Meeting this Saturday

Let's talk about... 

MARKETING

March 7, 10 AM - noon

Cornerstone Christian Church, Wyckoff 

In the Barn (2nd building on the right)

Pasquale Russo will present on the topic of marketing, an eagerly awaited discussion. Bring your personal comments, experiences, and questions. Identify the next step to move your writing project forward.

Guests are welcome, both novices and seasoned writers.
Critiquing is available for members - please adhere to the guidelines on our website.

Looking forward to Saturday,
Barbara
barbarahigby.com

February's Focus Point

Why Should We Care if our Writing is Tight?

We "write tight" to present our best work to our readers, but why should we care? Why do we labor over multiple edits, offer our work for critique, and rewrite what seemed fine the first draft?

There’s only one reason—because we want to be read. I’ve said it so often, you should be able to finish this sentence for me: “If you don’t want to be read, just journal.”

I can be impatient positioning my words, crocheting around a basic point, couching my thoughts just so, but as we’ll discuss later, it’s necessary if we want to be read and have our words received. To write relevantly, we also need to know our audience and understand how they most readily receive instruction or engage with works of fiction. This may seem a little compromising but listen to Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 9:20-23:

“To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law…so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the…so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings” (italics mine).

It is for the sake of the truth we present that we do our best to be read and received by others. People do not want to read loosely written work or go down rabbit trails or turn on their internal editor as they read. We never compromise the truth, but we write with integrity that produces our best work and prioritizes the truth of the Gospel.

Do we need to write tight? Yes. Do we need to check our grammar, use our thesaurus, rework run-on sentences? Yes. Yes. Yes.

Take-home thought: I will write well so my words will be read and my readers will embrace the truth they tell.