Lillie Ammann's Blog, page 88

Guest Post from Julie Ellis: Living to Write and Writing to Live

I have never wanted to do anything but write, but unfortunately I also have had to eat. So I spent years teaching English and journalism and assessing other peoples’ writing – never really having quite time enough for my own passion. Even summers were spent teaching at the local community college, for I always needed the extra money, as a single mother of two.

Finally, when the last child had graduated college, it was “me” time. Now, I am not a risk-taker, but, with a newfound independence (the dog had also died), I sold my house, found a studio apartment, and informed everyone that birthday and Christmas giving might be suspended – I was now a “starving” author!

Many earlier book “starts” were pulled from file drawers, and the writing began at a furious pace. Three months later, the first book was in the hands of agents all over the country, and the rejection letters began to show up in those self-addressed envelopes that we all know will be coming. As my savings dwindled, it became clear that some form of part-time employment was in my future. It would not, however, be teaching, because lessons plans and grading essays would be an admission of defeat!

Boldly, I entered the world of freelance writing. I signed up with online freelance clearing houses; I placed an ad on Craigslist; I took ads for writers from Craigslist. Gradually, the business slowly dribble in, and I found myself spending dividing my days (and nights, when there are really urgent deadlines) cranking out articles, blog posts, web content, etc.

At first, it felt as if this whole freelance gig was a little bit like “selling my soul.” This was not my intention when I left traditional work-life! Now, however, my perspective has changed, and, for other aspiring authors who need to earn money “in the meantime,” let me offer this perspective:

Freelancing allows me to accept or reject assignments as I wish. If money is “tight,” of course I take as many as possible; if I am really “on a roll” with my own writing, however, I cut back. My freedom is still intact.
I am learning so very much! For a great deal of the freelance writing, I have to do some research (all of which can be accomplished online), and the result has been a huge broadening of my knowledge base. There is so much “out there” about which I knew nothing! And, in the process, I have generated lots of new ideas for my own writing!
I don’t have to get out of my PJ’s or sweats for whole days sometimes, and recently I even donated all of my former “career” clothes to Goodwill. The rest of my life has “casual” written all over it.

Recently, a small publisher sent me a contract for that first novel that received only rejections a year ago. So encouraged and enthusiastic am I, that the sequel to that book has begun. Validation is such a sweet thing!

About the Author:

Armed with a Master’s in Journalism and strong wanderlust, Julie Ellis set out to explore exotic places, financed by her freelance writing. She is now a regular blogger for Premier Essay and sells feature articles to English-speaking publications around the world.

Image: © Depositphotos.com/bertys30

What’s Next: 3 – Answering the Call

Previous Post in Series: What’s Next: 2 – Questioning the Call

Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” ~ Isaiah 6:8 (NASB)

Although I was struggling with this call for months, I received encouragement and prayer support from my brothers and sisters in Christ at All Saints Anglican Church. I had accepted that this was something I had to do, but I still felt overwhelmed.

I have always wanted to be like Isaiah—“Here am I! Send me!”—or like Mary—“Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” Instead I responded like Moses—“I have never been eloquent”—and Gideon—“Please let me make a test.”

However, even though Moses and Gideon questioned their callings, they answered the calls and did God’s will.

Each year during both Advent and Lent, I add extra devotions to my quiet time. Whenever All Saints hands out a reading plan, I follow it. Otherwise, I find one from another source or choose readings on my own. I read the Scripture and write a brief meditation and a prayer in my journal. The following year, I post those journal entries on my blog.

Shortly before the beginning of Advent last year, I was scheduling blog posts for the season. Suddenly, I realized that I was posting devotionals.

“Lord, I didn’t think I had ever written a devotional before. Now I recognize that these journal entries are devotionals. They’re different than the ones in the book, but I do have experience writing devotionals.”

My child, I have been preparing you for this.

Converting articles written for a different purpose into devotionals is different from writing my thoughts and prayers in my journal, but now I know I can do it with God’s help.

I don’t know what the end result of this book will be. It could be published and given wide distribution, it could be published and read by a few people, or it could remain unpublished. Whether it is simply for my own spiritual growth or whether it will be shared with others is not important at this point. My job is to write the book as God is calling me to do.

I will appreciate your prayers during this process.

Image: © Depositphotos.com/dekanaryas

What’s Next: 2 – Questioning the Call

Previous post in series: What’s Next: 1 – Hearing the Call

But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” … “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” ~ Exodus 3:11, 4:10 (NASB)

The feeling that this book is supposed to be a devotional was strong, but I doubted. For several months, silent conversations took place in my head.

“Who am I to write a devotional? There are lots of devotional books already in the market, written by people much more skilled than I am.”

Don’t worry about other writers and other books. Just focus on the one you are going to write.

“Lord, my writing is simple and plain. Devotionals should be beautiful and eloquent, like the 1928 Prayer Book.”

Your book will be Finding God in the Everyday. The language and the subjects should be everyday.

“I’m sixty-eight years old—too old for something of this magnitude.”

Moses was eighty when he led the Israelites out of Egypt. Joshua was ninety when he became the leader of Israel. Noah was 600 years old when he entered the ark.

“I’ve already put a lot of time and effort into getting the book to this stage. Changing it to a devotional book will mean I have to start over.”

Yes, it does.

I talked to a writer friend and mentor. When she heard about the devotional book, she reminded of several reasons it wasn’t a good idea: The articles varied dramatically in length, from 200 words to 1200 words. A devotional book should include devotionals of a consistent length. The pieces were all about my experiences, which wasn’t appropriate for devotionals. I’d had the idea for this book nearly four years ago and had made a lot of progress on the current book. It didn’t make sense to start over and do something so different.

Yet I still had the strong feeling that I was supposed to take the book I had drafted and turn it into a devotional book.

Image: © Depositphotos.com/olly18

What’s Next – 1: Hearing the Call

Then the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for Your servant is listening.” ~ 1 Samuel 3:8-10 (NASB )

I don’t usually hear God speaking to me in a voice. Instead, I get a strong feeling that won’t go away or circumstances seem to lead me in a certain direction.

Nearly four years ago, I started putting together a book. I had participated in a group writing project on the theme of “What I Learned from …” for a couple of years. Each month, the host posted a theme, and other bloggers wrote posts on that topic. The host blogger then wrote a post that included links to all the entries in the project.

All my posts described a personal experience I’ve had followed by the life lessons I’ve learned from the experiences.

After the project ended, I decided to compile my posts into a book. I contacted the originator of the project to be sure he had no objections to my using the theme of his group writing project as the theme of my book. He encouraged me to write the book, and I started compiling the posts from my blog.

Then my husband’s dementia worsened to the point that he needed constant care. The book got put on hold. After Jack’s death and more than a year of grieving, I decided to take up the project again.

I downloaded all the blog posts I had written for the project and chose other posts that hadn’t been part of the group writing project but that fit the theme of What I Learned from Life. I came up with additional ideas and wrote more articles. I organized all the articles (about ninety) into a logical order and was about halfway through the first edit.

Then one night I woke up in the middle of the night and sat up in bed with a strong feeling: This book is supposed to be a devotional book.

Image: © Depositphotos.com/voronin-76

School Choice Week

January 25-31 is National School Choice Week.

Too many kids grow up in poverty in areas with substandard schools. Education is the key to their moving from their youthful circumstances to successful lives. However, in most locales, students are restricted to attending the schools in their neighborhoods.

Parents should be able to decide which schools their children attend. Every child should have the same opportunity for an excellent education. If the schools in a particular area aren’t adequate, children in those neighborhoods should be able to attend better schools. Even if the schools are adequate, families should be able to choose other schools that better meet the needs of specific students.

For a better understanding of this issue, watch the video A Tale of Two Missions with Juan Williams.

Image: © Depositphotos.com/pressmaster

National Readathon Day

Today is Goodreads National Readathon Day.

Celebrate by reading from noon to 4 PM in your time zone.

If you don’t have something already lined up to read, you’ll find some great books among those I’ve edited (and written).

Hope you’ll join me today and make #timetoread.

Forty-Two Years of Death

Since the Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973, nearly 58 million babies have been killed in the womb. You can see other horrifying abortion statistics in real-time counters at Number of Abortions.

According to Operation Rescue:

Four in ten unintended pregnancies are aborted.
The United States has the highest abortion rate of any western industrialized nation (19.4 abortions per 1000 pregnancies).
Less than 1% of abortions are in cases of rape or incest.
Black women are five times more likely to abort than white women, and 37% of all babies aborted are black (although blacks make up only 13% of the population).
Eighty percent of Planned Parenthood abortion centers are in minority neighborhoods.
Since 2009, a majority of the American population calls itself prolife.

“A person is a human being at every age.” (Personhood USA) A person, a human being,  regardless of size, age, or capacity of independence, is entitled to all human rights, especially the right to life. The Civil War was fought to ensure that African-American slaves were considered persons and not property. Today we are fighting (fortunately without guns and bullets) to ensure that unborn babies are considered persons and not property. 

Heavenly Father, tens of thousands of Your precious children are being killed in the womb. Turn the hearts of lawmakers, Lord, to a culture of life. Motivate Your people to stand up for these innocent babies so every life has a lifetime. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Related Posts:

Abortion: Legalized Murder
Another Year, Another Million and a Half Dead Babies
The Case Against Abortion
Human Right: Life
The Most Basic Human Right: Life
Murder Has Been Legal for Forty Years
Now Choose Life, So That You and Your Children May Live
Remarkable Testimony from An Abortion Survivor
Roe v Wade: 55 Million Dead Babies Later
Slavery and Abortion: Moral Relatives
A Thirty-Six Year Tragedy

Martin Luther King Day

Remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr with this video of his final speech the night before he was assassinated. Something that is sometimes overlooked is that Dr. King was a Christian minister living out his faith.

Religious Freedom Day

Today is Religious Freedom Day, a day to celebrate our religious freedom. The First Amendment to the Constitution states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

This liberty is in serious danger in this day of political correctness.  Many people seem to think we should have freedom FROM religion rather than freedom OF religion. Recently, a long-time, highly respected fire chief lost his job because of his religious views expressed in a self-published book he wrote for a Bible study at his church. Of course, if the chief had violated the rights of employees because of his religious beliefs, his firing would be justified. However, there was no accusation that he treated anyone unfairly—only that he expressed disapproval of certain behaviors because of his Christian faith. We do not lose our religious freedom when we are hired for a job.

Heavenly Father, thank You that we live in a country where we are free to practice the religion of our choice. Give us the courage to stand up for this right in the face of opposition. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

George’s Rendezvous with Destiny

I am very blessed to be able to choose the projects I work on, so I don’t edit anything I don’t expect to enjoy. Sometimes, the experience turns out even better than I’d hoped, and I recently completed such a project.

George Vakey is a ninety-three-year-old World War II veteran and long-time educator who looks and acts much younger. However, he realizes that he probably doesn’t have a lot of years left, and he wanted to tell the story of his life. We’re losing the vets from the Second World War at a rapid rate, and every one of them has a story worth telling. I hope more will have the opportunity tell those stories before it’s too late.

George’s book began as a series of telephone interviews over a period of months. A writer who was writing a history of George’s military unit interviewed him about his World War II experiences, and George managed to tell his entire life story in the interviews. He then found someone to transcribe the tapes, leaving out the questions and typing only his answers.

Then George was at a loss of what to do. He didn’t know anything about publishing and had no idea of how to get those interview answers into a book. He and a friend started making phone calls and asking anyone they could find who might know anything about publishing. Somehow they heard of my client, David Bowles, author of The Westward Sagas, and called him to ask what to do next. They came away from that phone call with my name and phone number and a glowing recommendation.

George and his friend, Betty Rae, who drove him to our meetings, are delightful and lovely individuals, and I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent with them. My associate, Jan, and I both loved working on this book, and we’re pleased with the results.

George told his story to leave a legacy for family and friends. He didn’t even plan to make the book available for sale, because he didn’t think anyone else would be interested in reading about his life. However, I convinced him to list the book on Amazon, because his is a story worth reading. If you like history, have an interest in education, or just like reading stories about extraordinary people, I think you’ll enjoy George’s Rendezvous with Destiny. 

You can get an idea of George’s charm and style by reading the testimonial he sent me after we finished the book.

And if you like memoirs or military families, another project I really enjoyed was William Willis’s Base Jumping: The Vagabond Life of a Military Brat. He tells his story of traveling the world and growing up in a military family. We sometimes don’t recognize the sacrifices the families make when a parent serves his or her country, and this story is a good reminder of their sacrifices as well as the advantages.