“Getting the Most out of Your Editorial Process”
Dear Writer,
I hope you had a good week and got a chance to explore enlisting a professional editor to help polish your manuscript! This week, we’ll wrap up our editing series by looking at how to make the most of your editorial process. If you haven’t noticed yet, a couple of the biggest factors in story development are conversation and community. Just like children can’t grow to full health in isolation, neither can your story!
But before we get started, let’s take a look at those who leveraged conversation and community to reach their goals and achieve great things…
The Conversation and the Community in History
C.S. Lewis and his founding of The Inklings—a group of Christian men who were inclined to write—is a great example of engaging in conversation and community. This group of WWII veterans shared a love of writing and maintained ongoing conversations about each others’ works, listening to one another’s readings, offering advice and feedback, and encouraging one another in their struggles. Did you know it was C.S. Lewis that encouraged Tolkein to actually publish the Lord of the Rings? While they did not always agree, their commitment to each other sharpened their writings and birthed several works that are still shaping culture and impacting lives today!
You see, writer, we may not always agree with everything we hear or receive in the editing process. But if we allow those disagreements to cause us to disengage, our works will likely never become all they were meant to be. When we leverage these disagreements to dig deeper into the heart of our story and message, you will be amazed to see your story begin to develop in ways you never imagined.
The Conversation and the Community in the Bible
Paul is another great example of a man who engaged in conversation and community. When he left for his first missionary journey, it was the result of a time of prayer and fasting with the elders of the church of Antioch. As they had prayed, the elders felt led by the Holy Spirit to separate and send out Paul and Barnabas for this special trip. Paul heeded the instruction of the elders and went on a journey that won countless souls to Christ, expanding Paul’s own conversations and community, and which ultimately led to the writing of many of the New Testament epistles which millions have read. All because he listened to the instruction of others.
It’s the same way with our work, writer. Sometimes in our journey we can struggle with a sense of timing or calling, and it helps so much to have those with wisdom outside our situation who can speak with clarity.
The Conversation and the Community in Life
I engaged in the conversation and in community of writing from the very beginning of writing my first novel. My husband was my fist reader, graciously withholding feedback until I was ready for it. His encouragement helped me get through draft one. Then as I began sharing my work with others and attending writers groups and events, my conversations and the community I engaged in grew. And so did their ability to stretch me as—both the good and the bad—helped me take a closer look at my own work and to reshape it until it truly fulfilled the goals I had for it.
Some of those conversations were difficult. But here’s the beautiful thing, writer. As I evaluated the input, my perspective expanded. Not only did I better understand the feedback I had received, but the process also clarified my own intentions as I wrestled with what seemed at cross-purposes to my goals. And do you know what? When I revisited those conversations again, I was better able to explain my hopes and dreams for my story and why certain feedback was challenging me. And I received clearer and more targeted input as a result.
The Conversation and the Community in Your Life
You see, when we engage in the conversations and community the Lord gives us, not only do we grow, but our ability to benefit from and bring benefit to those conversations and community grows as well, as we begin to clarify our messages and goals in alignment with or in contrast to the input we’re receiving. And that’s how God designed us to work and grow. Let me show you…
- Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. – Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
- The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. – Proverbs 12:15
- And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. – Hebrews 10:24-25
- Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. – Proverbs 19:20-21
Here’s the thing, writer. I mentioned last week how engaging in the editing process would grow our communication with God. It’s the same as we engage in conversations and community. So often, we think we understand a matter until God begins to speak to us through the experience of another. Often, the things that are needed to unlock our growth can only be found in the lives of others. And we hold keys for their lives, too.
Because here’s another beautiful thing: we are part of a body. Any body part that’s cut off from its body will die, because it has no connection to the life coursing through the whole! But when we are connected in conversations and community, we can’t estimate the impact our participation has on that whole.
With The Inklings, their willingness to remain engaged in the process led to works that have and still are impacting millions! With Paul, his commitment to the elders at Antioch led to a journey and writings that have impacted Christendom for centuries. Even for me, my conversations and community led not only to the publishing of two books—but to the building of a whole new conference and community of writers! And that’s how it is when begin to touch one another’s lives. There’s no telling where the end of the impact will be.
Where to Start with the Conversation and the Community
So, writer, if you’ve not yet engaged in the conversation or community of the writing and editing process, I encourage you to consider choosing one of these steps to get you started…
- Pray. Ask God to highlight the relationships and opportunities He’s brought into your life for conversation and community during this season. Reach out to those who come to mind. An invitation to lunch or showing up at a writers group could be the start of something beautiful!
- Find a prayer partner. Writing is important, but sometimes the conversations and community we need are more foundational. I encourage you to seek out a prayer partner to pray for and help keep you accountable on your writing journey. Having someone lift you up—and lifting them up too—forms a necessary foundation for any of life’s ventures!
- Find a writing partner. Find someone who can listen to or read your work and provide insightful encouragement and honest feedback. If you find a writers group to participate in, so much the better! Hearing multiple perspectives will continue to either affirm, inform, and expand your own.
- Know and share your heart and goals with key people. Identify one or two key people you can trust (your prayer partner will be a shoo-in for this one!) and share your goals regularly with them as well as your heart (your “why”) in writing and your struggles and challenges along the way. It’s critical that we have others who know about our journey, so that if we stumble along the way, they can help remind us of who we are and why we began. Because here’s the final thing, writer…
As we engage in the writing and editing process, there will be surprises and occasional setbacks. If we are alone, it’s so easy for those surprises and setbacks to take us out. But when we stay engaged in the conversations and community the Lord is providing, then just like Paul, or The Inklings, or myself, those setbacks can become the very springboards to propel us forward in ways we never would have imagined.
So, I encourage you this week to pray over your friends list and opportunities and see what the Lord highlights. Then make a couple calls or send a text and start the conversation. Maybe plan a trip to a local Christian writers group or conference. You never know how the Lord will begin to speak into and through you and the countless lives that may be touched as you do.
#community #conversations #editing #KeepGoing #DontGiveUp #BodyofChrist #EveryWriterWriting
