God's Orchestra

 

After eleven years here, St. Paul’s Director of Christian Education has taken a call to a church farther west. That also means that the senior choir is losing his wife as our accompanist. We will miss Jaymes, Lindsey, and the girls, but I know God has great things planned for them and for us at St. Paul’s, too. And we are all members of the wider Church even though we will no longer belong to the same congregation.

I Corinthians 12 compares the Church to a body, but I envision it as God’s orchestra. Jaymes and Lindsey are moving to another instrumental section, but we are all playing the same symphony. Here is a poem I wrote and dedicated to them.

God’s Orchestra 

God is the composer,
Creating the music,
Developing the theme,
Orchestrating harmony,
Resolving dissonance
     in His perfect time.

God is also the conductor,
Selecting the music,
Setting the tempo,
Keeping the instruments in balance,
Directing the crescendos
     and decrescendos of life.

We are the musicians,
Reading the music,
Observing the notes,
Maintaining the rhythm,
Following the conductor’s lead
     to the Glory of God.

We are also the instruments,
Performing the music,
Playing our parts,
Needing help to stay in tune,
Relying on another’s hands and mouth
     to produce beautiful sounds.

Together, we are the orchestra,
Honoring the music,
Working in harmony,
Blending together,
Praising and glorifying God
     in a heavenly symphony. 

                                                            By Kathryn Page Camp
                                                            February 16, 2021

 Dedicated to Jaymes and Lindsey Hayes as they take their talents to a different section of the orchestra.

Sit Down and Write

 

As I mentioned at the end of my last post, the number one rule for getting started writing is the cliché, “Just do it.” Most good writers have started out as lousy ones. But what made them good was that they kept going—practicing, welcoming criticism, tossing out the bad and keeping the good. In other words, they work and work and work at improving.

Do I write garbage? Frequently. Is that an excuse to stop writing? No. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from writers who have learned to keep going.

·       “If you don’t allow yourself the possibility of writing something very, very bad, it would be hard to write something very good.” Steven Galloway

·       “It is better to write a bad first draft than to write no first draft at all.” Will Shetterly

·       “You don’t have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great.” Les Brown

·       “If you’re going to be a writer, the first essential is just to write. Do not wait for an idea. Start writing something and the ideas will come. You have to turn the faucet on before the water starts to flow.” Louis L’ Amour

Once I’ve written something and tried to polish it a little, the next step is to expose it to other eyes. And I’m not talking about friends and family who will gush over it and tell me how wonderful my work is. The only helpful evaluations are the honest ones, Individual critique partners and critique groups help me hone my writing so that the garbage turns into treasure.

I’ve had an online critique partner for many years. We exchange chapters about three times a week, and she points out many errors I hadn’t noticed. Even better, she provides suggestions that had never crossed my mind.

I also belong to Highland Writers’ Group, a local critique group that used to meet in person three Saturdays a month but moved to Zoom when Covid-19 shut everything down. There are advantages and disadvantages to both venues, but the critiques are the same as always.

A serious writer welcomes all criticism even while separating the wheat from the chaff. Experience has taught me two things about responding to writing critiques. First, if I want to improve my craft, I can’t be sensitive. Second, if I want to improve my craft, I must be sensitive. The definition to avoid is “quick to take offense; touchy.” The one to embrace is “responsive to external conditions or stimulation.”¹ If I quickly take offense and discount the criticisms, I don’t learn anything. But if I think about what was said and respond offensively rather than defensively, my writing is better for it. Yes, I do reject some of the suggestions I receive, but not until I have considered them carefully.

And I don’t worry about being embarrassed by the writing I submit to my critique partner or group. I didn’t say I’m never embarrassed, but I bring it even if I am. If it were already perfect, there would be no reason to ask for a critique.

So sit down and write, and then expose your work to other eyes.

__________

¹These two definitions of “sensitive” come from the fourth edition of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.

Getting Started Writing

 

A reader of this blog recently asked me if I had any tips on how to start writing. I’m far from being an expert on the issue, especially since my own success has been extremely modest, but I’m happy to share my own experience.

Conventional wisdom says to start with smaller pieces—magazine articles or short stories—and that’s what I did. I started with non-fiction articles for Christian magazines and published several before attempting my first non-fiction book. And it was years before I expanded into fiction.  

Beyond that, my first major step was to attend writers’ conferences—lots of them. Until this year, I’ve made it a practice to attend at least two writers’ conferences a year, including a multi-day one. That is how I sold my first article, my first devotion, and my first book, which are shown in the photo at the head of this post. But it isn’t all about trying to get a publishing contract. In fact, the main reason I attend writers’ conferences is to improve my craft. I also go to network with other writers, including those who can’t get me a book contract but who have gone through the same things I have. As with everything else, misery loves company. But at writers’ conferences it also provides encouragement.

This year, Covid-19 interfered with my conference plans. Yes, there are online alternatives, and I “attended” several sessions offered by the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). It isn’t the same, though, and I pray things will be back to normal soon.

Talking about SCBWI, it is also important to join one or more writers’ associations. In my opinion, anyone who wants to write for children should join SCBWI and take advantage of the many resources on its website—most of which are available to members only. I also belong to the Chicago Writers Association, and it was extremely helpful recently when I looked for beta readers for my murder mystery. I put out a call for help and was flooded with responses.

Both SCBWI and CWA hold in-person conferences in better times and offer online resources now.

I also have an extensive library of craft books. There are significant differences between types of works, and I seek out craft books that focus on what I want to write. Fiction is especially complicated since readers expect to be drawn into the story, and that requires more than just good writing. Here are a few recommendations:

·       On Writing Well by William Zinsser (for nonfiction),

·       How Fiction Works by Oakley Hall (for a quick look at fiction),

·       The books in the Write Great Fiction series from Writer’s Digest Books (for a more in-depth look at the many characteristics of good fiction), and

·       A Writer’s Guide to Crafting Stories for Children by Nancy Lamb.

Learning about writing is extremely important, but you must also apply what you learn. The number one rule for getting started is, to quote a cliché, “Just do it.”

That’s the subject of next week’s post.

Using Period Slang--Part II

 

When using slang in a middle-grade historical novel, it is important to use words and phrases that were actually used during that period. The graphic shows some of the slang used in 1894 when my current work-in-progress takes place. I put it together with slang my characters might have used in 1894, and it’s amazing how hard it was to find something that began with A. Actually, there were plenty of choices, but none of them would have gotten past the censors. Even “ante up” is basically a gambling term, but twelve-year-old boys have been known to engage in that activity down through the ages. And “loaded” is one of the many slang terms my characters could chose between when referring to a drunken person.

There are other considerations besides using slang authentic to the period.

Most importantly, my middle-grade readers must be able to decipher the meaning from the context. It can’t be obscure, and it helps if the slang is still used today.

I also don’t want to use slang with several meanings that include one that is demeaning. I’m not referring to words that apply to someone’s behavior, such as “rat” or “fink,” which don’t discriminate. But many of the words that were in play in 1894 have racial connotations, and those are inappropriate for my book. Because of the age of my audience, so are words that relate to sexual conduct even if the meaning is relatively mild.

Finally, although I feel that I need some slang to make my characters authentic, I don’t want to overwhelm my readers. As it is, I may have to cut some out in my next draft.

Using slang in fiction—historical or otherwise—requires good judgment. I expect to make numerous changes in subsequent drafts as I try to get it right.

But it’s worth the effort.