#212: 3 Ways to Continue the Momentum in Your Writing

Welcome to Kingdom Writers, where we help equip and empower Christian writers of all genres to share your unique gifts with the world. We're your hosts, C.J. and Shelley Hitz.

This podcast is filled with spiritual encouragement as well as prayers to help you overcome the resistance you face as a writer. Your story matters.

In this podcast. We are so excited to Share with you 3 ways to continue the momentum in your writing. We recorded this live on Facebook and wow, it was powerful. I definitely got teary eyed a couple times. But what you won't see is there was a sign behind me and at the end I was taking off different strips of paper and sharing what was on the sign. So don't worry about that. But if you want to go and watch the video on Facebook, just swipe up and the link will be in the show notes. And we love you guys. We hope that you enjoy this training and that you're encouraged by it. Enjoy. But we have a very special bonus for you at the end. So CJ is going to go ahead and join me and we're going to share some, some encouragement for you today. So excited. Three ways to continue the momentum in.

Your writing so three ways you know that you can actually continue the momentum of your writing. And the first one is really to accept God's invitation for you to join him in, in your writing to be able to co create with God. You know, we all agree that God is the creator of creators and so we have an opportunity to join him as little creators, co creators. You know, we're not defined by our writing. You know, I think that's really important to know because, you know, in anything in life, things go up and down. We're not always at our best. And yet we know that we're defined by God. We're defined by him inviting us and who he says we are. We're not defined by our writing, but we have an opportunity to join Him. It's a get to, you know, it's not a I have to write today. You know, we get to do this. It's a privilege, you know, it's something that we should never really take for granted. I know we all have it at different times, but we have an opportunity to join the God of this universe in what he's doing.

Yeah. So Diane says, I definitely hear the call.

Yeah.

How many of you hear that call? That invitation from God to co create with him, to write with him? If so, just let us know in the comments.

Yeah, so I want to read just a little passage from Matthew about How God does invite. And it comes from Matthew 4, 18, 20. It says, One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, also called Peter and Andrew, throwing a net into the water, for they were fishing for a living. Jesus called out to them, come follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people. And they left their nets at once and followed him.

You know. And so Jesus is inviting us to be kingdom writers, to essentially join him in fishing for men and women with the very books that we write that he births in us. And I find it interesting, you know, the verse that really sticks out to me in that, and it's always stuck out to me. I used to scratch my head at this one is when it says they left their nets at once and followed him.

Yeah.

And I thought, really, I mean, this guy just comes along and, you know, invites him to come, you know, walking with him and following him around, and they just drop everything. Well, if you understand what was going on, the dynamic behind that was that these men were fishing for a living because they didn't really make the grade in terms of school growing up. So, you know, in that culture, in the Jewish culture.

You learned the Torah, you know, the first five books of the Bible, until 10 years old. And then from there, the girls would usually go and apply the trade of their mother or father, help around the house, prepare, you know, to become a wife one day. And the next step was the boys would then go on to learn the rest of the Old Testament and study that. And that went to about 14 or 15. But then after that, if you weren't invited to be a rabbi, then you also took up the trade of your mother and father. Peter and Andrew were plying the trade of their father. They were fishermen, and that's what they did. That's how they earned their living. And so essentially, when Jesus invited them, here's what they heard. Wow, this rabbi is inviting us to follow him around, essentially be so close behind him that his very dust falls upon us, and we learn everything under his teaching. It was an honor in that day to follow our rabbi. It's no wonder they dropped everything at once. They had an opportunity of a lifetime. And what I want to say to us today is that you and I have an opportunity of a lifetime to join the King of Kings, the creator of this universe, to write words that impact people for an eternity and draw those men and women to the one who birthed the book through you. So we're instruments. We have an opportunity to Partner and join and follow behind. And it's exciting. It's not something that's a have to. Instead, it's, oh, my goodness, I get to be a part of Kingdom, work through the very words that I write.

Is anyone else getting excited? It's just like, whoa. Yes. The first step, the first way to continue the momentum in your writing is to realize this is an invitation between you and God to co create with him, to use the gifts and the calling that you have on your life for writing, and to do it in a way that will impact lives for eternity. If that gets anyone excited, just let us know in the comments.

It is a privilege. I remember one day I was just feeling a pressure of just everything on me. And I came to CJ and probably was crying at that moment because I get emotional, but he was like, just God gave him this wisdom. He's like, shelly, I just really feel like instead of seeing it as a pressure, that God wants you to see it as a privilege. This is a privilege for us to have the opportunity to write the words that God has placed on our heart, the stories, our testimonies, whether it's fiction or nonfiction or whatever God has given you to write. It is a privilege. And. And we get to do that. It's a get to, not a have to.

Amen.

And so, number two, the second way to continue the momentum in your writing is simply to prioritize your writing and to schedule it. So how many of you know, I mean, we talked about this in Writing Week, but how many of you know that if you do not be intentional with your writing, you won't get it done? Have you found that to be true, C.J.

Absolutely. I've got actually put it in the little calendar in my calendar phone or my phone calendar. Otherwise, it just. The day gets by, and you haven't had that deep time to get into a flow of writing.

Yeah. And so it's making it.

It's making it a priority in your life, being intentional about it and saying, okay, God, give me the wisdom of how to schedule this. So I think I shared this with you guys on the first day of the challenge on the prayer call. But some of you may not have heard it. God gave me a picture for you. And it's a picture of a hot air balloon. And it's like this basket of the hot air balloon is sitting there, and then the balloon is just kind of laying off to the side. And you. You now have the invitation that was step one. God's giving you the invitation. And step Two is making it a priority where you're choosing to step into the basket. You're choosing to say, okay, God, I'm going to take that step of faith. I'm going to start prioritizing it, even if it's just 15 minutes a day, okay? It doesn't have to be like, you know, writing this big book, 15 minutes a day, and you will finish your book, guaranteed. Right? And so it's like you're stepping into that basket and then Jesus, the holy. Actually, the Holy Spirit is like the fire that then begins to raise you up. And so as you prioritize your writing, as you're doing that 15 minutes a day, an hour a day, two hours a week, whatever it is for you, your hot air balloon begins to rise. And I saw this picture of all of these beautiful hot air balloons, and it was all of you, different colors, different shapes, different sizes. As you prioritize your writing, you're going to begin to take off. You're going to begin to go to new levels you never even thought were possible. God's going to open up doors for you, and there's going to be things that happen because you're taking this step of faith.

Amen. And, you know, there's this novelist in the 1800s, the Victorian era, from England. His name was Anthony Trollope. And this is the power of 15 minutes.

Yeah.

So Anthony Trollope, over the course of 35 years, wrote 47 novels.

That's a lot of novels.

He stayed quite active. But here's the incredible thing. This guy did all of it while working a demanding job as a post office inspector. And he had a full schedule. So you think, man, when did this guy, you know, write? Well, he said he committed 15 minutes of every hour. So I imagine he could have, I don't know if he had to go to an office or could do some of this from home, or if he just brought his notepad with him to work. But of every hour, he devoted 15 minutes to specifically trying to write 250 words. That's what he committed. So essentially it was, you know, I don't know if he did this for 8, 9, 10 hours a day during the course of him being at his job. But he said that at the end of all of this, this could produce up to 10 pages of a novel each day.

Wow.

And he turned off all of the distractions. And this, it says he. The only thing you could hear was the ticking of his watch in that 15 minute interval that he would set. And he was, he was, for the most Part very faithful to that 15 minutes. And then the other 45 minutes was probably devoted to his, his normal work, you know, at the post office. Now, I understand that it's not realistic for all of us, you know, to actually think about doing something like that. For one thing, I mean, some of us need 4 hour blocks of really getting into a flow. We might write even just 500 words in that 400 or in that four hours. But what essentially I'm trying to say is there's power in 15 minutes exactly as Shelley said in 15 minute segments. And so, you know, again, it just shows you that each of us, if we devote various 15 minute intervals, we're able to be productive. Yeah, maybe not 10 pages of a novel every single day, but some days we actually may produce more than that during the course of a day. It just, you know, every day is different. But as you commit your day and you say, lord, I'm going to devote several 15 minute intervals that I set timed, I know you're going to work, you're going to meet me the rest of the way.

Yeah. And Rebecca says consistency is key. And that's so true. And I loved being able to just encourage you and love on you in the writing week. And I was read, I read every single comment in Christian Book Academy Facebook group. I read every single comment. And so one thing I noticed in writing week, we always recommend starting with at least 15 minutes. Is many of you just getting down and sitting to do that? 15 minutes was a breakthrough. And then once you started writing, the flow was going and you wanted to write more. And so sometimes just getting in that place and writing for 15 minutes will bring more. And so three ways to continue the momentum in your writing. Number one is to accept God's invitation to write with him, to co create with him. This is an invitation I get to, not a have to. And number two is to prioritize your writing and schedule it. So we have a Christian book Academy member, Dr. Tim Riordan. He is a pastor, he is a father, he owns real estate. Like he is a busy man. And he said the way he has written all of his books, I think he's like at maybe 9 or 10, he writes fiction and nonfiction is by writing over his lunch hour. And so every day he writes on his lunch hour. And then he takes a longer writing retreat once a year. But every single one of you can do this. Every single one of you can prioritize your writing, can find 15 minutes every day to write, to write with God. Realize it's an Invitation. It's not a have to, it's a get to. And number three is ask God for a vision for your writing. So I want to ask you, if you're here live or watching the replay and you're able to comment, have you ever asked God for a vision for your writing? Or do you just write? Have you ever asked him for a picture? Have you ever asked him for what is it he has for your writing? What are some of the plans that he has for? What are some of the things that when you finish the book that you're writing, what could be possible? What could happen? What are some things? Maybe the people that their lives would be changed. People coming to accept Christ. People who are, you know, just able to laugh because of your, you know, humorous comedy novel. But, you know, have you ever asked him for a vision for your writing? So this was years ago, and it wasn't ne. I didn't realize at the time that it was a vision for my writing. But I had went away to this little hermitage. They called it a hermitage. It was just this little shack with basically a bed and a sink and in the woods by myself. And I was really seeking healing from some things with my grandma's murder. I had struggled with a pornography addiction. It was an intense season of healing for me, and. And I had to get away in silence. It was like the first time I probably ever was, like, on a silent retreat. And at the end of that retreat, God gave me breakthrough after breakthrough. I talk about some of it in our book forgiveness formula of just the breakthrough he gave me in forgiving my grandma's murder. But at the end, I'm standing at this fire, and I had written out some things that I was struggling with. And, you know, the addictions and, you know, the things that. The pain and the. The grief and all of these things. The unforgiveness. And I wrote it on this paper and I put it in the fire to burn, you know, and just to say, okay, God, that's the old Shelly. Now I'm being birthed as a new creation. The butterfly coming out of the cocoon. And God didn't speak to me in an audible voice, but he gave me this vision. He said, shelley, your story is going to impact many, many lives. And I had no idea at that moment. I wasn't even speaking at that moment. I wasn't even a speaker. But I just stood at that fire, obedient to be there, obedient to just receive God's healing and to forgive and to drop all the Baggage. And God gave me this vision that my story was going to impact so many lives. That story then ended up becoming a presentation. It ended up becoming in, you know, in a book. And multiple of my books have, you know, that story in it. Ask God for a vision. What does he want to do through your writing? What does he want to. What. What. What is it that. That can keep you going through the hard days? And, you know, God used books to help me to break free from the addiction of pornography. Books like Breaking Free by Beth Moore, a book that my counselor recommended. Biblical Healing and Deliverance by Chester and Betsy Kilstra. He used books to set this captive free.

He uses books to do things that we could not do. He uses books to impact lives and to reach people that we couldn't reach on our own. Healing uses books. If you believe that or if you have been impacted by books in your life, just share with us in the comments, because it is powerful what a book can do. And now he's using my books to heal the brokenhearted and set the captive free. It's such a humbling thing, but God wants to use your writing. He wants to use your books. Ask him for a vision.

Yeah, I'm just reminded through that testimony, Shelley, is that God never wastes one detail of our lives. Not one detail of your life will go wasted if you allow God to use that for his glory. Things that Satan meant for evil. Yes, God will turn around and use for good somehow, some way. We don't understand how all of it works, but we just know that he's going to utilize every thread in your life, whether it was a positive or a negative. There's always going to be a learning experience. There's always going to be something that someone else is encouraged by, by you writing your story and sharing that with the world. And again, as Shelley mentioned, we have been impacted in huge ways by books.

And continue to be. You know, to be honest, some of my best mentors and the people who have discipled me have done that through books. And so, just as a recap, C.J. why don't you share those three things that we can do to continue the momentum with our writing?

Yeah. So number one is accept God's invitation to write with him, to co create with God. Number two is to prioritize your writing, to actually schedule it. And then number three is to ask God for a vision for your writing. You know, what is it that he's going to put upon your heart, your mind, that thing that is always out there that he's given you. And now it's just a matter of seeing that come to pass.

To see.

Skin put on that and allowing it to be birthed into the world.

Yeah. And it's almost like that vision is your deeper. Why. Why do you write? Why are you even compelled to write? What is that deeper vision? That deeper why ask God to give you that reason. And for me, the reason that I mentor writers, the reason we do this, that we pour our lives into encouraging you and to loving on you and to teaching you, is because I've seen the impact my books have had. I've heard the testimonies. I've seen it. And now I want to help you do the same.

Yeah. Amen. So, you know, there's so many opportunities right now for every single one of us in this day and age.

To allow God to use our writing to impact others. And the question is, are you and I going to accept God's invitation? Because the invitation is always there, but are we going to accept that, or are we going to politely reply, no, you know, at his invitation, there's going to be many invitations, and God is calling us into that. And so I'm going to turn it back over to you because you had some.

Yeah. So how many of you have ever heard the verse, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few? If you've ever heard that, just type yes in the comments. And I. I'll have to, like, be honest with you. Sometimes when I've heard that verse, it's almost in a.

What. What would be the word? Like, a manipulative way, or like, feeling, like, guilty, like I'm not doing enough, but that I want to get on the same page with you right now. That is not how we're sharing that today. We are sharing with you that there are so many opportunities for your writing to go out and make an impact for the kingdom, for you to, you know that the harvest is plentiful. There are so many opportunities, but the workers are few. You know, like C.J. said, will you accept that invitation? And so Matthew 9, 36, 38 says, when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them. It starts with that compassion for your readers. You know, your compassion for what you want to see happen in their lives. He had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. And so we have been praying that many of you would be sent out that you would accept that invitation, that you would say, okay, I am willing. I see the vision. I see what God wants to do. I see that my writing matters. I see that my story matters. And I choose to accept, accept that invitation.

Yeah. And, you know, many of you may have been sitting on the sidelines. You've been on the sidelines for a while, and yet God is right now saying, hey, you're in the game.

It's time. I need, I need you to game time.

I need you to guard their best player out there. I need to give me 10 minutes of just floor to floor defense. You know, every one of us have a role, you know, in the game. And so for those of you that have been sitting on the sidelines, we say, go. In Jesus name, amen. Be released, you know, into your calling. And you know, I want to read another quick story, you know, Mark, chapter 1046 through 52. And it's about a guy named Bartimaeus, it says. Then they reached Jericho, and as Jesus and his disciples left town, a large crowd followed him. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, was sitting beside the road. When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Be quiet. Many of the people yelled at him. And by the way, that's what the enemy tells us many times. Be quiet. You've got nothing to say.

He tries to muzzle us, to quiet.

Us down, but he only shouted louder, son of David, have mercy on me. And when Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, tell him to come here. And so they called the blind man, cheer up. They said, come on, he's calling you. Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up and came to Jesus. Now this is a key question that Jesus asked him. What do you want me to do for you? Jesus asked my rabbi. The blind man said, I want to see.

And Jesus said to him, go, your faith has healed you instantly. The man could see. He followed Jesus down the road. And, you know, I want you to envision Jesus asking you that same question. What is it you want me to do for you? What is it you want? What is it that you need to be released fully into this calling to get this message out that God's put on your heart? You know, it's there. It's just a matter of sitting down, writing it, allowing the Lord to empower you to essentially get up off the side of the road to cry out to Jesus. You're not going to Be shut up. The enemy's not going to shut you up. You're going to get up off the side of the road. You're being called by the King of Kings, the Master, the Rabbi is calling you. And now it's time to ask him or to answer the question, what is it that you want me to do for you? Every one of you, every one of us may answer that question just a little bit differently in terms of what's really in our hearts.

But you might be frozen, stuck, but the Holy Spirit wants to melt all the resistance.

Amen.

That stands between you and your calling. Few things. If we're all admitting this as writers, few things are going to feel better than our book going out and impacting people the way that God has called us to do that. And that's something to rejoice over.

Yes, yes, Amen and amen. And as I've been praying for you, C.J. and I went away yesterday for the afternoon and we were praying and God just gave me a picture of how to pray for you. And it was that really old skit. It was Lifehouse everything skit. You can Google it. It brings me to tears every time I see it. But there's a spot at the end where Jesus breaks in and he pushes back all of the people who are representing demons or Satan and he holds them back and keeps them from the girl. And the girl's finally able to surrender and to do what God has called her to do. And I saw Jesus see, stepping in and pushing back every single last piece of resistance so that the Holy Spirit can empower you and show you what the next step is for your writing. So that the Holy Spirit can empower you to write so that you can have the flow. And that's available to every single one of you if you just ask. Say Jesus, help hold back that resistance. Get it back in Jesus name. And we we just finished an incredible week. Writing week challenge is always one of my favorite times. I just love seeing everyone's interaction in the group and just what God's doing and the breakthroughs that we're doing. And I copied down a few of your comments through the week. Cathy said, I just completed 30 minutes of writing today. Wow. Shelly, thank you so much for this. I have been distracted from my personal creative goals for quite a while now, and this is just what I needed to get back on track.

Amen.

Dina shared. I have to write an essay and I've been procrastinating. Yesterday I researched and then wrote for 15 minutes. I was so Pleased that I did it. Just 15 minutes, guys. That's all it takes. And you want to read what Jan said?

Yeah. Jan said this morning during my devotions, I experienced, experienced a real breakthrough and clear direction from the Lord on the concept of my devotional book. I'm so excited I can hardly sit still.

I love that.

Isn't that great when you have those, those moments where the clouds part.

Yes.

There's just uninterrupted sunlight, son, so to speak. You know, those rays of light that give us that clarity, what we're to write.

Yes.

And so something just comes together.

We celebrate every single one of you. I know Beth Jones finished the first draft of her next book. Deborah Butterfield finished like 7,000 words in her novel. Like, you guys are just rocking it and doing incredible things. And I am just so proud of you. Whether you wrote 15 words or you finished the first draft of your book, we celebrate you. And so give me some praise emojis in the comments. Celebrate each other, cheer each other on. If Facebook allowed us, we'd be playing some music right now and doing some dancing, but there's copyright laws.

And so we are in this with you. We love doing this with you. You have gotten a taste of what it is to be in the Christian Book Academy family. This whole week was sponsored by Christian Book Academy, which is our membership for Christian writers. And you know, this week some of you got what you needed. And you will continue to write, you will continue to accept the invitation with God to co create with him. You will, you will prioritize your time, you will keep moving forward, getting that vision from God. And you know, you're good, you've gotten what you've needed. But some of you are like, okay, this was good. Is there more?

I'm interested in finding out if there is more. And so we are excited to share with you today an opportunity to join our community Christian Book Academy. And we just want you to start picturing and imagining what could happen in your writing.

Yeah. So imagine this. Imagine going from unsure that you have what it takes to actually feeling confident in your God given gift and your calling to write. Imagine feeling relieved and grateful to finally have your book idea out of your head and onto paper. Isn't that a good feeling? Or right onto your computer where you have it saved in six different places, by the way.

Yes.

Imagine getting emails and messages from your readers around the world whose lives have been impacted and transformed by the very words that you wrote. Imagine that there's very few things that can compare and they unfortunately, come few and far between. But when you get an email from someone that says, your book literally changed the direction of my life, imagine your book going out and doing that. God using that in such a way in our humility, in our frailty, in our imperfections, where God takes that and says, I'm going to use that. What enemy meant for evil, I mean, for good?

God says, yeah, I just got one of those emails last week. And then someone who had emailed me months ago, he's actually been part of the Writing Week challenge. And he also, he read my book, Broken Crayons Still Color. God impacted his life. He signed up for the challenge. Now he signed up for Christian Book Academy. I mean, it is incredible when you take a step of obedience, what God will do with that. And so I want to say right now, it is time to release the words inside you to, to impact those who will read them. If you agree, just say, yes, I agree in the comments. It is time to release those words just like that hot air balloon just being released to fly. It is time to let your words go to be impacting people's lives. And, you know, that's exactly why we created Christian Book Academy. We help Christian writers of all genres like you, conquer fear in real community, write words that will outlive you and publish books that fulfill your calling. And, you know, if you're a Christian Book Academy member with us right now, Share in the comments what you love about our community, what you love about Christian Book Academy, what you've gotten from it, it is really a special community. And I didn't think I was gonna cry.

Oh, my goodness. I didn't plan this. Four and a half years ago, God birthed this academy through me. It was after I'd had a miscarriage and I was really, really went through a hard time for about a year. And at the end of 2014, God was like, shelly, it's time. It's time to move on. I grieved, I had cried, I had done all the things, and this academy was born.

God told me this year, he said, it's time for this pivot. It's time to change the direction. And CJ has come on board. This whole thing is because of God and what he's doing, what he's done in our lives. And it's just a joy and a privilege to now get to do this. And we invite you to join us, to join us, to join us in this community.

We not only help you to publish a book that will impact lives, but we care for you emotionally and spiritually.

Next week on Thursday. This is a very special time. We're really kicking off everything new that's happening in Christian Book Academy. And on Thursday, September 5, we will kick off our fall semester with our first draft Challenge. And therefore, we're going to be closing the Academy next week on Wednesday, September 4th at 8pm Eastern. And we will not reopen until 2020. So I've never done this before. I always kept my academy open all the time. But God made it very clear that we need to be doing this together as a group, that we need each other, that we need to have the momentum and the encouragement and that I can love on you and we can encourage you and that C.J. and I can pour into you and we can do this together. So in order to do it together, we've got to close off the registration just like a regular college would. Just like a regular college would close its doors. That's what we're going to do. We're going to start class next week. CJ and I are going to go live with you in the group next Thursday to give you an encouragement. And God's already started to give me and CJ what we're going to share with you next Thursday. And it's. Oh, it's so good. And so what we're going to do, C.J. is just going to step to the side for a minute. I'm going to show you what's behind here. Sorry, I'm kind of sniffing.

I got.

Oh, I got choked up there.

So I've never done this before, but.

I feel like. Vienna White, anyone? I'm also a lettering artist and so I did this lettering this weekend just for you guys. But I have a special bonus at the very end that's just for this this fall. So, you know, stay till the end so you can find out what that special bonus is. But so what you're going to get in the first draft challenge this fall is number one, done with you curriculum. So we've. We've done this in the Academy before where we've had challenges and we've had pushes where we've done it together. But going forward, we're going to be doing this with every single semester. This is done with you. So this is not a course that you go on, that you go through on your own. This is not a training that will sit unopened on your hard drive. I've had some of those myself. This is done with you. So we will all go through the same training at the same time. And you will reap the rewards of finishing your first draft with the extended excitement and the motivation that comes from doing it as a group. I get excited, you know, and we're gonna celebrate at the end. We're gonna, you know, celebrate as we go. We celebrate every word. And we're very flexible in Christian Book Academy. So if you're in a different place, email us. We will make sure you have the training you need for where you're at with your book. But this is exciting. This is gonna be fun. And that's one thing that I love about our group. We love to have fun and cheer each other on and support one another. And this is really one of the things that makes this program completely different from almost any other author writing program out there that you could find is it's done with you. And so, number two, dun, dun, dun, dun.

You will get the first draft challenge. So this is. You'll get a new training. Every Monday, CJ and I will be going live and sharing with you. We'll be sharing encouragement, but also accountability and prayer. Every Wednesday, live in the group. And you will be able to have your first draft. Our semesters give you structure and deadlines, and so it really gives you that motivation. But, you know, it's such a relief and a feeling of peace knowing that you don't have to do it alone. We're your guides. We are going ahead of you. CJ and I have written and published over 50 books. Our mentor team has collectively over 85 years of publishing experience. So we're in this with you. We're going through this with you. And the picture God gave me of this is like, when you finish your first draft, it's almost like when a woman is pregnant and she goes to get an ultrasound for the first time, and for the first time, she sees her baby like, this is real. I have a real living baby inside of me. And when you have your first draft finished, it's like going to the ultrasound visit, and you finally, like, you have a real book. It's like, this is getting real. And this is so exciting. This is going to happen. And so that's what we're going to do together over the next 90 days. Together again. I keep saying together. You're not in this alone in that. And so, number three, you're gonna get our private Facebook group. And some of you are probably saying, yeah, yeah, yeah, Facebook group. Facebook group. You know, I've been a part of a lot of programs in the Facebook groups. They're not active. No one answers My questions. The. The leader of the group isn't active in the group. And, you know, if you're part of Christian Book Academy and you can speak to this, you know, let you know, let everyone know. Like, I'm active in the group. Right. I'm answering your questions. Our mentor team, we have seven mentors. Our motto is that no question ever goes unanswered. And so this is not a group where you're going to post something and then just crickets, crickets, crickets. Like, you will get feedback, you will get answers, you will get help, you know, that you need. And, you know, if we don't know, we'll try to research or try to find the answer or give you a suggestion of what to do. But.

You'Ll get a chance to get feedback on your writing. So you can post up to 500 words of an excerpt or a bio or a book description and get feedback. You can post your book cover, anything like that, to get feedback. And you'll be able to receive prayer so that you can overcome the resistance and spiritual battles that you face as a writer. And so, number four.

You'Ll get our productivity parties. Yay. I think we just had one this week. Deborah Butterfield leads these. And it's a group writing session. So twice a month for one hour, we meet together as a group to write and use the pomodoro technique that you learned in Writing Week. And this is just a fun time. It's a great opportunity. Opportunity to get more motivation just again to have fun and to be with other Christian writers that get you, that understand you and to. To get some writing or some work done. And one of our things that you also get is.

You'Ll get instant access to our Kingdom Foundations training and our tech library. So the Kingdom Foundations library has a full training on how to hear God's voice. This is so important as a Kingdom writer, as a Christian writer, to be writing out of the overflow of what God is speaking to us. Right. And then the tech library will help you. Things like learning how to use Scrivener. I'm going to be adding in the next few days, probably a. I just got an email from the person that's helping me create that, a training on how to use vellum. So there's just all sorts of things that you'll find in that tech library that can help you as you go. And number six.

This is a member favorite. Yay. You get your virtual writing retreat. Now, when I started these several years ago, I had never heard anybody do anything like this before. So as far as I know, I think I invented it. God invented it through me. The reason I started these was I did in person writing retreats here in Colorado. And I saw the impact of, of what it was. And to be honest, that first writing retreat, I was like a few hours before everyone was going to come. I'm like, okay, God, what are we doing? What is even the schedule? Like, people just took a chance on me that first year and God gave me the schedule and it worked. And so we use that same schedule for our virtual writing retreats. Two days. People literally get first drafts of their book written, even just in these two days. But it's a time of encouragement, encouragement and prayer. And then we write together for two hour chunks using Pomodoro's technique. And so it's four hours of writing every day. You can come and go. So our virtual writing retreat's coming up next week, September 6th and 7th. Yeah. So it's a Friday and a Saturday. That way if you work, you can come one of the days. You can come and go. If you want to come for two hours out of those two days, it's up to you. There's no need to feel like you have to be there the whole time. People love these and get so much breakthrough. And it's just an amazing time that I get to just love on you. I get to encourage you. And you get personalized help throughout the day on our little five minute breaks, during our mastermind Q and A. At the end of the day, like, you get the personalized help that you need. Again, you're not doing this by yourself. We're not just saying, okay, block off the time and go right. We are there with you all day. So that itself is worth the entire admission of the fall semester just to come to our virtual writing retreat those two days. And.

Then.

Number seven.

You'Ll get mentors who actually care about you. And you know, it's one of those things that, like, we love you. You become family when you join the, you know, Christian Book Academy. You become our family. And you know, God was even reminding me today, like, I have not had children of my own. But because of that, God has used the time that I have that C.J. and I have. And because of that, I have time to invest in you. I get to nurture you, I get to love on you and I get to pour into you. And you are the ones that God has entrusted to me and to cj and it is a privilege. And I want you to know we Truly care for you, we pray for you, we love you. And so do you believe in the power of prayer? If you do, just give me some prayer emojis to say, yes, I believe in the power of prayer. Do you believe that if you had someone praying for your writing on a consistent basis that it would make a difference? Do you believe that? Because we do that for you in Christian Book Academy, we pray for you on a consistent basis. And I just want to tell you I have a special spirit filled team of people that work for me. Every person that works for us is a child of God. And I have a spirit filled graphic designer and like, she'll send me like different prophetic words or different things at times. And lately I haven't had enough work for her to do with the graphics. And so God just prompted me. He gave me the idea. He's like, shelly, I want you to pay her, you know, because I pay her a certain amount of hours every week, but I want you to pay her then to pray for your members in Christian Book Academy by name. Wow. You know, it's like really?

And so, you know, that is awesome. And you know, we have a prayer post each week and we have mentors that are replying and praying and I try to go in each week and record a little video praying for, for you. And when you, when you're part of our academy, we, we pray for you. And so it's not just like we're not just here to take your money. We're here to love on you, to care for you. We want to see you succeed. And we're in this together. And so surprise bonus. This is my surprise bonus. So everyone, I decided everyone who is joining for the fall draft first draft challenge gets our full 30 day writing challenge. And so I no longer sell this anymore. It's not available to anyone outside of this particular bonus. And you will, you know, if you've enjoyed the seven day challenge, you will love the full 30 day challenge. And so when you sign up by next week, September 4th, you will get this special bonus. And.

Let'S see, this will help you to continue the momentum that you've done. So just for fun, I decided to add up the total value of everything that you get in the first draft challenge. So the three months, the 90 days, so everything that you get. And like I'm not trying to over inflate this number. It was literally like $3,786. And when you join now you can join for just $39 a month or $399 a year and you'll go to ChristianBookAcademy.com.

And you know, I just thought it was interesting. Like sometimes it's just interesting to me to think about these things. And because we're kind of changing to semesters, I was thinking, okay, so let's say our semester is like a three hour credit class at a college. I looked it up online and the average amount like to take a three hour credit class in the United States and it would cost you about $1,782. And yet, you know, you can get all of this and more for just $39 a month and you're actually getting skills. You're going to have something tangible. That first draft at the end of this semester, you're going to have things, you know and you know, just writing skills and tips and encouragement and you're going to have something tangible. It's not just going to be more knowledge. You're going to finish this book. You're going to do it. We're praying for you. We know that God wants to do this in and through your life. And so you know, we do things differently in Christian Book Academy and moving forward we want to do things differently. We want to be different in the online learning space. I know that many of you have been burnt by courses in the past, by things that you've taken in the past. And we really want to stand out as really just doing things with excellence and honoring God with all that we do. And so if you're ready to publish your book with a real community, I encourage you to enroll in Christian Book Academy. You're going to get the bonus of the 30 day writing challenge. And so anyone who is already in the academy who's already signed up, I'm going to be sending you an email either later today or tomorrow with the link so you have access to. But then if you sign up new before we close on the 4th, you'll also get that bonus and be able to get started right away. On continuing on that momentum, you'll be able to come to our virtual writing retreat next week. Whenever you can come, you can come and go. We would love to have you come and join us live videos with CJ and I. Just like this. Each week we're going to be pouring into you, loving on you, encouraging you, and we help make your God given dream of writing and publishing a book a reality for just a small investment of a little over a dollar a day.

That's not a huge investment. And so I think Rebecca has Put the.

Link in the comments. And then throughout this next week and a half, I'm going to be on live chat. It will be me personally. None of my team have access to the live chat. So if you have any questions at all, if you have anything that you want to ask me about Christian Book Academy, I'm going to try to be on there live as much as I can over the next week and a half and, and so make sure to go over to Christian Book Academy, check out the live chat or email us. I want you to know that this is the right decision for you and we're here for you. So.

All the confetti. Woo.

I'm back.

He's looking at me like you're kind of weird.

No, I love her. I love my wife.

Yes. So we want to read some of the testimonials from people that have been in our academy. So cj, you want to read one of them?

Yeah. This is Karen Luspie and she says Shelley and the Academy have been a constant encouragement in my writing journey. I have learned so much from the many lessons and benefited greatly from the Facebook group and writing mentors. Shelly and CG are a topic tireless in their efforts to make this membership group feel like a family. I so appreciate all that they do. I am so fortunate to have found this group and we're thankful that you found the group as well, Karen.

Yeah, and I actually have paid Karen. That's one of the bonuses. She's going to be finishing it in the next few days to create that tech training for you on the vellum software that you can use so to. To publish your book. So thank you, Karen. That's awesome. And we love having you in Christian Book Academy, Deborah L. Butterfield. She says, I've learned so much from Shelley, not only as a writer, but personally as well. And overcoming lack of confidence, perfectionism, connecting with God and more. Besides school, joining her academy is the best investment I've made in my writing career and that's saying a lot because Deborah is a professional editor. So for her to say that this has been the best investment in her writing career, that's saying a lot. And we just love you, Deborah. Deborah's also, she has been a longtime member, but I recently had asked her to also be on our mentor team and she helps lead our productivity parties. So I love, you know, having those inside our community be people that can step into roles to help love on you because they're the ones that know the academy the best. And so we love you, Deborah.

Another one is Dr. Tim Riordan, who Shelley mentioned earlier. You know, I believe that God brought Shelly into my life not just to help me accomplish my life goals, but to also help me make a difference in the lives of people around the world. Her training gave me the confidence and the step by step help I needed to to expand my ministry and influence. Her training is tried and tested and her motivation is to expand the kingdom of God. I recommend her to both new and experienced authors every chance I get. And I highly recommend Christian Book Academy.

And just so you know, because a lot of people say me, I'm the one that primarily does the step by step training inside the Academy. And C.J. and I are the ones that provide the spiritual and emotional support, mentoring, you know, that sort of thing spiritually. And so that's kind of. But it's awesome. I love having CJ on board. Those of you that have been following the Breakthrough series, you've seen us doing things together and that will just be such a fun dynamic to continue in the group. Theresa Mills, she says, I'm so thrilled to be part of Shelley and CJ's Christian Book Academy. I've been part of this community, community for quite a while and found the training to be top notch and exactly what I needed when getting started. And she says, I have eight books published to date. Congratulations, Teresa. But so many more ideas. I'm so excited. The spiritual aspect of the group cannot be ignored. Shelley and CJ are powerful in their ministry and their willingness to follow God's call on their lives.

Thanks Teresa And Kim Steadman, who has really been a rock in our our academy. She says, since joining Shelley's Academy, I published 17 books, two more on the way and 35 in various stages. Wow. It's a lot of books in the oven. By the way.

I'm pretty sure you help me connect with my inner radio rabbit. Lol. Yeah, so that's Kim Steadman.

And Kim is also on our mentor team and just an amazing person. So we love you, Kim. And the last one I'll read for now is Sharon Herkins. She says this is an online community of writers that will never be found anywhere else. Why? Because Shelley and CJ Hitz actually care about their community of writers. We know that we are prayed for and we get answers to the questions within a short space of time. I thank God daily for them and for this group. And we love you, Sharon. Sharon came to one of our in person writing retreats and we got to meet her in person. That was so fun. And I am. I would love to do another conference or writing retreat at some point. So just start praying with me that, you know, God will show us what to do. But for now, we, we invite you to join us inside christianbookacademy. Com. You know, this is going to be, I think, a semester that we're going to look back on one day and be like, wow, look what God did. Look what he did. Like, I just, I feel it in my bones. I feel like this is this. There's going to be something different. You know, God is on the move. Like, we were literally playing that song before we got on here.

And so we're gonna go ahead and close in prayer. So, you know, just kind of as a reminder, the three ways you can continue the momentum in your writing is, number one, accept God's invitation to write with him, to co create with him. Number two, to prioritize your writing and schedule it. Number three, ask God for a vision for your writing. What is it that he wants to accomplish? Ask him for a picture, a vision. What is it that will keep you going through those hard days? And so the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. And we just ask that you pray and pray to the God of the harvest. Is this the time to move forward? And some of you will be moving forward on your own or with other writing mentors. And we love you, we wish you the best. And some of you will decide, yes, this is the time to join Christian Book Academy, to finish my first draft, to get the encouragement and the prayers and the support that I need. And we are so excited to invite you into our academy. So, cj, why don't you go ahead and close us in prayer?

Yeah. So, Lord, we just thank you for this time that we've been able to have with, with friends and family on this live video. Lord, we specifically just want to pray for each and every person that endeavors to write a book that you have put on their hearts. Lord, I want to pray that you would remove every obstacle that stands in their way. I pray that anything that has prevented them from gaining momentum and moving forward and having a beginning, Lord, I pray that that would be removed in Jesus name. And we command all distractions, any foul spirits that have been harassing. Yes, we command you to leave and go where Jesus sends you right now. And Lord, we do specifically pray that the right people that would be a great fit for Christian Book Academy would enroll, would register. And Lord, we want people that are going to be ready, they're going to be ripe, they're ready to get started on their book, they're ready to move forward. And, and we want to be able to help people birth these books that you have.

I guess you could even call us.

You know, Christian book midwives, so to speak. But, Lord, I pray that the right people would sign up. Lord, you know our hearts, we've prayed this for years. We're not out to try to take people's money that. That aren't ready for a program like this. We instead want people that are ready and this would be a good fit. It's the right timing in their lives right now. And so, Lord, would you just bring as many as you'd like into this academy? And Lord, would you bless everyone that is currently in Christian Book Academy? Would you just continue to pour out your blessing, pour out your ideas, pour out your creativity, your wisdom? Would you download that into their minds, Lord, that they would be able to have clarity, they would be able to have insight, they would be able to have the tools that they need to move forward and really accomplish everything that you've put on their hearts to do so. We'll give you the glory for everything that happens as a result of this, Lord. And we want to ask this in Jesus wonderful name. Amen.

Amen. As CJ Was praying, I just got a picture, like, there was like a young man standing where I could see him. And then there was more and more and more and more people, like. And it was like just a crowd. Like, the faces kind of started to get blurred, but it was like, all of the people who will be impacted by your books, all of the people who. And I've been praying for the people who will be impacted by the books that are birthed through Christian Book Academy, the people who will come to know Christ, the people who will be set free, the people who will. Will be impacted that will, you know, heal from depression or whatever. It is like they are out there right now waiting. And so we are so excited to see what God is going to do through your lives to leave a legacy. You know, a book is a legacy. Whether you write it just to leave to your family or you write it to share with the world, it is a legacy. It's words that will outlive you. And we can never put a limit on what God will do once we give birth to that book. In the world, God can do exceedingly, abundantly above what we can think or imagine. And I talk about this book a lot, but it's just, you know, my broken crayons still color book. It was a book I didn't want to write, but God has used it over and over and over, and thousands and thousands of people have, you know, purchased and read and, you know, even just, you know, today I got another email from someone that, you know, it's just like, you just never know what God's gonna do. And so we are cheering you on. We're here for you. If you have any questions right now. We'll stay on a few more minutes.

Rebecca, if you saw any questions throughout the webinar, could you just post those in the comments right now? Or if anyone has any questions on what it looks like to be a Christian Book Academy member, or even any questions about Writing Week or writing productivity or anything like that, you know, just let us know in the comments. We would love to be able to answer your questions. Stephanie says, this webinar was amazing. Thank you both. You're welcome. Patricia says, amen. Cj.

Deanne says, lord, I pray for your wisdom and strength and CJ and Shelley to accomplish what you place on their hearts. Thank you for that. We appreciate you. Beth says, thank you so much. Awesome webinar today. You are welcome. And, yeah, Deborah says. Deborah Madden says, God is doing a new thing. Yes, we feel it. Okay. Rebecca says, I didn't see anything special specific, any specific questions, so I'll just give you another minute. If you have any questions, let us know. Rebecca says, yes, God is on the move. He's. I'm so excited about what he's doing through Christian Book Academy, and I'm thrilled to be part of it. So those of you that don't know, recently I had my project manager step down. And the only person God brought to my mind was Rebecca Livermore. She was one of the very first members of Christian Book Academy or of our academy. And.

So she was someone that God brought to my mind. And I was like, okay, I'm gonna ask her. I was kind of nervous and didn't know if she was accepting work like that, but she said yes. So she's now our operations manager, and so excited to have her on board.

Kim Steadman says CJ has coined a new term, Christian Book midwives.

Someone that just came to me as we were praying. But we talk about the birthing process and. And us, you know, being able to help you and be alongside. And so, yeah, it's kind of sums it up fairly well, I think.

Yeah. Someone has called me before a book doula, which is kind of like. I think it's kind of like a midwife. Um, Deanne says, I got in my spirit. We don't want a stillborn. Oh, wow. Food for thought. Yeah, God has given me that picture before too, deann of that. Sometimes it's like an abortion or it's like a miscarriage or, you know, something like that. And yet God is the God of new beginnings. He's the God of a new day. No regrets. Like, we had a whole podcast on that. So if you guys, any of you, struggle with that, go listen to is very powerful. We shared some of our own testimonies.

About that. Beth Jones, who do you recommend for print books now? So we still use kdp.Amazon.com they used to be CreateSpace. There are certain instances that we use IngramSpark. And so Beth, if you're, since you're an academy member, if you have more specific questions on that, just post them in the group and we're happy to answer those questions for you. Yeah, Rebecca says, love you, Shelly and C.J. and no, I wasn't accepting any clients, but God likes to surprise me sometimes.

Yes. Yeah. So Patricia asked about scholarship opportunities. We currently don't have scholarship opportunities, but you can always write us, you know, email us@supportrainingauthors.com and share your situation. And we don't have anything like that right now, but we, you know, we'd be willing to just hear your, your story. So Karen says, thank you. You're welcome.

Yeah. Beth says, Yeah, I used CreateSpace. Yeah. So all of your stuff from Create Space should now be transferred over to kdp.

So if you have, like I said, if you have any questions about that, follow up questions, Beth, just let us know in the, in the group. All right, I think we got all of the questions. Don't see any more.

Deanne says, I have another book and a devotion written, just not published yet. I look forward to seeing them birthed as well. Yeah. So deanne is a recently new member into the Academy. We love you and so grateful for you and excited to see what God's gonna do through you. So, yeah, thank you guys all for being here. If you have any other questions, just click the live chat button on the sales page. When I finish this live video, I'm going over to the sales page. I'll be there for live chat. It will be me. None of my other team has access to it, so it will be me on live chat. Or email us supportiningauthors.com you know, make sure you get your questions answered. If this is the right time for you, if this is the right thing for you. We want you to be part of it. So. So we love you guys and we'll see you next time.

Love you guys.

Bye. Bye.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Kingdom Writers. We believe that you, as a Christian writer, have a specific role to play in the Kingdom of Heaven to impact lives for eternity.

And because of this, we choose to pour out our lives into encouraging writers like you to not only tell your stories, but to take the courageous step of self publishing your stories in books that will outlive you and leave behind a powerful legacy. This podcast is sponsored by Christian Book Academy, where we help you give birth to your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom Writers.

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