Revitalize Your Church

The Christian Writer's Market has been a valuable help in getting my articles into magazines over the years. This excellent guide lists all the different Christian publishers, magazines, newspapers, periodicals and agents. It gives the specifics of what they're looking for, the kind of manuscript they desire, what they pay, and how to go about submitting something you've written. This is the best deal I know for aspiring writers. A small investment of around twenty bucks, can reap hundreds on just one or two articles. I know this is true, because I have experienced it personally. I researched the Christian Writer's Market , picked out the ten companies that would most likely accept my articles, and then started sending them out. On average, I get about ten rejections to every acceptance -- but, hey -- that's not too bad!! (About the same as my odds when casting a fishing line.) Now, I've not gotten rich by writing -- but the Christian Writer's Market has...

I never want to write to write. I want to write because I can't not write. - Mark Batterson

It was my first college paper, and I stayed up all night attempting to capture the essence of William Shakespeare. I wrote, re-wrote, and wrote again. The CFD (Cruddy First Draft) didn't cut it. Neither did the CSD (Cruddy Second Draft) nor the CTD (Cruddy Third Draft.) I worked my fingers to the bone hammering stubborn typewriter keys, in a frantic attempt to sound intelligent and scholarly. I scoured the thesarus for the longest multi-syllable words I could find and plopped them into my sentences. Finally, after several anguished hours, I had a six page masterpiece. Never, in all my life, had I written (or even read) a collection of so many scholarly words in such confined space. I smiled triumphantly as I turned my assignment in to Dr. Elder the next morning. As a noted scholar in literature, she was sure to be impressed! A few days later, our graded assignments came back. I was astonished to find no grade on my paper. Instead, a bold "See Me!" was scribbled at the top...

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word, is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug." -- Mark Twain (via David Foster ) I recall as a student, attempting to write a paper on cultish behavior and "negative group think", but couldn't find the right words to capture "bad groups." So, I went to the Thesaurus and looked up "Bad" -- found "Ill." Now, that's a great word! Then, I paged over to "Groups" and found another fantastic moniker -- "Clumps!" ILL CLUMPS!! Church folks better be careful to keep the faith, love the neighbors, and stay sweet -- otherwise, they'll just be Ill Clumps! How's that for a first try at lightening??

My fingers emit sparks of fire with expectations of my future labors -- William Blake

One of my articles, "The Power of a Compelling Vision", recently made it all the way to Derby, England. It is a small world after all.