Blogger: Wendy Lawton
Every year the agents at Books & Such spend some serious time setting professional goals. We have to commit to paper what we want to accomplish including specific financial and performance goals. Last year I took a leap and committed to a bold goal. I missed it. It led me to thinking about risk. As I was chewing on what to do for 2016, here’s what I wrote to my fellow agents:
I’ve been back and forth about my Books & Such goals because I missed meeting my goal by a hair last year and so many of my clients are already contracted. So does that mean I should be realistic for 2016 and set a lower goal? As I’ve been thinking about taking risks I’m realizing it’s not what we do that counts, it’s about how big we think our God is. He plainly asks us, “What do you want?” (Mark 10:51) He wants us to put it in words! In the past I courageously set my goal beyond my reach but attaining it or surpassing it increased my faith in leaps and bounds. A skeptic might say that by asking for something specific we just work all that much harder to get it. He might say it wasn’t really God, it was just hard, focused work. That may be part of it, but my prayer journal and some amazing “coincidences” disprove that theory.
So does failing to meet my goal mean I should pull back and hunker down to the “realities of the market?” Nope.
So, about taking risks– I think I need to ask for big enough results that I can clearly see it’s all God and very little me. Sometimes this is scary. What if we ask, believing, and it doesn’t happen? Will it diminish my faith? Will it diminish God? That even sounds silly, doesn’t it. If he says no, for whatever reason, we dig into that and figure out what he’s teaching us. Either way, our faith will grow.
I’ve decided I need to be bold on behalf of my clients (and because I’m becoming addicted to seeing God move mountains as a result of prayer). He can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine! (Ephesians 3:20) Immeasurably more.
Part of the reason I’m talking about risks is based on a Bible study I did a few years ago called Chase the Lion, based on Mark Batterson’s book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. It’s about stepping confidently into the unknown, taking risks and meeting challenges. I tend to want to lead a conservative, safe, peaceful life while all the time God is challenging me to strap on my helmet and take a dive into adventure. Batterson* says, “The world is full of cautious and prudent people who will live fine, long lives. But chances are if you spend your life in an attempt to eliminate risk, uncertainty and fear you will miss out on some of the most amazing experiences a person can have with Jesus.”
So what about you? Are you willing to take risks? What about banging on some of those doors in publishing marked “no admittance.” How about risking to write that book that may be outside the parameters of what is selling right now? What about diving right in and doing multiple submissions to both agents and publishers who still take unsolicited queries? If you are dreaming big, what are you willing to risk to reach for those dreams?
*Mark Batterson, one of my all time favorite authors, will be the keynoter at Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference next year. How excited am I about that? I. CAN’T. WAIT. Maybe the risk you want to take is signing up for the conference and sitting down with me and some of the other agents or editors there.
Thank you for the challenge, Wendy. Your question about writing that book that is outside of the selling perimeters sends another question to my mind: If we’re challenged to write a novel outside of the popular topics and current titles, how does this make a case for publishing something “new”? Unless publishing requirements and norms are changing in the near future (which I sense that it *might*, although this is pure speculation), how do we authors push open those agent or publisher doors that may be shut up tight, or set in their ways as far as themes and topics are concerned? By nature, I’m a go-getter, and your post fueled my determined fire to keep writing what I’m writing . . . and I realize your post was to keep us motivated NOT to quit, but are you saying that agents and publishers are looking for new ideas outside of what’s already been published in CBA, and for writers to just pitch ideas with well-seasoned baseballs?
Publishers are more open to new ideas now than at any time in the recent past. Everyone understands that readers grow into new genres. It’s finding those next steps. The key of course, is the right idea and stellar writing.
Thank you, Wendy! I like that challenge. Looking forward to what God has in store for the near future.
You are right, as usual, Wendy. God calls us to take risks, and he walks beside us when we do.
* I had such butterflies the first times I spoke in front of a group. I have the same butterflies when I share my WIP with a critique partner or shoot off a query letter. And yet, the corrections/rejections have make my story better.
*It isn’t just about success. It’s more about obedience.
“It isn’t just about success. It’s more about obedience.” Amen, Shirlee!
Hi Wendy,
Bold is my word for 2016. My writing goals were to finish a novel and a novella. I finished both and have submitted the novel to a few writing contests. I’ve also contacted more agents, and I’m trying to work up the courage to contact a publishing house. I felt bold by having a professional editor edit my novel. That may sound silly to some, but it was a big step for me. Your post led me back to my 2016 document. God has blessed me this year, and I am grateful. I still have challenges to face, and your post is just the nudge I needed. Thanks so much.
One of my scriptures for this year comes from Romans 8:30. “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”
Bold! That’s what claimed the promised land, isn’t it. Yes, there may be giants in the land but we need to boldly take the challenge.
This is just what I needed to hear today! I’m pitching at a conference next week. It’s my first time, but it feels more risky than just being a new author: I’m a single mom of two small kids, so the preparations to be able to go and know they are well cared for seem more of a challenge than actually getting to the conference and pitching. It’s so easy to see all the obstacles. How could I possibly write a book the year after my husband died, while my kids are so young and there’s so much else to be done? And yet, God has made it clear that this is the time, so I know that he has gone before me and what feels risky is really just a step of trust.
Hang in there, Becky. What an accomplishment! I remember leaving my 6month old (first of 3 boys) with my mother and going to my first writer’s conference. So scary and when I got a critique the author actually…critiqued my work and I spent 20 min. crying in the bathroom after. But that conference led to another and that led to 11 more and each one I learn and grow and get better and meet new people and improve. What an amazing story that you finished your book and are stepping out into a conference! Cling to God as you go, His presence is often so clear when our knees are trembling.
Thanks Kristen!
Becky, you are inspiration to all.
Thanks, Andrew.
Oh, Becky. This community will be praying for you. Do not be nervous about your meeting. Or your little ones. They will be so proud of you,
Thanks, Wendy. I want my kids to know that I didn’t settle for fear.
My prayers will be with you Becky. My husband passed away in February, and I just completed a manuscript a couple weeks ago. Writing may be just the thing to help focus your mind at this time while you’re still grieving. For me, it was part of God’s answer to my anxious question, “What am I supposed to do now?”
I’m so sorry to hear that Carol. Yes, writing has been incredibly therapeutic.
Ah risk. Spending that money we really didn’t have on that first writing class, taking 5 years to write that first book because I wanted to get it just right, pitching it at conferences and by query for eight years, talking to an editor when I didn’t even have an agent, actually sending it to that editor when she requested it…the risk feels insurmountable. You would think sending that ms. after all this time would be easy. It is so so scary. But I did and I’m proud of that fact, whatever may happen. Yes, risk is necessary.
But you are out there! Exciting times.
Oh, Wendy. What a gift your faith is, what an inspiration to remember the strength of this incredible God we serve. Thank you for sharing these words today! And oh, how I loved this: “If he says no, for whatever reason, we dig into that and figure out what he’s teaching us.” Such a good God He is, weaving purpose and strength into every twist and turn in the road. So blessed to travel that road with you!
“Such a good God He is, weaving purpose and strength into every twist and turn in the road”
I love this, Amanda.
We are obligated to risk; only by example can courage be shared.
And there are different kinds of examples, aren’t there. You have been an example of courage to us, Andrew.
Perhaps the most grievous risks are the dreams we held too close to trust to the Almighty.
Yes! Held too close to trust to the Almighty. Those are words to meditate on.
Thank you, Wendy. Thank you for being real. My favorite people are the ones who share honestly. Because goals are meant to encourage not discourage us. And it’s always important to remember that the most important growth is the mountains God moves in us.
Shelli, I love your writing because you “share honestly” and beautifully.
Good words, Shelli. Mountains IN us.
I actually like working outside the box on a risky project that might fail. That’s the essence of what research is. As a scientist, I love the unexpected and different. Working as part of research engineering teams, I learned the value of picking the right target and driving for it through whatever obstacles get in the way. Flexibility combined with stubborn determination fuels success for researchers. All you have to do is convince the funding agencies to take the chance with you.
*The same formula probably works for authors. The problem is figuring out how to inspire the funders to take the chance with you when the resources are so limited. But I always told my kids not to look at how many are competing for the same thing. Someone is going to win. The only way you can be certain the winner won’t be you is to not enter the contest.
Interesting parallel. It works. The best thing about risky projects is that they stretch us.
Wendy, I am definitely risk averse in most areas of my life. And yet the love of reading and writing has so saturated me that the risks are worth it. I still get the heart palpitations and the slick palms and the dry throat, but I know I would always regret not putting forth the effort.
May I also say how incredibly impressed I am that you are quoting Scripture in your interoffice correspondence? Just wow.
🙂
Roughly 10 days ago, I stood on the deck of a cruise ship (thank you, Mom and Dad) deep into the blue and green fjords of Glacier Bay, in Alaska. What was my mind dwelling on?
Finances and book deals.
But not for long, because enormous cracking booms filled the air and chunks of the glacier started to fall off (known as calving).
Immediately, everyone held their breath and then gasped as the ice heaved and cracked, sending massive chunks of ice falling the into the sea.
What did I have to do to make that glacier crumble? Nothing. Oh, I could have dropped dynamite into it, but even hundreds of pounds of man made effort isn’t as impressive as watching the heat of a July sun destroy years and years worth of compacted ice and silt.
The only external pressure used to tear apart a glacier, a GLACIER, was the light of the sun, travelling hundreds and thousands of miles to land on a frozen mountain of blue ice.
As I watched the thunderous tumbling of thousands of tonnes of ice crashing into the sea, I heard God whisper, “if I can create these mountains and crush this glacier, I can work out a publishing contract and give you the money you need to go to ACFW. Now, stand back, I’m going to smash some more ice.”
I felt so SMALL. SO insignificant. Here I was, worrying about what I can’t change, and God was playing marbles with mountains of ice.
I wanted to yell at the top of my lungs, “I know the God who formed these mountains and this glacier, and He loves you!”
For me, trusting can be as easy as blinking, or as hard as giving up what I want and leaving my hands open for something I cannot see.
Risk in and of itself is always huge. Disappointment and self-pity are a heck of a lot easier to cope with than walking backwards over a cliff and believing God is going to catch me.
I write outside the box, so much so that I need to drive myself back to the box to see of things have changed.
But would I have the nerve to ask God to change my calling to something safer?
Nope.
I’m willing to risk a lot of things, but not my obedience to His will.
What a powerful reassurance, Jennifer!
Your blog today reminded me of one of my favorite quotes: “A ship is always safe at shore but that is not what it’s built for.” ~ Albert Einstein
*I’d have to say that in the last year, this makes more sense to me than ever. Writing is a journey. There are waves, some smooth sailing, lack of wind, and forgetting to pull up the anchor to sail away from a port I thought was the right landing place.
*”I’ve decided I need to be bold…” You go, girl. By God’s grace, I’ll be dauntless too.
Much easier to stay moored safely, isn’t it? I’m guessing many who read our blog don’t realize that it is a temptation for agents to stay safe as well. Represent the easy stuff. Take on the sure sell. And all the time God is moving in the hearts of writers to write the things he cares most about. And we need the boldness to take on the risky stuff if we believe in it.
Ahh, and when we stayed moored? We get barnacles and algae. Which slow us down. Eww. Best to keep sailing.
Thank you for sharing from your own life, Wendy. I agree “it’s about how big we think our God is.” Last week I took a risk and allowed a published memoir writer, who’d offered to be a beta reader, to look at my first few chapters of my 70,000 word memoir manuscript. I paced the house after I sent it and wondered how I’d ever be able to let an agent see it if I was this nervous about an author reading it. But the feedback I received was well worth the agony. Now I know I can survive the next risks I’ll need to take. Memoir is not a genre for a nobody like me. But I know a Somebody who can move mountains, and I want to write about the ones He moved in my heart and life. One day at a time, one page at a time, one risk at a time. This is the writing life–and I love it. Big dreams require us to believe big. God is good, God is big.
Blessings ~ Wendy Mac
And memoir is the hardest thing to risk because you can’t hide behind characters. It’s you. Boldly on the page. Out there for all to see– friend and critic alike.
Yep. Bold exposure. I’m okay with others knowing I’ve been rescued from the deep; however, I want to glorify God without harming anyone else’s reputation along the way. I won’t be hiding, I’ll be hiding others.
Wow. Yes. Excellent. Dream big, but dream big with God. The energy comes when we are flowing our energy and will with His energy and will. And that takes knowing Him and staying enmeshed with the Source. Self effort, is self effort, but combine the loving intention of God with your own hard work and voila, soon you will find yourself living in the miraculous. Amazing.
What a GREAT activity to do as a group.
“Living in the miraculous.” I love that. That’s where I’d love to dwell. I’m writing that down, Norma.
Yes. Agreed. That’s where we want to be, and sometimes are.
Hi Wendy – Thank you for this word today. So timely. My home is a hotbed of change and transition these days, for both my husband and me career-wise, for our oldest daughter and husband who are giving us our first grandchild in about two weeks, and for our youngest who is starting high school next fall, and so much more. Exciting, but weighty stuff all around.
Several years ago, when I “got serious” about my writing, I really sense God speaking to me through Deuteronomy 1:6-8. The children of Israel had turned an 11-day journey through the wilderness into a 40-year lifestyle of complacency, complaining, confusion, and chaos…something I often felt I could relate to. Moses finally stands up and says, “The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and set your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negev and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. See, I have placed the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their descendants after them.”
“You have stayed here long enough…” – oh, yes. This holy comeuppance.
“TURN,” – an intentional act to stop doing or going one way and CHANGE directions.
“…and SET YOUR JOURNEY.” Intentionally – there’s that word again – determine the course you’re choosing, take that step, and don’t look back. Make a plan!
“See, I have placed the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers…” – He has promised us much, has shown us all that He wants for us, and has equipped us, and is there with us every step of the way.
You have been here long enough. TURN and set your journey. I have placed the land before you. Go in and possess all that I have promised to you.
Here’s the cool thing. I’d recently gotten hung up in the wilderness again because of some of my goals that I hadn’t met with one of my series. But early last week, a dear author friend reminded me of this passage I’d shared with him four years ago, reminding me of how passionately I’d claimed it, something I hadn’t done in quite some time. (I love how the WORD never, never grows old or looses its power!) So at the end of last week, I made a direction-changing and rather risky decision that was scary, but necessary, and although I KNOW it was the right thing to do, I’ve struggled with doubt over it and have had to keep taking it back to God.
And now, here you are, speaking the same message in different words…NOT just to me, I know, but God has a way of making His messages personal, doesn’t He? So thank you for being a vessel for Him, for speaking His truth.
You have been here long enough. TURN and set your journey. I have placed the land before you. Go in and possess all that I have promised to you.
Becky
At the end of my short speech at the Product Trends Event in Cincinnati a couple of weeks ago, I was led to ask, “What if we were the Joshuas and Calebs of the content creation, publishing, and retail world? What if we saw the giants we’re up against, but focused on the weight of the fruit and the beauty of the landscape of redemption in our sights? What if—unlike the ten timid scouts of the Old Testament who saw nothing but impossibilities—we daily reminded each other that nothing is impossible with God?
Let’s do this!
See that end quote right after “God?” Yeah. I wrote it in invisible ink.
Inviso-font?
😉
Going to Mt Hermon for the first time was the risk I took that launched my writing career, and allowed my path to cross with Janet Grant’s and yours. I’m forever grateful…
Thank you, Wendy! Even as I was reading, more than one bold idea came to me. Funny how, when our spirits reopen to the truth of God’s power and we recall the many ways he has dazzled us in the past, our dreams are released. Or re-released.
Excercising bold trust today. As you said, either way our faith will grow. Love it!
Hi Wendy. Thanks for this inspiring blog. This has been a tough year for my family. We lost my dear brother to bone marrow cancer. There were times I wanted to crawl in a hole and stay there, but I know that’s not what he would have wanted. That’s not how he lived his live, especially after he was diagnosed. He took risks and boldly shared his faith. So, I did decided to write through my grief. Finished a new book and plan on pitching it in August. A risk I’m leaving with the Lord as pitching is always scary. No matter how many times you’ve done it. 😉
I love this writing community. Everyone is always there to support each other. We have a unique bond. Love that! Thanks for your posts. They’re always helpful and encouraging!!
Darlene, to me – and I think to everyone else who is reading your words – you are a hero. You will walk in the world for your brother. Godspeed, dear brave heart.
Thanks, Andrew. I appreciate your kind words. My brother was my hero. He fought the good fight and right now he’s healed and with His savior.
Wendy and all,
I would like to begin my comments today by saying how profoundly grateful I am for the previledge of being a member of this community. I am blessed daily by the posts and responses here, first, Thank You all.
Having said, Wendy, your question of…”How about risking to write that book that may be outside the parameters of what is selling right now.” made me laugh out loud. (In a good way.)
I did. In fact, I’ve written it, plus three more, so far outside of the parameters, I’ve written myself straight out of a publisher.
How do I know this? Because I risked my family/housemates rejection/wrath by asking them to cover three family bills I ordinarily pay, so I could take even more risk and buy myself an hour with a certain, coach.
As she and I talked, about my plan(s), my targeted publisher, and my “way over” their word count ms, I also voiced my concern as to whether my an tags were too evil. (Dispicible doesn’t begin to describe Abeeb and his party.)
The response from the afore alluded to publisher “….We would not contract on this ms.”
Now, there are other publishers out there, I get that, but 15 years is a long time to dream.
There was even a suggestion offered to change my antags to middle-aged white American men. And I seriously considered it.
I thought about it; prayed over it and worried it from a square box into a round boulder.
(What if that wasn’t the Spirit talking, but my own mind running amok? What if I missed God, yet again?)
I decided to risk things further and threw a comment up on my Facebook page, just to see what responses I’d get.
A couple of my beta’s, and some people who’ve never even read the story said,
“Don’t you dare.” (Well that was nice of you to say, thank you.)
A few more beta’s asked how doing so might change not only this book, but the ones I have planned to follow it. (I also thought about this, but thanks for thinking ahead, and of me.)
But the comment that brought it all home was made by my oldest, “I believe in Mother Earth/Father Sky, all things magical, but most especially in witch-craft, daughter–(no, I don’t know how this happened, she was raised in the church), who said, “I may not believe as you do, I may never believe as you do, but I absolutely believe this is the story your God gave you to write, now go write the story your God gave you.”
The bad guys, in all of their evillness, stay. I may never get an agent, an editor or a publisher.
My stories, the stories my God gave me write, may never go beyond being read in rough form, by a party of a few.
It’s a risk I’m willing to take.
Disobedience to my Lord God, however, I’m not.
My God is big enough.
*This* I believe.
What a challenge! It is so easy to ho-hum the excuses why we can’t accomplish. We forget it’s not us accomplishing; it’s God. We are responsible only for our obedience. God is responsible for the consequences of our obedience. Disobedience is entirely different. When we disobey, we are responsible for the consequences.
Thank you for the challenge and valuable reminder of God’s ability in our weakness.