Paying Attention by Suzanne Woods Fisher

Welcome to another Writer’s Journey Wednesday where authors share tips on writing and insight into the writer’s life. Today author Suzanne Woods Fisher talks about the importance of paying attention to the world around us. She’ll return on Friday, May 21, to share a story about her own publication. Enjoy!

Paying Attention

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:3-4, NIV).

Jesus grew up in a dusty, tiny, “can-anything-good-come-out-of-Nazareth?” type of town. He never traveledmore than a few hundred miles from Nazareth, and while He was exposed to Roman occupation of Israel, most of the people in His world shared His religion, His language, His customs.

Out of that narrow, provincial upbringing,(almost laughable when we consider His impact on the world), Jesus was able to touch the hearts of thousands during His brief ministry, connecting to people in a profound way.

How? Jesus paid close attention.

Nothing escaped Him. A timid woman who reached out to touch the hem of His garment because she believed it would heal her, the lilies in riotous bloom in the springtime, a withered fig tree alongside of the road, a short man who climbed a tree to catch sight of Him. (Luke 8:42-48, Matthew 6:28, Mark 11: 12-14, 20-26, Luke 19:1-6).

Jesus noticed the motives behind people’s actions,the doubts that plagued their hearts, the unspoken questions they had for God. Jesus took the world that He knew on earth, the world that His audience was familiar with, and drew parallels from ordinary experiences with the heavenly kingdom.

Very ordinary experiences. His examples were simple, largely consisting of evidence of a material world,while pointing people to a new reality—the Kingdom of God.

We, too, have a world around us that is waiting to be noticed. Look for inspiration in the places in which God puts you. Ordinary places. Ordinary people.

Develop eyes and ears to see and hear life on a deeper level. Once you begin, you’ll be amazed at the sources of inspiration you’ll encounter. I can guarantee that life will never seem quite the same. Instead, it will be filled with meaning. Just as God intended it to be.

Author Anne Lamott carries an index card and pen in her back pocket every time she leaves her house. Expectantly. Attuned for just the right word, or remark,or circumstance that can be grist for her mill. She’s training herself to pay attention.

Prayer: Lord God, all day today, help me to look beyond responsibilities and routines, the tangles of daily worries. May I get past my own stingy limitations and remember to open my eyes and pay attention. Thank you in Jesus’ Name. Amen.


Reflection

What is one thing you can do to teach yourself to pay closer attention to the world around you?

How does it inspire you to know that Jesus had such remarkable insights even though He never traveled much?

How does that knowledge affirm you?


(Permission granted by author. Originally published in Grit for the Oyster: 250 Pearls of Wisdom for Aspiring Writers. Vintage Inspirations, 2008).




Suzanne Woods Fisher lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay Area. She graduated from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, and was a free-lance writer for magazines while her children were growing up. She published her first novel, Copper Star, with a small press. That book won three literary awards and caught the eye of a literary agent, Joyce Hart. Joyce knew that Suzanne had a family connection to the Plain People (Suzanne’s grandfather was raised Plain) and introduced her to an editor at Revell Books. Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World was the result of that new publishing relationship. It is a finalist for the ECPA Christian Book of the Year Award. ‘Lancaster County Secrets,’ a fiction series about the Old Order Amish, soon followed Amish Peace. The Choice, the first in the series, was a CBD, CBA and ECPA bestseller, and was the Crossings’ Book Club Main Selection. Suzanne has contracts with Revell for eight more books about the Amish, both fiction and non-fiction. She is also the host of “Amish Wisdom” on toginet.com, a weekly radio program featuring guests who are connected to living a simple life.

To learn more, or to connect with Suzanne:

Web site: http://www.suzannewoodsfisher.com/
Facebook: Suzanne Woods Fisher
Twitter: suzannewfisher
E-mail: Suzanne@suzannewoodsfisher.com

My Journey to Publication by Beth Wiseman

Please welcome author Beth Wiseman to Seriously Write as she shares her journey to publication this Fortifying Friday. I was touched and encouraged by her story. I have a feeling you will be, too. Thanks for sharing your heart with us, Beth.

My Journey to Publication

Most writers who stay in the game for any length of time can paper their walls with rejection notices. I am no exception. In the early days, I thought that just having a great story was enough. It wasn’t until I really started to pursue the craft of writing that things began to change. However, it still seems like it takes all the elements in the Universe to come together and be blessed by God before we actually ‘sell’. What I learned is – things happen in God’s timeframe, not ours.

In late 2007, I spent a month at the hospital with my son, who was fifteen at the time. Cory is doing great now, but at the time, we weren’t sure what was going to happen. When you think your child might die, you pray in a different way. It’s a desperate plea to God, and I offered up everything I could possibly think of in return for my son’s life. I know that’s not how God works, but I was a broken woman. Included in my list of things I offered up was, “I don’t care if I ever get a book published.” It sounds silly now, but in addition to offering myself and everything else I could think of, that was included too. I feel certain that on that night, with my son very sick in ICU, God looked down on me and said, “Now you are ready to work for me.”

To make a long story fit into this blog space, let’s just say—I believe in miracles. My son is a healthy, happy eighteen-year-old and a full time college student, even though he had to get his GED because he missed so much school. He made a full recovery from multiple conditions that no doctor could explain. I saw the tumor in his adrenaline gland, but when it just went away, the medical team said, “We don’t know why these things happen sometimes. Medicine is not an exact science.” I know exactly why it happened. The power of prayer.

In the midst of everything that was going on, my agent and I stopped talking about books and potential book deals. Instead she prayed for my son, and we became friends. When my son was on the mend, she asked me how I felt about writing Christian fiction. I had been targeting the secular market. From the time that I typed the first page of book #1 in the Daughters of the Promise series—Plain Perfect—I knew that I’d found my calling. My agent sold the series to Thomas Nelson from just the first three chapters of Plain Perfect, and only a paragraph for each of the other two books to be included in the series. She sold it in two weeks.

If my books help one person find their way to true peace, which I believe only comes from a one-on-one relationship with God…then I’ve done my job for Him. Hopefully, God will continue to bless me with stories to tell.

Plain Paradise is book #4 in the Daughters of the Promise series. It releases next week, and is available for pre-order anywhere that books are sold.

Beth Wiseman is the bestselling author of the Daughters of the Promise series—Plain Perfect, Plain Pursuit, and Plain Promise. She has also contributed to two novella collections—An Amish Christmas and An Amish Gathering. All of her books have earned spots on both the CBA and ECPA Bestseller lists. Beth is contracted with Thomas Nelson Publishers for ten full-length novels and three novellas, which will carry her into the year 2013. She lives in Texas with her husband, youngest son, two cats, and two dogs.

You can find out more about Beth and her work at:

http://www.bethwiseman.com/
http://blog.bethwiseman.net/
http://www.amishhearts.com/
http://www.amishliving.com/