Write2Ignite

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.“

Zechariah 4:10 NLT 

A Friend’s Devotion Story:

A man in India rode the train two hundred miles to meet my friend Susan Titus Osborn. She had come to India to speak. When they met, Susan asked what made him want to meet her. 

            “I read this piece you wrote in The Upper Room, and it changed my life.

I had to meet you, the author.”

Like Susan’s devotion, your short devotions can impact lives and the words or message might remain with a person for a long time. God can use little things like a 250-word devotion just as He used five loaves of bread to feed thousands. To a writer who wants to get a book published, writing little devotions may seem trivial. But they can be the small beginnings that make a great difference. We need to earn small credits to build our writing ability and to show editors our faithfulness in small writings. One devotion can begin a writing career—as it did for me. Trust that God can use your writing devotions as steps along your writing journey.

I hope I’ll inspire you to realize that devotions are golden nuggets that will enrich lives and also an opportunity for you to engage with God as you pray and write. He gives writers wisdom and insights to share with the world. In addition, the experience of God using you and speaking to your heart develops a deeper relationship between you and God.

What You Will Learn

I am grateful to be your Master Teacher in April sharing about writing devotions. A few thoughts of what you will gain in my Master Class:

• We will discover how to find ideas for devotions. This will help you discover your brand and also themes for devotion books. We will also work on getting to the core message (word) of God’s call for you.
• We will discover how using a dictionary adds richness to devotions. Looking into definitions can seem boring, but not when you realize how it brings a deeper meaning to your work.
• We’ll explore a simple pattern to follow when writing devotions. 
• We’ll learn about the value of keeping a database of ideas for devotions. It helps us to look through God’s eyes at the world He made and how He works in our lives in a whole new way.
• We’ll learn the importance of editing our devotions. Learning to edit something small makes it easier to go through edits of an entire book and not feel overwhelmed. We’ll see how editing a short devotion helps us learn to focus each little section within the book.
• Devotions can become content for websites. I’ve written them for blogs and radio station websites. We’ll see how to repurpose our manuscripts.

Writing devotions is like using yeast to make bread: It starts small but become something bigger. It also helps us rise up to meet the call God placed on our lives.

My Devotion Story

At my first small writer’s conference an editor from The Upper Room encouraged me to send him three devotions. He published a few and that, plus other small pieces for take-home papers, started my writing career. I prayed for a few ideas and God brought up memories . Then I prayed for how to use the memories and he gave me scriptures and the message he wanted me to share.

From a few devotions, I moved on to writing devotion books. Half of my published books are devotions and another one releases this fall. I’m looking forward to meeting you in April!

Karen Whiting (www.karenwhiting.com) writes to help families thrive. She’s a certified writing and marketing coach, international speaker, former television host, and award-winning author of more than thirty books for women, children, military, and families. She’s sold more than 800 articles for more than sixty periodicals. She writes for The Write Conversation Blog and crosswalk.com. As a writing and marketing coach, Karen helps clients overcome obstacles, develop a personalized marketing plan, maximize strengths in writing and marketing, find direction, focus on what’s salable, and improve their writing ability as well as develop a larger plan for their writing career.

She’s a mom of five (including two rocket scientists) and a grandmother. Karen enjoys adventure like camel riding in the Canary Islands, white water rafting in Australia, and scuba diving off Bermuda’s coast. She heads to the Mediterranean next summer.

Her newest books are Devos for Brave Boys (Tyndale Kids), The Super-Sized Book of Bible Craft Gifts (Rosekidz division of Tyndale House Publishing), Growing a Mother’s Heart and 52 Weekly Devotions for Family Prayer.

REGISTRATION IS OPEN!

We hope you will join us for a full day of leaning about writing devotions. You can see the schedule here and register here.

GIVEAWAY!

One blessed winner will receive the devotional book of her choice from the three books pictured above! Please leave your preference in the comments. Giveaway ends on March March 21 at 7 PM.

DOOR PRIZE!

In addition, Karen is giving away another devotional at the Master Class. You must attend to be eligible.