Encouragement in the Race by Melinda V. Inman

Encouragement in the Race 

In high school, I ran track, the 440-yard dash and the 880. Track was then measured in yards, not meters. A 440-yard sprint was one lap around the entire football field. When rounding the final curve, runners had depleted their energy reserves. Yet still, the entire race was a sprint.

Quick to Listen, Slow to Speak by Melinda V. Inman

Quick to Listen, Slow to Speak 

‘Tis the season. The political arguments have begun, or rather, have merely continued. The election season conflicts of four years ago never ended. How can Christian writers help to keep peace in a fiercely divided nation mid-pandemic and racial conflict? Therein lies the rub.

The Blessings of Liberty by Melinda V. Inman

The Blessings of Liberty 

We ride the bumpy roller-coaster of a pandemic coupled with racial conflict. When 2020 began, not many had any inkling of what we would face this year, but some were already keeping a wary eye on reports of a vicious new virus on the other side of the world. Still, no one had the vaguest idea of how this novel coronavirus would play out across the entire globe.

Writing Words of Grace to a Captive Audience by Melinda V. Inman

Writing Words of Grace to a Captive Audience

Do you have any idea how significant our words are right now? God has us here, at this time, in the middle of a pandemic, writers with skill, all for a significant reason.

In this time of social distancing, of flattening the curve, of choosing to confine ourselves in order not to harm one another by spreading this new virus, COVID-19, the writing of words is crucial. Though homebound, we’re able to stay in touch through texts, posts, tweets, letters, and messages. Via Facetime, Zoom, and other platforms, we stay connected.

We can’t meet for coffee. Our churches can’t gather. We can’t dine in a restaurant. But, we can write words and gather together electronically, speaking to one another from a distance.

Social media usage rates are up by 50%. Twitter has become an even more significant place to interact. Along with Facebook, Instagram, and others, these provide opportunities to share the love of Jesus. Here we offer God’s Word. We write the grace-filled encouragement that others need in order to keep going, to process their own mortality, and to know they aren’t alone. Cries of distress are sounding from souls who are afraid, who are abandoned, who need hope.

We have the ability to encourage one another from afar, to build community with those who need someone to listen, to hear what troubles them as they exist all alone at home. This is the time to read and to hear what others are saying. This is the time to offer to pray and to type that prayer out into the next tweet or comment. This is the time to console.

This is also the time to soften this tragedy with humor. From a distance with family members, we scrolled through one after another ridiculous joke at the expense of the toilet paper hoarders. Lighthearted memes poking at the silly amidst the deadly serious cause us to laugh, to share these with one another. They provide another way to form and to sustain community from afar.

But now, we’re deeper in. We’re going to be here for a while, so both humor and gravity are required. A couple of weeks was initially predicted, but now officials are building hospitals in football stadiums and calling upstate National Guard units to help. There’s no humor here. We pray. We write the truth, avoiding unsubstantiated anecdotal information that provokes misunderstandings. We pen serious, factual, grace-filled content.

This may play out longer than we expected. If we get a reprieve in the summer, we may all dance in the streets and hug strangers who pass by at the moment of our release from captivity.

We hope and pray our human losses are few. We pray our future holds an economy which hasn’t collapsed entirely, employment once again for those laid off, a surge in wages, and, by the grace of God, a vaccine for COVID-19, transforming it into another seasonal illness like the flu.

Can we hold on? We must.

Pray for strength. Be kind to one another. Use gentle voices, no matter the discomfort and provocation of close quarters. Give one another grace. Remember our ancestors one hundred years ago, who faced their own pandemic. Following their example, stay calm and carry on.

Our feelings will not shatter us, for the Savior is with us. We focus our hearts and minds on him. He has the power to save us and to carry us through, no matter the outcome. He’s with us in the fearful middle-of-the-night moments, in the brave “I got this” moments, and in the moments when we may find ourselves or a loved one sick, precious lives cradled gently in Jesus’ strong hands. He never leaves us. He never forsakes us.

Our responsibility now is to write about him, engaging in real conversations with real people who are terrified and who want to know Jesus better. Use humor. Use compassion. Within the walls of your confinement, use the words God gives, writing of his grace.

God has us here, at this time, in the middle of a pandemic, writers with skill, all for a significant reason. #SeriouslyWrite #Encouragement via @MelindaVInman

Our responsibility now is to write about him, engaging in real conversations with real people who are terrified and who want to know Jesus better. Use humor. Use compassion. #SeriouslyWrite #Encouragement via @MelindaVInman

The Shadows Come

The Shadows Come

Sequel to No Longer Alone
(WW1 Based on a True Story)

Germany threatens all of Europe. Millions have died. President Woodrow Wilson makes the declaration that the United States must enter the Great War to rescue our allies. Congress approves. Our story begins. In America’s heartland, everyone hunkers down to provide food for the world and resources for the war effort. A draft is necessary, and all young men must register. One by one, these are called to war. With this threat looming, Prentis and Avery raise the necessary horsepower, cultivate the needed crops, and contribute their labors to the Red Cross.

But crises at home, an insidious busybody, and one after another called up to fight in Europe bring the greatest dangers they’ve ever faced together. Then there’s the influenza pandemic. Will they survive the war abroad and the war being waged at home, threatening their love and their lives? Will their loved ones make it home again?

Melinda V. Inman, Author of Fallen: Refuge:
No Longer Alone; and The Shadows Come

Raised on the Oklahoma plains in a storytelling family, Melinda now spins tales from her writer’s cave in the South. Her fiction illustrates our human story, wrestling with our brokenness and the storms that wreak havoc in our lives.

Connections:

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/MelindaVInman/
Website: https://melindainman.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelindaVInman
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/melindavinman/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00GFYI0RU

Finding God in the Corners by Melinda V. Inman

Finding God in the Corners

We are writers. We carve out little niches of quiet and tranquility in which to write. Sometimes these tucked-away locations are grabbed via noise-canceling earphones. Often they’re within our own home offices, hidden behind closed doors. Occasionally, we duck into little corners of coffee shops.

We find places where we can think, so we can pound out the words. These places are often sacred to us. Here we meet with God. Here we are inspired. Here we write the words he gives.

This past month, we tore up our nest. A relocation across town set us in motion for several weeks as we moved over a load or two a day, ripping up my places of quiet tranquility and turning them into piles of boxes in foreign locations.

On the final day, friends and family crammed everything that was left into a truck and then helped us haul it all inside the new place. Family returned the next day to help make order out of the chaos. Still, the new home felt cold, disordered, and alien. The bathrooms and quiet corners weren’t ours yet. In the darkness of night, I crept around in the house, feeling the strangeness.

We grew exhausted during the process, and the bickering began, the failed attempts at extending grace, the petty squabbles, all coupled with the many apologies. These lapses brought even more need for a quiet space to talk with God about both the internal and the external mess.

Would God meet me here in this unfamiliar place?

Yes! Yes, of course!

In all of this chaos and turmoil, I found that God was with me in the silence within my own head and around the corner where I stepped to figure out what had transpired that had provoked a conflict. God was with me under the covers at night where I sought refuge because he felt so far away, merely because I wasn’t in my usual spot. He was with me in the darkness of the wee hours as I left my warm bed and walked about experiencing the weird unfamiliarity of our new abode. Even then, I found God in every corner of the place. He was everywhere.

He gave inspiration for new work. He revealed future projects as I came across forgotten files. He provided even more corners and niches for silence and privacy in the arrangement of our new place. He met me where I was, speaking to me through the words of friends about the beauty and the hard times of life and how God meets us in those places. He wrapped me up in his love.

The Lord wants us to hear him. He wants us to find those places that allow us to commune with him. He will provide that space in the midst of wherever we are: in a crowded city, in a foreign land, on a mountaintop, in flight, in the wilderness, in conflict, and even in chaos.

When we turn our backs on a loud room, close our eyes, and fix our minds on him, he is there. We can even meet him in the darkness, seeking quiet refuge in a corner of our closets, when feeling shaken and out of kilter.

Dear writers, he wants us to find him, to seek his guidance, to listen in the quiet of our hearts for the gentle cadence of his voice, the soft warmth of his presence, so we can hear his words. But to do so, we must search for him with our whole hearts (Psalm 119). We must open our hearts and minds to whatever he has to say to us and be willing to act, to write what he gives.

If we do, we will be blessed with his presence, and the words will flow. Will we?

I found God in every corner of the place. He was everywhere. #SeriouslyWrite #Encouragement via @MelindaVInman

We must open our hearts and minds to whatever he has to say to us and be willing to act, to write what he gives. #SeriouslyWrite #Encouragement via @MelindaVInman

The Shadows Come

The Shadows Come

Sequel to No Longer Alone
(WW1 Based on a True Story)

Germany threatens all of Europe. Millions have died. President Woodrow Wilson makes the declaration that the United States must enter the Great War to rescue our allies. Congress approves. Our story begins. In America’s heartland, everyone hunkers down to provide food for the world and resources for the war effort. A draft is necessary, and all young men must register. One by one, these are called to war. With this threat looming, Prentis and Avery raise the necessary horsepower, cultivate the needed crops, and contribute their labors to the Red Cross.

But crises at home, an insidious busybody, and one after another called up to fight in Europe bring the greatest dangers they’ve ever faced together. Then there’s the influenza pandemic. Will they survive the war abroad and the war being waged at home, threatening their love and their lives? Will their loved ones make it home again?

Melinda V. Inman, Author of
Fallen; Refuge; No Longer Alone; and The Shadows

Raised on the Oklahoma plains in a storytelling family, Melinda now spins tales from her writer’s cave in the South. Her fiction illustrates our human story, wrestling with our brokenness and the storms that wreak havoc in our lives.

Connections:

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/MelindaVInman/
Website: https://melindainman.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelindaVInman
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/melindavinman/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00GFYI0RU

More than Dust in the Wind by Melinda V. Inman

More than Dust in the Wind

Change is in the wind. Everywhere around us, my husband and I are experiencing drastic shifts in our lives. I’m sure many of you can relate, no matter what stage of life you’re in.

Two years ago, we uprooted from our home of almost twenty years and relocated across the country. Our new city is peopled by many millions. Before this, we mostly resided in small towns or cities of less than 250,000. This realigned our large family, turning every holiday upside down. There went our family traditions, thus provoking an identity crisis.

At Thanksgiving, my husband retired after being with the same employer for over forty years. This caused all sorts of upheaval, as it’s a major adjustment for him and thus, for me.

During all of this, I finished and then launched my fifth novel, based on my great-grandparents’ early lives during WW1. With the book’s completion, that depressing farewell to their world is now part of the emotional mix.

I’ve been feeling the angst of the 1970s song, “Dust in the Wind,” by Kerry Livgren of “Kansas.”

Now, don’t hang on, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky

It slips away

And all your money won’t another minute buy

Dust in the wind

All we are is dust in the wind

All we are is dust in the wind

Dust in the wind

Everything is dust in the wind

[“Dust in the Wind” lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC]

If that sounds like something from Ecclesiastes, it’s because the song lyrics reflect what Solomon also experienced. Though he had everything, he realized that no matter what, he would still die, and all his work would amount to dust.

Cheerful, right? All of this has weaseled down into my heart.

As writers, our emotions and the spiritual place from which we process our work, our family, and our circumstances impact what we write and how we write it. I’m glad all this dust is settling during the holiday season, when all eyes are on Jesus.

No matter who we are, each year we discover that these holidays are different than the last. We march through life, and things change. Rather than despair as we reflect on what is altered, how much better to focus on the One who orders all our days. The holidays circle around him.

These changes, this upheaval, these relocations, this volatile publishing industry, these constant marketing challenges, these changes in tradition, our days winding down—all are gifts from God, even if we don’t understand why or how.

I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. (Ecclesiastes 3:10-13 NIV)

Though our bodies will one day be dust in the wind, our souls are eternal, and our life experiences are shaped by God specifically to draw us toward him, to mold us into the image of his Son, and to accomplish his purposes. This is all far more than dust in the wind, for we are blessed by this reality:

“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25-27 NIV)

With this awaiting us, we need not lament the loss of what once was. But rather, we can attach ever more securely to the One who inspires everything we do.

Fix your eyes on Jesus this holiday season, especially if life has been all sorts of messy. As always, he’s the reason we live and the reason we write. God bless you in your journey, dear writer!

Though our bodies will one day be dust in the wind, our souls are eternal, and our life experiences are shaped by God specifically to draw us toward him. #WritingLife #WriterEncouragement #seriouslywrite #encouragementforwriters via @MelindaVInman

The Shadows Come

The Shadows Come

Sequel to No Longer Alone

Germany threatens all of Europe. Millions have died. President Woodrow Wilson makes the declaration that the United States must enter the Great War to rescue our allies. Congress approves. Our story begins.

In America’s heartland, everyone hunkers down to provide food for the world and resources for the war effort. A draft is necessary, and all young men must register. One by one, these are called to war. With this threat looming, Prentis and Avery raise the necessary horsepower, cultivate the needed crops, and contribute their labors to the Red Cross. But crises at home, an insidious busybody, and one after another called up to fight in Europe bring the greatest dangers they’ve ever faced together. Then there’s the influenza pandemic. Will they survive the war abroad and the war being waged at home, threatening their love and their lives? Will their loved ones make it home alive?

Set in 1917-1919, The Shadows Come is based on a true story.

Available in paperback and e-book on Melinda’s Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Melinda-Viergever-Inman/e/B00GFYI0RU/ref

Melinda V. Inman

Raised on the Oklahoma plains in a storytelling family, Melinda now spins tales from her writer’s cave in the South. Her fiction illustrates our human story, wrestling with our brokenness and the storms that wreak havoc in our lives.


Connections:

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/MelindaVInman/
Website: https://melindainman.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelindaVInman
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/melindavinman/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00GFYI0RU

Walking in Jesus’ Steps by Melinda V. Inman

Walking in Jesus’ Steps

Finally. At last! By the grace of God, I opened the file, so I could work through my editor’s revisions (our own dear Dawn Kinzer). Those editing marks were completed months ago. How I longed to jump right in when the manuscript returned to me!

However, life often requires us to bump projects around as we move people and significant events ahead of our work. If you’ve been writing for any length of time, you already know this.

Children. Weddings. Parents. Anniversaries. Birthdays. Family. Births. Deaths. Sickness.

These come first. Always, always, people come first. Jesus had the most important ministry in the world. He was constantly “interrupted” by people as he went here and there, and he always stopped to take care of those people. His mission was people.

His first miracle was at a wedding. A poor bridegroom faced shame over his lack of financial provision for his wedding. As our bridegroom, Jesus saved this young man from social embarrassment, stepping in to make water into wine and teaching us a lesson about himself.

In the middle of lecturing the Pharisees, he paused as roofing material filtered down upon him and a hole opened in the ceiling. Bit by bit, the friends of a paralyzed man ripped through the roof and lowered down their loved one. Jesus was delighted. He healed the man.

In a crowd of shoving people, all attempting to get to Jesus, people brought their children to be blessed. When the disciples sent them away, Jesus halted what he was doing and delivered the most important statement on children ever voiced. Then he blessed the kids.

Jesus headed toward Jerusalem for the most momentous event in all of human history. As he walked toward his crucifixion, a blind man called out for healing. Stopping in his tracks, Jesus turned. Of course, he went back and healed the man.

God ordered all of his creation and all of his Word around this ultimate act of caring for people—the crucifixion of his Son and his Son’s resurrection from the dead. Our salvation and the securing of our eternity were the goals of everything Jesus did.

The Bible, the entire book, circles around this event. This is the why. This is the pinnacle: Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection. He lived and died and rose for us—for people—to save us from an eternity apart from God and to restore us to right communion with God.

As we sit down to write, as we pound out these words, inevitably the lives of others, the needs of people, and the calls to serve face to face will demand that we temporarily sideline a project. If you don’t know this yet, you will.

God in the flesh modeled what ministry looks like. Jesus was in constant communion with God, following the Father’s lead. Jesus showed us how to live as we serve the Lord God. People are more important than tasks. Kindness is winsome. Bringing needy people into God’s kingdom is our ministry priority. These are our marching orders.

To walk in Jesus’ steps, we keep our eyes on the whys and the Source.

Why are we writing in the first place? If we’re writing to serve the Lord, to obey his calling, and to proclaim his message, then it’s imperative that we keep our ministry of writing in line with his model. What did he do? We must do likewise.

The Lord put people first: loving them, serving them, leading them to salvation, being present with them. He is the Source of our words, of our lives, of our unique calling, of the very world in which we live and move and breathe.

As the Source, what does he want of us? We are to walk in his steps.

When he brings needs to our attention, when we must set aside a project momentarily or for a season, we know that he will return us to that work when the time is right, when we have done what he has called us to do, when we have been his own hands and feet.

We are Christ’s body on the earth. Let’s walk in his steps. Serve the people.

The Lord put people first. He is the Source of our words, of our lives, of our unique calling, of the very world in which we live and move and breathe. As the Source, what does he want of us? We are to walk in his steps.
#seriouslywrite #encouragementforwriters via @MelindaVInman

Melinda V. Inman, Author of Refuge; Fallen; and No Longer Alone

Raised on the Oklahoma plains in a storytelling family, Melinda Viergever Inman now spins tales from her writer's cave in the coastal South. Her faith-filled fiction illustrates our human story, wrestling with our brokenness and the storms that wreak havoc in our lives.

Melinda has two projects releasing this fall. One is a novella—Benjamin’s Blessing, Book #2 in a Mafia Princesses and Mountain Men series written with a group of Christian writers. If you loved 7 Brides for 7 Brothers, you’ll love this modern take on the story. Book 0 is already available for preorder at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07V7K4LKS/.

Melinda’s other project for 2019 is the sequel to No Longer Alone—the novel The Shadows Come, publishing near Thanksgiving, just in time for Christmas gifts! All of Melinda’s work, including past titles, can be found on her Amazon Author page at http://bit.ly/MelindasBooks.

Connections:

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melinda-V-Inman/189731601076470
Website: http://melindainman.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelindaVInman
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/melindavinman/

Balancing the Projects by Melinda V. Inman

A couple of months ago, I wrote about God’s smile upon this year’s writing projects. With joy, I’m producing both a novel and a novella in 2019. For some of us, that’s no big deal. Hats off to you!

For others of us, that’s astonishing. (It is for me!) At one time, this was thought to be impossible. After all, Jane Austen only produced six novels in her lifetime. How could dear Jane have even thought of churning out an entire novel and a novella in one year? Of course, she couldn't.

We have computers. She didn’t. We can research, write, edit, revise, and publish using only our fingertips and our keyboards. Dear Jane wrote in longhand on parchment using quills and India ink.

Now it’s easy. At that notion, we all throw back our heads and laugh, right?

Unfortunately, now we have myriads of distractions every single day. We must man Facebook groups, Twitter accounts, and Instagram. We must constantly chronicle our lives, floating them out there in consumable sound bites and photos, for we are our brand, and we now must do all our own marketing.

We can barely grasp a moment’s silence, let alone hours with no interruptions as we contemplate our next plot twist or search for the perfect word. We don’t have the space for thoughtful reflection, unless we leave our homes, turn off our devices, and go beyond the reach of any Wi-Fi signal. Even then, it takes days to unkink our brains from the short attention spans to which we’ve accustomed them.

What, oh what, is the beleaguered writer to do?

Please, don’t consider this sacrilegious. I’m certain that I’m on solid spiritual ground. Brace yourselves.

We must unplug. We must disconnect. We must shut it down.

I’m sorry. I hear all of your objections. They’re my objections, too.

First a caveat: I don’t mean permanently. Whew!

The truth is that meeting with the Lord consistently to find the strength and sustenance for the writing journey and for life as a Christian requires quiet and contemplation. This is true of the composition of a novel as well, let alone a novella at the same time. This means that we can’t do both intensive marketing and insightful thinking simultaneously.

There. I said it. What they ask of us is impossible around the clock, every day, all year. It can’t be done with grace.

So, what do we do?

We still take time with the Lord each day, meditating on his Word.

But then, for half of each year, some of us engage in all of our marketing and blogging, securing it all away in blog posts ready to publish and in paid marketing schedules like Buffer. And then, for the remaining months, we write and draft fiction exclusively with no concern for marketing, other than responding and interacting.

Other writers do this same work in smaller bites. We pack our Buffer and our blogpost feed with a month or so of posts and tweets, all ready to go, knowing we can also jump in for ten or fifteen minutes on each platform after our writing work is done each day. And then, with all of that ready for the month, we devote the majority of our time to fiction.

All of us are wired uniquely as writers. None of us can work like anyone but ourselves. So, how do we know which method to use?

We pray. We rely on the Lord. He will show us the plan that works best for our individual brains and our personal work habits and processes. God, our God, is all over in this. He’s our Maker, the Giver of our gifts, the Inspiration for our work, and the Creator of the world of story about which we write.

Hit your knees. Ask him. Call on him. He’ll provide the plan specifically for you. Follow it by his grace. Walk in his steps.

God bless you, dear writer. Go forth and write!

What they ask us to do is impossible around the clock, every day, all year. It can't be done with grace. So, what do we do? #SeriouslyWrite #WritingCommunity #FictionWriter via @MelindaVInman

Melinda V. Inman, Author of Refuge; Fallen; and No Longer Alone

Raised on the Oklahoma plains in a storytelling family, Melinda Viergever Inman now spins tales from her writer’s cave in the Midwest. Her faith-filled fiction illustrates our human story, wrestling with our brokenness and the storms that wreak havoc in our lives. Find her weekly at http://MelindaInman.com/blog/. To find her work and to be notified of future published novels, follow her at http://bit.ly/MelindasBooks/.

Connections:

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melinda-V-Inman/189731601076470
Website: http://melindainman.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelindaVInman
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/melindavinman/

Balancing Writer Projects: God’s Smile by Melinda V. Inman

Melinda V. Inman

Balancing Writer Projects: God’s Smile

For the first time in my career as a writer, I’m producing two novels in one year. When I first began writing fiction, no serious author would have considered such a thing. It typically took at least two to five years to produce a well-formed novel, maybe longer. Publishing two in one year was considered impossible. Nowadays, it isn’t.

But, goodness! How in the world? What about quality of content?

First, let me quantify the two projects. The first one is a full-length novel that has taken me over three years from the beginning of the first draft to publication later this calendar year, a respectable span of time. It’s historical fiction and the sequel of another, so it required all the research and other work that goes into producing 300+ pages.

The second is a novella written for a series alongside other experienced multi-published writers. The energy of the group carries the project forward, along with providing feedback and brainstorming. The sense of collaboration is fun and energizing. I was invited into this project, and when I heard all the particulars, I wanted to be a part of it. The timing, the invite, and the opportunity were like a gift from God!

If God opens a door, if his face shines upon you, and you know it’s one you can and should walk through with his help, if he has provided the opportunity, by all means walk through the door. This is especially the case if you once thought it was impossible.

How did this work? Well, first off, the Lord orchestrated it all. My job has been to simply walk into what he has provided.

The group project sought me out as I was editing the full-length novel. This was perfect timing. I wrote the rough draft for the novella during breaks in editing the novel. My Patreon campaign then allowed me to get that novel professionally edited as I was doing major work on the novella manuscript. The projects layered together nicely.

The group project was bite-sized. A novella is one-third the length of a full-length novel, making it feel like a short story in comparison. The setting is contemporary, meaning less research.

The premise was inviting, and the genre is a new model. The characters’ lives embody many Christian principles I firmly believe in and want to advance.

Both stories broach issues I’m thrilled to write about, thus moving me in a God-pleasing direction in both. When we’re working on something fresh and new, something we know will please the Lord and promote his message, it adds vigor to our efforts. It’s like a fresh breeze blowing through, lifting the curtains.

All of this together brought God’s smile into my work. His face shone. Working under the providence of God’s smile on two projects in one year brings an awareness of God’s blessing. When we recognize that God is in any project or undertaking, our steps are lighter, and the work is less burdensome. As a writer with a chronic illness, this is incredibly important, for we often cannot simply power through as we did when we were healthy.

The smile of God, the unique newness of the project, the joy of collaboration, and the sense of God’s delight and blessing in giving the opportunity empower me as a writer.

When has God’s smile given you direction or lightened your load? How did his approval or leading make the work joyful?

How has God’s smile opened doors and made possible projects or plans you never before considered possible?

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace" (Numbers 6:24-26 NIV).

If God opens a door, if his face shines upon you, and you know you can and should walk through with his help, by all means walk through the door.
#seriouslywrite #encouragementforwriters via @MelindaVInman

Melinda V. Inman, Author of Refuge; Fallen; and No Longer Alone

Raised on the Oklahoma plains in a storytelling family, Melinda Viergever Inman now spins tales from her writer’s cave in the Midwest. Her faith-filled fiction illustrates our human story, wrestling with our brokenness and the storms that wreak havoc in our lives. Find her weekly at http://MelindaInman.com/blog/. To find her work and to be notified of future published novels, follow her at http://bit.ly/MelindasBooks/.

Connections:

Facebook Author Page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melinda-V-Inman/189731601076470
Website: http://melindainman.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelindaVInman
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/melindavinman/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+MelindaViergeverInman/posts/p/pub

Gaining Faith on the Journey by Melinda Viergever Inman

Gaining Faith on the Journey 

Jesus slept on the boat. Even as water poured over him, the wind howled, and disciples cried out in fear all around him, still he slept. He didn’t wake of his own accord. They woke him. That event in a storm on the Sea of Galilee demonstrates what bona fide, 100 percent pure faith looks like.

Even in human flesh, Jesus was fully God, and being fully God, he knew he could sleep deeply and soundly, for his mission was not going to end with him drowning in the bottom of the sea. It would end on a cross. Knowing this, for the sake of his disciples alone, Jesus calmed the wind and the storm.

“Why are you so afraid?” he said to them. “Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:40)

“The antidote to fear is faith,” reads my ESV Study Bible note.

When I feel terrified, when I worry about my bold and adventurous offspring, when I stare into the 3:00 a.m. darkness puzzling over the details of my husband’s coming retirement, when another vehicle careens toward mine in our ridiculous metropolitan traffic, and when my autoimmune disease gnaws at my bones and the nucleus of each cell, I need not fear.

When I don’t understand the market or the latest Amazon strategy when I’m puzzled about a particular piece of the publishing process, when I don’t know if I can keep up with all the latest trends in marketing, and when I wonder where my sales are heading, I need not fear.

“When I am afraid, I will trust in You” (Psalm 56:3).

If I had faith like Jesus, I would know in every fiber of my being that nothing can harm me or mine until the day God has ordained that we walk into his presence. I would know in my bones, without any thought otherwise, that each event that touches our lives is ordained by God, orchestrated together for our good. I would know that this covers my writing journey as well, every single bit of it. But instead, faith isn’t inherent in me, and I must remind myself of the truth frequently.

Recently our pastor stated, “Responding to the unknowns by faith is where the Gospel radically changes our lives.”

It boils down to this: How will we act when we are afraid and when we doubt?

Will we cower in fear? Or will we peacefully keep rowing or bailing or writing, even as the boat seems to be sinking, even though Jesus is in the boat?

“Faith is a journey of continuing, ascending hilltops,” our pastor said. On this journey, we are to keep our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. “Faith is formed amidst the ongoing race.”

We don’t get to take the Faith Seminar and walk out girded and prepared for the rest of our lives before the Lord turns us loose in the world. No. We must learn this lesson as we run the race, as we sit in the boat, as we send off the query, as we await word from the publisher, and as we watch our sales tank.

Trials that shake us up are one of God’s chief means for perfecting us. Trials allow us to see the true state of our faith, how weak, how strong, how in need of fortification. As a believer, my life should be characterized by faith, not by midnight hand wringings.

Our faith is demonstrated by how we choose to act, what thoughts we choose to censor, what ideas we refuse to allow inside our heads, and how we choose to continue to press forward with the mission the Lord has given us, the mission of writing for him. All of this requires intentionality.

Will we press on in our writing? Will we lay aside fearful lack of faith and trust Jesus?

How will we act when we are afraid and when we doubt? #seriouslywrite #encouragementforwriters via @MelindaVInman

Melinda V Inman, Author of Refuge; Fallen; and No Longer Alone

Raised on the Oklahoma plains in a storytelling family, Melinda Viergever Inman now spins tales from her writer’s cave in the Midwest. Her faith-filled fiction illustrates our human story, wrestling with our brokenness and the storms that wreak havoc in our lives. Find her weekly at http://MelindaInman.com/blog/. To find her work and to be notified of future published novels, follow her at http://bit.ly/MelindasBooks/.

Connections:

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melinda-V-Inman/189731601076470
Website: http://melindainman.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelindaVInman
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/melindavinman/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+MelindaViergeverInman/posts/p/pub

Writing What We Mean by Melinda Inman

Writing What We Mean

The difficulty of writing exactly what we mean and conveying it in a way that is clearly understood by the reader requires painstaking effort and many revisions. Human communication is broken, shot through with our human frailty and sin. Therefore, this is a lifelong challenge, one we must continually strive to address as writers.

One of the benefits of the written word is the power to edit. When we speak, our words often blurt out, surprising ourselves and others. We’re unclear or require many words to say what we’re attempting to communicate. This is why we write out and then practice pitches and presentations. The ability to edit usually allows us to get it right before we publish or pitch.

However, even then, writers need to retract. We think we communicated well, but we didn’t. We assume we conveyed a particular truth, but the reader received another, thinking we were making an entirely different point.

We publish a blog post only to read the finished piece online and discover a glaring error glossed over and unseen as we edited. We knew what we meant to say, so we became blind to what we’d actually written. This is a habitual problem, one requiring us to be alert as we edit.

Did we really write what we meant, or do we only think we did?

As a writer who has firsthand experience with these types of glitches, an undergirding truth always encourages me: I have a perfectly attuned, supernatural Collaborator.

Even when I can’t articulate what I mean, the Lord understands exactly what I feel and hope to communicate. He knows my heart and my mind, even before I think my thoughts or formulate them in writing. He perceives the truth I’m attempting to get across to the reader, and, thank God, he longs to help me to write it correctly!

Psalm 139:1-4 (NIV) puts it this way:

You have searched me, Lord,

and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue

you, Lord, know it completely.

As writers, we could rephrase: “Before words flow from my mind and through my fingertips, you, Lord, know my thoughts and what I hope to convey, even if I don’t.” Because the Lord knows what I hope to say and what he desires me to proclaim, I can cry out to him for help.

Our mighty God empowers us to write what we mean. This is an essential fact for Christian writers to keep in mind. We have a Helper. The Holy Spirit’s help in conveying the message, all while using our faculties, gifts, and yielded selves, is the powerhouse for our writing. He gives us the courage and the ability to hammer out words that advance the kingdom of God.

We can cry out to God for clarity. We can pause, ask him to help us to write what he wants for our audience, sit silently before him, and then write to the best of our abilities with his help. The words come to us. Our thoughts are clarified. This is what he does. We don’t write alone. We write with God’s help. Hold onto that fact. Lean on it. Trust it.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NRSV) says:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

and do not rely on your own insight.

In all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make straight your paths.

Allow the Lord to empower your work, your words, and your ability to convey the emotion of your message. He’s your most important collaborator. Acknowledge him in your preparation, in your writing, and in your editing. Trust him. Rely on his insight. Let the Word empower your words, touching hearts for his glory. He’ll make the way straight.

Our mighty God empowers us to write what we mean. #seriouslywrite #writingwhatwemean @MelindaVInman

Melinda V Inman, Author of Refuge; Fallen; and No Longer Alone

Raised on the Oklahoma plains in a storytelling family, Melinda Viergever Inman now spins tales from her writer’s cave in the Midwest. Her faith-filled fiction illustrates our human story, wrestling with our brokenness and the storms that wreak havoc in our lives. Find her weekly at http://MelindaInman.com/blog/. To find her work and to be notified of future published novels, follow her at http://bit.ly/MelindasBooks/.

Connections:

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melinda-V-Inman/189731601076470
Website: http://melindainman.com/ 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelindaVInman
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/melindavinman/ 
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+MelindaViergeverInman/posts/p/pub

Don’t Give Up by Melinda V Inman

Melinda Viergever Inman

Don’t Give Up

If the Lord has gifted you and called you to write, persevere. Don’t give up! He has called you to a vocation that involves much time in the wilderness. Writing for the Lord usually involves long periods of invisibility and seasons of hardship.

As a writer, you are a proclaimer of truth, a prophet. “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,” Revelation 19:10 informs us. Writers testify, giving testimony to the work of Jesus in our lives, the message of God’s Word, and the calling and impact of the Gospel.

Pause to consider the prophets. Now consider the apostles and the earliest disciples. Reflect upon the lives they lived. Let your mind scroll through your inner files. None lived easy lives. Proclaimers of truth never do.

Elijah faced down the prophets of Baal, and then he ran for his life from Jezebel, overcome with terror. Jeremiah proclaimed a message no one wanted to hear, so they threw him into a cistern where he sank into the mud until he nearly suffocated. When he was rescued, he continued his mission. Stephen proclaimed the gospel to a hardened people. They stoned him. Paul was stoned, beaten, broken, and shipwrecked, and then he gave his life for the sake of the gospel when Nero beheaded him.

Don’t let this scare you. The Lord is with you. Don’t give up.

The Lord has said in Hebrews 13:5b-6 (ESV): “’ I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’”

Writers must ponder life, the condition of mankind, and the whys and implications of actions. We must think. We must research. These very acts must involve periods of isolation, times of being alone to consider and to reflect, to dig and to discover, to realize and then to write.

Hardships come into our lives so we can learn the lessons of reliance upon the Lord and the lessons of growth. Then, we’re able to take that message and hone it into a tool to be used mightily in the hands of the Lord.

Why are we able to write fiction with great emotion, with insight into the inner pain and struggles of our characters? We write because we, too, have suffered. Why are we able to determine plot twists and calamities that must befall our heroes? We know because we have seen the impact of these very events upon our own lives.

Writers must have a variety of experiences. Experience teaches. Lessons learned inform. Life lived and pain suffered produces strong storylines and impacts readers in powerful ways.

This is why we write, why we weave the testimony of Jesus into our stories in unique and individual ways. God made us to write. He called us to the task, and he equips us by shaping our lives with rich experiences.

So, don’t give up! Press on!

No matter the obstacle, stay true to this calling the Lord has built into your life. You won't regret it when you see him face to face. He’ll welcome you with open arms, and the Lord who sees all that you experience in the darkness of night, the dark nights of the soul, and the dark times of suffering will repay you for all you’ve given, a reward heaped high and overflowing, an eternity with him in his very presence.

Don’t give up. Lay aside the things that try to pull you from your calling.

With Paul, let us say: “Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13b-14 ESV).

Melinda V Inman, Author of Refuge; Fallen; and No Longer Alone

Raised on the Oklahoma plains in a storytelling family, Melinda Viergever Inman now spins tales from her writer’s cave in the Midwest. Her faith-filled fiction illustrates our human story, wrestling with our brokenness and the storms that wreak havoc in our lives. Find her weekly at http://MelindaInman.com/blog/. To find her work and to be notified of future published novels, follow her at http://bit.ly/MelindasBooks/.

Connections:

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melinda-V-Inman/189731601076470

Website: http://melindainman.com/  

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelindaVInman  

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/melindavinman/  

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+MelindaViergeverInman/posts/p/pub

Juggling the Author Life by Melinda V Inman

Melinda V Inman

Juggling the Author Life

Many of us envisioned idyllic times of writing in quiet rooms with little interruption. We would work as long as the inspiration gripped us, pounding out words and emotions onto our laptops. We imagined Jane Austen or Louisa May Alcott in attics or secluded locations. We would record our thoughts with the modern equivalent of their parchment and ink-stained fingers.

Rarely is it like this. Rather, it’s more like juggling.

Many of us rise at 4 or 5 a.m. to grab an hour of writing before we get our family up and off to school, and then we head to work ourselves. Some of us forego sleep, squeezing in our hours of writing long after everyone else in the house slumbers. These are the only hours available.

Some write on the run, driving our kids, watching their activities, perhaps schooling them, and then quickly pounding words onto the laptops we drag along. We hold onto that emotion or that next sentence as we drive from one location to another, chatting with kids and enjoying their stories, all the while hoping we don't lose the inspired thought before the next stop.

Some are full-timers, our entire day circling our writing. But life still happens, bringing repairmen, illnesses, company, emergencies, and cherished interactions with loved ones right into the climax of the novel, pushing us also to be midnight writers and carriers of ideas scribbled into notebooks crammed into our purses.

As with Austen and Alcott in their era, this is the time period in which God had us born. Therefore, we’re writing precisely where he desires.

So, what do we do?

First, we recognize that this tension has always existed for writers. Life happens to every Christian author. Consider, for instance, the apostle Paul. For about three months, he holed up as a houseguest in Corinth. There, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he penned a masterpiece. He also dealt with all the messy problems expressed in the letters to the Corinthians.

There were meetings, meals, disagreements, local church politics, conversations with repentant sinners, sessions with church leaders, and the urgent pressing of the Holy Spirit, all while Paul wrote the letter to the Romans, an organized theological argument filled with powerful doctrine. Three months. Miraculous. With all of those “interruptions,” imagine how he felt as he wrote.

Obviously, we’re not writing Scripture, but we are penning what the Lord has given us for his purposes and the advancement of the Gospel in today’s wider world. That means our words are important. It also means that those “interruptions” are necessary.

When the Lord allows a pause to enter the composition, there’s a real-life person or situation that takes precedence at that time. He pries us away, giving a lesson he wants us to ponder, a point he wants to make. A so-called interruption is, therefore, more like Selah, a term used in the Psalms, a call to pause and to reflect.

This is God’s way of giving us time to interact with him about what comes next and the impact of that particular portion of the story. Rather than merely pounding it into reality, we’re instead forced to step away, stow it in our brains, talk to the Lord about it, and maybe even sleep on it. This produces a sense of writerly frustration, but it’s coupled with our recognition of deeper truths, which are revealed during the wait.

God leads us. Remember that.

The events of our lives are significant and are used by God to shape the piece of writing. Take time to listen to the Lord, to consider the whys of the events that take us from our laptops, and, most importantly, to consult the Lord himself.

Rely on the Holy Spirit. Give the story into his hands. Let him lead.

The Shadows Come

The sequel to No Longer Alone is ready! You can help publish this story. I'm giving away free copies to everyone who does! I'll put your name right inside the book. Come and join me @Patreon! 

Raised on the Oklahoma plains in a storytelling family, Melinda Viergever Inman now spins tales from her writer’s cave in the Midwest. Her faith-filled fiction illustrates our human story, wrestling with our brokenness and the storms that wreak havoc in our lives. Find her weekly at http://MelindaInman.com/blog/. To find her work and to be notified of future published novels, follow her at http://bit.ly/MelindasBooks/.

Connections:

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melinda-V-Inman/189731601076470

Website: http://melindainman.com/  

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelindaVInman  

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/melindavinman/  

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+MelindaViergeverInman/posts/p/pub

Comfort to Keep You Going by Melinda Viergever Inman

Melinda Viergever Inman

Comfort to Keep You Going

When I began editing the manuscript, I was exhilarated. But, as I worked, discouragement grew and enlarged. I began to compare how much I could accomplish when I first began writing fiction ten years ago with what I can accomplish now.

I’m a writer with a chronic illness. I’ve been sick with an autoimmune disease since 2013. My window of work each day is now small. Fatigue and brain fog now bring challenges.

As Christians writers, we’re on mission for the Lord. We’ve been gifted to write, and we serve God with our words, delivering the message he has given us. However, when completing any mission, obstacles will threaten to derail us.

Sometimes we wonder why God would allow this. Why wouldn’t he keep struggles away, so we can devote our time and attention to serving him?

The Lord’s tactics are usually the opposite of what we expect.

Today I’m writing to encourage other writers who face large obstacles of any kind. One of the most encouraging passages in Scripture tells us:

Trials actually equip us for the task. They give us quality content to write. God allows those who serve him to suffer for these reasons:

So we can be comforted by God, learning experientially that he is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, the One who beckons us near to encourage us, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4a.

We must know this in our bones. Why?

So that we can then encourage others in any trouble with the same strengthening and consolation that we’ve received from God. Through Christ our comfort overflows, 1:4b-5.

If you’re like me, God often uses your writing to encourage your readers. Therefore, this is a lesson we must learn, if we hope to uplift others. In trials, we learn that the more we suffer, the more Christ comforts us in abundant measure, 1:5.

Our written words are tools he then uses to come alongside others, encouraging them to endure, 1:6a. Thus, they share in this same comfort from God, 1:7. In this way, we’re distressed for the comfort and salvation of others—our readers.

More reasons God allows us to suffer:

Trials and God’s comfort in them produce character and patient endurance, 1:6b. This enables us to persevere, a necessary requirement for Christian writers.

Trials, hardships, and pressures are felt beyond our ability to endure, even to the point of despair, so that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead, 1:8-9.

In our own strength, we can’t live the Christian life or fulfill our ministry of writing. Realizing that we can’t rely on ourselves, but only on God, must be learned experientially. Suffering is required. We are strengthened by learning to rely on the One who raises the dead. 

Our trials keep us ever mindful of our weaknesses, so that we set our hope on God, who has delivered us and will continue to deliver us, 1:10. And he does. And he will, even in our death.

In this same letter, Paul also wrote:

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:7, 10 NIV).

Any ability we have is from God. It isn’t us. It’s him. The life of Jesus has given us all we need to complete our mission. As we rely on him, we are able. These trials are for our good. Press on!

“Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV).

Author Melinda V Inman, Author of: Refuge; Fallen; and No Longer Alone

Raised on the Oklahoma plains in a storytelling family, Melinda Viergever Inman now spins tales from her writer’s cave in the Midwest. Her faith-filled fiction illustrates our human story, wrestling with our brokenness and the storms that wreak havoc in our lives. Find her weekly at http://MelindaInman.com/blog/. To find her work and to be notified of future published novels, follow her at http://bit.ly/MelindasBooks/.

Connections:

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melinda-V-Inman/189731601076470

Website: http://melindainman.com/  

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelindaVInman  

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/melindavinman/  

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+MelindaViergeverInman/posts/p/pub