Blogger: Michelle Ule
Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.
I’ve been reading for fifty-one years. I love books. I’ve studied the Word of God for thirty-six years. I love Jesus. Both have inspired me and framed my life. Thanks be to God.
How many books have ever been published in all of modern history? According to Google’s advanced algorithms, the answer is 129,864,880.
I suspect I’m not going to get to all of them in my lifetime, even if Google Books goes back online . . .
1000 different versions of the Bible are available–it, of course, is the best-selling book of all time.
We live in unprecedented times. The availability to read almost anything is limitless if you can access Amazon.com.
3,100,000 books were published last year; more than half of them self-published.
That’s good news if you’re a reader. Not so good news if you’re a writer because how do you stand out from such a crowd?
One of the reasons it’s so hard to sell a children’s book these days is the ready availability of everything you read as a child. Even if there isn’t a new edition of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Engine, someone is bound to be selling an old one on ebay.
King Solomon himself noted in Ecclesiastes 12 that “of the making of books there is no end.”
So, what’s a writer to do?
When I look at discouraging statistics like those, I go back to The Word and ask Jesus for directions. God alone knows the purpose He has for my life and why He gave me the skills, passions and interests I have. I take my discouragement to Him and then wait. I’ve come to see that the walking is sometimes more important than the reaching of the goal. My writing life may never produce a bestseller, but it can give me plenty more to be thankful for along the way and amid all the books and authors in the world.
Writing has brought me skills I use at work, at church, in my family, and to encourage others. My world has been enlarged by the writers I’ve met at writers’s conferences; the people I’ve blogged with at World Magazine’s blog; the clients at Books & Such. The ability to parse out my thoughts and speak truth efficiently into someone’s life is a tool God has led me to learn. Knowing how to write cleanly has helped to simplify some of my own thinking.
We worship a God who fills our souls with creativity and calls us to serve Him. It’s no surprise to God that I was born in this time and place with these interests and talents. He certainly knows more about the future of the publishing world than I do.
When I spend time with the Word, I’m reminded that the purpose of my life is to glorify God, not to see my name printed on a book–other than in the most important book of all: God’s Book of Life.
In everything, give thanks. I give thanks to God, and for you, my fellow readers and writers.
How about you, what are you thankful for in your writing life?
One of the greatest gifts God has given me in my life is my association with Books & Such, with Janet, and with the five wonderful women I blog with at NovelMatters: the wry and tender Patti Hill, the incisive and perceptive Debbie Fuller Thomas, the ever-fertile-minded Bonnie Grove, the compassionate and courageous Sharon K. Souza, and the eclectically creative Renaissance woman Kathleen Popa. My life is so much richer because of their love, sympathy, and companionship. I will never be able to thank God enough for them.
I’m thankful for a mother who taught me early to love books and words.
I’m thankful for a God who placed the passion for words within me and enables me to use my gifts to serve Him and others.
I’m thankful for my writing friends who support, encourage, admonish, and bless me.
I’m thankful for blogs like this that have taught me so much through the years.
And I’m thankful for the reminder to consider this today. Blessings on your weekend, Michelle!
Thanks, Michelle. Great posts all week long.
I’m thankful that writing gives me the opportunity to keep growing and learning.
My prayer is always the same, that somehow He can use what I write in the life of at least one person. Once in awhile He lets me know when that happens and I give thanks all over again.
I thank God for the vision in my heart and all I’ve learned from this blog.
You are a Blessing.
I too am thankful for my association with Books & Such, and for having an agent who believes in my work. I’m also very thankful for the deep friendship that has been forged with the 5 wonderful women I blog with on Novel Matters. Latayne said it all, but I’d like to add that Latayne is one of the most incredible writers I’ve ever read. Reading her work is like watching a 3-D movie with the glasses on! And this friendship/partnership came about because of Wendy and Janet. Thank you both!!
I’m thankful for busy days because they keep me disciplined to write. I don’t know what I’d do with too much free time.
I was recently reminded of the Children’s song, I Am A Promise. Even though I haven’t been a child for decades, that’s still true. Anyone expecting to get rich from writing is in the wrong line of work but, as Lenore said, what really matters is how God uses our writing to touch others. I’m thankful to be a writer and know my work is in God’s hands.
I am thankful that God has given me the time and resources I need to write. More importantly, He has given me passion and purpose for my writing. I am thankful to know that even if nobody else sees it, God reads every word.
The ability to connect with other writers of faith. Frankly, my secular author pals simply don’t approach writing the same way I do; so to connect with people who share similar views of the craft is beautiful.
Also, the people here who so gladly share their knowledge and insights (for example, I didn’t even know there was a publisher who specialized in Christian science fiction until someone here pointed one out recently).
An concept comes together in my head–that’s a blessing all by itself. I write it down, and it encourages someone else–it’s a double blessing.
Thanks for the encouraging words, Michelle–we’ve been blessed!
Thank you all for your words of encouragement, and for sharing what you are thankful for. I’ve been reading Eugene Peterson’s memoir today, The Pastor, and thinking about vocation.
He notes about a group of New York artists he spent time with while in seminary:
“I had never been intimately involved in a community of people who lived vocationally while immersed in a society in which everyone else seemed to be living a job description.
“The artists seemed to me quite unself-conscious about their vocational identity. I never heard any one of them talk of being a “successful” artist. Their vocation didn’t come from what anyone thought of them or paid them . . . their identity was vocational, a calling, not a job description.”
Don’t you love that? As writers, we’re in the midst of a vocation that God has called us to, not a job. As long as we’re open to following His lead and writing to His glory, we can find satisfaction in our vocation.
Thanks for the blessings. To God be the glory.
I think that finding a path in life that both complements and challenges you is precious.