by Blythe Daniel @BlytheDaniel

Are you someone who watches trends in fashion, food, or styling your home? What about your own writing and what you see happening as you continue to write?

I’m someone who didn’t think I’d be noticing trends in writers but it’s become a study over the years I’ve been involved in publishing.

I’ve noticed that many writers these days are writing from a place of their story, what they’ve experienced and tying it to a theme of identity, purpose, or what others can learn from their particular story.

This isn’t bad or wrong it’s just been done a lot. And the more I see it, the more I want to encourage writers to get back to the basics. The basics of spiritual disciplines as a theme you write about and that you practice as you write.

Writing the spiritual disciplines of prayer, reading the Bible, studying God’s word, listening to God and how we lay down our life and carry the life of Christ to all we meet. I find it interesting that so much of what Jesus taught and did was not about himself but about others. In fact, he kept his identity hidden as much as possible because he didn’t want it to be known before it was his time to be known as the Son of God. In Matthew 9:30 and Mark 1:33-34 there are examples where Jesus told those he healed not to tell others what they had experienced. People were drawn to Jesus and wanted to see miracles, but how many of them wanted to hear his teachings and practice what he taught? Following Jesus would cost them their lives and they would need to love him and serve him more than anyone else.

Identity wasn’t as much a requirement as service. Loving Jesus, doing what he commanded, and finding life in him. He even said in Matthew 10:39, “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.” Not many of us want to write or read books about losing our life but it’s what Jesus taught.

I do believe there are powerful and important books on identity, but I’d like to see writers focus on living out the life of a follower of Christ in such a way that we get back to basics. I see opportunities for writers to bring in fresh perspectives that point to ways we can relate to what makes us different from any other writers and readers – the practices of being a Christ follower.

For many people, they get stuck on identity and stay there. But we’ve got to move people into what Jesus has left for us to do. How can we grow spiritually? How do we make disciples? How do we not just read but study the Word and apply it to our lives?

I’d like to see proposals that provide ways to enter into the encouragement Jesus gave us, which includes making prayer a habit (Paul talked about praying without ceasing), taking God’s Word to heart (scripture memorization and family devotion time), listening and responding to God, sharing the gospel, and the foundations that allow us to be witnesses to our world.

Our goal shouldn’t be to try to fit into the world and write books that appease the world. Our words should reflect back to our Creator and the way he has put us in this time and space to live, the finished work of the Cross and the mandate Jesus gives for us to go into all the nations and make disciples. Disciples need to know who God is more than they need to know who we are.

Some would say that it’s hardest to minister in your own town. Jesus said in Luke 4:24, “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.”

I love how Jesus withdrew and prayed. He got away from all the crowds and opinions and practiced what he taught us to do – to pray. To spend time with the father, pouring out his heart to him and listening to what the Father wanted him to walk away with.

I really appreciate the passage in Luke 24:45-53 but particularly take a look at verse 47: “and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

We rely on the people around us to affirm us and we would be wise not to. It’s time to break out of just our local teams and responses and move into a global movement. We care about what others around us think of us (and I’m including myself in this), and that can stop us from pursuing the bigger picture in which God wants us to move. It’s not about staying just in one place.

Let’s include the spiritual not just the personal when writing books.

One author I work with created a book that looks at Christ in the Old Testament and helps you discover God’s plan and lineage to send a Savior. Originally titled the Jesse Tree Tradition, the book invites families to build a tradition to start their own Jesse Tree to point their family to Jesus each year.

Another author I work with wrote from the story of Joshua to give military families practices they could employ in their families and particularly marriages.

Back to basics doesn’t have to be boring. In fact, I’ve seen some of the most creative book proposals that come from writers using evergreen topics that publishers like to publish.

Recently I heard a message from Pastor Calvin Johnson. He talked about being chosen by God and he gave two examples of names that God called men and women in the Bible. It was a fresh message on the idea of God’s assignment for our lives. God is involved in our lives and he sent angles to confirm the title on Gideon as “mighty man of valor” in the midst of his struggle. And he did the same for Mary who was addressed as “highly favored” when she was concerned about how God’s plan would come about. I thought about a book that goes through and gives the true names that God gave to men and women in the Bible and what this means for us.

I’d like to encourage you in the coming year, as we start a new year of writing, to think about getting back to the basics of spiritual practices and themes that we see in a way we haven’t thought about before using God’s Word as the foundation.

I believe when you pour into his Word and look for what is on His heart, not necessarily yours yet, you will be encouraged and equipped to write what others can see you have studied and put the time into living out as well.

May you experience a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year as you write and share what’s on your heart from Him!

Blythe Daniel is a literary agent and marketer and has been in publishing for over 20 years. She has written for Proverbs 31 Ministries, Focus on the Family, Ann Voskamp, and Christian Retailing. She and her mother Dr. Helen McIntosh are the authors of Mended: Restoring the Hearts of Mothers and Daughters (Harvest House Publishers).

www.theblythedanielagency.com; www.ourmendedhearts.com