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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Managing perceptions when blogging

... and now for something completely different.

One of the most fundamental of all marketing principles relates to perception. When a guy sees a pretty girl it is all perception – “she must be great, because she looks great”. Overheard whispers in the pews behind me during a church service, suggest that either the minister is going beyond the call of duty or my new electric shaver is making up for the disuse of aftershave. Actually, I just think gals also form first impressions of other good looking guys.

After the initial phase of seeing and meeting, perceptions give way to deeper issues, where they either confirm initial perceptions or fulfill the worst of fears. It’s like letting donkey speak in Shrek, where he should know that its better to be deemed a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.

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Manage email, don't let it manage you (some tips)

Now to get off the subject a bit. I follow the very relevant and topical site of Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers. He raised some concerns about his email overload and elicited comments. 

After boring him with my own feedback, I did some general research and here are my findings gleaned from various sources:

Manage expectations - deliberately coach senders about things that irritate you and gently move them to a different style e.g. get to the point, shorter please, etc. In fact, send back the email and ask them to reformat appropriately and you will undoubtedly progress to a cleaner inbox. Let people know upfront that you do not want to get certain messages - like those cute little "pass it ons". Also politely ask people to remove you from their "general circulation lists".  

- To avoid offending I once put in a rule that sent an appropriate message to emails that asked me to onsend to someone I care about. There are other rules you can set up, or if you can't, mimick a rule i.e. send a reply email that seems automated - it will be less in the face than a direct confrontation and once set up and approved, your personal assistant can happily use it where needed. Rather get complementary channels to link back to your primary site. Also elicit inter-debate so that the debate itself draws people, rather than you having to feed them. Also use surveys to elicit opinions, rather than driving up traffic.

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