Dear Reader,

The year 2020 looks to be a year of great re-visioning—both of our past and our future. While I would never have chosen the path that has brought our nation to this turning point, I recognize the great adventure before us, the chance to change the story from expected tropes to one with a surprising twist of justice and beauty.

As you look to how your artistic endeavors fit into this repeatedly revised year, I pray you find courage to take up pen and brush and try again. Our story needs your voice. Let Callie help you Face the Bogeyman of Failure. And our new intern, Wes McMillan, explains how God’s sovereignty affords us the Mercy to Press On.

I am also excited to share that Kelli Sallman Writing & Editing is launching a new venture, an online school called An Inkling to Write, early this Fall. We took a second look at how we mentor writers and realized we could expand our offerings to meet more needs and budgets. Please consider looking into our courses and recommending us to others.

I welcome you to join us as we Re-Vision the Revisioning Process and cross this new threshold with hope.

Re-Visioning the Revision Process

Cross the Threshold with Hope

by Kelli Sallman

I have a theory about what goes through many of my client’s heads as we start work on their books: writing is hard, but revision is torture. Perhaps my theory rests on imaginative fancy. Or perhaps I recognize a deer-in-the-headlights look when I explain that the client will need to pull the manuscript apart and put it back together again. Either way, I am convinced that demotivating thoughts float around in their minds with a few unsaid choice words my direction. I understand the choice words. In the end, though, I pray they will all see the hard work of re-visioning as a hopeful journey rather than torture.

Few writers go from raw material to polished manuscript in one or even two steps. The number that can do that grows slimmer the longer the manuscript. A short blog post? Maybe. A book? Never.

As exhilarating or exhausting as the drafting process might be, it’s only the exposition to the writing journey, act 1 of a three-act structure. Drafting is merely a call to an adventure, of discovering that some irrevocable event or question requires an answer, and setting out to discover what that answer may be. The editing process—the re-visioning act 2—is where we actually accomplish the quest, discover our heroic mettle, and set the world aright.

What could be more hopeful than that?

Facing the Bogeyman of Failure

5 Reasons We Hate Failing and How to Do Stuff Anyway

by Callie Johnson

Lurking under beds and beyond closet doors of artists everywhere is the slimy bogeyman called failure. He seems to haunt our every move. My morning coffee is spoiled by the thought, “What if I don’t get everything done today?” I sit down to write, and I’m blocked by the nagging suspicion that my ideas will bore readers to tears. I go to bed and dream restless dreams of failed exams, disappointed employers, and an inevitable rejection letter for my manuscript.

The fear of failure paralyzes our ability to create or even think straight. We get so caught up in feeling insufficient that we stop trying altogether. We have plenty of logical reasons to dislike failing, but fear not! We also have a way to keep creating in the face of failure.

Mercy to Press On

by Wesley McMillan

Failure stinks. Can you imagine being the first human to have failed? The Bible reveals humanity’s failings, especially those that resulted in sin. Not every failure is considered sin, but at some point we all fall short of God’s moral law. Romans 3:23 declares, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Amazingly, God forgives our failings. And his forgiveness is most present in his gracious sovereignty: he allows us the space to fail and gifts us the mercy to press on.

God’s Sovereignty in Giving the Imago Dei
The idea of sovereignty can make us feel uncomfortable. Frenetic emotions overwhelm us at the thought of a deity having supreme power and authority over us. The Bible speaks of two people ensnared by these problematic emotions, and theirs was a face-to-face relationship with the God of the universe. Their failing was humanity’s original sin, and when we look back at the account in Genesis, we detect some unexpected revelations about God’s sovereignty.