I am. I just found out about this, so if I'm a bit slow to the party, bear with me here.

There are a number of sites out there listed as referers on my hits count page that are these active-tracking services that are essentially this big database of linked-up information. Any search term you can think of will bring up a number of blogs and the search term that's listed in them. Type in "Catcher in the Rye" I'm listed on that page. That just sort of freaks me out a little. If you ever saw Seven and remember the part where Morgan Freeman's character pays "Stinky Man" under the table for the library records of John Doe--okay, so it's not exactly the same. But this is definitely a thin barrier between public and private. So if you're publishing a Weblog, you're prety much fair game, I s'pose.

And to all you crazy kids publishing dirty, inappropriate stuff, this should mean be careful, buddy. You best decide what's public info. And quit checking out dirty library books...

Speaking of that, have you ever taken your 19-month-old daughter to the library while her mom's out of town for the weekend and get up to the counter with a bunch of Teletubbies videos and some random Fellini film from 1972 with a half-clad lady on the cover, and the nice, matronly lady looks at you as though wondering if you're the one she saw on the wanted poster and if you've kidnapped this poor innocent child to lock in your basement and force feed cheesy poofs to through a slit in the iron door? Maybe it's just me inventing things again, but I could swear that was what happened to me on Saturday. It tells you something about the place I live if a guy who looks as ordinary as I do can be suspected of such things so flippantly. I mean, I must have dreamed this up.

It's probably that overly self-conscious part acting up again. I just hate feeling watched.

Justify Yourself, Blog! 2

So I’ve been deliberating this blog for a while, not wanting to simply replicate or undermine (heaven forbid) any of the really impressive blogs out there (Here and here and here and here and here . . .). But I finally got over that.

The problem is that I am an editor at a publishing house and I write fiction and creative nonfiction in my “spare” time. I don’t have a lot of time to devote. I’ve found that it’s easy enough to say “just write,” but it’s really hard to do. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that was the reason I needed to do this. Have you ever considered what it really means: to “just write”? It means, “Beg, borrow and steal from all your other involvements—family, friends, full-time job, volunteering at the orphanage—and invest in this frivolous, unfounded, pie-in-the-sky, pipe dream of yours.” Writing may not be the most selfish, egomaniacal thing you can do with your time—but it probably is. And novelists? Don’t even get me started.

Aside from being someone who thinks the world is entitled to your opinion, to be a successful writer, you need contacts. For many who write, networking skill is not a shining strength. But the fact is, the writers who get published are often not as strong at writing as they are at selling and “performing” by the publishers’ modus operandi. Given the choice between a fabulous writer who doesn’t make deadlines, and a hack who consistently produces, guess who gets the cheese. Not that I’m against honing the craft and being the best writer you can be. But writing is merely the first thing you need to do well to be published.

And maybe that’s reason enough for a site like this one. An online writer’s group is just a natural use of the technology in my mind. So I’m glad you’re here. Let me know what you think of some of the other sites out there and how we might make this one the best it can be. Next time, I’ll share a little more of my “vision” for what we might accomplish here. Until then . . .

Behold! It is blog!

The reason it's good blogs exist--besides all the great reasons we came up with yesterday--is that they provide an outlet for some of the less fortunate thoughts to be expressed. You know how you go through your day and don't really keep track of the little things that pass through, the internal dialogue you never take time to give utterance to: your coworker's strange habits, the unusual website you went to, the idea for a better particle accelerator you just didn't stop to jot down. It's all fodder for your blog! Nothing is wasted when you can blog it!

But the thing that came to me overnight wasn't something I haven't been thinking about for some time now. It's just that as I was mulling it over again, it seemed to all coalesce into something of a "grand scheme." And when that happens, I try to pay attention because it's not often I get such validation of the evil genius my wife thinks I am.

The idea is this: "My Writers Group" is mine for now because it's beginning as a group of one. Eventually, the idea is to increase that possessive "My" to include "Everyone" and then everyone who comes to "My Writers Group" will have a piece of it and a say in what goes on here. That's my hope, anyway. It isn't my intention to come here day after day and write something just to get it off my chest. I would hope all of us had a bigger purpose than that. We may be writers, but we live in community as well and we need constant support and feedback, maybe more so than others with "normal" jobs. We're particularly prone to burnout and dissatisfaction and worry and all the other things that come along with the self-focused writerly personality. Without others around, we make rash, foolish judgments and lose track of reality rather quickly.

So when I say I hope to hear from you soon, I really mean, I hope you feel free to accept the "My" in that title as your invitation to join in the fray and add your lines. Writing can be a lonely, solitary experience. Writers groups are about coming together for recharge and renewal.

So have a search around and post some thoughts. We're glad you're here.

Justify Yourself, Blog!

I can't think of any other reason to justify the existence of this blog--other than having something of value to share. I could just believe, like Ayn Rand, in the virtue of selfishness. Or maybe, in our increasingly isolated and meaningless lives, I could use this blog to avoid what Douglas Coupland termed in Generation X, the "Emotional Ketchup Burst": "The bottling up of opinions and emotions inside oneself so that they explosively burst forth all at once, shocking and confusing employers and friends--most of whom thought things were fine." I have this quote on my cubicle wall.

It's hard--day in, day out--not to say anything about the gray, soul-stealing blandness of your pencil-pushing existence.

Or maybe what I most fear is the truest reason of all: blogs are just the newest excuse not to work on your novel...

Don't get me wrong. It isn't that I dislike my job. I just dislike going. I dislike very much all the time it takes. And most of all, I dislike the fact that I'm bound and gagged, prevented from saying anything disparaging about my well-known corporation, who shall heretofore and forthwith remain nameless. It isn't even that I don't think quite highly of the corporation I work for, the work they do, and the lives they constantly touch. It's just that like many my age, I'm restless and disaffected. Overworked and underpaid.

I suppose it's just fortunate blogs exist.

More on that tomorrow.

Blah, blah, blah = Blog!

Weblogs are a funny thing aren't they?

What is the point of a "blog," anyway? I mean, really. It seems like the equivalent of standing on the street corner and shouting at passing cars. Or is it more for the unusually self-absorbed of us who just can't resist the urge to publish the personal thoughts we have in a given day? You can't deny the demons of shallowness in us all who might tempt us to this. But to show the world? At any rate, I can't help but ask why anyone would care. And even if they did care, shouldn't we feel a twinge of guilt that they aren't doing something more constructive with their time--like reading the rest of War and Peace or ruminating the intricacies of God's blue creation?

Seriously. So when I approached the idea of the blog thing, I really wanted to come up with at least a passable reason to steal attention for myself. And you know, of course I couldn't think of anything. I started out thinking of a website where creative writers could socialize, learn, develop and spout off. So I guess, in a way, a blog is a logical step for that. Maybe that's the goal and I'm just setting the example, rambling on with no perceptible point. The first rambler.

So welcome to the blog, everyone! I hope to hear from you soon.