Dear Reader,

Welcome to another year of Inklings & Inspiration. The new decade seems to have spurred many to finally get serious about their book-writing goals. If that’s you, I’m so excited for you!

The articles and tips in this month’s issue have application to all writers but will especially benefit nonfiction enthusiasts. Take a look at Caught in the Nude: Common Nonfiction Problems Exposed to avoid having your writing foibles embarrassingly uncovered after you publish. Need a boost to get started? Read 15 Ways to Get Words on the Page.

Our other tips will help you use contrast and weave in illustrations with more confidence.

If 2020 is the year of your book, let's make it happen.

Happy writing!

Caught in the Nude

Common Nonfiction Problems Exposed

by Kelli Sallman

In my business, I get to see a lot of naked drafts—you know, the middle-aged, soft around the middle, dripping from the shower kind of drafts. Where it all hangs out. Naked drafts should never be for public viewing. I’m all for dressing up our manuscripts with the best compression shape wear out there, hemming in the lumps and bumps that reveal their authors’ self-indulgence, poor discipline, and worn ideas.

Sometimes naked drafts make it all the way to the marketplace. Rather than point out and embarrass these poor books on the shelf, I will adapt examples from in-progress writing I’ve seen over the years. Sometimes authors have trouble understanding why I prescribe a good workout or makeover for their manuscripts, claiming that the bulges I highlight are merely a function of voice and perspective—part of their charm and authenticity. Perhaps. But before you self-publish that tome, consider what the following problems communicate to readers.

The Naked Draft with a Big Head

Only I am smart enough.

When we drift into overstating our case with a bit of arrogance, we communicate that we value our intellect more than others’ minds. In the extreme, authors believe they are the only people to have ever come up with an idea, or they have a tribe that agrees with them and no other position or group can be or ever has been right.

For those of us in the Christian field of publishing, we recognize this symptom easily in others, such as in the many books that arose in the early aughts by New Atheists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. These authors enjoyed a tone full of contempt for anyone with a different view. But I see this same attitude, too, when Christian factions defend their territories, ideas, and politics.

15 Ways to Get Words on the Page

by Callie Johnson

A common adage says, “No one likes to write, but everyone loves to have written.” How do we transfer the brilliant ideas in our mind to coherent words on a page? The short answer is, everyone engages the writing process differently. But some tips and methods tend to encourage writing, and here are fifteen of the ones I’ve found most helpful.

1) Set aside your space

Our brains associate actions with locations. When you go to the kitchen, you expect to eat. When you sit on the meringue-colored couch, you expect to take a nap. Set a location for your writing, so when you sit down, your brain is already gearing up to write.

2) Know your own brain—know how it focuses

A key to reaching the “have written” stage is knowing how your brain works and under what conditions you work best. Do you love freewriting in a noisy coffee shop? Do you like to write from an outline, locked in a tiny office? Embrace it! When it comes to getting a first draft on the page, set yourself up for success by knowing how you write best.