By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills
Dear writer, do you pray for or prey on your readers? Pray and prey are homophones. These are words that sound alike but have different meanings and different spellings. But this isn’t about grammar until we consider pray and prey are verbs. So how do these action words impact a writer?
To pray is to communicate with God—to thank Him, glorify Him, request something on behalf of others or ourselves. It’s intimacy with our Creator. Sometimes pray means to wish or hope for a favorable outcome in a situation.
To prey is to take advantage of someone for our benefit, to bully or cause trouble. It also means to hunt or kill for food, but that’s not the context for writers. Let’s pray not.
Yet, sometimes writers in their excitement prey on readers.
- “Buy my book!”
- “I’m not stalking you. I want you to see how my book will better your life.”
- “Listen to me talk. I’m a very interesting person.”
- “I’ll be at this grand event, and I want you there too.”
- “This blog post shows how I rose to success.”
- “I must have a 5-star review on my book. Would you do that now?”
A Christian writer who prays for a reader demonstrates concern about meeting reader needs and helping them journey through life on earth. A writer who engages with others, is more involved in establishing a caring and genuine relationship than if the person buys a book.
The following three tips will help writers focus on what’s important:
- Show Jesus by mirroring His love for others.
- Ask questions and listen to others to discover victories and defeats, wants and desires, unmet goals and achievements.
- Step toward others with arms open wide instead of reaching for their wallet.
Dear writer, one day God will ask us what we did for His people, and the correct answer is not how many books we sold. How do you pray for readers?
DiAnn Mills is a bestselling author who believes her readers should expect an adventure. She weaves memorable characters with unpredictable plots to create action-packed, suspense-filled novels. DiAnn believes every breath of life is someone’s story, so why not capture those moments and create a thrilling adventure?
Her titles have appeared on the CBA and ECPA bestseller lists; won two Christy Awards; and been finalists for the RITA, Daphne Du Maurier, Inspirational Readers’ Choice, and Carol award contests.
DiAnn is a founding board member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, a member of Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers. She is the director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference and Mountainside Retreats: Marketing, Nonfiction, Novelists, and Speakers with social media specialist Edie Melson. DiAnn continues her passion of helping other writers be successful. She speaks to various groups and teaches writing workshops around the country.
DiAnn has been termed a coffee snob and roasts her own coffee beans. She’s an avid reader, loves to cook, and believes her grandchildren are the smartest kids in the universe. She and her husband live in sunny Houston, Texas.
DiAnn is very active online and would love to connect with readers on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads, BookBub, YouTube, LinkedIn or her website: diannmills.com
The Conversation
DiAnn, thank you so much for these very wise words cautioning those of us who write to make sure we pray instead of prey. Appreciate you.
Thank you, Dianne, for wise words and thought-provoking questions.