Lesson 2

Lesson 2 Study Notes: Writing Essentials

• So, I think the first thing after or beyond that is to identify or create a space that is conducive for writing. Identify or create a space that is conducive for writing. That space should be very well lit, it should be comfortable, it should inspire your creativity.
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You may be a person who thrives in nature. If you have the luxury of a patio on the back of your home, or a wooded area right behind it, or a stream, or a lake, or whatever gets you going, that's your writing place.

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A place where you minimize distraction, a place where you can go and not be interrupted, and even a place in your head. You have to establish a place in your head that is sacred, that's for writing, which causes you to be accountable and to be focused,

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and to be determined that when I'm in this space, I am going to focus on my writing. I'm not going to be texting, I'm not going to be on the Internet, scrolling. I'm going to be intentional and purposeful. You want to choose a time that works for you, that's realistic, a time that you can set

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and that includes research, and a time where you are at your best mentally, you'll refresh. I work from 2.30, 3 o'clock in the morning until about 9.30, and then I stop and have breakfast with my husband and we go on about our day. Why? Nobody's going to call you. No one's going to ask, do you need anything? No one, there are no distractions. I

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feel as though there's something very sacred about the early morning hours. That may not work for you're expected to be on your job. But when are you alert and fresh? That's the time that you want to set aside for writing. So, minimize distractions. And that means setting boundaries, first of all, with yourself, and then with others. No one's going to give you the time to write. You have to take the time.

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You have to set boundaries and keep them. You must tell your friends, your family, from two in the morning to three in the morning, I'm unavailable, don't call me for anything. They're going to test those limits. We know that as pastors. You may say, after I finish preaching,

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I don't want to have conversation because I'm not all there. Or on Mondays are my Sabbath, so please don't call me. What happens if you were to turn your mic so you would say, someone's going to call and say, I know that this is your time, but...

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And so we have to disregard everybody's but and stick to the discipline and the time that we have set to do our writing. You have the time. If you check your life, there are things that we spend that are excessive as far as our time is concerned that could be used for something else. You have to develop the habit of writing.

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So that means to start writing for short periods of time and gradually increase them. So, you may commit realistically, I'm going to write every day, I'm going to get up earlier, if necessary, and write every day from 6 in the morning to 6.15.

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Simple.

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And you may say, and I'll write for 15 minutes in the evening before I go to bed.

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Simple.

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You will find that you'll begin to write not only to 6.15, but to 6.30 and 6.45. You may end up writing for two hours, and it becomes habitual. Our body has this memory. Our body has this thing that once we start to develop a pattern, a habit, it pushes us into it. Don't worry about the ideal fantasy of being

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off somewhere and having days to yourself of just writing. In everyday life for most of us, it doesn't happen, but you have to make it happen. Be ye also ready. They used to say when I was growing up in the Baptist Church, always be prepared.

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I find that Holy Spirit doesn't care about you feeling drowsy, you're still sleepy, or you're in the middle of shopping or whatever. He'll just start speaking and you're supposed to catch it. What I have found to work is to have a voice recorder where I can just hit a button and just dictate little thoughts, just enough to bring it back to me when I'm able to get

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somewhere and to put it on paper. I don't always depend on pen and paper because it should be in hand, but it's not always. If you're driving, technology in our cars now, we can dictate to Siri and Siri will send it to our notebooks, and then we can go back and look at it and develop it. A word becomes a sentence,

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a sentence becomes a paragraph, a paragraph becomes a chapter, a chapter becomes a book, and another book, and another book. So once you develop the discipline, the habit of writing,

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you are on your way. To get started, start with an outline. When you're ready to start writing, it is important to begin by crafting an outline for your book. The key to constructing your outline is for

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the chapters to be focused or centered on a thought that is relevant to the entire theme of the book. Figure out what the theme of the book is going to be, what message do you want to convey based on who you are writing to and why you are writing and the outcome that you want. So the book, you have a thought, but don't get hung up on the title.

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Just know the theme of the book. And then every chapter should be related to that theme. It should not have, you should not have a topic that says, I don't know, are blue cars, the blue cars are the best. So your entire book should be chapter after

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chapter of content about blue cars and why they are the best. Blue cars don't get dirty as fast. Blue cars don't burn as much gas. Blue cars attract more attention. Blue cars run faster. Now, those are chapters.

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Whatever it is that you're writing about, everything in the book should be consistent with that title. The subtitle really gives the reader the understanding before they even pick the book up to open it, they should be able to know the content. content, what is the book about by the subtitle. The subtitle is very, very important. Let's see.

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So the key factor here is that we get your thoughts out of your head and on paper. A big mistake that is made, and I used to do it all of the time, I still have to resist the urge, do not go back and read what you've already written. You'll never get past the first 15 minutes of writing because you'll continue to read and then want to self-edit. It is critical for you to just brain dump, get everything out, and then put it where it belongs,

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and then self-edit before you give it to an editor, because the less work that they have to do, the less money it is that you will have to pay. So try to resist the urge to read what you wrote the day before, or earlier in the day, or an hour before.

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Just keep that train moving forward. When you experience writer's block, it may mean that you're not reading enough because good writers are avid readers. Reading inspires you, reading enhances your creativity, it broadens your perspective, it increases your ideas, it stimulates you. So if you're experiencing writer's block,

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maybe you need to just take some time and begin to read in your genre. We do not have to write the chapters in sequence. If you're stuck in Chapter 4, but the Lord is speaking about Chapter 7, go where God is speaking, and then come back to where you are stuck.

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I promise you that you'll begin to flow in that area. We do not have to write laterally. We can just put it wherever we want to put it, as long as you get it out of your head. I have three books in my head right now and as I get thoughts that pertain to each of those books, even though I'm not actively working on two of them, when I get to them I will a guide, that's what your outline is.

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It's to keep you on point, to keep you and to guide you through the process. Now, it's okay to change your outline. I have found, Bishop Lutter, I don't know about you, the project, it keeps getting bigger.

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What you have in your mind for a book, God does exceeding and abundantly above all. You may say, I'm going to do five chapters on foot washing, and it will end up being seven chapters or whatever, and the foot washing will just be the first chapter, and then it will blow up into something else that's awesome.

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Not being cynical, but please understand that four pages, eight pages, 20 pages is not a book.

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Why would you say that?

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We know that. I have had people put stuff and work in my hands and say, can you look at my book? This is not a book. We'll talk about that later. So go where God is speaking. Also invest in yourself.

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Take your writing seriously, just like you have cultivated your theological training and enhance yourself in your daily profession. If you're bivocational, investing in your writing is just as important. You can take classes, courses. There are a lot of free courses on the internet.

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You see them, they say, hey, come, let me teach you. Take it, take advantage of it. It'll be three days and then they'll give you this pitch to let them coach you for $15,000 or something like that. But they're still giving you good information that you can use. There are books out there that you can get that will help you with writing.

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They have writers conferences all over the place. You get to meet the various types of people that you will need to become accomplished, especially if you want to be published by a traditional publishing house. We'll talk about that later. Coaches, invest in a writing coach and invest in a publishing coach. Some folks need to take English classes, just the basics.

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Whatever you need to do to make yourself better in writing, do it. Now there are other important elements when we talk about writing that is necessary for you to look at. The title of course is what is going to grab people. Again, the subtitle is going to define the content of your book. They should be catchy as much as possible, just something that will draw the reader in

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in order to capture their interest and get them to move beyond the cover of the book. When they open the book, then your chapter titles should be catchy or have a book as much as possible. Some of us are more whimsical than others. I tend to have a sense of humor, and so it's not hard for me to do anything that's too much

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out of the box. But whatever way you do it, you want to pull in the person. They need to see that you have something of value to give them, and that will cause them to begin to turn the pages. Most of us, we pick the book up, first of all, the attractiveness of the cover, that's going to get them.

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And then the title, the subtitle, go to the table of contents, let's look at the chapter titles. Very interesting. Let me go in the chapter and let's look at the first paragraph of every chapter. So you have to be mindful. Do not be embarrassed or prideful to not ask people, would you want to read this?

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You've got some friends who are honest. Ask them, what do you think about this?

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Take a poll. See if you're going in the right direction.

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