Climbing Pyramids and Other Writing Exercises

Patti's post on Wednesday was excellent and thought provoking. If you haven't read it yet, I invite you to do so. She wrote about a well-known CBA author who is taking a sabbatical from writing, partly because she's discouraged. Patti said, "If this young woman who has reached for excellence and risen to heights I only dream to achieve and still hasn't found a broad audience, what am I to think about that? Should I give up now?"

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I was fortunate enough a few years ago to hear Ted Dekker speak at Mt. Hermon Christian Writers Conference. I was already a fan, and enjoyed immensely what he had to share. One thing in particular impacted me in a very positive way. He said that writing is like a pyramid. At the base you have a huge number of people who want to be published authors. Move 1/3 of the way up the pyramid and you have a significantly reduced number of people who will actually write to be published. We all laughed when he said that, but there's a good deal of truth to the point Ted was making. Move another 1/3 of the way up the pyramid and you have an even fewer number of people who will hone their craft enough that what they write is publishable. Move to the top, and you have a fraction of the people who persevere until they accomplish their goal.

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I left that conference determined to make it to the top of the pyramid, no matter how long it took. I was still two years away from getting my first contract, and fought discouragement with every page I wrote. But I had a sketch of Ted's pyramid at my writing station, and I was going to make it or die trying.

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Then came the day when I signed that contract, followed a few months later by the day I received the first copy of my published work. On Monday, each of us NovelMatters authors wrote about how that felt, and in a word, it felt incredible. All the hard work had finally paid off ... but wait. In reality, the hard work had just begun. We've shared a lot on this blog about the life of a writer, before and after publication, so I won't go into that again here. But it's staggering to learn that someone of the caliber of the author Patti wrote about is stepping back because of discouragement. Discouragement based on the factors Patti covered, but if she's like other discouraged authors I know, we could probably add lagging sales numbers, income that equates to a less-than-minimum-hourly wage, added demands of one's publisher, and the gargantuan task of trying to reach the readers out there. It could make any one of us throw in the towel.

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I'm fairly certain every writer among us has dreamed that he or she would be the one to beat the odds; that he or she would become an award-winning, best-selling author, whose books would find critical acclaim and soar to the top of all the right lists, and become a movie to boot. It happens. And it could happen to you. But it won't happen without climbing our way to the pinnacle of the pyramid, as Ted suggested, by working hard, hard, to hone our craft. By writing books that are comparable to the best books out there, whether CBA or ABA. By digging deep and writing from the tenderest places within us in order to reach the tender places in our readers. By giving them something to talk about. I've read a few books -- only a few -- that apply, and am amazed when their success is mediocre at best, because even when we do our best, it often isn't good enough.

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That's why I'm thrilled there's a platform such as SheReads to help spread the word about many of the fine authors being published in CBA. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but when you read a novel that you love, regardless of whether the author is well-known or brand new, sing her praises to everyone you know. Send an email to your whole address book encouraging them to buy and read it, then make sure they spread the word to their circle of friends. Let's not make a ripple effect as influencers -- and anyone who reads is an influencer -- but rather a tidal wave that helps put our favorite books on top. Otherwise, the finest among us, like the author Patti discussed, won't be there when we're looking for that next great book to read. We're in this together, readers and writers alike, and dang it, let's make some noise!

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The one person who has promoted my novels above anyone else, and I mean anyone, is my funky hairdresser, a young woman covered in tattoos, with a heart wide open to Jesus, though she doesn't know him yet, who tells everyone who sits in her chair they HAVE TO read my books. And they do! Whose praises can you sing today? Let me start. They Almost Always Come Home by new author Cynthia Ruchti is a MUST READ! It's available May 1, and is an excellent story, exceptionally well written, one you can't put down. Trust me, you don't want to miss this one. Now what favorite book can you share with us?