Kaytlin Phillips's Blog, page 11

Hey folks! We're super late this today but it has taken us a bit to get this post ready. We almost finished up last night, but then we didn't...lol....

Hey, Visionaries! How are y'all today? I hope this post finds you well! Also, I wanted to say that if you have any topics you would like to know more about, please let me know, and I'll look at writing blog posts about them or finding someone who can write a blog post about the topic if I can't.

Alright, without further ado, a word on words!

Words are powerful weapons. Perhaps they are the best defense we have. God refers to Jesus as The Word of Life in John chapter 1.

Words are never just words, like stories are never just stories. Words have the potential to change so much. A word can change a person's day, a sentence can change their week, and a book can change their life. We absorb words like sponges, storing them away for the moments we need them.

You may wonder why I needed to do a whole post on this topic. Well, because I think we need to realize the power our words have. I don’t think we take seriously the responsibility we as writers hold. The weight of the future, in a sense, rests upon our shoulders.

Words are weapons, weapons that can be used in the service of our Lord to fight the encroaching darkness of our days. Words that can be used to light the way to hope, redemption, and the One who heals. But the enemy doesn’t want you to use your words for that. So he sets traps.

Words are pointless.

Doesn’t matter what the words are as long as the story sells.

What you read will not affect how you write.

That word’s not as bad as you think, it’s alright to use…

Little things we might say or use to fudge when writing. Little lies that render our weapons less powerful. Could someone be led to the Lord if a book contained language but was Christian, sure, if God willed it. Should we use language as Christians, I think not. But the enemy will try to tell us we’re only making it more realistic. If you want to be more realistic than mention the person swore or uttered a string of profanities, we don’t have to write them down, there is no need for that.

See, words are so small they are overlooked, but they are so mighty when strung together. Together they become weapons of destruction against the enemy, and that’s what he doesn’t want, so he will do anything in his power to stop you.

From trickery to people telling you your story is preachy. Personally, I don’t get the preachy part, are we not Christians? Did God not say to proclaim His name? Didn’t the book say it was Christian fiction? Why then do Christians complain about Christian content in a Christian Book? What’s wrong with that?

It convicts them. It makes them uneasy because God belongs in church. That is what our culture has tried to reduce the Almighty Father to, but it doesn’t work. Writers must push through and write what God has called them to write. You must worry about the words God has placed on your heart and craft the weapons He has given you. Don’t worry about the world and whether you’ll be too ‘preachy’ by their standards. His standards are all that matters.

So, if words are weapons, darts we fire into the heart of darkness. What do your weapons look like? Are they strong in the hands of their Maker? Or are they defective and touched with reluctance?

As you all know, words and stories and the power they hold is an extremely important topic to me, and I can't stress enough just how important they are. I hope you enjoyed this post and that it gave you pause, and you took something away from it.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Bless!Kaytlin Phillips

*Stumbles into room sneezing* Hey-Oh, guys! How are y'all doing? I'm great *sneezes*, minus the bane of my life hath arrived… *sneezes again*...

Hello, Visionaries! I'm excited to share a guest post with you from Allyson Jamison! Allyson has a super fun and super encouraging writing blog here if you'd like to check that out!

Alright, so I read this post the other day and asked Allyson if I could share it because I think is a reminder we all need. So, let's hop right in!

In my last newsletter I went into a topic that has been on my heart for a little while now. It’s something that I don’t feel is talked about much in the writing world. Or, if it is, I don’t hear about it much. So if you need to hear it, here it is:

It’s okay to do less, even when you’re wishing you were doing more.

As a writer, I think we have a lot of pressure to always be pounding out content, to always be writing our next novel or our next story, we’re always expected to be doing more. It’s like people forget we’re only human and can only do so much. I think sometimes we forget that as well.

I fall into the trap as well. So often I try to push myself to write more, to do more, to be more. But I can only stretch myself so far because, well, as I said, I’m human. When people push themselves too far, that’s when they go into burn out and an over all feeling of “done”. That’s probably not the most eloquent way to put it, but that’s how I feel. XD Done with life.

This isn’t a healthy place to be in, folks.

Writing is a form of art, and art comes from a special place inside us. It’s not something you can just force yourself to do—you have to feel it. And when all you’re feeling is burn out, you can no longer feel your art.

As I’m sure you all know by now, I have been working on edits with my current novel for… a long time. XD Okay, in all fairness, it’s only been a few months. But it feels like so much longer. This is the first time that I’ve ever edited one of my novels so it’s been a huge learning process (which has been part of the reason for how long it’s taken).

It’s been hard for me to spend so long on one project because I’m generally a fast writer and can finish a novel in a short time frame. Actually, I wrote this novel faster than I’m now editing it. I’ve been pretty down on myself for that.

But what I’ve been learning lately, and am still learning, is that it’s okay to do less. It’s okay to take longer at a project. It’s even okay to go weeks without writing at all (or editing in my case). It’s okay.

Something I heard Nadine Brandes say on a webinar a while back and has still stuck with me because it was so good, is that even if you’re going through an off season with writing, you’re still learning because you’re living life.

Read that again and let it soak in for a second.

Even if you’re not writing, you’re still learning because you’re living life .

This actually goes back to what I was saying in my recent post about priorities. For too long writing was over living my own life on my priority list. But it can’t be. Because that’s what leads into burn out and an altogether unsatisfied life.

When you’re living your life you can’t help but have adventures, fun moments, and inspiration that can be pulled from for your stories. But not only that, stories are full of life lessons and themes that you can’t know about unless you learn them yourself through living life! (Not to say you can’t write about a theme you don’t have experience with. I mean, you can do anything in fiction, right? But it does become more impactful for the readers, and for you, when you’ve gone through it yourself.)

For a long time I lived with the belief that I needed to be writing, writing, writing. Always. Constantly. I couldn’t lose that consistency. For a time, maybe that was what I needed when I was trying to learn consistency. Maybe you’ll go through a time when you need that as well.

But you can’t always live that way.

Because you’re not living if you’re squirreled away in your bedroom writing nonstop.

This is what I’ve had to learn. It was what I was already thinking for some time when Nadine Brandes said that in her webinar with Sara Ella. In a way, it felt like she was giving me permission to write less.

I know, I know that must sound crazy, but it’s the truth. No one has everything figured out, but when I hear a successful author saying something I can’t help but think it has to be truth. XD I realize this is an unfounded belief, but the point still stands: I needed to hear that that day.

I hope that you will be able to take something from this as well. I hope that, in time, you can learn that every writer has off seasons and that it’s okay for you to take one as well (speaking to myself here as well). Those off seasons can be some of the most fruitful time periods as a writer, because it’s through them that you grow and gain motivation and inspiration.

It’s through them that you become a better writer.

Your turn!

Do you ever feel pressured to write more or do more? How do you deal with the pressure? What have you been doing to live life more fully?

Blessings, Allyson

About the Author:

I am a quirky young writer with a passion to serve Christ in all that I do. Writing makes up the very being of who I am and I could never imagine doing anything else. In my spare time, you can find me reading my pocket-sized thesaurus, playing friendly pranks on unsuspecting family members, or writing my next great novel. Always with a cup of tea.

My blog: https://allysonjamison.wordpress.com/

Newsletter: https://allysonjamison.ck.page/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/allyson-jamison

Instagram: https://instagram/shays_scribbles/

Hey y'all! How are you doing? I honestly had no idea what to post, so I pulled a tag that I could fill out and hopefully have some time for writing after I get this typed up....lol...

Hello, Visionaries! Today the post is a question for y'all, I hope you will read it and pray about your response. It's so important that we, as Christian creatives especially, know the answer to this question.

I hope you enjoy this post and glean something meaningful from the words.

Why do you write?

Sometimes it’s hard to answer certain questions, but for this question, the answer isn’t really that hard. I’ve always loved imagining the impossible and believing it's real, and since writing is just that, I quickly fell in love. I love the concept of taking the most outrageous things you can think of, putting them into words, and convincing people they are real! I’m not sure I’m good at any of that, but let’s look a little deeper into my love of writing.

Growing up, I did a lot of reading, though our kid-friendly book selections were limited. My dad had tons of books, most of which were theology or flower guides because my dad is a pastor and an avid wild orchid hunter. But we did have two shelves that were full of books like Little House, Narnia, The Hobbit, Banner in the Sky, Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, and other such classic kids' stories. I read them all and then my dad made me a bookshelf and started picking up books at thrift stores or finding them on Amazon for a penny as he helped me grow my own collection.

How does that have anything to do with writing? Well, those books I read inspired me to write my own. At the ripe age of seven and a half, I plagiarized a Roy Rogers film and turned it into a book (if you don’t know who Roy Rogers is… wow, but his movies are family-friendly Westerns). That turned out horrible, so I put my pen aside. But occasionally, I’d get that itch to write a story and would start one.

It wasn’t until I was fourteen and my dad seriously encouraged my sisters and me to write our stories down that I really started writing. My sisters and I wrote several books together, and I enjoyed it so much I started writing books of my own two years later.

Since then, I’ve not looked back. Okay, I did once, and then after a few months had to write because I thought my brain would explode with all the stories and characters in it. But the thing that really keeps me writing, because as much as I love it, it’s hard, is the reason I write. My why behind writing.

What is my why, you ask?

Writing awakens the imagination inside me. I love building my own worlds, creating characters that can do and be anything I want them to do or be. Writing makes me feel closer to my Creator. Maybe it’s because I’m creating a story, a world, characters and creatures; I’m doing something similar to what He did when He first spoke us all into existence. When writing, I feel closer to my Lord, connected to Him in a beautiful, unexplainable way. He has given me a love for the unbelievable, a love of writing, and I hope always to use it for His glory!

I write because I want people to know they are never too far gone for God to save them. I write because I want everyone to know they have a purpose, that they are here for a reason, and that the world would not be the same without them. I write to awaken hope in the despairing hearts of our nation! Writing to Awaken Hope has become my anthem.

I write for the Light of lights, for the Hope of all hopes, I write for my Savior. Because I want His hope to touch as many hearts as possible, I want His light to shine into the darkness and cause it to flee. I want to serve Him in all I write.

But what is your why? Why do you write? If you are going to pursue this as a career, this is a question you need to sit down and ponder. Why do you write? What is the reason behind it? Because when it gets hard, you need that why. When you feel as if you aren’t cut out for this, you need to be able to look at the reason you write, because that will be your reason to keep going!

Money and fame won’t cut it for whys; it has to be deeper than surface value. It has to be something you truly want and are willing to fight for. So, what is your why?

What is your why? Please, pray about it, search it out, and let me know in the comments! I'd love to hear from you! Also, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out through the comments, messaging, or even email me at [email protected].

Bless!Kaytlin Phillips

Happy Monday everyone! I hope the sun is shining wherever you are, and you can get outside for a moment to enjoy the spring-time!

So, shortly I'm going to be announcing our newest contest, which will run from April to the end of June!!! And y'all, I'm just as excited about this one because a lot of you write in this genre, and I've timed it with one of our upcoming holidays, I think it's going to be fantastic!

We all need a reminder now and again about our past as a country, and a reminder about the people who've come before us, the lesson of history is one we need to learn lest history repeat itself.

(Plus, there were just some really cool people who lived before our times XDD)

So without rambling any further, I would like to announce our HISTORICAL FICTION contest!!!

Yup, that's right! We're looking for stories (whether based on a person, place, or simply set during historical events with purely fictional characters) that will not only bring a light to the past, but help us remember what came before us.

The limit is 6,000 words, with a minimum of 1,000.

You may choose whichever tense you prefer, but please don't change your tense in the middle of your narrative.

You may also choose whichever POV you feel the most comfortable writing, or that may fit the narrative best.

Please make sure that your story fits our genre, taking place before our time.

The deadline for this contest is going to be June 30th, at midnight PST. We will be revealing the winner around July 4th, as we celebrate our own past and independence. :D

We will be updating the contest page here on our website, with an updated submission form, and a new Pinterest board to go along with this quarter's contest.

I'll include some inspirational collages, graphics, and possibly small historical stories (depending on time, haha) in our monthly contest update posts.

If you have any questions feel free to shoot us an email, or leave a comment and we'll get back to you ASAP! :)

I'll leave you with one more infographic, and once more, Happy Monday Y'all!

Louise Taylor

Hey folks! We're late welcoming you to the month of April (and we missed welcoming you to a few months, but honestly, it's been nuts!)! We're excited to do another one of these posts and let you guys in on what we've been up to lately!

Hey-yah, guys! So, it's been a while. I have a good reason for disappearing too, life has been a bit crazy for me being busy and all with spring on its way and such.

So, we got tagged by the fabulous Saraina Whitney to do her Write Your Worst Challenge! In all honesty, this has been sitting...