the blogging journey

~ Rachel Yarworth, writer ~ Leave a comment

A couple of months ago, a lovely friend asked if I could give her some writing feedback. Once I retrieved my mind from its initial imposter-syndrome flight of panic, I replied that I was really happy to do so (and then resumed panicking). Once she sent her work over and I had a look (I really hope she publishes: it was so good!), I surprised myself by realising that imposter or not, I actually did have a couple of structural ideas that might help her. And as I jotted down some notes I realised that over my many years of blogging I have developed a kind of approach to writing blog posts that can be described by analogy. It’s not precise, but I think it holds up as a general approach…

For me, blogging (especially for my In The Secret Place blog) is a bit like inviting my readers to take a journey with me. It’s usually a journey that I have been on myself, from which I have now returned in order to share the highlights with them – minus all the stumbling about, dead-ends and boring bits (the benefits of editing).

So when I write, I have a destination in mind: the main point that I’d like to show them. And while I write, I keep checking my metaphorical compass to make sure I am still heading towards our destination point. I haven’t always been great at this, but I’d like to think I have improved.

The introduction (and often the title) establishes our starting point and reveals (or at least hints at) where we’re going – it whets the appetite and gets the reader on board. I don’t want us to take too long wandering about without a clear direction, otherwise they might lose interest, so I try to introduce the main point/ destination within a paragraph or two.

Once we’re into the main body of the text, I see that as the active walking part of the journey where we cover most ground. It doesn’t have to be dry and linear like walking along a tarmac road – my favourite walks are often meandering cross-country ones with beautiful scenery to look at along the way. So I try to visit the stops that generally lead towards our main destination:
a/ in a logical order that progresses.
b/ enjoying the scenery (illustrations) along the way but not getting so engrossed in detail that we tire and/or fail to reach our destination. Pace is key – we must keep moving.
c/ keeping my compass (main point) to hand so we don’t go too far off on a rabbit trail.  Meandering/ digression is fine, as long as we are still generally heading in the right direction and not jolting the reader by realising the destination is now out of sight/ a different way entirely.

And when we arrive at your destination we stop and drink in the view, appreciating where we came from and establishing that we have arrived, for that sense of completion. This is the summing up/ conclusion.

I personally think this analogy works for those writing longer books too – you can just afford longer side-trails etc. Blog posts are like short outings/ day-trips, whereas books are maybe more like walking holidays that give space to explore more widely around the destination, or just to take a slower, more detailed approach to the same destination.

Fellow bloggers, what do you think? Do you have a different approach, or does the journey analogy work for you too?

the cost

~ Rachel Yarworth, writer ~ 1 Comment

I have two blogs: one here on my writer website, which is about my writing journey, and my ‘In the Secret Place’ blog where I write about the things that God and I chat about. So when I talk with Him about my writing, it can cause a conundrum: where to post? Well today I am posting here because I think it will be an encouragement to other Kingdom writers, mostly…

You probably know that last week I published not one, but two books. Other writers – particularly the self-published ones – will know that this is a far more exhausting process than most people realise. And coming as it did at a time when I was dealing with other intense life situations, I felt utterly worn out by the day after publication day. Fair warning: what follows is self-pitying, which I wouldn’t usually share – but I believe it’s important to acknowledge the temptations we face when we are exhausted…

In my depleted state, my emotions were running high. I had poured myself into this book, not just for the year that it took to write and edit it, but also the previous two years’ experience of struggle and pain in the wilderness that I wrote about. I’m still in it – God asked me to write while I was still in the wilderness myself, so I did, thanks only to His grace that kept me going – and by the end I felt every bit of how much it had cost to publish this book. I was completely spent. It wasn’t even just the book: I had slogged away to produce endless promotional material for Social Media, because when you don’t have a famous name or a big publishing house behind you, that is what is required to get your book in front of people. But I find it utterly soul-destroying and only do it because I want to be faithful to get the message out that I believe God wants to bless His people with. And all that promo, the year of writing/ editing, and the years of suffering? It all led to a couple of dozen sales (so far). That’s it. The temptation to judge success by numbers of sales is a cruel one indeed.

I know God is in this book. I know (because all readers so far have said) that it is a deep resource of treasure for those who will read it. But I also know (partly because of the crazy levels of opposition that have arisen) that the enemy does not want people to read it. And honestly, I feel too exhausted to fight back. And so in the temptations to self-pity that followed, I heard – or felt – the nasty thought cross my mind: “Why bother? What was the point of all that cost – for nothing?” When we are tired and our guard is down, the enemy is skilled at making his voice sound like our own thoughts and feelings.

Now, I do know it wasn’t for nothing. I know there are people out there whose lives have already been changed by reading the book. So that alone means it was worth it. And honestly, I do know that the true judge of success is whether I obeyed God and did as He asked – which to the best of my ability, I believe I did. So it’s all good: my feelings will calm down as I recover, and all will be well. But God in His endless compassion and mercy did not leave it there. In a prayer meeting last night with some beautiful writer friends, every one of whom is bravely sacrificing themselves in order to write words that will give honour and glory to God, God showed me a picture of Mary with her broken alabaster jar, pouring perfume over Jesus’ feet and weeping as she did so (John 12:3). His hand rested lovingly on her head and He was breathing in the beautiful aroma.
Then I heard the lyrics from an old song: “you don’t know the cost of the oil from my alabaster box.”
And the point was this: He DOES know. Even if nobody else does. He sees the cost, and receives it as a fragrant offering. We are all broken vessels. Maybe another day I’ll share the values of alabaster – or you can look it up and see what God shows you through it. But what God showed me was the high value He places on the perfumed oil produced by crushing, then poured out through our brokenness. He sees that our writing for Him IS costly and He receives it as worship, as we value Him far more than whatever it costs us to write.

And this morning as I thanked Him for last night’s picture He spoke to me again. Some of it was personal, to be treasured in my heart only. And some of it I felt permission to share, in the hope that it will speak to and encourage you also. He said,
“I see your sacrifice, beloved, and I receive it. It is a beautiful fragrance to Me, fully acceptable in my sight. Now as I receive it, trust it fully to My hands, and let it go. I have received it all, so it cannot be wasted. Even if nobody else sees it (which is not My will) that is not your concern. You have poured it out at My feet: it is spilled; you cannot scoop it back into a container to hold on to now. It is My treasure, for Me to do with as I will. And I thank You for it, for it is a most precious gift to Me. Thank You, My love.”

What a blessing. How kind He always is! I don’t know whether or not He will ask me to do any more ‘promo’ – that’s up to Him. All I know is, the matter is settled in my heart. My books are an offering to HIM, and their value cannot be measured in how many people do or do not see/ buy/ read them. As usual, the enemy’s temptations have been silenced by God’s Word. I am so grateful. And the cost? Well I could never out-give what He has given me! So it was totally worth it.

Photo by jaikishan patel on Unsplash

it takes a village…

~ Rachel Yarworth, writer ~ Leave a comment

It takes a village to raise a child, or so we are told. This week, having released twin book-babies into the world, I can confidently assert that the same is true when birthing books. It certainly takes a village to get them from conception to delivery…

It was almost a year ago that I felt God was leading me to take the idea of writing a book about the wilderness, to pull it out of my metaphorical TBW (to-be-written) pile, and to write it even while still experiencing a wilderness season of my own. I had conceived the spark of a divine idea. However, many people conceive book-ideas that never make it full term, and I can honestly say that over the past year if it were not for the love, support, advice, experience and hands-on help of my own village, I don’t think my two books would have made it to publication.

For a start there was my small group of writer-friends from the Kingdom Story Writers who when I bounced the idea off them didn’t respond with horror or laughter, but fully endorsed it, believed I could do it, and helped launch me on my journey. As I began writing they periodically checked in with encouragement, in particular when it came to Lent and I felt God was leading me to write a chapter a day. I really needed the accountability that came from sharing my goals with a group of supportive friends, to keep me on track. Every writer needs a squad of cheerleaders when trying to write a book. (If you don’t have one, I recommend joining a writing group, in person or online). Thus conception and the first trimester were complete.
Joy M, Joy V, Alex, Natasha, Jo… thank you.

Then once my first and second drafts were done, I reached out to my squad of beta-readers (some of whom came from the first group of cheerleaders). These are my friendly critics: experienced writers who know what they are talking about but have the grace to suggest improvements in a constructive way. Without knowing they had all cast their expert eyes over my book, I doubt I would have had the confidence to send it to those I hoped would endorse it – greatly respected Christian leaders. When they were all happy to give endorsements it was a real boost!. This felt like my second trimester when I started to ‘show’ and let others see what had been growing.
Again: Joy M, Joy V, Alex, and Natasha; Jenny, Chris, and Cath; Steve, Anne and Laurence… thank you.

Next came my lovely cover designer, line editor, proof-reader and formatter, all in one glorious human being. I handed my manuscript over to the excellent Liz Carter, secure in the knowledge that hers were very safe hands for it to be in. Being able to trust the publishing professionals you are working with is a blessing that cannot be taken for granted. I’ve heard some horrifying stories that have resulted in botched or unfinished books, and I am so grateful that God pointed me in Liz’s direction for my first book, so I have never needed to go elsewhere since. Once Liz had finished, I was at the finish line – third trimester complete, it was time for delivery.
Liz, you rock. Thank you x

And that brings us to this week. If you’ll pardon my stretching the metaphor further, I had been nesting like crazy – working intently to prepare the world for my babies’ arrival, with daily scheduled promos all over Social Media. It was intense, exhausting, and emotionally draining to the point where a set-back with my print-run felt utterly devastating. At that point I am most grateful for my lovely, beautiful village who rallied around: my friends who prayed for me, reached out and encouraged me, and in some cases put themselves out to offer very practical help, in order to get me to – and through – delivery.
All the aforementioned villagers, plus Mike, Mum, Aimee, Thelma, the Warrior Mums, our family prayer support group, the Kingdom Story Writers and Association of Christian Writers, and every person on social media who has liked, shared, commented, pre-ordered, and in any other way cheered me on… thank you. You all made a very real difference.

So this evening I am resting. Delivery complete, I have twin book-babies newly arrived in the world. And it took a whole village of people to get them here safely.

for Samuel – a poem

~ Rachel Yarworth, writer ~ 1 Comment

In October 21 years ago I discovered I was pregnant for the second time. Having been told years previously that we could not have children, this pregnancy felt as much a miracle as the first – every one a blessing. We were so excited. However if you have read Friend of God you will know that the pregnancy ended in miscarriage at Christmas, a couple of months later. One of the things I remember needing to know is where my baby was now, and God was quick to tell me he (I believe God showed me it was a boy) was with Him. In the midst of all the grief and pain of that time, I wrote a poem to my unborn baby, as a way of processing and verbalising my deepest sorrow.

I have never shared that poem with anyone until now.

It is still an intensely personal poem. I still love and miss both the babies who I lost – it’s a pain that will never be fully resolved until we are reunited in Heaven. However, in recognition of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day, in honour of all the families out there who have also experienced miscarriage, and in remembrance of my two beloved heaven-babies, I felt that this year it is time to share. So here is my poem:

For Samuel…

You would have been a beautiful baby
I would have called you Samuel – my treasure – my son.
I would have rocked you, nursed you, held you –
given you all the love I had,
and probably more.
We would have been a family –
played together, loved together.
You would have brought joy to our lives.

But now it’s over – for this life at least.
And all the things I looked forward to, I’ll never get to do.
Like kissing your tiny features,
wiping away your tears,
making a smile light up your face
and hearing your first words.

Samuel, my love,
Letting go of you is the hardest thing I’ve ever done – and
I don’t want to.
I want you to come back to me, but that just can’t happen.

So I choose to give you to the only One
Who loves you more than I do.
He will hold you and kiss you, and you will grow up strong in His presence.
You will have peace and joy, and know no pain.
But I will miss you until the day we are reunited in Heaven,
And I will be free to love you again with no pain.

Goodnight my sweet son,
Mummy loves you xxx

(c) Rachel Yarworth, Jan 2004

Ruach – a poem

~ Rachel Yarworth, writer ~ 1 Comment

One thing about poetry – although i love it for its free-flowing and slightly anarchic disrespect of the usual rules of good writing – that same freedom often means I’m never 100% sure what makes a poem – well, a poem. Take this morning’s offering. It came out of my own prayer time with God. He had been speaking to me about the need to be FILLED with the Holy Spirit, and as I pictured my lungs being filled with good rich air and felt all the emotions involved, I wrote down my response. It didn’t follow the rules of prose (full sentences, proper grammar, paragraphs etc), and was much more a kind of creative representation of the thoughts and emotions of my response. So I call it poetry, because that seems the closest I get to expressing feelings in words. But even then – is it really poetry? I don’t know. Maybe I’ll just call it writing…

Ruach, Breath of God

Holy Spirit in this quiet place,
breathe on me…
Like the first divine breath that gave life to mankind,
Essence of life,
breathe on me again…
Be the breath filling my lungs, that keeps me alive,
the wind filling my sails, that keeps me moving forward,
the air filling my tyres, that protects me from bumps in this road.

Fill me with your breath, your love, your presence, your empowering grace,
that I might live Your life abundantly.
Let my spirit breathe deep, lungs FILLED with you –
not gasping, expiring, fading away as one who forgets
to breathe.

Holy Spirit, here and now I breathe you in as the very oxygen I need to survive,
And exhale the cares of this world that tighten my chest.
I breathe in your grace…
and let go of shoulds.
I breathe in your acceptance…
and let go of rejection.
I breathe in your love…
and let go of fear.
I breathe in your mercy…
and let go of shame.
I breathe in your presence…
and let go of self.

Let my every breath be filled with you.
May I never forget to keep breathing.
Inhale…
and exhale…
Keep breathing
my Ruach.

poetry rules

~ Rachel Yarworth, writer ~ Leave a comment

Today is National Poetry Day!


I confess, I didn’t have time to write a new one, so am sharing one from my archives. It was important to me to do so today because although I loved poetry when I was younger, for many years I have not written many poems. Child-rearing and the general busyness of life have a way of stifling creativity and consuming any time that might otherwise have been used for self-expression. But since publishing my first book (and approaching the end of my child-rearing days), I have been trying to embrace a wide range of writing, and have rediscovered my old love of poetry. And recently I have been pushing myself to share it publicly. Not for acknowledgement or recognition – it’s been so long that I doubt there is much merit in it – I just want to share my love of it and encourage myself to do more.

Because poetry rules. In prose, starting a sentence with the word ‘because’ as I just did is usually frowned upon (apart from the few occasions when it is legitimate). But (the same goes for ‘but’s) I prefer to write informally, so I tend to rebel against such rules, as you can tell. And (ditto) yet despite my rebellion I can’t quite ignore the nagging voice in my head reminding me that a decent writer would not commit any of the above crimes of syntax. However in poetry, that nagging voice is beautifully silenced. Linguistic anarchy rebel is not only permitted, but encouraged. Rules of structure take second place to effective expression.

Well that’s my take on it anyway. I know that good poetry is not just flung together haphazardly: there is real craft involved – and I’m nowhere near mastering it yet. But for now I’m just rediscovering the joy and freedom of expression that made me fall in love with poetry in the first place. So here it is, a poem that I wrote many years ago, in response to an assignment back in my student days. When my English lecturer read it he encouraged me to pursue publication, and although I did not do so at the time, that kind of encouragement never leaves. Happy National Poetry Day!

Speculation

In trying to write this little rhyme,
I found with great frustration
There were no subjects in my mind
That offered inspiration.
I could not write an epic verse –
My strength is not narration.
I realised, to be a poet
Could not be my vocation.
But after spending half an hour
Of solid application,
I suddenly found inside my head
A major transformation.
And now, although this verse of mine
Would not earn publication,
I’ve realised the only way
Is verbal lubrication.

come to me

~ Rachel Yarworth, writer ~ Leave a comment

If I have a single message – a core value that all my writing comes back to – it is this: God desires relationship with you, not religion. He doesn’t just want to be believed in (even demons believe in Him – James 2:18); He wants to be KNOWN. Personally.

There were two occasions this week when that message was highlighted to me again. Firstly during my daily Bible reading which took me to Isaiah 28:13…
“So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:
do this, do that,
a rule for this, a rule for that,
a little here, a little there,
so that as they go they will fall backwards;
they will be injured and snared and captured” (NIV)

It seemed to me to epitomise the tragic descent from hearing the life-giving revelation of God’s word, into a bunch of religious rules followed by those who have never heard God for themselves. The Pharisees were a prime example, taking the law given to Moses and adding rules upon rules until those who wanted to serve God were trapped in legalism. Tragically, church-goers across the world today still experience this kind of religious observance of rules and miss the joy and freedom of walking with God Himself. For when we don’t know Him and walk with Him in relationship, we have to resort to what other people have said about Him, rightly or wrongly: a two-dimensional second-hand representation. It’s no substitute for the real thing, loving relationship with God Himself.

So, He invites us to walk with Him. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus words are recorded: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened [by religious rituals that provide no peace], and I will give you rest [refreshing your souls with salvation]” (AMP)

It is only by coming to HIM, in person, that we receive rest from religion, and our souls are saved.

The second thing that struck me this week happened while I was reading a fiction book set in the times when Jesus physically walked on earth. A character was discussing the crowds that followed Jesus hoping to be healed, and I suddenly saw the scene before me: Jesus walking through a town where hundreds, if not thousands, gathered hoping for a touch. And a question rose within me: if Jesus’ mission was all about healing, why didn’t He just gather a crowd together and then command them all to be healed in one go, when clearly He had the authority and power to do so?

As soon as I asked the question I heard the reply:

“Because I wanted them to come to ME”

There are several accounts of Jesus healing in crowds. These are a few: Matthew 15:30 says, “Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them” (NIV). Matthew 4:24 says, “people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon possessed or epileptic or paralyzed—he healed them all” (NLT). Luke 4:40 says “all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them” (NKJV).

Evidently it was about the personal touch: whether being laid at His feet, or touched by His hands -the vast majority* of the people healed by Jesus were those who encountered Him and saw the love and compassion in His eyes as he healed them (*and for those few exceptions who were healed ‘in absentia’, it was after a friend encountered Him personally). If He had healed people en masse they would have been blessed by the healing but missed the most important point: encountering Him personally. (Healing is great, but knowing Him is better. Our physical wellbeing is only an issue during this brief lifetime; knowing Him is for eternity).

I heard a well known Christian preach his theory about Jesus not healing everyone, saying that when Jesus left town there would have been people left behind who weren’t healed, delivered, or raised from the dead. From that assumption he inferred that Jesus didn’t want everyone healed, but that does not seem to match with the Bible teaching that Jesus healed ALL who came to Him. Because God never turns anyone away. He wants everyone to personally receive His love and favour and to enter into relationship with Him, so that when this life is over and we step into eternity, He will have no cause to say “I never knew you” as He said to those who claimed to do great things on His behalf (Matthew 7:23). No, when we know Him and walk with Him, we will be with Him forever, continuing the relationship that can only begin here.

So today I am meditating on those words, “Come to ME”, and praying for myself and for you that we will lay aside all empty religion and simply come to Him, to truly get to know Him and walk with Him in relationship. Amen

Image by lauwahyuen from Pixabay

Getting to the Other Side – a poem

~ Rachel Yarworth, writer ~ Leave a comment

One of the things I love about poetry is how it offers the chance to capture, express and process emotions. A friend of mine is going through somewhat of a storm right now (more than one friend in fact), so as I have nowhere else to share my poetry yet, I wanted to share this here, in honour of all those currently experiencing life’s storms. It was written when I was in a storm of my own earlier this year…

Getting To the Other Side

The air has dropped a few degrees
The darkening clouds draw near
The boat begins to creak and buck
Brave fishermen taste fear

The rain falls from the death-black sky, 
Assaults with cruel force
The wind tears through the futile sails
And waves turn into walls

The hostile sea now overwhelms
The vessel starts to drown
All cries for help lost in the fury
of the raging storm

“Awake, O Lord, please save us now
Else we are going to die!
How can you sleep when such a storm
has come to take our lives?”

“Such little faith; why so afraid?
The other side’s my will.
You need not fear when I’m on board, so
Peace… be still!”

The wind and waves instantly tamed
The little boat at rest.
The fishermen relieved that they
have made it through the test

Dear Lord, when storms of life arise
to overwhelm with fear
Help us to keep our hearts at peace
Knowing You are with us here.

(From Matthew 8:23–27, Mark 4:35–41, and Luke 8:22–25)

Image by Andy from Pixabay

… but method matters too

~ Rachel Yarworth, writer ~ Leave a comment

As I wrote yesterday, for those of us who are Kingdom writers, writing because we have a message of hope and love to share with the lost and weary world, we should not disqualify ourselves from writing just because we are not award-winning, brilliantly skilled writers. Our message of hope has power to reach hearts, even if we feel unqualified to write well. The Holy Spirit dwells in our words and loves to use them to change people’s lives. So please, never let your lack of ability/ confidence stop you from telling your story.

BUT…

That said, I do need to be real. Self-published books still have rather a bad reputation. And in some cases it seems to be because their authors finished writing their first draft and thought they were done. Without the support and experience of a writing community, they treated their first draft as a finished book, uploaded it to KDP and hit ‘publish’. It’s easy enough to do, and at least the message is out there. So it’s not a terrible thing to do. However, in this they are doing themselves, their readers, and self-published authors everywhere a disservice. I have to be honest, because I really want to be helpful: I have read many self-published and even hybrid-published books that made me sad because they are not very well written. I’m not looking for literary brilliance – that would make me a total hypocrite – but whether it’s because there is no coherent structure, or the syntax is confusing, or the spelling and grammar mistakes keep tripping me up, reading a poorly written book can become a chore rather than a pleasure. And even if the reader makes it to the end, the struggle to stick with it gets in the way of them receiving the book’s message or put them off buying any future books by the same author. And that is sad.

So yes, I still maintain that message matters most, but method does matters too, so I wanted to share a little hard-earned advice with any first-time writers out there. As a writer, you are most likely the only one who can tell your story, and I want to encourage you to go for it – but just please don’t do it alone. We function best in community, as a body, and God has placed others around you who can and would love to help you do tell your story as well as possible.

So here is my advice to emerging writers – the method I recommend and personally follow…

1/ Write your first draft. Whether you are a pantser or a planner, enjoy it – this is the fun part. But do NOT rush to publish. You will naturally want to get it out there to your readers asap, but speed is not your friend here. So stop.
2/ Put your manuscript in a drawer/ save it to your computer – with a backup copy – and do not look at it for a month. Honestly, you need time to forget what you wrote.
3/ After a month, re-read it for yourself. You are more likely to spot errors and issues now.
4/ Edit heavily. Be brutal with cutting out the parts you enjoyed writing but that don’t actually contribute to the story.
5/ Find beta-readers* to read it and give feedback – expect this to take a couple of months.
6/ Edit again based on your beta feedback. If there were a lot of changes needed, repeat stages 5 and 6.
7/ (optional) Approach trusted people for endorsements – people you know will actually read it and be honest in their praise. (I struggle with this step as it’s hard to find people who don’t feel obliged to write something positive even if they didn’t think it was great).
8/ Send to a proof-reader – even if you are good at it yourself, proof-reading one’s own work is notoriously difficult.
9/ Get help at a professional standard** with formatting and cover-design.
10/ Now you can upload to your chosen platform and hit ‘publish’.

*Good Beta-readers – the ones who give constructive criticism and encouragement – are one of the most important resources a writer can have. They are your ‘practice readers’, likely to spot any problems that others would notice, just before you publish. Sending your manuscript to beta-readers can be nerve-wracking at first because our fragile egos don’t want them to spot errors in all our hard work. But the more books I publish, the more I want them to find mistakes, as that helps me not to publish something I will come to feel embarrassed by. So a few tips in finding beta-readers:
1/ Have at least one beta-reader who is your Mum/ sibling/ best friend, who you know will tell you it’s brilliant, regardless – we all need cheerleaders to encourage us to keep going.
2/ More than half of your beta-readers need to be published writers themselves, with the experience to recognise common issues that non-writers might not spot. There will be people willing to do this for free (or for a reciprocal arrangement) in your writing community, so ask around! If you don’t have a writing community yet, hop over to Kingdom Story Writers on Facebook – or the Association of Christian Writers. I have found both to be really helpful and supportive.
3/ Assuming you are writing a Kingdom book (i.e. with a Christian message), have at least one beta-reader who you trust as having sound theological understanding, who can help you identify and straighten up any issues that might be Biblically inaccurate/ confusing.

**Obviously not everyone can afford professional formatting, cover design etc. There are actually very reasonable cover-design services out there, and those experienced in publishing who can help with formatting, so if you have no budget for these processes don’t just ignore this step, but seek advice from others in the writing community.

Once you have followed all those steps, congratulations! You worked hard, received help, didn’t quit, and are now a published author! Honestly, your book may or may not be award-winning – personally I still don’t believe mine are technically that brilliant – but at their heart is the message of the most true and glorious Kingdom gospel, and that’s what matters most to me. And thanks to all those who helped me, they are written to the best of my ability right now so as many readers as possible can receive the message within. So if you have enlisted the help of other experienced writers, you will also likely have produced a book that has a good message and is written well enough to make it accessible to many readers. The rewards you will receive for that are eternal, and that is something to rejoice over! Well done, good and faithful servant.

message matters most…

~ Rachel Yarworth, writer ~ 1 Comment

(I can’t decide whether I love an alliterative title or am irritated by them. Mine was accidental, but nonetheless, I’m sorry if you belong to the irritated gang. Thanks for not letting it put you off!)

Recently I entered a writing competition run by Sue Sutherland of www.leavingbethany.com. It’s not something I tend to do because – well – imposter syndrome. Basically, I don’t believe I’m that good a writer. I will accept that I may be better than the average person, but in competition against other writers? I don’t think so. Even in the books that I have published, I still struggle with an unescapable feeling that they could be so much better if I knew what I was doing. So I tend not to enter competitions, assuming that someone better and more deserving will inevitably win.

However this competition caught my eye for two reasons. One was the prize: a book about the women who led and ministered in the early Church: right up my proverbial street! The second reason was that the piece of writing to be submitted was a maximum of only 75 words! Nothing too taxing, surely?! I know: micro-writing requires great skill and can actually be more demanding than writing thousand-word pieces. But I figured overthinking 75 words would be less painful than overthinking hundreds or thousands more. So I had a look at the subject.

Hmmm. There are many Bible characters – female and male – who I identify with at different points in my life, so there wasn’t an immediate choice that sprang to mind. But as I considered it further, I thought of Abigail from 1 Samuel 25. Abigail is someone whose story I had read recently and who always inspires me. I scribbled down a few sentences, played around with them, and made sure they didn’t exceed the 75-word limit – and then ran out of time to do anything more so I sent it off, still thinking it wasn’t very good, and expecting someone else to win, but congratulating myself for at least not quitting before I started.

Imagine my total shock when I received a message from Sue saying I had won!!!


‘ll share my entry below so you can read it for yourself, but I wanted to also share what judge (who received the entries without the authors’ names attached) said about it – and what I gained from the experience, other than a lovely new book.

Judge Jean Perry (Suffolk artist) wrote, “For me, there was an easy winner as the writing stood out as meeting most of the criteria… The lady who wrote about Abigail made it personal, humorous and authentic. I felt her short summary was very well argued, giving both a critical view of the subject and a fresh way of looking at submission and courage from a woman’s perspective. Her writing inspired me to read the story again for myself and challenged me to have the faith and confidence to follow in Abigail’s footsteps.”

Well, that was encouraging – what a boost to the old confidence levels! It made me think again about imposter syndrome and that feeling of not being good enough, or as good as other “proper writers” (whatever that means). And it made me remember something I have resolved upon more than once already. Because excellence matters. Spelling, punctuation, and grammar matter. So do style, voice, flow… and all the other elements that are considered to be essential to good writing. And when I re-read my entry, I was horrified to spot errors in it. But that’s not all there is to a story. For it to be worth telling it has to carry a message. As I mentioned in my previous blog post, there is power in testimony. And that power does not come from the persuasiveness of the author, or how skillfully they tell the story. Sure, they need to have enough of a grasp of language to be able to communicate well, but what matters more is the message. As long as you or I can communicate well enough to make our point, that can be enough.

Those of us who are writing for God’s Kingdom are writing the true story of His goodness and transforming love. Yes we need to do our best to not trip the reader up with clunky syntax or poor spelling, so we need to get help from those in the writing community around us (more on that tomorrow). But if the heart of the message is God, then He Himself dwells in it. It doesn’t get better than that! Many of Jesus’ first disciples were not educated men (Acts 4:13), but they knew Him – and changed the world through their testimony. And personally speaking, I’d rather share a simple, unsophisticated story where Jesus’ love is the obvious focus than one where my style of writing gets the attention.

So that was my reminder to self. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to the point of thinking my writing is “good enough” or mistake-free, but I’ll try to keep reminding myself that ultimately it matters less than my subject. Give my substance over style, any day. I will give what I’ve got and trust God to use it. And if a few scribbled sentences can cause a competition judge to want to look at her Bible again, that’s more than a win for me!

So here it is, my super short, “not-very-good”, winning entry:

“I identify with Abigail.  Not because her husband was an idiot – mine isn’t. But because so much of traditional male-led Christianity still dictates that wives should prioritise submitting to their husbands, winning them over with their quiet godly conduct – making us responsible for men’s behaviour. It feels stifling, oppressive… impossible. Abigail was submitted and godly – yet praised for her wisdom in thinking for herself and refusing to submit to wrong. I love her.”