#419 Writing Well: How to Persevere and Complete a Full-Length Novel

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.

How do I persevere and complete a full length novel, which I hope will be the first in a series? My name is Shelley Hitz. I'm the owner and founder of ChristianBookAcademy.com and it really does take perseverance to be a writer. I think any of us would agree that have clicked publish on a book. C.J. and I have done that over 70 times. Mind blowing that God has just opened this avenue for us to share the gospel, to encourage others, and now to help writers like you to be able to get your words out into the world. The first thing I would recommend is knowing your why. Why are you writing this book? And I was speaking at an event several years ago and I was staying with a couple and they were retired. They had tons of book ideas, drafts in partial, you know, completion. And they just said, you know, we love to write, it's fun. You know, we, we, we have this and this. But they're like, but I just don't think we're hungry enough. And what they meant by that is it wasn't that strong enough desire to do it, to push back everything else that they were doing to get it done. Now they're still in writers groups and they're still going to trainings and they love to write, but it was just more of a side thing for them. Now when my husband and I, in 2011, I quit my physical therapy job. We rented out our house. We tried to sell it, but it didn't sell the first time. But we rented out our house and we set out to live in an rv, travel around the country and speak. Well, the speaking engagements dried up and God led us into writing and publishing 23 books in 2012. Now people are always amazed, like, how did you write that many books? I want to tell you, we were hungry, not just hungry to fill our bellies, but yes, we needed money to buy groceries, but we had that burning why? That desire of like, this is what we're doing now. Like, I quit my job. Like, okay, what's, what are we going to do now? And that's what God led us to do. And I had nothing but time, you know, at that point. But what is your why? So a life coach years ago had Me go through an exercise. And she said, you know, write out your goal. So your goal would be to finish a full length novel first in a series. So that. So that what, what is your why?

So that.

I can accomplish my dream of being a published writer. A published author. So that can inspire other people with a Christian worldview. So that can earn extra income in retirement. So that, like what, what is the deeper, deeper, deeper. Why? I mean, all of those things are good, but at the depth of it, what is it? Like, just keep going, like maybe even 10, 15, 20, like, so that. And just keep digging deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper. When I did that exercise years ago about what we do with authors and writers in Christian Book Academy, I realized it was so that, not just to make money, I mean, although we need to pay our bills, but it was so that I could help you to accomplish some of the same things that I have. So that just like God has used me and our books to impact lives for eternity, that he will use me to help you write and publish your book that will impact lives and transform people in ways that you can't even imagine right now. Can you tell? I like, I get really passionate and excited and that's what your deepest why will do. So, number one, really dig deep. Take, you know, set out some time. Maybe like just set 15 minutes on a timer and just start writing it out. So that. And just put whatever comes to your mind and just keep going, going, going, going, going, going, going. I think you'll be surprised at what comes out at the end. Then number two, have a community. So in Christian Book Academy every month we have a two day virtual writing retreat. We also just restarted our productivity parties, which is just one hour on a Tuesday. A couple different times during the day that you can just hop on, write for an hour with other writers. We have opportunities to get connected with accountability and prayer partners. We have our war room prayer meetings where we come together, we pray together, we war together, we support one another. And you don't have to be part of a community like Christian Book Academy, maybe reach out to one other author that you know right now, one other writer, they don't have to be an author, but a writer and just ask, say, hey, would you like to connect and be accountability and prayer partners? Or you know, we can share what we're doing. Having community and having some sort of accountability is so important. I think that's why, I mean, the most favorite thing of people in Christian Book Academy are our group writing Sessions or our 15 minute writing challenge. Just writing, just for 15 minutes every day. And we do that one week during the month. Even if you just block off 15 minutes, like, it's amazing what you can get done. But the reason I think so many people love those things is that they see progress because they've showed up, because they put their butt in the chair. Right. A lot of times we just need more button chair time. There are a ton of distractions. There are a ton of things. And that's why I do recommend having a prayer team. We talk about this a lot, but, you know, at least once a week, connect with your prayer team. Let them know what you're working on and how to pray for you. When you're getting ready to sit down to write, connect with your accountability partner. Say, hey, I'm getting ready to write. I'll check back with you in an hour, let you know how it goes. You know, things like that really help you to keep moving forward. Ultimately, it's going to be the grace of God that helps you to finish this book. And that's why we really help you to incorporate God into every part of your writing, publishing, and marketing. Yes, you could grit it out, you could grind it out, you could figure it out. But incorporating God into the process is going to help you cross that finish line and to persevere. And so there are so many things that I could share with you in this video about how to persevere. But ultimately, number one, know your why, know what it is, that deep, deep, deep thing. And then remind yourself when you get stuck. Number two, have some sort of community or connection, even if it's just one other writer that you're connecting with, you're, you know, you're letting them know what you're doing. And we provide many opportunities for that in Christian Book Academy. And then have a prayer team and make sure you're connecting with God on a regular basis. So we recommend business meetings with God, even just going for a walk and asking the Lord for the next scene in your novel, for the next idea or that plot twist you're stuck in. You know, go for a walk and pray and have your business meeting with him that way can really bring amazing insight. But including God and having your prayer team praying for you can make all the difference. So I hope that this was helpful. I could talk for hours on this topic, but those were the. The main things that just initially came to my mind. Keep going, keep going. The world needs your book. And maybe not everyone in this world, but there are people right now that are waiting for your book to be finished for you to click that publish button. So keep going. Keep persevering. We are cheering you on.

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 written writers.