7 habits of great writers: 7. Develop multiple communication channels

Before Jesus was born, the way (channel) was prepared so that when He stood up to speak to the people, his platform would be assured. God actually prepared that platform over a period of 4,000 years so that His ministry would have relevance to that world. Sin and judgment were two primary concepts that were ingrained in the social conscience before He came.

God also prepared the physical distribution channels, by introducing Jesus to the world only once the Romans had completed their roads and the Greek language had universalized communications. This also shows great attention to detail, which reflects how deeply serious God was about the process of salvation and judgment.

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7 habits of great writers: 6. Write right

The term, “well done good and faithful servant”, is reserved for those who faithfully steward what God entrusts to them. The Apostle Paul also challenged believers to “wait on your ministry”, implying that a gift needs to be honed into an effective instrument.

Cain was a man of original ideas, who showed no sensitivity to the needs of his audience and critic – God. If he had been more in touch with God, he would have taken a lot more trouble to do the right things, which Abel intuitively did.

Therein lies the soul of an effective writer or blogger – like Paul of old, that which we receive from God we faithfully entrust to the righteous, by the way we carefully steward His priceless truths.

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7 habits of great writers: 5. Touch their hearts

A good book, especially a spiritual one, should make them laugh, make them cry, make them sit up and make them act. Never be one-dimensional. God has always filled my life with delightfully amusing moments that were illustrative, yet so relevant and practical.

He used the same style when He illustrated deeper spiritual principles and concepts through the ordinary lives of contemporary biblical characters. He wove insights into each story that each truth lent itself to many different situational interpretations. It is because the bible so adequately vindicates itself through my real-world experiences that I now simply scoff at gainsayers – you cannot judge the bible from an aloof distance the way a critic assesses a book or a movie – you have to feel it.

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7 habits of great writers: 4. Be relevant

The stories of old, provided reference points for historians. They highlighted cultural and environmental contexts and helped put the audience in that time and place. That is why we relate to those stories. It is also the reason that we so readily refer to historic stories to inform the present and future. I am not sure we always learn from history, but we certainly do tend to take history into account as we go forward. 

Similarly, your story must not be out of touch with your current culture else it will never find an audience. The people that spoke then spoke to “then-audiences”, but we speak now and should address “now-audiences”.

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7 habits of great writers: 3. Its a journey

Once the intent of a book or blog post or some other communication, has been established and your passion for the subject is ignited and God’s spirit has filled your sails, set your course and stay with it. Jesus set His eyes as a flint towards Jerusalem, in much the same way that a book embarked on, is a mission that must have a destination.

En route to the cross, Jesus healed people and we are often inclined to see that as the defining feature of His life. Yet He never once diverted from His course, to become a man of wonders. He did as many miracles and healings as was necessary to achieve His surpassing purpose and that gave credence to His defining work at the cross.

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7 habits of great writers: 2. Get to it

I started writing a journal of my experiences in a time of great personal struggle. That start was analogous to being able to steer a moving vehicle, as opposed to trying the same with a stationary vehicle - which is not quite as much fun.

Once I had set my sail and cast off, I moved out of my safe moorings into open water and then was able to feel God’s breath fill the sail – the adventure was underway. I had to make the first move. I had to depart and get out of the departure lounge – after all we don’t fly in order to have the lounge experiences, we lounge in order to fly.

There is a principle with God, that in giving we receive. In following that process, generally to the point of freely giving away my most treasured material, I found God to be a bottmless well that always, always filled up again. I have never come near to expending His limitless potential - except in times when I stagnated and stopped outpouring what He gave me, into the lives of others.

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7 habits of great writers: 1. Start at the end

Stephen Covey coined the principle of starting with the end in mind - its a good principle, for if you don't know where you're going how will you know when you get there?

The principle is just as relevant to writing. One of the big mistakes we see daily in marketing, is a tendency to say, “Here is a solution, let’s see if I can find a problem to fit it”, or rather “Lets make your problem fit my solution”.

The counter-view is best described by the story of a man who went to a store to buy a drill, only to be asked, “What do you want to do?” He replied, “I need to make a hole in the wall”, to which the store manager replied, “Ah, well then what you need is a thing that makes holes in walls”. It seems obvious I know, yet many salesmen have spent frustrated careers pushing a product instead of solving needs.

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