***(This is a featured post, so it will always remain at the top. To choose other articles in this category, select the category title, ‘writing’ which is in brown lettering at the top left of this page, or keep scrolling down until you get to the previous post.)***

The more I live this life, the more I’ve come to realise that often, things are not what they seem.

People who appear to be happy can be nurturing a deep sadness. Quiet people can have an abundance of self-confidence. Noisy, gregarious people are sometimes feeling insecure. Some couples who can’t stop touching each other, will be divorced within 18 months.

I like the lyrics to this song:

We are all the same, it seems,

Behind the eyes.

Broken promises and dreams

In good disguise.

All we’re really looking for

Is somewhere safe and warm –

The shelter of each other in the storm.

(Amy Grant)

I believe we all need each other. We’ve all got encouraging stories brewing up inside of us that someone, somewhere needs to hear. Everyone has a tale to tell, because we have lived a bit of life that has given us an experience unique to us.

I’d like to take this time right now to encourage you to start putting together your story. It doesn’t have to be in the format of a physical book. Just communicate in a way that is comfortable for you.

In the Bible, the writers who penned the Psalms, were often so full of emotion, that they blurted out anger, frustration, fear, jealousy, desire for vengeance, impatience and disappointment in God, without even thinking about presentation and style. Some did cleverly put words together in a poetic format, or to the tune of certain songs, but not all. After expressing their angst, they then considered the goodness of God and ended their tirade with words of faith, knowing that despite what they were going through, the Lord was the one who would deliver them from their distress.

This honesty and reflection is encouraging, for like the song above states, deep down, we are all the same, because even though our circumstanes and backgrounds differ from each other, we all go through heartaches and trials that leave us deserate for divine intervention.

I don’t know what most people are currently facing, but I do know that the situations I have experienced will help somebody in their own corner of the world, have hope that with God’s help, they will come out the other side, undestroyed. That’s why I love to write. God is so faithful, even when we mess-up big time.

He comes alongside us when we go through hard times and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times – so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. (2Cor 1:4 MSG)

My prayer is that you will find something among my pages that will bless you abundantly so you can then go and tell you own story of God’s goodness and love when it felt like your whole world was caving in.

Much love,

*This term was not intended to be derogatory. George Mueller who coined the phrase, loved children so much that he sacrificially looked after over 10,000 orphans in his lifetime and established 117 schools. He was trying to explain that the boy appeared to have special needs, or as we would respectfully say nowadays, had learning difficulties.

George Mueller (1805 -1898), tells a story of a time when a man was travelling on an open wagon ridden by a very strong donkey. A young boy whom he described as half-idiotic, flagged the vehicle down in order to hitch a ride. He was carrying a heavy load. The man agreed and the boy climbed up onto the cart with his laden basket. Thinking he would do the donkey a favour, the boy held his heavy load high in the air throughout the journey, in order to help ease the weight for the animal. Naturally, bearing heavy loads is precisely what the donkey was for and it would have been easily able to carry the weight of many cumbersome bundles.

Mr Mueller used this story to highlight how we sometimes treat God like how the young boy regarded the donkey. We have heavy loads that we cannot bear, but instead of casting the weight onto our ever-willing Father, we hold onto the burdens ourselves.

There are so many things to worry about in life and often, it is a daily battle to fight off anxiety as soon as we awake. But that is precisely what our heavenly father wants us to do through the power of his Holy Spirit. We were not created to be bowed down with stress.

There is a story in my book, “Why You Make God Smile Vol. 1” (Hanging From the Ropes of Life) which talks about a time when I was so crippled with fear that I literally could not move. The experience taught me a valuable lesson about trusting in God at all times.

Like the donkey cart owner, I also have encountered a young boy with learning difficulties whom God used to teach me a lesson about his never ending love for us. The Mystery of the Disappearing Boy can be found in Chapter 13 of, “God Loves Children”.

Some people think God is silent. He is not. He uses many ordinary situations to remind us of how much he cares about what is going on in our hearts and lives.

As you read through these excerpts, true stories and articles, may you receive a fresh encounter with him today.

I am no guru, but I think I have existed long enough on this earth to know what is

boring.

You, me, and most others on the internet are advertising our businesses, sharing posts we wish others to react positively to, and highlighting the skills we have that has produced a product or a service.

Some of you are cake makers, others are artists, fitness trainers and dieticians, offering weight loss/muscle gain plans. Some are into interior design, and others do amazing things with wool, thread, card and glue. Then we have nail technicians, fashion designers, furniture sellers, hairdressers and other services pertaining to health and beauty.

But here’s the thing. I know quite a large bunch of book writers and they are not in such a fortunate position as those of you in the professions above.

You see, a photographer can display their shots. A carpet fitter can show you their rugs and underlay. A cake decorator can show the designs they have done and anyone looking at their photos instantly know, “I want something like that for myself.” The same is true for those displaying nail art and hairstyles. It doesn’t take much viewing to know if what they have is what we want.

But books, sweet books. Nobody wants to see pictures of an author stood holding copies of their latest novel. 

“Good for you.” I think, when somebody piles their books high and takes a photo. It doesn’t serve to spur my interest because – and here’s where I agree with the business gurus – it’s boring.  I want an excerpt – better still, the entire chapter, so that I can have a full understanding of how they write and what they write about.

I am so fed up of LinkedIn posts from authors showing us the snazzy front cover of their latest title. It doesn’t give me any idea that I will enjoy what is written inside and to be honest, as much as I admire the artwork, I’m tempted to fetch my bouncy pillow and have a  good kip.

“Open the pages and let me into your world!”

People need to know:

“What’s in it for me?”

“How is this going to help me?”

“Is it going to entertain me, or make me laugh?”

“How do I know if this is a good service/product to give to a loved-one or friend?”

“Will it solve a problem of mine or will it help somebody I know?”

“Is this something that’s going to benefit my life?“

If people cannot visually sample a product online (okay, you can’t smell perfume or taste food, but you know what I mean) they have no obligation to hang around. I certainly don’t linger where there are no juicy tasters.

For those of you who write books and are scared to let people prod and poke, please stop worrying about having your work stolen from you. Even if you placed watermarks on your pages, an avid plagiariser would painstakingly just copy out your page. Book stealing doesn’t happen that often, but when it does, there are ways around proving you are the original master of your work. To Christian writers I simply say, take it as a compliment, leave the problem with God and move on.

But you really must cease getting into a flap about copyright, ownership and the like. Just give people samples of your book and if they read the entire thing online instead of buying it, so what? One day they may be inclined to purchase a copy for a friend when they remember how it blessed them – in the meantime, quit feeling cheated!

So this is why I take immense pleasure in sharing my books with you. You can dip in and out, viewing snippets that take your fancy, or you can go full steam ahead and read an entire volume, from Preface to Epilogue. You will probably find that some chapters are more applicable to you than others. These you can happily share with people who you feel will be blessed by them.

“But I don’t want people just reading my books online for free!” says the author who ardently disagrees with me.

My gracious reply to you is, firstly, how are you going to know what anyone is up to, and if you do find out, how are you going to stop them? When Christian singers share the songs from their albums, have you then gone and purchased all their CDs? It’s nice to be blessed in this way, but if somebody’s offering something for free, they are ultimately relying on the Lord to bless their ministry, not mankind. There’s one more response to this angst:

You are not a cake decorator – nobody is going to point to the art on the front cover of your book and say, “Ooh, I want that!” Your icing flowers are your quotes, chapters and snippets of prose and without them, people are just going to see a proud writer who thinks they are sassy because their name is in print.

I want to thank you for being here right now, reading this. It has given me immense pleasure creating this excerpt website for you and I want you to know that I am happy to be able to provide you with a cost free way of sampling my books or reading them entirely. There are no grubby finger-marks for me to worry about and there will be no dog-ears because you’ve lost the umpteenth bookmark.  You don’t have to worry about who sneezed on the page before you touched it, or forking out a shed-load of cash to purchase a Kindle. So grab yourself your favourite beverage, cosy blanket if you are somewhere chilly, or parasol if you are somewhere that makes me jealous.

Happy browsing,

I see nothing wrong with the photo above, and neither did her friends. Well, there was the odd one or two things they spotted when holding the snap up close to their face, but all in all, they appreciated the effort she made in thinking to bless them with this surprise gift.

Similarly, you may have received a free copy of one of my books back in 2019 or 2020, and likewse, it was a total surprise. However, I must ask you to forgive me for sounding rather blunt. Please bin it.

“Why on earth would I do that?” you say with fathomable alarm.

I hang my head in the shame of having been too impatient and too unobservant to have noticed errors or things that just didn’t seem right. Maybe I’m a perfectionist like the woman in the photo, but if something is amiss, I have to correct it.

Typos have been found and grammar mistakes corrected, but more significantly, changes have been made to the content whereby several passages or chapters have been added or edited. Therefore, unless it says on the ISBN page, ‘Revised Edition: Dec 2023’, it’s an old copy.

That is why I’m politely asking you to throw it in the garbage – toss it in the trash.

The beautiful lady on the far left is called Clara. Her daughter is Emily and her husband is Arthur. Most people call the old lady, ‘Grannie’. Clara seems reasonably content and that fur stole looks stunning on her frame. But like me, she’s fretting over that freebie she sent out last month.

Firstly, she wanted to be indoors. It was a chilly January afternoon, but there was a ray of sunshine overhead and it was reflecting on the camera. This made everybody squint and she doesn’t like it.

“Why oh, why didn’t I notice this before I sent out all those copies to my friends?” she wails. “My Arthur looks Japanese!”

The background was wrong too. She wanted to be standing in front of a wall decorated with a light strip of flowers.

She was not keen on her hat either. It was too far down and cast a shadow that made her look sleepy – and she forgot to remove the feather. Flapping about in the wind above her head made her feel like a giant ostrich searching for pilchards.

It had been her daughter’s suggestion to let Grannie join them for the photoshoot, but she wasn’t satisfied with her mother-in-law’s pose because she had insisted on holding her umbrella. Why couldn’t she just put the wretched thing down? When she had confronted her about it, the curt reply had been that her son was doing the same, so why wasn’t she bothered about him? It almost caused an argument. Arthur was holding an umbrella for a totally different reason. It was his cane. A gentleman looked distinguished when he walked along with a black sticking swinging in front of him, but she just couldn’t get his mother to understand that.

Then there was her own face. Others would have said it looked fine, and indeed, that was true, but she felt pasty and wished she had pinched her cheeks before the picture was taken. She had removed her gloves to do just that, but the photographer had shouted at her to stop moving. The flash made her wince and she had to steady herself by holding onto her husband’s shoulder. Thankfully this was one aspect of the photograph she didn’t mind. It made her look more loving. But, how she wished they had all positioned themselves in a different way. Given the chance to do it again, she would have made Emily lean against Grannie and moved Arthur to her right hand side.

It takes time to get things right, and I guess this highlights my haste in pressing the “publish” button too early. Please forgive me for my *promptitude. Thankfully for you, there is no need to replace your copy because you can now read all my chapters online, right here. You also have the advantage of having learnt a new *word, which I could have not shared with you had I not needed to write you this little note.

“I already knew what that meant.” you reply rather wrly.

That’s great. You’re more learned than me, because I confess that I had to look it up. It’s not a word I have been familiar with. I don’t like to use big vocabulary at all, and I have an article on that. But I’m going off topic – this post was just to let you know that I have failed in being able to produce a perfect copy of any of my books the first time around. Or the second. Or the third. And now I am paying the price by having to ask you to discard your freebie to the rubbish cart and placate you by suggesting an alternative action would be, to make paper aeroplanes. Origami is a fantastic way of easing one’s guilt for disrespecting trees.

There is one consolation for me in all this woe. I love to laugh at myself and I enjoy learning from my (many) mistakes. Also, thankfully for me, I do not suffer from kakorrhaphiophobia.

Happy shaping.

Much love,

Now here’s a funny thing.

When people ask me what I do in my spare time, I tell them that I am a writer and then, more often than not, I regret my hasty speech.

Being connected to over 1000 writers on LinkedIn, I’m aware that most of them have self-published at least four books apiece. Therefore, to them, my hobby is no cause for surprise.

Non-writers however, always seem aghast when they learn of my penchant for words. This is particularly true of Christians. The conversation often goes something like this:

Person: “So what do you do?”

Me: “Well, I er…I am I’m a writer.”

Person: “Oh really? What do you write?”

Me: “I have a couple of blogs. And I write books.

Person: Oh. So have you published any?

ME: Yes.

Person: “Ooh. What type of books do you write?”

Me: “Christian books.”

That is the moment when said Person physically recoils. Almost every time, I notice a jerking of the head backwards and a sharp intake of breath, followed by a quick change of subject, or a rapid wave across the room to an imaginary best buddy who has suddenly come into their view.

Seriously, the amount of aparitions that make an apearance in those moments is quite astounding. One minute they have no physical body and cannot be seen. Then, mention you publish Christian material, and a ghost emerges with their index finger extended and curling upwards, drawing the person to finish our conversation and come towards them in a flurry.

I am left in a haze of bewilderment, as I quickly recap my behaviour, manner and tone of voice.

Did I sound cocky, arrogant, proud? Did I seem smug? I never detail the amount of books I’ve published, but does the fact that I mention I write, still register as boastful and totally unacceptable speech?

It is Christians who act this way, so there wouldn’t have been any fear that I was going to pin them up against the wall and preach to them about their soul salvation.

As I am never given the chance during the expeditious conversation to explain what my books are about, I can only come to my own conclusions as to why each person reacts in such an abashed manner.

I am assuming therefore, that there is a stereotypical connotation attached to the term ‘Christian books’ and that it may seem to the layperson that I am saying I consider myself to have delusions of grandeur, whereby I believe I am called to lecture, preach, condemn and reprimand all those within my reach.

Maybe Christians who don’t feel called to put pen to paper, but are given authority by their church to stand on a lectern and deliver a sermon or lead a house group, think I am unqualified to write down things pertaining to godliness and living a life with Jesus. They haven’t done so, so why should I?

Or, is it the fear of being pushed into a corner and being bombarded with a choleric sales pitch?

Maybe, at that point, there is an imaginary, dreaded conversation that is playing in their minds that goes something like this:

Person: “So what are your books actually about?”

Me: “Well… that would be too difficult to explain, so you’ll have to buy all of them in order to find out. I tell you what, give me your number and I will send you the links to Amazon where you can download them, or for a small fee of such and such, you can get the physical copies. Have you got a bookshelf at home? Ah yes, I seem to recall that your relative said you did.

Well, they will look wonderful complementing the rest of your bibles and commentaries. In fact, why don’t you give me your e-mail address and I’ll put you on a mailing list and every two weeks I will send you 5 spams telling you about the new ideas running around my brain. And just think, if you get copies for your brother’s birthday and your dad’s anniversary and your cousin’s christening, you would make me very wealthy indeed – and aren’t we called to bless one another?

Not only that, my friend, but you will have the chance to become a writer yourself, by doing me a whole load of spiffing reviews, on the internet.

Oh how exciting this is! You could become my greatest fan! Thank you so much for offering to help me in this way. I’m so glad I bumped into you today – must have been a divine appointment.”

Person: ” Er… I am not er…I haven’t…didn’t…”

Me: “No worries, no worries. I know what you were going to say and that’s fine. I understand. I am  so deeply grateful!”

Yup. I am sure this is a dreaded scenario running around in the mind of some.

Moving on, this kind of reminds me of times in the past when my sister and I used to go on holiday together. We would meet up with a lovely couple and at some point, they would ask the inevitable:

“Are you both working or at college? Oh working. That’s nice. What do you do?”

I would hesitate, while my older sister would reply:

“I am a nurse.”

Sweet couple: “Ah, how lovely!”

Sister: “A neonatal nurse. I work in the Special Care Baby Unit because I look after premature babies.”

Sweet Couple would hold their hands up to their heart and inhale slowly, then their eyes would moisten as they exhaled an emotional,

“Teeny weeny babies! Fragile mites! What an amazing job! How compassionate and caring! You’re an angel!”

They would then turn to me with such expectancy that it seemed they were hoping I’d say:

“And I’m a mortician who embalms the ones who don’t make it.”

Instead, they would get a simple:

“I work in a bank.”

Now…no matter how sweetly I tried to put it, I would always get the same response 100% of the time:

“Which bank?”

Never have I seen such instant fear in the eyes of a stranger. They would push their neck forward like a pigeon and not blink until they had received my answer.

Me: “HSBC”

Sweet couple: (sighing with relief) “Phew! Not my bank!”

But what if it had been? On the rare occasions when Unfortunate Sweet Couple hadn’t been astute enough to move their fortunes to Barclays, and did actually have a bank account at HSBC, they would either begin to explain why they were overdrawn, or try to justify why there was so much money sitting in their current account.

Panicky Sweet Couple: “My aunt’s just died you see, and she left us some money in her will. Plus we’re in the process of selling her house, so we can’t put it away in the savings until that’s sorted. We’re not greedy people. We’re not rich. We’re just in the middle of working with the probate.”

No, did I know any of this previously. No, there would not be any ways I could have found this out by myself. Indeed, people seemed to think that if they had a bank account with the same company where I worked, that somehow, I had an internal database that detailed the entire customer base and with just one blink, I could recall their every financial transaction, even if we hadn’t yet exchanged names.

Here’s another illustration: At school, there was a boy in my class called Andrew Stewart, who was interested in explosives. Each time a career teacher asked him what he wanted to do when he was older, he would reply with a big grin:

“Bomb disposal.”

Teachers gave him a wide berth, and those who couldn’t move out of his way quick enough, gave funny looks as he walked by.

I don’t know if young Andrew got his wish, but what I do know is, in the 30 or more years since we left school, there has been so many attacks of terrorism, that governments from all across the world would have been crying out for people like Andrew, who in reality, had a noble yearning to support humanity. His desire in life was to detonate weapons in order to save the lives of millions.

My conclusion to all this is, when someone tells you what their job is, what they enjoy doing in their spare time, or what they desire to do in the future, don’t judge them on their words or your stereotypical view of what that means. Instead, I challenge you to ask them some more questions and you may find out that their answer isn’t so terrifying.

For me, my answer is: My books were written to encourage fellow Christians on their journey with Jesus, especially the depressed, the lonely, the confused, the rejected and the hurting. Some contain stories about my own failures, mistakes and silly things I’ve done. Some stories detail deep hurts and explains how God turned every single one of them around for the good. There are evangelistic chapters designed for those who do not yet know Jesus, and there are sinners prayers dotted around to give them the chance to get right with God immediately. Some books include difficult subjects such as, civil war, growing old, gang rape, burglary, abortion, singleness, dating, child abandonment, child neglect, racism, church snobbery, fears, insecurities, long-term sickness and parenting fails.

All done in a loving way to help readers to fall in love with Jesus, or have their hope renewed.

There are humorous tales of what life was like working in a Christian bookshop and my ex colleagues who all got a free copy, loved it. I also have a humongous volume of Christian drama sketches based on bible stories and they are all in rhyme. I’m not bragging, but it is a fantastic book for Christian drama teachers. Okay, so maybe here, you would want to do the ‘change subject, walk away, wave to imaginary friend’ thing, because I admit I’m beginning to sound a little sales-pitchey.

All in all, they were written to bless you – not to make me look good, or to line my pockets. And boy, did I have fun making them! I love what I do and I’m not ashamed that my verbosity has lead to me putting things into print.

So, if we meet face to face one day and you ask me what I do, I’m not going to back you into a corner. I promise.

I have never done that, and if per chance, I knew what was in your bank account, I wouldn’t tell a soul.

Much love,

Welcome Video (from Homepage)

About Me

The Benefits of Reading (How To Boost your Memory & Stimulate Your Brain)

Why You Make God Smile (despite your faults and weaknesses) Volume 1

God Loves Children

Life In a Christian Bookshop

Why You Make God Smile (despite your faults and weaknesses) Volume 2

A Manly Man – What is this book about?

A Manly Man – Chapter 1 (Part 1/8)

A Manly Man – Chapter 1 (Part 2/8)

A Manly Man – Chapter 1 (Part 3/8)

A Manly Man – Chapter 1 (Part 4/8)

A Manly Man – Chapter 1 (Part 5/8)

A Manly Man – Chapter 1 (Part 6/8)

A Manly Man – Chapter 1 (Part 7/8)

A Manly Man – Chapter 1 (Finale)

Instagram videos

“This world is fading.”

“Characters from my books”

“Parenting is hard.”

“Laughing at myself.”

“A Godly man.”

“I hate sales pitches.”

For videos on DEPRESSION, click here.

Being an author is hard. It is considerably different to being a blogger. It’s a bit like being a contestant on a singing competition show, where contestants compete against each other to win a recording contract prize at the end.

Some singers have a pleasant voice and can carry a tune, but they struggle to hit the high notes and have no breath control whatsoever. Others have the quivery, vibrato thing occurring in their voice box, but can’t keep the melody going. They have to train. They need a vocal coach to teach them the finer points and an agent to show them how to present themselves on stage.

Thus, being able to sing and being a successful singer are two different things entirely. When somebody walks into the audition room and looks over at the judges with a desperate glare, I often wonder if they realise that becoming a famous singer means being a performer who is emotionally and physically fit enough to go on tour for a whole year, belting out multiple songs a night to an audience that has given up a large proportion of their hard-earned money to purchase a ticket and be enthralled by their presence. Okay, you can sing, but can you entertain?

I love reading blogs and I’m always encouraging my favourite writers to gather a collecton of their posts and turn them into books. But this can be a scary venture, especilaly when most people have to go down the route of self-publishing.

Robbie Williams is a great example of somebody who proved that he can not only be part of a cute pop band, but be a star in his own right. Gary Barlow also found his own niche very quickly. Who knows if the other members could have had the same success? Maybe they expected it to be as easy as it was for the first two and gave up when disillusionment took its toll.

Secondly, there are a few singers who are so gifted that they haven’t had to do much training in order to wow the public. Jackie Evancho and Bianca Ryan come to mind. They opened their mouths as children, and sounded like they’d been warbling perfectly for decades. Those of you who are old enough will remember how amazing it was when the petite Lena Zavaroni made her debut on Opportunity Knocks back in the 70s. But most people are not like that. They have to work very diligently to get their voice, image and status on point.

Writing blogs and articles is a great way for a potential author to begin, and it helps refine their skills, but this isn’t a guarantee that their first book will be perfect.  When I first started churning out books, I thought they were the finished article. It was not until I arranged to have a physical copy of each title sent to my home, that I realised there was much to be edited in each. Some books have been republished 4 times – others, about 12. Yes, my friends, it can take that long before an author is truly happy with their work.

I have learnt that writing a book is a longer process than just editing a manuscript, proofreading it, correcting grammatical errors and choosing an eye-catching image for the front cover.

Verbosity

Firstly, one has to ensure that one does not fall into the trap of become too verbose. Nobody wants to plough through the next edition of, ‘War and Peace’. As difficult as it can be, I try to stick to my motto:

“Get to the point, and quickly.”

My favourite non-fiction books are the ones that have short, concise chapters and are written in a way that is easy to read, put down, and pick up again without losing the thread of where you were. This is what I try to do, because I am my worst critic. As an author, you have to be.

Who still reads?

Connected to this, is the importance of making your work visual. What I mean is, draw the reader in so that they can visualise what you are describing, whether it’s an emotion, an interaction between two people or an environment. We live in an age where humans prefer to be entertained by what they can see moving in front of them, not by what they are reading. You have to ask yourself, “Why would I buy this book?” “Why would I put down my phone to read it?” “Why would I be proud to give it to somebody as a gift?”

Emotional technicalities

What I mean by this is, I have to constantly ask myself, “How am I wanting my reader to feel?” If I am trying to make them laugh, is it because I want them to think I am funny, or because I want them to relax, unwind and learn to see that life can still be fun amidst the chaos? And am I really being funny or just silly? Are the serious bits boring? Confusing? A book that makes me feel condemned or judged, is going to remain at the back of my bookshelf, or find its way to the chairty shop pile. The same is true of one that doesn’t flow right, or where the author is trying too hard to be amusing.

Is this biblical?

Being an author is difficult enough, but what is even more complex is when you are penning Christian material – writing books to encourage others in their walk with God and to glorify Jesus. There is a constant checking and rechecking that everything you say is biblically sound, ties-in with scripture, not heretic or dishonouring to the very God you are trying to bless.

Mixed in with that, is the other side of the coin: one cannot get so bogged-down with the dread of being seen as flaky, that one comprises by falling into ‘fear of man’. One has to be firm in their convictions and not be terrified of offending. Expert evangelist, Ray Comfort says that many Christians are so scared of talking about Hell and repentance that they are actually doing unregenerate people a disservice. He states that by only telling people that God loves them, it is like giving a blind man headphones that he turns up so loud that he cannot hear the shouts of warning as he edges towards the cliff face. Yes, people need encouragement, yes, people need to feel good about themselves and inspirational books are wonderful, but somewhere along the line, if you want to do these lost souls justice, you have to quit fearing their anger and tell them the full truth. Hell is real and repentance is an unavoidable necessity of life.

Empathy

The interlocking difficulties continue as one realises that one cannot just shout at people in their books and make them feel like everything is wrong with their life. There are reasons why people do stupid things, make foolish choices, clock up failures by the dozen, and wallow in self-hate and depression. The last thing a Christian writer wants to do, is wound the wounded. Empathy plays such an important part in the world of Christian literature. So, while we mustn’t be sycophantic with our readers, we also mustn’t be too harsh.

Prayer

Thankfully, with much prayer and waiting on the Lord, the Christian author can be happy with the end results of their work. But as you can see from everything described above, this does not happen as fast as one imagines. Writers always have ideas going around their heads, especially ones like me who find people fascinating and see God in so many ordinary situations. But humility is the key. Of course, I am not saying that I am humble, for as soon as one considers themselves to be so, they have fallen back into pride.

All I am saying is, that like with every other type of gift, as a Christian, one has to make sure they stay grounded. Another one of my favourite mottos is:

“Don’t become full of yourself and don’t think you are anything special just because you have items in print. Your name is on the front cover of catchy titles – so what!”

God has given each and every one of us gifts to use and share with others and success is only reached when we acknowledge that we cannot do anything by ourselves. People need people – that is how God made the system.

Teamwork

And so, I end by declaring that I am very grateful for all the people who made my books possible – from the people who made me cry, to the hilarious characters I have bumped into on the London Underground. They are the reason I put pen to paper in the first place, and of course, Jesus Christ, who has done, and still continues to be, the most amazing person that has ever been worth writing about.

I have this notion that everyone has at least one book inside of them. I encourage you to release yours. Despite the frustrations and complexities of being an author – it’s worth it. It has brought me so much joy.

Years ago, when subsidy publishers were popular, would-be authors would flock to them in the hope that they would give them a publishing contract.

The publisher would always respond with,

“We’ve read your manuscript and think it is just the right thing and we would love to work with you. We are happy that you want to publish your book with us.”

Then, they would bleed them dry by demanding they hand over every penny they had.

Why, you ask, did so many authors choose this route? Well, ordinary publishers wanted nothing to do with layman writers. They became inundated with so many A4 sized parcels that most of them went straight into the bin. The few manuscripts that were read, were mostly anthologies of boring poetry, or badly written children’s stories. They had had enough, and very soon, all mainstream publishers decided that unsolicited manuscripts should be submitted by nobody, not even if your friends thought you were the next Shakespeare, Agatha Christie or Danielle Steel.

Even when they did find a great tale submitted by a trusted literary agent, it was far too risky to take that author on board. Put simply, if a million people did not know you as a renowned author, a million people were not going to buy your book.

“But I’m a member of a large slimming club / church congregation / golf club / dance mom posse!” they would wail.

Alas, writers did not understand that the most cost effective process for mainstream publishers, was to print off at least 200 copies at a time. Added to the cost of paper, ink, electricity and wages, was the bill for proofreaders, copy editors and marketers. Lastly, they had to make lucrative deals with bookshops and these places often had the upper hand. Some stores would accept 2 copies, but many said, “No thank you, this author’s unknown to this area.” Which left the remaining bundle taking up space somewhere in the publishing house. Now, multiply that bundle by 450 submissions a month.

All in all, it simply wasn’t financially feasible for publishers to take such a big risk with a newbie author, especially those writing in a category that was already overcrowded (children’s books), or the least popular (poetry).

Therefore, the motto became,

“Written a book? Then publish it at your own expense.”

I decided to do that myself. After submitting the paper manuscript (no internet back then, she says, pulling the blanket over her knees and searching for her knitting needles) it was only a matter of days before I received the official letter in the post.

The acceptance letter was full of the usual diatribe about how they thought I definitely should work with them and where had I been hiding all this time? I was hooked.

I signed the contract, paid the extortionate fee and waited.

Three weeks later, I received a phone call from the manager.

“I’m very sorry, but there was a fire in the Editor’s office and your manuscript was the one he had been working on at the time. It’s been completely destroyed. You’ve got another copy of it haven’t you?”

Silence.

Oh come on! Who would be so foolish to not have a duplicate copy of their manuscript? Even if it’s not stolen and plagiarised by a malignant post office employee, it could still get lost in transit!

Well…of course I’m not stupid – not ever so much. I did have a duplicate, but at the last minute, I had changed so many poems (Oh, didn’t I confess that I was one of those weird dudes who write poetry when depressed, then hide their ramblings under the bed?) I had been too lazy to copy it all out again.

So alas, there you have it. The most up to date copy of my work was stupidly submitted without there being any proof to show what I had penned.

What do you think my reply was? I did the thing that most silly Christians do. I lied.

“Oh yeah,” I fibbed. “of course I have a copy. But I was thinking the other day, that I’d like to make some changes here and there, so would you mind ever so much if it takes about another month before I send it to you?”

“Sure, no problem. Take your time.”

The gracious response was tinged with light relief. They had another 449 manuscripts to work on.

After the call, I fell to my knees. I was faced with the mammoth task of re-writing the entire book again from scratch.

I wondered why God had allowed this to happen. He had seen how hard I had worked putting the whole thing together.

I turned inwards and did some soul reflection. Had I become proud about my gifting? Was I getting too big for my boots? Was I one of those deceived followers of Christ who thinks they are working for him but in reality, he wants nothing to do with it? Is that really where my manuscripts belonged – in the flames?

Words began to rise up in me as I imagined myself as a tiny orange, sitting in a fruit bowl among other exotic delicacies. A poem called, “I’m a Proud Little Orange” was born.

The most astounding thing about this was that after adding this new title to my revised manuscript, it became the poem that everybody said was their favourite. I had considered it to be a bit juvenile and a tad out of place compared to the other prose, but all my readers loved it.

Even now, 30 years on, (hear those needles clatter) I am still getting comments about that poem from that tiny little book that is now out of print.

So, I realised that sometimes tragedy is necessary in order for new things to be born and like that proud little orange who felt so smug that he was still whole in the bowl, while other fruit had been sliced and diced, sometimes our lives are more beneficial to God when we let him squeeze us so hard, that we produce fresh orange juice through the pain.

_{Words are churning in your head and you are excited about the thought of them being formatted into some sort of order that would describe it as your first book. Go for it – I know you can do it.}

_{But yea, it’s easy to say that when you’ve already done it. To master just the page layout can be feat in itself and you don’t know if you’ll have the patience to display your thoughts in a way that compliments your style.}

_{Sorry to sound a little casual, but this really isn’t your biggest problem. In my humblest, humble opinion, the hardest hurdles are pertaining to the mind itself, not the book.}

_{The article below is my take on how to overcome the biggest mental challenges. Some snippets of advice are for everybody, but some parts relate solely to Christian writers, because their faith will be at play also.}

_{Whoever you are and whatever you believe, this one notion is true for everybody:}

Technicality is secondary to mindset. Get your thoughts right first, and the rest will not be as hard as you imagined.

_{There are nine basic human desires that I believe can stand in the way of emotional success if not kept regularly in check.}

_{We don’t go around consciously declaring:}

“I want to be liked.”

“I want to be understood.”

“I want to be heard.”

“I want to be appreciated.”

“I want to be taken seriously.”

“I want to be trusted.”

“I want to be believed.”

“I want to be accepted.”

“I want to be admired.”

_{but that is what we all think in varying degrees, and for some of us, it is a daily subconscious declaration.}

_{It shows itself in the way we behave towards others and in the decisions we make. All of the statements have the power to become too much of a stronghold in our lives and that is where things can begin to go wrong.}

1: I want to be liked.

_{Everybody has opinions and they will often differ from yours. Accept it. Don’t fight it. Don’t try to make people like you by being something you are not. Yes, by all means continually strive to improve your own personality (the Epistles are perfect for highlighting weakness and sins) but don’t become a people-pleaser or a sycophant. Remember, Jesus said that you are not greater than your master. If people hate him, they will hate you, no matter what you do to try to appease them.}

2: I want to be understood

_{You can take two hours clearly explaining your thoughts and the listener hears, but hasn’t grasped what you were trying to put across. Accept that they are wired differently to you and may never see your point of view even if they lived another 100 years.}

_{An author friend of mine was rejected by a mainstream publisher because they thought her book was written in a way that southern people would not understand. She refused to change the dialect and local jargon because she wanted the northern humour to be authentic. I read it and it was indeed too vernacular for me, and I didn’t understand the subtle northern humour at all. I was brought up in the south and so many incidents and phrases in her book could not be appreciated by my brain. Although I admired her for sticking to her guns, it turns out that the publisher was right. When I read it, I could not hear the accents, mannerisms and idiosyncrasies of the area she was portraying. It took me 6 years to realise why certain things were said in the way they were. It’s a shame because it was a fantastic story.}

_{If people cannot identify with certain things you are saying, they may not understand your book as much as others. But that doesn’t matter in the long run. Even though the publisher my friend spoke to was right, there may be one day when a northern playright is looking for a story just like hers, and she will become an overnight success. She was happy with the choice she made and you need to do the same, even if it means less people like your work.}

3: I want to be heard

_{People want a voice, but there are times when we must stop talking and hear what others are saying.We have to ask ourselves, “Is what I am saying more important than what that person is trying to say to me?”}

_{So, how does this relate to writing? Your topic may not be a favourable one. You are getting your point of view across in print, but it may be emotionally difficult to read. Think about how different people are going to perceive your words and accept that not everybody is going to want to hear them at this moment in time.}

_{God doesn’t always want us to display ourselves in the way we are trying to, and left unchecked, we can come across as attention-seekers. Regarding Christian books, “This is me.” Is not as important as, “This is He.” But, even when we are promoting Jesus, others don’t necessarily want to hear that, no matter how eloquently he is presented. Accept that it was the wrong time and that you may be given an opportunity to try again at a later date.}

4: I want to be appreciated

_{So, you stayed up late to finish your last chapter. Your neck hurts, your eyes are sore and your wrists are stiff. You missed time with your family, your favourite TV show and precious hours of sleep. The world cries, “So what?”}

_{You spent hours on YouTube trying to find a tutorial on how to number pages correctly, set margins, prevent text from wandering off the page, add headers, keep line spacing consistent, find all the hidden typos, and add page breaks, but the videos you found may as well have been in Greek.}

_{By the time you managed it, you had missed 3 meals and are seeing double. The world cries, “So what?”}

_{You went into the woods with your new camera to find the best snapshots for your front cover. When you tried to insert the picture, it was all misaligned. The pigeon in the bottom of the photo was taking centre stage, leaving 2 petals from the beautiful dahlias up in the far corner. It made you scream, then you wept till dawn. The world cries, “So what?”}

_{Our desire for appreciation although valid, can turn us into insecure people. When unfulfilled, it can make us angry and at worst, depressed. Not everyone will give you validation for the effort you made. They are busy working hard themselves. Be proud of yourself, but stop expecting others to be.}

5: I want to be taken seriously

_{Who likes to be regarded as a fool or uncool? When Jesus was teaching in the temple, his neighbours from his hometown couldn’t take him seriously because all they saw was the boy whom they grew up with from an insignificant family, living a mediocre life, in an insignificant district. It doesn’t matter if you never got a grade in English language or struggle with dyslexia. It you believe you can write a book, then you can.}

_{If you are writing humour or memoirs with lots of personal confessions, there will always be the risk of others misunderstanding your wit, or not being able to cope with your blatant honesty – thereby judging you to be somewhat stupid. Don’t let the fear of people’s wrong conclusions about you, hold you back. If people accuse you of being daft just because you are happy to be yourself, let them. They are the fools for being too proud to see that God is not impressed with airs and graces of any kind.}

6: I want to be trusted

_{I am a stickler for credibility and I’m sure you are too. Our natural human inclinations mean we are liable to judge people wrongfully owing to not being able to see past the obvious. For example, if Dougal MacTavish wrote an Indian curry cookbook, it may well be the best one around. In the bookshop, seeing Dougal’s book next to that of Rakesh Singh’s, which one am I likely to buy? With not much information to go on, I am going to grab Rakesh’s book. Likewise, if Rakesh learnt how to make the tastiest haggis in town, but Dougal’s haggis cookbook is sitting next to his on the shelf, I am going to buy his.}

_{With this in mind, don’t be offended if people are put off buying your book because there are not many Amazon reviews. Telling them they can get a refund if they don’t like it, does not register in some minds – it’s not much hassle, but it feels like it is, and therefore, this is not much of an incentive to make a purchase. Added to this is the fact that we don’t read as much as we used to, nor do we have the space for another book in our house. Now, some people love books and prefer having items in print. But they might not be keen on your genre. Personally, I am wary of anything sci-fi or fantasy and I’m not too keen on romance novels. However, I decided to buy a fellow writer’s fantasy book and it was brilliant. I also borrowed a book from the library that was recommended by a stranger on YouTube and I loved it. But not everybody likes to take that risk. Accept it and move on.}

7: I want to be believed

_{Many Christians encounter supernatural experiences that they are excited to share with the world. Unfortunately, because there are a myriad of deceivers out there, some people may be wary of any stories that involve miracles. Your testimony is your testimony, but know that there will always be folk who struggle to believe the accuracy of your tale.}

_{My own mother enjoyed my book, “God Loves Children”, but she struggled with the chapter entitled, The Mystery of the Disappearing Boy. I have never told her the story, so that was the first red flag for her. She is naturally somebody who questions everything, so the fact that she found this story unbelievable was heightened by the fact that I had never mentioned it.}

_{She said to me one day, “Is that story true?” Everything in me wanted to scream, “How could you doubt me, your own daughter, as to whether I made that up or not? Of course it is true! Where on the back cover is it mentioned that this is a work of fiction?”}

_{I suddenly realised I was feeling insulted and disrespected, so I took a deep breath and laughed}.

_{I gave myself as pep talk: “If my own mum wants to doubt the validity of a story, so what? She enjoyed the book didn’t she? Don’t I question things if they sound far-fetched? Be thankful that you know this was true and that if people have a hard time believing it, it confirms how miraculous it really was and how blessed you are for being chosen by God to encounter such an experience.”}

_{Even Jesus’ own siblings didn’t believe he was the Messiah, so brace yourself – you are not as wonderful as him, so it’s likely that there may come a time when close friends and family doubt some of the things you say. Don’t take it personally just because they know you well.}

_{A good example of how we are desperate to be believed is evident in the popular televsion shows, “The Traitors, UK/USA/Australia”. It doesn’t matter which one you watch, the psychology is the same – people hate being doubted.}

_{It starts off with 3-4 people who have been assigned as traitors and the remaining 18 are genuine members of the ‘good pack’. However, because nobody has any clues as to who the secret traitors are, there is a natural inclination to suspect innocent members of the team as being the deceivers, and they are subsquently falsely accused.}

_{It’s only a game, but human reasoning dictates that when you’re being accused of something you are not guilty of, you will forget it’s just a game and take it badly. Thus, in each show, viewers witness emotionally mature men displaying uncontrollable anger and the coolest of men bursting into tears.}

_{Viewers at home are shouting, “Get a grip! It’s not real!” But to the one being falsely accused, it is taken personally.}

_{You have no control over who is going to doubt you – just don’t doubt yourself.}

8: I want to be accepted

_{You may try to get your manuscript accepted by a mainstream publisher because of the genre or some other reason. If they don’t accept it, it will more than likely be for the reasons I stated in my post, Are You Still Whole in the Bowl? Don’t take the rejection to heart. It doesn’t mean you are no good, nor does it mean that you are not as good as those authors who have copies of their books gracing the shelves of popular bookstores.}

_{Never let rejection cause you to feel defeated. Think of the amount of people you know who can sing beautifully. Are they all recording artists? Have they been offered  a 10 year contract with a record label? Have they been welcomed into the world of theatre and do they receive regular job offers for the next big performance? Even those who have managed to secure a place on a TV talent show end up being sidelined by the winner and rarely heard of again. That doesn’t mean they didn’t have amazing talent.}

_{It may be that the genre you write in doesn’t seem to match who you are. A young male author may be laughed at for writing children’s stories. An elderly author may be considered strange for writing youth fantasy. A goth may be  ridiculed for penning soppy poetry. An obese person may be mocked for their passion for producing cookbooks on Vegan recipes and a middle aged businessman may have to keep it quiet that he loves to churn out romantic novels.}

_{Follow your writing passion no matter if there is a risk of it producing derision. Being who you are is far better than conforming to the mould people expect you to fit into. If it’s not a sin, then jump right in!}

9: I want to be admired

_{Ah yes, it feels lovely to be admired. Even Christians who are ever aware that pride comes before a fall, go just as gooey inside as anyone, when somebody gives them a compliment. Accept any approbation received, graciously, but don’t make that your goal. Know in yourself that you have done a good job, but that the glory ultimately goes to God. He is the one who gave you the talent. He is the one who kept your brain active and your creativity in full flow. He is the one who gave you sleep to be refreshed and food to stay physically strong. He is the one who allowed all those negative and positive experiences to happen in your life, to give you either stories or a passion for a certain field of interest. Enjoy what you do, but admire the One who inspired you to do it.}

_{Admiration when received in excess is not good. We humans simply cannot handle it in abundance.}

_{I could name hundreds of thousands of people who became crippled under the weight of human glory}:

_{Elvis Presley, Marilyn Munroe, Whitney Houston, Charlie Sheen, Amy Winehouse, Robin Williams, Britney Spears, Matthew Perry}.

_{These make up one tiny drop in the massive bucket of success. You could name far more than me, I know. You are welcome to draw up a longer list.}

_{As a writer, don’t ask yourself, “Do I want to be admired?” You are human and therefore, you already do. As yourself a better question: “Why do I want to be admired?”}

_{Ask God to reveal any insecurity and pride in you and to help you become more secure in who you are as a person. Even better, ask him to allow a situation to happen whereby somebody lies about you, criticises you, or puts a negative spin on someting good you did. How did you react and how do you feel? That in itself will identify how much your desire for admiration has gone too far. Then, you’ll be able to get back on track.}

_{I hope this has helped you a little. It is wonderful to be able to have a collection of memories or reflections all in one place that you can return to as often as you like. Make your book for you, not for profit or accolade. If you get both of those things, be thankful, but never take your eyes off the fact that writing books is firstly a fun way to express yourself, for yourself, and if you are fortunate enough to fulfill your desire to bless others in the process, that’s a remarkable added bonus.}

_{I wish you all the best. Let me know how you get on.}

You might not know this heavenly father very well, and all this talk of having a relationship with Jesus may make you feel quite inadequate.

“Eek! I’m in my late 40s and have hardly spoken a word to God, let alone done any of the other things that she is encouraging me to do! I don’t know where to start and feel like hiding away, instead of facing my fears. It’s alright for her, because she’s known Him for ages. She’s been at this all her life and has a massive head start on me!”

That notion is partly true, partly false. Yes, I have had the amazing privilege of walking with the Lord before I was in primary school, and have gone through a myriad of experiences that convince me that he’s real, he’s faithful, and can be trusted. I also know my bible pretty well because like you say, I’ve had a bit of a head start with that.

But the length of time somebody has been a Christian and their spiritual maturity are 2 different things. 

There are many people who have been Christians for less than 6 months, who are doing more for God and being more obedient and reverent towards him, than thousands of others who have regularly attended church and said their prayers each night, for decades.

In the Bible, there is a story about how an employer hired servants to work for him from early morning until late at night. Before they began, he told them what the wages would be and they agreed with the amount. 

However, in the early evening, the employer hired a few more men, and they did a couple of hours labour. When it came round to dishing out the wages, the men who worked the whole day noticed that the servants who were hired last got the same wages as them, so they complained about this being unfair.

It wasn’t unfair, (you can read why in Matthew 20:1-16) and God wants you to know that if you seriously wish to accept him into your life and follow Jesus, the reward for your obedience will not be less than mine, just because I’ve been ‘doing this all my life’.

God is generous and willing to bless everybody in the same way, no matter the short length of time some may have with him before their passing. I’m not super-perfect just because I’ve loved him since I was a little girl. I am always putting my foot in it, take ages to learn spiritual lessons, fall asleep while praying, and struggle to discipline myself to stick to a Bible plan. 

I have many regrets, made a ton of mistakes, still eat too much chocolate in one sitting, then wonder why I feel nauseous. I say, “Your will be done.”,  then expect things to go my way. I get distracted during worship, feel like giggling during quiet times of reflection, and can be rubbish at morning devotions. 

Then to top it all, I go to bed too late, drive too fast, eat too fast, talk even faster.

Ooh yes, I am definately a work in progress and that progress seems to be taking forever!

But even if I was someone who could be described as remarkably disciplined, a fast learner and knows God’s every thought, it would still not make me more highly favoured than you.

So be encouraged – you’re not as far behind as you think. 

Therefore, dear friends, do not let anything or anyone deter, or intimidate you from getting to know Jesus just because you feel unworthy. Come to him as you are and let him ‘worry’ about the bits and bobs that need tweeking. He alone can make beauty from ashes, so give your pile to him and I guarantee he will do incredible things with your life.

I wish you all the best.